Biggest Loser Revelation

I’m watching The Biggest Loser and had SUCH a revelation!

The doctor asked one of the contestants if he’d find 2 hours a day for chemo if he had lymphoma. Of course yes!  So why wouldn’t he (or I) make the same commitment to lose the weight which, right now, is more dangerous to him than lymphoma.  WOW!!!!  If my doctor told me I had cancer I’d do everything in my power to get better.  I’d rearrange my life to find the time to get treatment.  Why aren’t I already doing that????

My next challenge – change my schedule to fit in a morning workout.  I will start going to bed at 10:30, getting up at 6:30, working out for 45 minutes, shower, and be ready for the kids at 7:30.  Most days I can get in another 20-30 in just by playing with the kids.  How great will that be?  AND I will be getting more sleep than I do now  🙂

I’m going to finish up watching these TBL weigh ins and get my behind to bed!  I am going to work hard tomorrow morning.

 

Day 7 – down 2 lbs? maybe?

I think I lost 2 lbs in the 4 days since I weighed in!  YAY!!!! But…we don’t keep the scale on the floor and this morning I discovered that where I place the scale on the floor significantly changes my number.  In the “best” spots I was down 10 lbs (no way, I’d feel a difference in my pants!) and at worst I was getting my start number of 255.2 (so at least I know for sure I didn’t gain).  After positioning it as closely to last week’s spot as I can remember, I am at 253.2 which is a 2 lbs. loss.  I am super pleased with that and I hope it’s accurate!

Today’s mission is to find a way to keep the scale in one place.  Or maybe to somehow mark the place where I will put the scale before I weigh in.  I might just use painters tape to mark a tile square in the laundry room.  Or possibly my bathroom.  The kids think the scale is fun and if I leave it out they will most definitely fiddle with it! 

I am feeling great!!  I would love to say so much more but E needs a diaper change  🙂

Shelly

 

Day 3 – first weigh in!

I weigh 255.2  not awesome but it’s about what I expected so I don’t feel awful about it.

Gotta get the kids ready for preschool.  Then lots of housework.  And I have to stop and pick up South Beach meal bars b/c my husband finally tried one and decided it’s a good breakfast for him, too!

10:45 pm update:

To make a very long story short, our Thursday schedule requires BG, E, and me to eat lunch away from home.  I had lunch made and in the fridge last night but I forgot to grab it before picking up BG from preschool.  Out of habit we went to McDonald’s, ordered our favorites (including Dr. Pepper!!!), and drove to the park to eat.  The bad news is I was halfway through my sandwich before I realized what I was doing.  The good news is that I shared the rest of my sandwich with BG and tossed the fries.  I even fought the urge to drink the rest of the soda.

So even though I mindlessly made a huge mistake, I did learn that I am strong enough to make a good choice once I see the mistake.  That’s gotta count for something.  It just has to.  Last week I would have eaten all of my food, BG’s leftovers, and E’s extra nuggets (I’d have purposely ordered him more than he could eat, I’d be planning on it!)

For dinner I made a cauliflower crust pizza and used up a bunch of leftovers as toppings.  It was delicious and it’s not making my butt any bigger.

Sweet dreams, Shelly

 

Day 2 – finally bought a new scale

Whew!!  I finally made it to Target for a new scale.  I will weigh in tomorrow for my start weight and then weigh in every Monday after that.  I’m going to take my measurements tomorrow, too.

Food wise I did pretty good yesterday and today.  I haven’t done a real workout either day.  I’m really hoping to get on the elliptical tonight but I have 4 loads of laundry to fold and put away, P’s school bag needs new iron on letters, and the kitchen is trashed!  I might have to resort to marching in place and doing jumping jacks while I do other tasks.  Sounds funny but when I was younger that was the kind of stuff I did when I needed to lose weight.  Won’t work as well at 32, I’m sure, but it’s better than nothing!

Are you thinking that if I’m this pressed for time I should get off this blog?????  Ha ha you’re totally right.  But if I’m going to hold myself accountable I want to get in the habit of stopping in here A LOT!

You know, the best thing I’ve done these two day is drinking more water.  Yesterday I drank about 96 oz without even realizing it.  I’ve had almost that much already and it’s only 8:15 pm.  I don’t know which “expert” to believe about how much water is healthy but I am already feeling good so I’m going to keep it up!

Goodnight dear friends!
Shelly
p.s. I am finding much strength in 3 John 1:2

 

Day 1 – Starts and Goals

Happy new year!
This morning I read 3 John 1:2 and thought it was fitting for this new journey:
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may in good health, as it goes well with your soul

It’s probably a good thing that the scale is broken.  I am retaining a ton of water from all the soda I drank last night.  I’ll head to Target today for a new scale and weigh in tomorrow morning.  But of course I am full-on South Beach Phase 1 today!  I told my husband I wanted to do South Beach for a full year.  He groaned (even though it’s not “diet” food, come on now!).

If you haven’t read about South Beach or low glycemic eating – this is NOT no or low carb.  I’m no expert (or I’d be thin already!!!)  but the gist is this – The first two weeks are low sugar/low carb to flush out the bad stuff and reduce cravings. After that you add in the good carbs and  it’s all about making good choices – brown rice instead of white, whole grains instead of processed bleached flour, reducing sugar intake, eliminating a lot of processed food.  It teaches the habit of making good decisions.  I feel fantastic when I eat like this.  And, bonus, there’s now counting or measuring to worry about.  It’s truly a lifestyle rather than a diet.  Every diet says that, right?  For this, it’s true.  Now I just need to keep up the will power to stay away from the things that trigger cravings for me.  Diet soda is the worst.

In addition to returning to low glycemic / South Beach eating, I have decided to make these commitments:
No Soda!!!
No Fast Food
No Take Out Dinners for the first two weeks and then only SB appropriate take out a maximum of once a week, but I’m aiming for more like every 10-14 days.

I don’t have a total weight loss goal yet.  I know I have at least 100 lbs. to lose.  That’s my starting point.  I’ll adjust for a final weigh number as my body changes.  So many Facebook pages I follow are of women who lost 100+ in a year’s time.  I’d love to do that too!  I don’t know if it’s realistic.  The lady I admire most is 60-something and lost over 100 lbs. in 8 months.  But she also had time to hike for 2-3 hours every day.  I barely have time to brush my teeth!  I don’t want to set myself up for failure but I want to push myself.  Here’s what I’ll do – starting goal: lose 100 lbs. in 2013.  I will reevaluate the time goal every 2 months.

I gorged so bad over the last week that I don’t think I’ve truly felt hungry since before Christmas.  😦  I’m definitely not hungry right now.  When I do get hungry my breakfast will be a South Beach Meal Bar* and a can of V8.  For lunch I’m going to have a big salad with some leftover ham.  Dinner will be ham and cabbage and other veggies.  Or Ham and Cauliflower Gratin from Kalyn’s Kitchen (the absolute best collection of low glycemic/South Beach recipes!).  I’m going to do a minimum of 45 minutes of exercise.  I’m hoping to do something fun, like dancing, today but at the very least I’ll do the elliptical before bed.

Happy New Year to us all!!
Sunshine

*South Beach Meal Bar –
Now I know these are intended for Phases 2 and 3 but breakfast is tough for me.  I am usually on-the-go getting the 2 older kids to preschool and rarely have time to actually sit and eat.  I need something I can grab and eat in the car.  Since my  last pregnancy I’ve developed a sensitivity to eggs so that removes an entire category of usual low glycemic breakfasts!  I’ve used these for Phase 1 before and they don’t give me cravings and they keep me full for hours.

 

Here I Go!

Welcome to my new little corner of the web!  This is where I will document my journey to lose weight, hold myself accountable, ramble and rant, and hopefully make a few new friends.

I thought I was going to have a terrible time coming up with an anonymous name for my blog.  I haven’t even told my husband about this – which is awful, I don’t usually keep secrets from him, not life changing ones anyway.  Sunshine is part of a nickname from way back, long ago enough that I can think of only one person that would remember.  And proverbs, well I’ve been reading a lot of them lately.  And psalms but I like the word proverbs better.

Some upfront warnings:
Even though I was, at one time, working towards becoming an English teacher, my internet grammar is not awesome.  I tend to type how I speak and I use punctuation to fill in for hand gestures or funny faces.  It’s how I roll.  I use way too many exclamation points!!!!!!!! And I really overuse the words totally and awesome.  I’ll apologize for it all in advance but now that you’ve been warned you’re not allowed to complain about it 🙂
Usually I hate when people feel the need to label themselves or announce their faith upfront but since I’m certain my faith will spill out onto these pages often, I feel like I should talk about it immediately.  I am Christian, a member of the UCC, and very active in my church.  My faith has brought me through a lot in my life. God has blessed me in more ways than I could ever express on a computer screen.  I’m very much praying for His guidance on this journey.

On with it!
I am a 32 year old stay-at-home-mom with three children, P (boy, 4yrs), BG (girl, 3 yrs), and E (boy, 1 yr). My most excellent husband is K.  He has battled his weight his entire life and I am hoping to be a gentle encouragement to him without announcing that we’re going on a DIE-T.
I’ve been struggling with my weight my entire adulthood.  I was 20 when I started gaining and by the time I was 25 I was over 270.  I’ve been up and down, pregnant three times in 3 years, then down and up again.  I don’t know what my current weight is – we’ll all find out together tomorrow (the scale is somewhere in the garage and my husband isn’t home to watch the little one while I go a-searching).  I will take pictures on Wednesday (when my husband will be working and 2 kids will be at preschool so I’ll have some privacy).

I have PCOS and at one time I was able to blame much of my weight on it.  Not anymore.  I know that my current struggle is mostly due to my poor habits.  My absolute love of fast food and diet soda.  This holiday season was a trial for me in a way that I’m not used to, but I’ll make a separate post about that.

My chosen lifestyle is low glycemic / South Beach.  I know it works for me, I know I feel fantastic and healthy when I stick with it.  It’s easy for me to follow and I don’t have to try to count calories or weigh food while simultaneously changing a diaper, building a lego tower, and folding the laundry  🙂  More importantly, it’s healthy and recommended for women with PCOS.  It’s very difficult for me to get to the gym with all three kids at times when child care is offered so I’ve decided to work out at home.  To start I’m aiming for 4 times a week, a minimum of 30 minutes a time.

I’ve had a million a-ha moments over the years.  In just the past 6 months I’ve had enough serious nudges – declined life insurance b/c of my weight and I even fudged it!  I was having chest pains/discomfort for a few days, pain in my knee which thankfully healed, and I’ve started struggling with the stairs in my house even though I go up and down them 10 times a day.  Even my baggy fat jeans are starting to fit.  Shouldn’t I be willing to do ANYTHING to get healthier so I can be around for my family?  Shouldn’t I be a better example for my kids?  Shouldn’t I do as I say?  I would NEVER allow my kids to eat the crap I’ve been shoving in my mouth the past few months.  Seems like it should be a DUH moment, not an a-ha one!  But somehow none of that was enough.

So what’s different this time around?  I read a quote on a blog, that seems to be abandoned so I won’t link to it, about how another mother found motivation not because she was doing it for her, but because she was doing it for everyone else.  That really speaks to me.  This body is on loan to me while I’m on this planet.  It belongs to God, it belongs to my husband, it belongs to my children.  If I want to honor the commitments I’ve made here I need my body to healthy.

I’m making better choices immediately but I’ll officially start with South Beach Phase 1 on Monday – New Year’s Day.  That’s truly a coincidence.  I don’t really believe in new year’s resolutions.  But the weather is terrible so I can’t go shopping right away and I have some good, healthy things in the house that I need to use up before Phase 1 (whole grain breads, apples, bananas, etc).  I’ve got my first 10 days of meals written out and I’ve got some chicken poaching away in the crockpot.  I’m all set!  I hope you’ll stick around to see what happens!