Friday, February 24, 2012

On a Roll, but not a doughnut!


This is day 5 of my new start and I’m doing much better this time around.  A few things in my life have really made me think that NOW is the time to get my butt moving and get healthy.  Recently my Aunt unexpectedly passed away.  She wasn’t extremely close to me, but I did see her at most holidays.  She wasn’t a fit person and she didn’t care for doctors.  She was what my family would call a good German…. Meaning she loved her meat and potatoes!  She was young, or at least too young to pass in my mind.  After losing her I started to think about my own choices and how not only was I choosing my future, I was choosing a portion of my children’s future.  My aunt had 3 sons and two of them had already had children and the third one’s new wife is pregnant.  She will not be there for them to grow up.  Is that what I want for my children? 

This week I made a vow that I will learn to use self-talk to work through my temptations and my slips.  I have to say that I’m proud of a number of situations that  I have worked through.  I have stayed on track with my eating and I have made an effort to get in some good exercise.  Here is what I am proud of:

1.     Yesterday I had what I would normally consider slip ups.  I ate a mini chocolate bar in the afternoon and then a second one.   When I got home I had made dinner that would have put me over my calorie count for the day.  I first started to think that I would just give up.  That would have led me to feel guilty and then I probably would have done poorly the next day and the next, until I just stopped my plan all together.  I figured I was WAY over on my calories, so why count them.  However, I ended up telling myself that I needed to see what the real damage was.  I entered in all of the nutritional (or lack of) content into my app on my phone.  I realized I wasn’t over as long as I cut my dinner portion in ½ and then made a choice to forego the bread I had prepared.  I did that and I wasn’t really hungry after the ½ portion, so I knew I’d be ok.  I was so happy I didn’t just throw in the towel because when I do that, I end up eating a ton more calories because I view a slip-up as an end to that day’s counting instead of assessing the damage and moving on with better choices from that point forward.  This is the FIRST time I have ever gotten past that feeling of dread of being “bad”.   Two mini pieces of chocolate didn’t do me in and it’s OK to have them.


2.     I made time to workout in the evenings and I spoke to my hubby about my commitment to working out.   He has been fully supportive and has taken on the 3 children even when he was really ill just because he knew I needed my time to fulfill my exercise goal.  I chose to do Jillian’s 30 minute shred because it’s quick and yet a very effective workout for someone just starting out.  I know I’ll need to add more time later, but for now it’s great!


3.     This morning we had staff meetings and I am in charge of ordering the doughnuts for the entire staff.  This means that I have to deliver the boxes of yummy goodness to each building and then attend all of the meetings were the deliciousness is sitting waiting for my hand to grab one.  During past situations I would have had 2.  Today I told myself that I didn’t need one.  I talked myself through each meeting.  I told myself that they smelled good, but that I had already had breakfast and I wasn’t hungry.  Then I removed myself from the room as soon as the meeting was over.  It worked!  I didn’t have any and I was completely fine with it.  I don’t feel deprived or left out. 

It’s only been 5 days, but I am extremely proud of what has been happening.  I am a much better mom and wife when I feel good about my progress.  I’ll be weighing in on Sunday!

M

Monday, February 20, 2012

Starting again and again and again

So I hope that this is the first of many posts.  Today is day #1 of getting back on track.  Too many things have happened in the last month and sadly I just didn't stick to it.  I think I tried to start off to quickly with exercising after having my baby.  This week he is 9 weeks old and I am finally back into my daily schedule.  I think that will help tremendously.  I need a schedule to keep myself busy, but it also means that I need to work really hard to find ways to get my exercise in.  Yesterday I had a date with Billy....Billy Blanks the Taebo king.  I bought a new DVD with hand weights.  Today I took a short jog outside.  I know I need to get more in, but I want to start slowly and I just need to do a little even if it doesn't seem like I'm doing much.


I have several topics for this post, but frankly there is too much to include in one post.  Look for upcoming posts about the following:


1.  Running in COLD weather (at least I consider it cold!)
2.  Being allergic to running (hives and all)?
3.  Sticking to a plan and not giving up when you slip up
4.  Running shoes; do I really need a special fitting?
5.  Signing up for races
6.  Finding time for exercise
7.  What to eat when the family is eating out


I'm BACK!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Will I Ever Find My Way?

I just wish I could figure this out.  I want so badly to lose weight and like what I see when I look at myself, but I just can't stick to it.  I don't know what I need to do to get my motivation to stick.  I start, last a few days, and then just give up.  I usually have some sort of slip up and then I just throw in the towel.  I KNOW that one slip up is not the end of the world and that I should just keep moving forward, but I don't think I have forced myself to really believe in that.  It's so hard for me to know what is rational and then yet I can't seem to get it through my head.  


I saw this on someone's blog today.  I was scanning random blogs, so I apologize that I don't know where I stole it from.  If you are reading this and it was yours, please tell me so I can give credit where it is due.


Why am I not important to myself?  I obviously always make excuses and stop working towards my goal.  Why can't I find the way?  What is it I am missing?  I think that I need a mind makeover before I can start my body makeover.  At least that's how I feel.  I need to believe in the process and believe in myself.  When I figure it out, I'll let you all know!



Monday, January 2, 2012

Baby Weight

Yesterday I achieved something great and I forgot to mention it!  I had my precious baby on 12/15/11.  He's a perfect baby.  He rarely cries and sleeps for 4 hour blocks of time at night and I constantly think to myself that going from 2 to 3 has been MUCH easier than I imagined.  In fact, dealing with the older two has been harder on me!  



So what have I done that is so important??  I have officially LOST all of the baby weight.  I can't say that my weight that I carry is "baby weight."  I was 180 before getting pregnant and yesterday I weighed in at 179.8.  YAY!  I have never had a problem losing that which I gain while pregnant.  I don't tend to gain a lot anyway.  I'm usually really sick and then towards the end I just don't feel like eating much.  After having my babies the weight seems to fall off because of breast feeding.  I can't say that it's easy to keep off once I stop breast feeding, but I'll take what I can get to start my progress!


So while some of you are throwing daggers at me for saying that it's "easy" to lose my baby weight....  please know that I have weight to lose yet that piled up LONG before I had any of my babies.  The most I ever gained with any pregnancy was 25 pounds.  This last pregnancy I gained 24 pounds.  Those are the "easy" pounds to lose. However, it's the 35 pounds I found in high school and college that I can't seem to lose!!!


That's my news and that's what I wanted to share.  At least I have a good start.  Now I just need to keep it going.  :)

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Here's to a New Year and a New Me!

Happy 2012!  The kids, hubby, and I stayed up until exactly 12:01am.  Well, I'm pretty sure I was out after that, but the kids might have still been awake!  I'm not much for going out on NYE now that we have kids. It just means sitters, anxiety, and coming home late to find who knows what happened while we were gone! We don't have a reliable sitter that I would be ok leaving my 2 week old with anyway!  (or my 2 year old :)


So what does the new year mean to me?  Well, for one, it's a good time to start anew since I just had baby bean.  I am only 2.5 weeks past having him, so it's not like I can go out and run 5 miles, but it does give me a sense of "a new life."   I hope start walking and eventually running and I would like to start eating healthier.  I did buy the foods I need yesterday, now I just need to eat them!


I guess I should set some goals or write a resolution or something...isn't that what EVERYONE is doing?  Whatever....I'm not much for having a resolution, but I do want to leave some goals to reflect back on next year.  


1.  Lose 35 pounds over the year (the RIGHT way-exercising and eating better)
2.  Be active at least 4 days a week 
3.  Run four 5Ks this year
4.  Sign up for a 10K if I can find one in the area
5.  Look into training for a 1/2 marathon and eventually a full
6.  Buy a bike for myself
7.  Add in some strength training to my exercise to build muscles
8.  Get hubby to be healthier with me by exercising and cutting down on the bad foods
9.  Read 3 adult books that will help motivate me to meet my goals
10.  Keep my food diary up to date so that I can review it and be accountable


So there... I did it.  These are the same goals I seem to have each time I "start" over.  This time I want it to be the last time I start over.  I know there will be some slip ups or some times when I need to realign my thoughts and goals, but I want to say that I really put my heart into it and did it.  I have read so many blogs where the women are so inspirational.  Each one of them seem to have finally gotten their motivation to follow through after several starts.  I want this to be my time!



Tuesday, December 20, 2011

More Bumps in the road I am NOT running!

I'm still typing from a hospital bed. I know that I wouldn't even be ready to exercise yet, but it just feels like this road I'm on it one that I won't be running for a long time! I'm slowly healing, but the process has been extremely painful this time around. As for our new baby... he was readmitted today for problems with his jaundice. So I'm in a new hospital bed, no more comfortable then a few days ago. In a few months, this will all be just a faint memory.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

In the Beginning


You'll probably laugh, but I'm writing this first post from my hospital bed.  Right now I couldn't if I tired.  The title of my blog is, "Because I Can." and I mean that.  I'm going to do it.  I'm going to do it, "Because I Can."  It will just be a bit before I can!  You see, I just had my 3rd baby.  My baby boy was born on 12/15/11.  He is just the most precious thing and I am so happy to have my prince.  I was doing well before finding out that I was unexpectedly expecting.  I was into exercising and I was working up to being able to run 5Ks.  In fact, I ran my first ever 5K when I was about 6 weeks pregnant.  It was an amazing experience , but I knew that I wouldn't be able to run through my pregnancy.  That thought turned into not being able to barely move.  I had so much sciatic nerve pain and eventually SPD issues.  My baby boy came quickly after having issues with his heart rate during labor.


As I sit here and type this, I am experiencing the most extreme pain in my pelvic region.  I believe that I injured something during labor due to not being able to feel my pushes.  I had an epidural done and that combined with pushing when I already had problems with my pubic bone probably caused some injury.  The doctors and nurses seem to be ignoring my cries of pain.  They blow them off as if I should be aware that labor is hard on the body.  Ummmm....yeah.... I know, I have 2 other children and I realize that labor is not easy.  However, I have never had this much pain afterwards.  I have never been on day three having problems getting out of bed, let alone walking.  Just the pain from swinging my legs out of bed is enough to make me want to stay stationary for the rest of my life.


I digress.... this blog is BECAUSE I CAN.  I will, because I can.  I have planned for this moment my whole pregnancy.  I knew that as soon as I delivered my baby boy that I would begin planning to start moving forward with my health and fitness.  I want to begin running (in a few months!) and I want to go back to charting and tracking my nutrition.  I want to do this, well, BECAUSE I CAN.  There have been so many instances in my life recently when people have had options taken away from them.  They can't because something took that control away from them.   It makes me sad, it makes me mad, it makes me realize that I should do these things for myself because I can.  I have the ability to be healthy, no one is taking that away from me.  I want to take advantage of that while I have the choice to do so.


So....  as things heal, as the pain subsides, as life moves forward, I will start focusing on what I CAN do and not what I can't.