A conscious effort

A big "sorry" goin' out to all of you faithful blog followers who keep checking my fitness blog only to find out I've been slacking in the "posting area." Sorry! I will tell you that I most definitely have NOT been slacking in the weight loss area! After my big "victory" last week, I actually got even sicker and had a pretty crummy weekend--I even missed my beloved double-duty Saturday workout! Thank goodness for my bodybugg, I was able to see how far off from my deficit goal I was and divide that by the remaining days I had left in the week, which turned out to be 260 calories each day. So yesterday, today, and tomorrow, I have to have an additional defecit of 260 cals. I did it yesterday, I did it today, and I'll do it tomorrow! Woo whoo. Let's just hope my good pal Mr. Scale agrees.
2.5lbs per week doesn't seem like that much to me--or at least it didn't in the past, but I am working my BUTT off to get there! Holy cow, it is NOt easy! I am putting in anywhere from 1.5-3 hours in the gym EACH DAY (except Sundays), and then on top of that extra movement throughout the day. It really is important to move A LOT during the day. Especially since at home I'm usually just working on my computer = NOT a whole lot of calorie burnin' goin on. I have to make a conscious effort to move move move all the time. Which can be pretty tiring, thus the extra workouts. It is a decision though. Each and every day I decide to eat good, I decide to workout, I decide to be healthy. And you know what? I LOVE IT! :) Night night.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS

Weigh-in day today. And the result? I lost 3.4 pounds!!!! YEAAA!! I'm so excited. I think a lot if it is attributed to the fact that I really cut back on my sodium intake. It can really sneak up on you. For lunches I was eating just plain deli turkey and carrots. What I didn't realize was that the deli turkey has A TON of sodium in it (I knew there was a reason it tasted so good!). So after not meeting my 2.5lb goal for the last 2 weeks, I switched my lunches to eating turkey tacos. They're super yummy. All I do is brown some lean ground turkey in a pan, then add 1/4 c green chile enchalada sauce and a little bit of cheese. Then put those into 2 corn taco size tortillas. A yummy lunch for only 330 calories. Not to mention much less sodium.
I still feel kinda yucky, but that doesn't stop me from getting my workouts in. I actully think working out helps me to get better faster. I didn't go to BodyCombat yesterday morning for sake of "taking it easy." But I did still meet my calories burned goal. I also purchased a Billy Blanks Tae Bo video to do at home at night when I still need to burn more calories. This is great since sometimes getting to the gym is hard for the SECOND time during the day. So I can just pull out the video and burn those last 400 calories. I'd like to get a couple more videos so that I don't get bored with them.
Small victory: I can put on my pre-pregnancy jeans! These aren't my "skinny skinny" jeans, but they're the ones I was wearing before I was pregnant. I can't zip them up yet, but it was exciting to see that I can at least put them on! lol. It was not too long ago that I couldn't even put my legs into them. I will keep trying them on, I'm thinking another 6 pounds and I'll be able to wear them again. I'm only 8.8 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight! Then 15 more to go after that for my pre-wedding weight!!! :)
So Boyd and I are watching The Biggest Loser. It's a really great show, and it keeps us going. If those people can do it, so can we!!

UGH

Hi all,
Ugh today sucked. Boyd is sick, I think he has the flu, and was up late coughing, and then Eli decided to wake up at 6am and cry until 8am. Needless to say I missed my morning workout due to feeling tired and have a sore throat/sick feeling of my own. I got to the gym around 3 and did BodyPump, 30mins of cardio, and then RPM and I STILL did not meet my calories burned goal. In fact, I missd it by 400 cals. GRRR. I burn way more calories throughout the day if I workout in the morning. Good to know.
I felt awful after leaving the gym and now I'm in bed with chills. Great I think I have the flu.
I'll keep you upated...

Day 15

Well so I didn't make 156, but I stil lost 2 pounds this week, so thats a good thing. Here is an updated pic, I'm still not lovin' the way I look, but it is an improvement over a month ago. I can really tell a difference in my stomach, that's where I've lost the most weight (which makes sense seeing as that is where a lot of the baby weight is!).

I'm going to make sure I meet my calories burned goal every single day, and if I haven't met it by 8pm, then I will head to the gym and walk on the treadmill until I do meet it. Once I start sticking to that, I should be able to meet my 2.5lbs goal.

I've been doing RPM (spin) about everyday and it's going really great, such a good workout!

Eli has been sleeping really good at night so that is helping too, in fact, last night, he slept the whole night--woo whoo! Makes it nice when I get a full night's sleep without any interruptions.

The best part about all this is how I feel. I may not look strong, but I am starting to feel stronger and stronger each day. I can push myself a little harder at each workout and I love that feeling! Thanks to all of you reading this keeping me accountable!!

156...156...156...156...

156. That's my goal for this week. That's all I'm focusing on. Honestly, I don't know if I'm going to get there. But I'm sure going to try. Today was a double workout day. Tripple really. I did BodyPump, then an hour of cardio, then I did RPM (spin class), actually if you count taking Eli on a walk to the post office, I guess it was like a quadrouple workout day. Whew, I'm pretty tired. But you know what? It feels good. I have to figure out some sort of activity to do on Sunday's because I really get behind on Sunday's. I don't even meet my defecit goal by half! Perhaps Boyd will agee to go on a long walk with me and Eli on Sunday's.
So in addition to keeping track of how may calores I burn, my bodybugg also keeps track of how many steps I take throughout the day. My target is 10,000 steps each day. Today (as of 9pm) I have taken over 16,000! WOAH! That's pretty good!
Eating is going good. Tell me something, why oh WHY do grocery stores have to put the yummy bakery items in the very FRONT of the store? I literally have to walk around the pink frosted cookies when I go to Safeway after my workouts. SO ANNOYING! It should be illegal, seriously. Thank goodness I am determined to lose this weight, otherwise I might have succombed to the allmighty pink cookie!! :)
Happy workouts everybody!
Love
Sarah

Day 9

Okay so a few things. I will now refer to the stairmill as "the torture machine" which I guess makes me a masochist (someone who derives pleasure from pain). If you are unfamilair with "the torture machine" it is definitely NOT your average stair master. No siree, picture in your mind walking up a flight of stairs. Now picture that flight of stairs being 80 stories high, or bett yet, neverending. That my friends is the stairmill. Yep a never ending flight of stairs. Woowee does it work your booty though! :) I work in 4 sets of 5 minutes during my cardio routine. I love it I love it I love it. lol
Second thing, have you ever seen the music video "Buttons" from the Pussycat Dolls? If you haven't it's actually quite inappropriate, very riskay. Well it came on at the gym yesterday and although it is riskay and definitely NOT appropriate for children (or any guy for that matter), those girls ARE IN AMAAAAAZING SHAPE!! And I will strive to be in that good of shape! :) I guess if you danced like that (or wore what they were wearing--or weren't wearing really) you'd have to be in good shape! Regardless, that is my ultimate goal. (probably after I'm done breastfeeding though cause I can't be too lean right yet)
Okay moving on. Last night Boyd's mom took us all out to dinner for Cameron's (Boyd's brother) birthday. Boyd and I suggested our favorite "eat out good" place, Cafe Rio where we can get a yummy salad, omit the rice, tortilla, and salad dressing. But since it was Cameron's birthday, it was his choice. He and Alicia suggested California Pizza Kitchen. Let me tell you a little something about myself if you aren't aware of this already. If you truly are what you eat, then I am one GIANT piece of pizza. Yep I LOVE pizza. I ate it almost every day throughout my pregnancy. Not only do I love pizza, but I ESPECIALLY love California Pizza Kitchen. So... I know what you're thinking... I totally caved and ate a 1,500 calorie pizza last night for dinner... WRONGO!!! Nope, I, for the first time in my life, ordered a salad at California Pizza Kitchen!! And guess what?! It was SUPER YUMMY! lol! Suprise suprise. Not only did I order a salad, but I ordered a HALF salad with dressing on the side--and water mind you--another hard thing for me.
Now I know what you're thinking "she's insane! she tortures herself on the stairmill, wakes up early to work out when she's been up with the baby in the night, AND now she's resisting pizza?! That's gotta take willpower!" No my friends, not willpower, MOTIVATION. My house is a motivation gala. I have phrases, pictures (skinny skinny jeans) and other motivators around. My family, friends, and all of you are motivating me. At the gym, I just envision myself toned, lean and fit. I LOVE the way I feel. Leaving the gym is the greatest feeling in the world. Every morning, EVERY MORNING I wake up soooooooo tired and think "ugh I am NOT going to the gym this morning." But then I hear my sweet little boy making noises in his crib, and I'm up. Then I think "okay I'll just feed him in my bed and go back to sleep." But I conquer my deamons every morning and get my workout clothes on, drink my pre-workout drink (yerba matte, its FAB), get in my car, turn on some pumpin' tunes and drive to the gym. Then I gotta stick it out cause the hard part still isn't over. I just keep telling myself at the gym, "just keep going, just keep going, you're already here, make it count."
The other thing that works really well for me is not thinking about the 30 pounds I have to loose, but rather, the 2.5lbs each week. That is all I care about, it's all I focus on. Just get to my goal each week, and week by week I'll make it to 30 pounds lost!
I cooked dinner 6 times this week!!!! For most people this would be nothing to brag about, but for me, it's huge. My hubby and I are compulisve "out-to-eaters" and we have been since we got married. This is probably why we both have weight to lose. So we are really trying hard to eat at home and you know what, it's working! He actually said to me the other night "It's great that we can eat good food and still be losing weight!" We have some great recipes, but I would love more! Email me if you have any low calorie, yummy recipes to pass along my way. Here is our current favorite:
Chicken Marsala

• Pound out 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts to about 1/2" thick. Dust lightly with flour and marjorum (about 2tbs flour, 1 tsp marjorum).
• In a large skillet, sautee sliced green onions and mushrooms in 1 tbs butter (use I can't Believe It's Not Butter for lower fat and cals) (I don't use mushrooms tho b/c Boyd doesn't like them)
• Remove onions and mushroms from skillet, and brown chicken in 2tbs butter (or fake butter)
• Add 1/2 cup chicken broth and 1/2 cup marsala cooking wine (or Dry Sherry, but marsala is better)
• Add in onions and mushrooms
• let simmer until chicken is cooked and sauce is somewhat thick

This is soooooo yum and about 300cals per chicken breast. We love it. We usually eat it over 1/2 cup of rice with some steamed broccoli.

Well I'd better go get some things done...like a shower! I did double duty today again--BodyCombat and BodyPump back to back. I think I will refer to BodyCombat as "BodyInsanity." For those of you wondering what those are, they are aerobics classes from Les Mills, which is an AWESOME aerobics class program, taught at gyms around the country. Click here to see classes available in your area. Anyway, Pump is a weightlifting class and Combat is like kickboxing but WAY intense. You feel so empowered during it!

Thanks to all of you who are checking my blog and keeping me on track!!

Day 7-Weigh-In Day!

I was acutally nervous going in to the gym today! I was really hoping I would meet my goal of 2.5lbs this week. I got on the scale...and...159.2-- so 2lbs lost, which was 1/2 pound lower than I wanted, but that's okay, 2lbs is still really great! I will just have to make up for it this week to stay on track! The best news today was that since December 8th when I first met with my trainer, I've lost 2 inches off my waist and I decreased my body fat by 2%!!! Wooo hoo!!! That was pretty exciting! It's so great to see results. I'm so glad I took my measurements and body fat % in addition to my weight so that even when my weight isn't decreasing like I hope, I can still see progress. It's a great way to keep me motivated.

So I replaced my chair at my desk with a fitness ball. This is a grea way to burn extra calories. I can actually feel my back muscles being a little sore from it already! It'll be interseting to see how many more calories I burn. Even if I burn 1/2 more calorie per minute, that's 30 more calories per hour, times 4 hours at my desk= 120 more caloroies burned! It really is so easy with my bodybugg, makes it just a simple math equation.

Training today went good, ugh I did some crazy oblique exercise on the fitness ball-- it was rough, I'll get better at it though!

So this is a pic of my bodybugg graph to give you a visual of what I look at everyday... this is from Saturday when I did a crazy double workout: