Now that the holidays are over...who am I kidding, they have been over for almost 3 weeks...I can get back to blogging on a regular basis. I've been doing what can be expected of a mother, working when I can and playing with my kids during every roller coaster day. Life as a mother certainly is a ride I wouldn't change for the world, but some days I just want some adult conversation and interaction. You know, where I am not trying to decipher what is being said to me by Dom and listening to a cooing baby. I do appreciate being able to stay home with my kids and being able to see them learn and grow. I cherish the awesomeness watching Dom learn and seeing his "ah ha" moments. I love cooing with Rowan and playing on the floor with both boys. I know somedays are hard and I have to pray to get through them, but usually I am praying that tomorrow will be better. I pray that the good days and moments out weigh the bad. I want to be able to look back on these challenging days raising my kids and say :"wow, what a wild ride!" I know my job as a parent will never end. I know this because there are still days when I lean on my parents and/or my in-laws. The difference now is that I fully appreciate everything they have done and will do for me in the future. I do chores unasked when we visit because I know how much laundry there really is to be folded and how many dishes pile up by the end of the day. I thank my parents for instilling good morals and values in my brother and I, though I think we were force fed it sometimes:) As an adult I can challenge them more, but I do it out of the need for a good debate instead of just to be contrary. I love my parents and I love them more for continuing to be supportive and be the parent every child needs. Thank you Mom and Dad.
But I digress. Even with adult conversation and interaction, it sometimes isn't enough. Let's be real, not all adults act their age. Thus my need for a debate is not always filled. Luckily I married an amazing man who will talk when I want to listen and listen when I need to talk. DJ is well educated and knows when I need a challenging conversation. Thank You.
I could probably ramble on about this for a few more paragraphs, but I bet there are better things to accomplish. I need to feed Rowan, take a shower and get us all ready for a trip to the airport (hopefully the runways open soon). Here comes my BFF!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Friday, December 23, 2011
...life...
so these past 2 weeks, you know the ones I have yet to write about, have been utter chaos. Dom decided to be the devil reincarnate and Rowan has decided he needs to sleep with us in order to sleep longer than 1 hour at a time; both of which led to the demise of my fitness goals. Once I finally had nap time and/or night time to myself, all I have wanted to do is pass out or zone out. I didn't let my deflated mental status totally derail me though. I have gotten a few walks in pushing the double stroller (no an easy task mind you) and I recently went back to work at the Poulsbo Athletic Club. So I have been taking advantage of the time away from the kiddos to get my own work out in while at the gym. I will admit that most of my workouts could be a higher intensity, but for now all I am focused on is fitting it in my life. I also need to reign in my over eating at night. I have been SUPER DUPER hungry after about 4pm and barely hungry before 4pm. I have tried forcing myself to eat regular meals and snacks to keep my night time munching at bay, but have had no success and just end up eating WAY too many calories for the day. I think I will just listen to my body and eat when I am hungry. Maybe my body is replenishing itself at night from all the nursing during the day? My plan is to make it through this weekend and stick to my monday weigh in, even if it is not pretty.
I got rid of some extra weight in the house today by cleaning out Dom's toys and my clothes. two boxes and a garbage bag later, I feel significantly lighter. Now to get DJ to clean out his clothes and to get the rest of our yardsale stuff sold! Once all this extra stuff is out of the house, I may actually be able to make an attempt to keep it cleaner;)
Happy Holidays, merry Christmas... I'll be back and in line ready for a renewed motivation to lose the baby weight!
I got rid of some extra weight in the house today by cleaning out Dom's toys and my clothes. two boxes and a garbage bag later, I feel significantly lighter. Now to get DJ to clean out his clothes and to get the rest of our yardsale stuff sold! Once all this extra stuff is out of the house, I may actually be able to make an attempt to keep it cleaner;)
Happy Holidays, merry Christmas... I'll be back and in line ready for a renewed motivation to lose the baby weight!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
deal of the day
Every morning when I wake up, I make a deal with myself. I try to make these deals attainable but challenging for my current lifestyle. They are little mini goals to get me motivated for the day ahead. The deal of the day today is to get outside for my workout. I am in desparate need of a nap today so I am going to nap when the kids do. My plan is to bundle the kids up, put Dom in the stroller and Rowan in the front pack after nap and hit the pavement walking. This deal with myself gets us all fresh air and gets me a different form of working out since all I have done since last tuesday is my elliptical machine.
I challenge you all to make a deal with yourself, no matter how small, just to keep your motivation up. Beware of food deals since they tend to lend to slacking off in the nutrition department. Case in point is what I have done the past two nights; DJ has brought pizza home the past two nights. I am a pizza lover, especially thin crust so he is enabling me and my bad habits. Thus I have eaten late at night and after I have already eaten dinner. Yesterday I didn't go over my caloric allowance, but the day before I did. I even worked out extra hard yesterday to make up for the extra caloric intake from the day before. My only saving grace yesterday was the fact I forgot to eat lunch so I was really low in my intake before he came home with the pizza. Alas I must take the blame upon myself letting my will power wane. I made the deal in my head that because I had worked out, I deserved the pizza. WRONG! Avoid those food rewards at all costs! Reward yourself instead with new music, workout clothes, shoes, pedicures, manicures, movies, etc. The biggest reward you can give yourself is better health and quality of life now and in the future.
I challenge you all to make a deal with yourself, no matter how small, just to keep your motivation up. Beware of food deals since they tend to lend to slacking off in the nutrition department. Case in point is what I have done the past two nights; DJ has brought pizza home the past two nights. I am a pizza lover, especially thin crust so he is enabling me and my bad habits. Thus I have eaten late at night and after I have already eaten dinner. Yesterday I didn't go over my caloric allowance, but the day before I did. I even worked out extra hard yesterday to make up for the extra caloric intake from the day before. My only saving grace yesterday was the fact I forgot to eat lunch so I was really low in my intake before he came home with the pizza. Alas I must take the blame upon myself letting my will power wane. I made the deal in my head that because I had worked out, I deserved the pizza. WRONG! Avoid those food rewards at all costs! Reward yourself instead with new music, workout clothes, shoes, pedicures, manicures, movies, etc. The biggest reward you can give yourself is better health and quality of life now and in the future.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
when life gives you lemons
The "lemons" today have been the lack of sleep last night combined with Dominic's extreme effort not to nap. The "lemonade" has been my perseverance over those lemons; I managed to get Dominic to sleep after over an hour of trying (he's still alseep, so I know he needed the nap). I also drank some coffee (not my normal routine) in order to stay awake this morning and it made me so wired that I pounded out a 65 minute high intensity workout in the ellitical! Let's just say I'm darn proud of myself and still a bit wired.
The above was from yesterday during nap time. I planned on getting back on here to finish this post, but life got in the way. Ahh, life as a mom of 2.
The above was from yesterday during nap time. I planned on getting back on here to finish this post, but life got in the way. Ahh, life as a mom of 2.
Monday, December 5, 2011
just make the time
Today as I struggled to find my motivation to workout while Dom was napping, I realized how life was before I had children. It went a little like this: wake up, work, workout, work, workout eat, sleep; in all sorts of various patterns. On top of the aerobics classes I taught on a regular basis, I also had the time to maintain my own workouts between my personal training clients and working at the front desk of the gym I where I work. I admit my nurtitional skills were lacking at that point, otherwise I probably would have had the bosy of a fitness model (wouldn't that have been nice).
Then baby number one came along. I found out I was pregnant with Dominic shortly after finishing the Seattle to Portland bicycle ride (STP), so I had trained and ridden this race while pregnant. I wasn't at a desired weight at the time, in fact I was about 10 pounds heavier than my normal heaviest weight I allow myself to reach. However, the doctors advise that you continue with your current exercise program (within limits). So I continued to cycle until 34 weeks pregnant, when my knees kept hitting my belly enough to be uncomfortable. After Dom was born, the 38 pounds I gained while pregnant came off fairly easily. I was down to my pre-pregnancy weight by the time he was 3 months old; remember that I was 10 pounds heavier than I like to be at my heaviest. So by the time he was 6 months old, I was down to the top of my weight limit at 175. I managed to reach 160 pounds before Dom turned 1 year old by training for my first half marathon. With one baby, my work halted for a couple months and I had no one else to worry about so I could load him up in the stroller and walk for hours a day (in multiple outings). When I started working again, I allowed myself time a few days a week to be able to stay at the gym long enough to get my weight lifting done and I started running instead of walking. FYI, running while pushing a stroller up and down these hills has got to be the best way to train for a race; I felt like I was flying while running the half marathon since I wasn't pushing the stroller.
Now along comes baby number two. Fast forward a few months and I had gained back 11 pounds, putting me up to 171. I like to blame it on softball season, drinking too many beers after games later at night and a weird eating schedule. I do know better though, and have to admit I started slacking off on my workouts and letting work take a priority instead. With Rowan, I gained 37 pounds and he was almost one pound larger than dominic so I feel like this weight should be coming off just as fast if not faster than before. Well, reality hit me today while I was pounding away on the elliptical: I now have two children to care for and my time is VERY limited based on their activities and sleep/eat schedules. I must "MAKE THE TIME." Workouts need to be yet another thing I must schedule in order to get them done.
After all this, I bet you are all wondering what I got done today. I managed to get a full hour cardio in on the elliptical, with a small break to nurse Rowan and put him down for a nap. The first 34 minutes, Rowan sat in bouncy seat and watched me. Then he got fussy and it took me about 15 minutes to get him to sleep. I got all relaxed during this 15 minute break and almost didn't get back on the machine, but my will power persevered and I finished out the 60 minutes.
So the moral of the story goes like this: MAKE THE TIME, even if it is just a few minutes here and there. Every little bit counts, though it is better to get it all in at once if you can. Don't beat yourself up if you can't finish a workout because we all have things in life that are going to try to derail us from our goals. I know I am extra motivated now. Plus my weightloss for the past week (see below) is a great incentive to keep at it. I send you all good energy for this coming week.
weight: 184.5
PS I know this is a lot of weight to lose in one week, but I am chalking it up to extra water weight form overeating at Thanksgiving. I do not expect to lose 8.5 pounds every week, nor do I want to. If I continue to lose that much each weeek, I will adjust my caloric intake accordingly.
Then baby number one came along. I found out I was pregnant with Dominic shortly after finishing the Seattle to Portland bicycle ride (STP), so I had trained and ridden this race while pregnant. I wasn't at a desired weight at the time, in fact I was about 10 pounds heavier than my normal heaviest weight I allow myself to reach. However, the doctors advise that you continue with your current exercise program (within limits). So I continued to cycle until 34 weeks pregnant, when my knees kept hitting my belly enough to be uncomfortable. After Dom was born, the 38 pounds I gained while pregnant came off fairly easily. I was down to my pre-pregnancy weight by the time he was 3 months old; remember that I was 10 pounds heavier than I like to be at my heaviest. So by the time he was 6 months old, I was down to the top of my weight limit at 175. I managed to reach 160 pounds before Dom turned 1 year old by training for my first half marathon. With one baby, my work halted for a couple months and I had no one else to worry about so I could load him up in the stroller and walk for hours a day (in multiple outings). When I started working again, I allowed myself time a few days a week to be able to stay at the gym long enough to get my weight lifting done and I started running instead of walking. FYI, running while pushing a stroller up and down these hills has got to be the best way to train for a race; I felt like I was flying while running the half marathon since I wasn't pushing the stroller.
Now along comes baby number two. Fast forward a few months and I had gained back 11 pounds, putting me up to 171. I like to blame it on softball season, drinking too many beers after games later at night and a weird eating schedule. I do know better though, and have to admit I started slacking off on my workouts and letting work take a priority instead. With Rowan, I gained 37 pounds and he was almost one pound larger than dominic so I feel like this weight should be coming off just as fast if not faster than before. Well, reality hit me today while I was pounding away on the elliptical: I now have two children to care for and my time is VERY limited based on their activities and sleep/eat schedules. I must "MAKE THE TIME." Workouts need to be yet another thing I must schedule in order to get them done.
After all this, I bet you are all wondering what I got done today. I managed to get a full hour cardio in on the elliptical, with a small break to nurse Rowan and put him down for a nap. The first 34 minutes, Rowan sat in bouncy seat and watched me. Then he got fussy and it took me about 15 minutes to get him to sleep. I got all relaxed during this 15 minute break and almost didn't get back on the machine, but my will power persevered and I finished out the 60 minutes.
So the moral of the story goes like this: MAKE THE TIME, even if it is just a few minutes here and there. Every little bit counts, though it is better to get it all in at once if you can. Don't beat yourself up if you can't finish a workout because we all have things in life that are going to try to derail us from our goals. I know I am extra motivated now. Plus my weightloss for the past week (see below) is a great incentive to keep at it. I send you all good energy for this coming week.
weight: 184.5
PS I know this is a lot of weight to lose in one week, but I am chalking it up to extra water weight form overeating at Thanksgiving. I do not expect to lose 8.5 pounds every week, nor do I want to. If I continue to lose that much each weeek, I will adjust my caloric intake accordingly.
Friday, December 2, 2011
weightloss journey
I want to invite all of you to hold yourselves accountable to your own weightloss by weighing in every monday with me and posting a comment on my blog with my own weight statistics. Let's encourage each other and help answer any questions. I love you all and wish you the best of luck with where ever you are in your personal journey. Cheers to ending 2011 healthy and happy. Remember that the average person gains eight pounds in the eight weeks between Halloween and Christmas, so if you maintain your current weight then you are already ahead of the game!
the dreaded day 3
I started the day so proud of myself for persevering over the busy day I had yesterday. Between grocery shopping, naptime, work, dinner and bath/bed time, it was 830pm before I even thought about starting my workout. Once Rowan was swaddled and swinging while he slept, I flew through the house to find all my workout gear I needed (heart rate monitor, music and shoes) and started pumping on the elliptical in the garage. By the way, the garage is the best place to workout because it is so cool, I really have to work hard to cause a sweat! But I digress. Once I place my heavy feet on the machine, my energy immediatley lifted and my 30 minute workout became high intensity for the duration. I found myself singing out loud and dancing, that's how good I felt.
This good feeling transferred into today. In the past, day three of a new routine has always proven to be the roughest physically and emotionally on me. I truly believe that the great end to my day yesterday made me completely forget about today being day three. Infact, I didn't realize it was day three until after dinner as I was putting the leftover ham and bean soup (thanks mom for the recipe) in tupperware! I was ecstatic that I'd managed to get through the day with out diverging from my plan; I even passed when offered a cinnabon cinnamon roll (did you know those things have 730 calories and 24 grams of fat! Thats more that 1/3 what an average person should eat in a day)
I was so focused today that my elliptical and I had another intimate 60 minutes suring nap time. I managed to get 45 minutes finished before Dom woke up from his nap, then distracted him for the remainder of the 60 minutes by letting him punch/kick/push my stability ball around the garage and toss daddy's disc golf discs into the bike trailer.
All of the above now off my chest, I feel super proud of myself! This is the start of a great future.
This good feeling transferred into today. In the past, day three of a new routine has always proven to be the roughest physically and emotionally on me. I truly believe that the great end to my day yesterday made me completely forget about today being day three. Infact, I didn't realize it was day three until after dinner as I was putting the leftover ham and bean soup (thanks mom for the recipe) in tupperware! I was ecstatic that I'd managed to get through the day with out diverging from my plan; I even passed when offered a cinnabon cinnamon roll (did you know those things have 730 calories and 24 grams of fat! Thats more that 1/3 what an average person should eat in a day)
I was so focused today that my elliptical and I had another intimate 60 minutes suring nap time. I managed to get 45 minutes finished before Dom woke up from his nap, then distracted him for the remainder of the 60 minutes by letting him punch/kick/push my stability ball around the garage and toss daddy's disc golf discs into the bike trailer.
All of the above now off my chest, I feel super proud of myself! This is the start of a great future.
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