Finally, I made it to my first short term goal!

I am pretty sure no one noticed, but I purposely skipped last week's blog because I felt like such a failure. For two weeks I was stuck at the same darn weight! And I didn't know why. I felt completely uninspired, so I had to allow myself a little pity party...but only for  moment. After I dusted myself off, I combed through my diet and workout routine with a fine tooth comb. Had I taken in a few of those "bad" carbs? Yes, I did! I have determined that my body just can't handle certain enriched pastas. Had I started my free weight program? No, I didn't because I was too much of a coward to get out there on the mat in the gym. Sure, I know nobody is concerned about what I am doing, but I can't help but feel a little self conscience. Thankfully, a good friend of mine gave me a couple of her free weights so now I can do my own program in the comfort of my home.

I am looking at myself in a new light, well at least this week. Trying not to body bash, because God thinks I am beautiful (after all he did make me in his image), my husband thinks I am sexy (well I think that is one of the reasons he married me, I hope not the only reason), so why wasn't I giving my self any credit? Although I was stuck at the same weight, I did notice my body changing in areas that have not changed in years.A few of my pants are a little looser. So something was happening. What did that stupid scale know anyway?

I think I did become a little obsessed with the scale. Instead of just weighing myself once a day, I would do it throughout the day.This has not been such a good idea because our weights vary throughout the day. But, because I am a creature of habit, I need to weigh myself on a daily basis to keep myself in check. It is so easy for me to get off track. Now I am rejoicing, I reached my 1st short term goal weight. I have not seen that number in about 2 yrs, and now I am so ready to get past that number. I am excited because I am learning to do something that I have had difficulty doing for long time: Celebrate me and not sweat the small stuff!

WEIGHT LOSS TO DATE: 27 lbs. I reached my 1st goal!

Milk:It Does A Body Good

   I have never been a big milk drinker. Even as a child, I would only put just enough milk over my cereal to cover it, would only drink it if it was mixed with something (i.e icecream, chocolate syrup), or if I needed it for cooking purposes. I remember as a grad student at the University of Central Florida, I had this crazy roommate, who I would call obsessed with milk (T, if by chance you are reading this, you know I love you girl!). Most of us in the apartment could use a half gallon of milk in 1 week, maybe a week in a half. I swear T would drink like a gallon a day. She even had these pajamas with cows on it and the little footies. Can you imagine a grown female with a one piece red pajama suit covered with cows and footies? It was hilarious, but she was unashamed about her milk obsession.

   Recently, I have been drinking these carnation instant breakfast powders in the mornings, which you have to mix with a glass of milk. Ideally for the extremely health conscience person, fat free skim milk is the milk of choice. But, I have not reached that point yet, and I have settled for 2% lactose free milk to prevent stomach upset. However, this last week, I was unable to get to the store after I ran out of my milk. So for breakfast I would eat some fruit and nutella and a bottle of water. But this week, I noticed that I gained weight. Well, you can imagine my frustration. Not only did I gain weight, but I was further away from my goal. I hadn't changed my workout routine, and  I pretty much ate the same type of meals with the same frequency. But I put on 3 pounds!

   Looking  back over the week, I realized that I had not had my daily glass of milk. I have read various articles that suggest one glass of milk daily, regardless of the fat content, can aid in weight loss. Now even though I have heard of this before, I never considered it because at that point in my life I was not actively trying to lose weight. After an intense workout at the gym on Friday, I went to the store and got my milk. Now, I don't know if it was the workout, or the fact that I was able to drink my milk the next morning before work, but I am back on the losing side. So, maybe my dear friend T was onto something. Though you may not see me leaping for joy in a cow jumpsuit, I think I may be a new fan of milk. There are so many healthy ways to make it enjoyable for me, that I am able to make it a regular part of my diet, and hopefully lose some weight!

WEIGHT LOSS TO DATE: Well, tune in next week. I think I may reach my goal!

Mixing It Up

Although I did lose a few pounds this week, it was tough. I worked out hard as usual, ate as well as I have been eating, but would step on the scale and did not get the results I felt I should get. I am still one pound short of my first short term goal, which I should have met this week. One pertinent element of my fitness routine that I did notice was that I am not doing a variety of activities to keep my interest in exercise. This is my typical routine at the gym: I get on the stair climber, then alternate running and walking on the treadmill, the elliptical, and then the weight machines. I try to time each workout so that it is a little over an hour, because I don't think I could stand much more than that.

Looking back, I remember being in grad school in Orlando and I would frequent a local park to try to teach myself how to rollerblade. Now, I could hardly skate on 4 wheels, and I was trying to skate on 3. It was quite hilarious! I would only skate during the non-populated hours and warn the people who were experts at rollerblading to quickly skate around me because I didn't know how to stop without veering into the grass. I even fell into the mud one time. As terrible as I was at rollerblading, I really enjoyed it. Now, I feel the need to be a bit more responsible because I have a family. I can't risk breaking a leg trying to be adventurous.

However, I  do feel the need to be a little more open to other methods of exercise. I really have not indulged in any exercise DVDs, I hear that P90X is great! Heck, I even thought about pole dancing (don't judge me! :P). I am open to Zumba and ballroom dancing, and it is a goal of mine to take swimming lessons. You see, I am in this thing for the long haul. I don't want to be bored trying to stay healthy. I would venture to say that monotony is one of the primary reasons people fall off the healthy train. My first step to changing up my routine is to buy some free weights. Yes, they have them at the gym, but I am a little too shy to sit in the middle of the gym doing odd exercises in front of everybody(it took me months to build up the courage to work out on the weight machines because I was so self-conscience).

I plan on adding something new to my regimen at least once a month. I welcome any other safe suggestions to modifying my daily workout routine. And please, continue to pray for me while I am on my journey.

WEIGHT LOSS AFTER 9 WEEKS: 25 pounds! 1 pound away from my first short term goal!