Tag Archives: losing it

Losing It: The Recap!

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Well.

Ten weeks ago, Ashleigh, Mary, and I had this crazy Twitter conversation that resulted in the Losing It 10 competition. Maybe we were on a crazy post-Blissdom high or something.

I think we’ll be the first to admit that none of us lost a whole lot of weight. But it wasn’t all about that this time. I don’t feel dissatisfied with the results. Because I believe the three of us had a lot of heart-change when it comes to our weight. We saw the struggles we have. We faced demons. It’s been a wild ride for me.

And I don’t think we ever imagined that there would be other people who truly were inspired! I’ve been awestruck by the women who have taken the challenge and run with it. I can’t wait to see the percentages lost.

For me, I know I have to work out like crazy and practically starve myself to lose weight. It’s how I’ve always been. I don’t know why. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve messed up my body by losing and gaining, or I really eat more than I think I do, or I react badly to carbs. (Doing the South Beach Diet is the only time I’ve lost substantial weight.) I have to confess I weigh about the same as I did when we started this whole thing.

However.

I am drinking a lot more water and MUCH less soda. I’ve done exercises I’d never thought possible–running and Shredding! I feel better. I’m eating almost no processed food.

I count that as success.

Thanks for coming along on this journey with me. Kathy at House of Hills is going to continue to host Losing It Fridays, so make sure to subscribe to her blog and follow along!

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Losing It: Week 9

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I’m kind of at a loss when it comes to a Losing It post this week. I’m still chugging along, trying to exercise. Still refusing to weigh in. I have made such great leaps when it comes to food during the course of this challenge. (Part of it may be the opening of the Farmer’s Market!!) We are eating grass-fed beef, homemade bread, and very little preservatives.

I actually mentioned to my husband last night that for the last couple weeks when I eat something sweet, like jelly beans (screw you Target Easter clearance!!), I’ve gotten really sick to my stomach. He said it was because those are the only processed foods I eat! He’s probably right. My sweet tooth is definitely tapering away. (Although Mary–I would totally forgo Pop-Tarts and chocolate frosting and eat ice cream every day.)

So today, as we’re nearing the end of our 10-week challenge, I’d like to share with you some of my favorite Losing It posts from the competitors!

She’ll Lose Her Baby Fat When She Starts Walking – Giving Up on Perfect
Gaining It, Week 1 – Simply Mel (I’m SO excited!)
The Number – Heart and Home
Finding Hope – Life as Mum
Photo Diary – Got My Reservations
You have to read Dedra’s whole journey. She’s inspired me so much! – Just a Chick
Breakthroughs – House of Hills
In case you missed it, my own favorite post from this journey has been Agreeing with God.

How did you do this week? Link up your post at Giving Up on Perfect, and don’t forget to visit Ashleigh at Heart and Home, too! If you have no clue what I’m talking about, read about the Losing It competition here.

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Losing It: Week 8

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Last week I talked a little bit about our struggle with infertility and what it took to conceive Libbie. Here’s the rest, the part that’s related to weight loss! 

I was amazed that after I had Libbie, I could fit into my normal jeans in just a few short weeks. In fact, I think after about three weeks I had lost all but 7 lbs. of my pregnancy weight (don’t hate me yet–keep reading). Sure, my jeans were tight–but they buttoned! I was sure if I kept nursing I was going to be the skinniest I’d ever been.

I think it was about that time that the nursing hungry set in. I was more hungry than I’d ever been when I was pregnant. It was insane. Over the next few months, I ate … and ate… and ate. I went back to work and started going out to lunch again. I didn’t exercise. Then there was that whole thing with my husband being gone for 5 months.

I never lost the last 7 pounds. I eventually gained 6 MORE pounds–which somehow, post-pregnancy, made all my clothes fit like I had gained 50. Some days I feel 50 pounds bigger than I did before my pregnancy. I carry weight differently and I feel like it’s more evident. While I feel more confident after giving birth, I hate my body even more than I ever did.

Don’t you just love to blame your weight on something? I like to blame it on this pink-clad, curly-haired cutie.

SNV33482

It’s not her fault, of course. It’s my issue–and my issue that I don’t want to pass along to her.

I may not have lost any weight during this challenge–yet! But I have come to face several issues and made leaps and bounds when it comes to our eating habits. That, I am proud of. And I promise to keep working.

How did you do this week? Link up your post at Giving Up on Perfect, and don’t forget to visit Ashleigh at Heart and Home, too! If you have no clue what I’m talking about, read about the Losing It competition here.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Questions and Tips for Couch to 5K

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I’ve been very inspired by the other Losing It contest participants! While I’ve done, well, dreadful, I am so proud of those who have taken the challenge and run with it. Inspired by Dedra, I’ve been trying to do the Couch to 5K program (#c25k). 

So I’ve done it … twice. Once about a week and a half ago and once tonight.  So I feel totally qualified in offering advice about it. :) But more importantly, I have lots of questions for those of you who’ve done/are doing the program.

Seawall run

5 Tips on Starting Couch to 5K

1. Really do start slow. The first time I did the first week run/walk, I thought I was going to die. I thought it was just because I am SOOOO out of shape (does that imply being in shape once? Cause I’ve never been in shape). The founder of the program suggests,

You should ease into your running program gradually. In fact, the beginners’ program we outline here is less of a running regimen than a walking and jogging program.

I think I just tried to do the jogging pieces too fast. The guy on the podcast kept telling me I should be able to talk while jogging, and I was gasping for air. So tonight, I proceeded to run the slowest jog in the world. And for me, that worked.

2. Use music you like. I did download all the podcasts, and those are convenient because they tell you when to start running, stop running and start walking, cool down, etc. But the music was just not my style. I had a much easier type rocking it out to the Glee soundtrack tonight and just counting down the 60 and 90-second intervals myself by the iPod timer.

3. Don’t worry about what your neighbors think. I am SO self-conscious, especially when I am exercising. I am working on convincing myself I am not the same chubby fifth-grader who couldn’t run a mile. I may be chubby, but I am awesome!! God made me how I am, and who I am to question it? I don’t care if my neighbors are laughing at how slowly I am jogging. Who cares? It’s better than sitting still.

4. Really do warm-up and cool-down. That’s just common exercise sense! Some stretching at the end of the circuit will help you not to feel so sore, too.

5. If you need to, set rewards. I like exercise once I do it–usually–but sometimes in order to make myself do it I have to say, “OK, if I go do this, I can talk on Skype for 30 minutes, or watch a certain TV show, or take a bubble bath.”

5 Questions I Have about Couch to 5K

1. Did you buy better running shoes before you started the program? My shoes are old and iffy, and I know they don’t have enough support for my weird feet. I am, however, scared to make any investment.

2. Am I the slowest jogger in the universe? I think I only covered about 1.5 miles tonight in 30 minutes.

3. What kind of stretching should you do at the end of each program day?

4. Is it possible to buy a sports bra when, um, you have this problem? (I’m not longer nursing and not quite as…problematic…but still an issue.) Right now I am wearing two bras for support. Should I confess that on the Internet? Too late.

5. How long did it REALLY take you to be able to run the 5k?

Seriously, I want answers! Help me out in the comments!

For more Top Ten Tuesday, visit OhAmanda.com.

Click on photo for source. This post includes Amazon affiliate links. Read more in my disclosure policy. 

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Losing It: Week 7

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I’m always hesitant to say that I’ve dealt with infertility.

It seems shallow and disrespectful of those who struggled for many years, or still are unable to conceive. I have friends who’ve had miscarriages, those who have conceived through IVF, IUI, and even embryo adoption. I’m a little embarrassed to share my story because my struggle seems so insignificant compared to most. But today it’s what’s rattling around in my brain, so I just need to go with it.

It took us six months to conceive Libbie. I haven’t had a miscarriage, we had no complications with my pregnancy, and she was a healthy 7 1/2 pound baby girl. All sounds great, right? Well, except that it seems like the minute we decided to go ahead and try to conceive, my cycles stopped altogether.

When I stopped taking the Pill in March 2007 (wanting to get it way out of my system before we TTC), my cycles got very confused. They were always long, before I was on the Pill, but now they were five weeks … then six weeks … then seven weeks … then not at all. I didn’t have a period for 4 months of the 6 months we were TTC and I really had no idea what was going on.

Any of you who have tried to make a baby know that it possesses your mind. Despite the fact that I was only 25 and not terribly worried about *never* getting pregnant, it still seemed like all I could think about was my failure to conceive, month after month. Slowly I heard of one cousin who was pregnant … then another … then another. Two of these were cousins the closest to me in age, who had both gotten married within 8 months of me. I was happy for them. But I was torn up for me.

Somewhere along the way, my sister got tested for PCOS, which I had never even heard of before. She lent me a book to read. Quickly I got into an OB-GYN to be tested (the tests are ridiculous–they pretty much just guess at the diagnosis). Over Christmas that year, the office called me and said I didn’t have PCOS. I was so upset and confused. Then, when I called them back, they said I did. ??? Don’t you love doctors?

So in January of 2008, I started the drug Metformin in a very high dosage to make me ovulate. They gave me a hormone to make my cycle start. I felt like a big petri dish of drugs and upset stomach. I lost a little weight because the Metformin made me so sick. And although it was on Day 21, I DID ovulate.

And we conceived a baby.

[I really am going somewhere with this and you'll have to trust me that it relates to the Losing It challenge! But this will be 4 billion words if I keep going, so you'll have to wait 'til next week to read the rest!]

How did you do this week? Link up your post at Giving Up on Perfect, and don’t forget to visit Ashleigh at Heart and Home, too! If you have no clue what I’m talking about, read about the Losing It competition here.

This post includes Amazon affiliate links. Read more in my disclosure policy. 

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Saturday Linky Love: Healthy Living Version

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Photobucket

My Losing It adventure has not been totally successful thus far, but I am super excited by those who have been inspired by the challenge and totally rocked it. Go Kathy!  Go Dedra!

Have any of you done a Couch to 5K program? One of my ultimate health goals is to be able to run a mile. I know it’s a little thing, but something I’ve never been able to do. Not even in elementary school. (SHAME.)

This isn’t a recent post, but I love Christine’s view on her health. She sets goals. She tracks food and exercise and finds new recipes. Christine is just the most goal-oriented person I’ve met and I’m in awe!! (Oh, and she just started a new blog about cleaning. You know, my FAVORITE topic. Haha. You should check out I Dream of Clean. If she could help me learn how to clean, she could help anyone!)

I loved this Pep Talk on how to start running at In the Trenches of Mommyhood.

I’m itching to try to make these Chicken, Parmesan, and Spinach “hot pockets.”

Read anything good this week? I’d love to have the link!

Added to Saturday Stumbles at It’s Come 2 This.

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Losing It: Week 5

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I’m doing this Bible study on Esther. (The same one I had this personal dilemma about a year ago. And then went for two weeks, realized the group wasn’t talking about it, just watching the video, and stopped going.) Tonight the Holy Spirit slapped me in the face while I was studying, and I knew I needed to share it with you.

I went out by myself tonight to go to CVS and found myself in the Krystal drive-through, coerced by a tummy that still felt hungry and the excuse, “I’ve already flopped today, why not?”

That is the worst excuse in the book. I am ashamed. And the milkshake I got wasn’t even good–the ultimate punishment.

Chocolate slush still settling unhappily in my stomach, I sat down and started to read Beth Moore’s words about Mordecai refusing to bow to Haman. She eventually got to both Mordecai and Joseph (the Genesis Joseph) being pursued by temptation day after day after day. And yet, Beth writes, “Each responded out of his mind-set rather than his mood.”

The last few paragraphs of the day boiled in my heart until they spilled out on the page into a fervent prayer.

If I had agreed with Your lessons to not be gluttonous as I have agreed with You on not having premarital sex, not cursing, not getting drunk … wouldn’t I follow through like I did on those? The temptation of food is stronger for me only because I have not fully agreed with You against gluttony. 

My heart is heavy with sin. I cannot piecemeal what I want from the Bible. But God is good, and He forgives. After I finished Esther, I just flipped open the Bible and read in Isaiah:

Your anger has turned away,
and You have had compassion on me.
Indeed, God is my salvation.
I will trust Him and not be afraid.
Because Yah, the LORD,
is my strength and my song,
He has become my salvation.
Isaiah 12:1-2, HCSB

Amen and amen. I’m traveling into this week with a brand-new mindset. One that I want to be stronger than my mood.

How did you do this week? Link up your post at Giving Up on Perfect, and don’t forget to visit Ashleigh at Heart and Home, too! If you have no clue what I’m talking about, read about the Losing It competition here.

I feel that I need to add, I don’t think having a milkshake is a sin. It was this time for me, because I KNEW that I shouldn’t. For you, it may be buying a fourth pair of black heels or spending 10 more minutes on Twitter. When you feel guilty about something like this, it’s a good idea to step back and see if you’re agreeing with God on this topic in your life.

This post includes Amazon affiliate links. Read more in my disclosure policy.
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Losing It: Week 4

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Some days, I think I should give up.

There are a lot of people who are perfectly fine with being overweight. Those ladies in bikinis with fat rolls hanging over the top, for instance. I can’t even remember the last time I had the courage to put on a bathing suit and wear it in public.

But I cannot let myself give in and just keep gaining more and more weight. Even if eating well and exercising means maintaining, I have to do it. For Libbie. For me. For my heart and my health.

I’ve always felt like I had to starve myself to lose even a pound. My body clings to the fat like gum to hair.

I think I might wait a month, or til the end of the 10 weeks to weigh myself again. I just can’t deal with it and I need to focus more on drinking water, eating the right things in appropriate quantities, and exercising.

I am so glad there are people truly running with it and losing because of this contest! I wish I were one of them. Life circumstances the last few weeks have kept me completely off-focus. But there’s nothing stopping me from continuing to take little steps toward the finish line.

I may never be 135 pounds. But I can be healthier tomorrow than I am today.

How did you do this week? Link up your post at Giving Up on Perfect, and don’t forget to visit Ashleigh at Heart and Home, too! If you have no clue what I’m talking about, read about the Losing It competition here.

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Losing It: Week 3

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All I can say about this week is I don’t really want to talk about it. You can read here for a little bit about what is going on right now and why I will be MIA for a while.

That said, I did buy a new scale on Monday and from Tuesday to this morning it said I lost .66%. It is also weighing higher than my other scale, but oh well. So if I add the weight I lost in week 1 to this new weight (I know, it’s weird), it would be a total of 1.59%.

I ain’t gonna win with those numbers!

I really thought this contest would push me harder. I do think about what I am eating all the time, but it’s not been a good week for working out (possibly because Libbie hasn’t been napping).

So, cheers to a better next week.

How did you do this week? Link up your post at Giving Up on Perfect, and don’t forget to visit Ashleigh at Heart and Home, too! If you have no clue what I’m talking about, read about the Losing It competition here.

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Losing It: Week 2

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As I sat down at the computer to write tonight, Mr. V asked me, “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to write my weight post this week,” I told him. “I didn’t do enough.”

Like the math teacher he is, his response was, “Well you should have considered that before the night before the test.”

*

I have a million excuses this week. Do you? Weather. Just feeling “off” and letting my depression get the best of me many days. Libbie is exercising her will. My knee hurts. Yada, yada, yada.

While I don’t know what the result will be when I step on the scale tomorrow morning (I am writing Thursday night), I know I haven’t done enough this week to make a big difference. I only did The Shred once this week despite my post last week extolling its virtues. I ate both Chinese buffet and a “down home” buffet (future post on buffets being from the devil in the works).

In the past, I probably would have forgotten it all and gone back to my non-exercising self, focusing only on what I want to eat at the time. But knowing I’ve committed to the next eight weeks here, exposing myself to you, sets me straight. I will continue to make baby steps–and those add up to big steps!

WEEKLY GOAL PROGRESS
Body weight percentage lost: I weighed myself 3 times this morning and got three different readings. Insert big, grouchy, cross-eyed look here. I will go with nothing lost this week. May buy a new scale as mine is old and I’m not sure it survived the move.
Sodas drank: 3
Water: didn’t drink as much as I should but some each day.
Exercise: 4/7
Whole foods: Other than the unknowns in the buffets and some instant mashed potatoes I wanted to use up, I was successful in sticking to my whole foods! Yay!

How did you do this week? Link up your post at Giving Up on Perfect, and don’t forget to visit Ashleigh at Heart and Home, too! If you have no clue what I’m talking about, read about the Losing It competition here.

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