Week 4

I lost another pound this week, which bring my total weight loss to 37 pounds.  I have 8 more pounds of baby weight to lose, and 58 pounds overall.  I did very well this past week as far as nutrition goes, but I only got one good walk in.  It's hard to find the time and energy to exercise since I'm back to work, and on top of that, the weather has started to get kinda crappy.  We got snow this week, which really sucks.  I ordered a stroller cover from Amazon so that I can still get out for a walk when the weather is less than desirable.  Also, since it's been almost 8 weeks since my c-section, I'm going to start using my resistance bands, and my sissy sent me a beginner's pilates video that she swears by, so I'll try that out.

I've been bad about writing down what I eat, so I don't think I'll be posting my food in my blogs anymore.  I've started going a few days at a time without writing down what I eat, then by the time I get around to doing it, I've forgotten when I ate.  I am definitely sticking to my diet, though, because it's working.  I'll keep writing my blog, because I think it helps me to stay on track.  Until next time...

Week 3

Yay, I lost weight this week!!!  3 pounds down.  That brings my total to 36, so I have 59 to go.  It seems like a lot still, but it's coming off.  I had a good week as far as nutrition is concerned, but I discovered that I will not be able to get exercise every day.  I started back to work this week, and I've been busy, so I only got out for a walk three days, but they were good walks.  John and I have decided to go completely organic.  I had always bought organic milk and eggs, but I've started buying everything organic (even baby wash and formula!).  I'm still trying new recipes from my Weight Watchers cookbook, trying to find which ones are the yummiest and easiest, since I'm back to work.  So my menus will start to look pretty boring, but convenience is very important.  Here's how the week looked:

Saturday
Breakfast:  Waffles
Lunch:  2 oz. chicken breast, 1 cup butternut squash soup, 1 oz. tortilla chips with salsa
Dinner:  flatbread pizza
Snacks:  Turkey sandwich (1 oz turkey, flatbread sandwich bread, onion, spinach), breyer's ice cream sandwich
3 mile walk

Sunday
Lunch:  Salad with light ranch dressing
Dinner:  Bellisimo sausage with penne pasta (Weight Watchers cookbook)
Snack:  Breyer's ice cream sandwich

Monday
Breakfast:  Waffles, milk
Lunch:  2 oz. chicken breast, 1 cup butternut squash soup, 1 oz. tortilla chips with salsa
Dinner:  Veggie omelette with 1 serving tater tots
Snacks:  Turkey sandwish, Breyer's ice cream sandwich
3 milk walk

Tuesday
Breakfast:  Spinach wrap (Starbucks), soy latte
Lunch:  3 chicken tacos, no sour cream or cheese
Dinner:  Linguine with turkey sausage (Weight Watchers cookbook)
Snacks:  1 oz. tortilla chips with salsa, jello, pudding

Wednesday
Breakfast:  Waffles, soy latte
Lunch:  Turkey sandwich, 1 oz. tortilla chips with salsa
Dinner:  Sassy meatloaf with twice baked garlic potatoes (Weight Watchers cookbook)
Snacks:  2 oz. chicken breast, stick cheddar cheese
4 mile walk

Thursday
Breakfast:  Soy latte
Lunch:  Salad with light ranch
Dinner:  Flatbread pizza
Snack:  1 oz tortilla chips with salsa

Friday
Breakfast:  Waffles, milk
Lunch:  2 hour nap (I had to decide if sleep was more important than food...turned out it was)
Dinner:  Southwest easy oven chicken (Weight Watchers cookbook)
Snacks:  Jello, pudding

I'm going to have to make sure that I'm not missing meals, but it's definitely going to be hard.  Now that I'm back to work, I have to try to get little naps in during the day when Casey is sleeping.  There are times when sleep is more important than food, but I'm going to try my hardest to not miss meals.

Week 2

Okay, week two wasn't nearly as successful as week one, but I don't feel defeated or discouraged.  My goal in this is to get healthier, so as long as I'm eating well and exercising, I'm reaching my goal, regardless of what the scale says.  I didn't lose any weight this week, but I also didn't gain, so I still have 62 pounds to go.  Since I lost 7 pounds in the first week, I'm still well ahead of schedule, as I'm trying to average about a pound and a half per week.  I did have one small slip-up this week, not because I was weak, but simply because I was unprepared.  While I didn't make the best choice possible, I didn't make the worst choice possible.  I was out running errands, and was suddenly STARVED, to the point of being light-headed, so I stopped and got a chicken mcnugget happy meal.  Ideally, I would have had a granola bar in my purse or something, but it wasn't the worst thing I could have eaten.  I did feel victorious, when, later in the week, I went to the Halloween party at our complex, where they were serving pizza and beer.  This was the best kind of pizza and beer, because it was of the FREE variety :)  All I had was a diet coke, and when I started to feel hungry, I went home and made my own healthy pizza.  Point for the home team.  Here's how the week went:

Saturday

Breakfast:  Oatmeal with 1 cup milk

Lunch:  Happy Meal

Dinner:  Homemade flat bread pizza (amazing!)

Snacks:  pudding and jello

2 mile walk

Sunday

Breakfast:  Waffles with 1 cup milk

Lunch:  Salad  with balsamic vinaigrette dressing

Dinner:  Creamy chicken and spinach (weight watchers cookbook)

Snacks:  1 oz blue corn and flax tortilla chips with 2 tbsp salsa, pudding, and jello

20 minute walk

Monday

Breakfast:  Waffles with 1 cup milk

Lunch:  1 cup V8 tomato soup, 1 oz blue corn and flax tortilla chips with 2 tbsp salsa, stick of cheese, apple sauce

Dinner:  Linguine with turkey sausage (weight watchers cookbook)

Snacks:  jello and pudding

Tuesday

Breakfast:  Waffles with 1 cup milk

Lunch:  Turkey wrap with fresh fruit

Dinner:  Homemade flat bread pizza

2 mile walk

Wednesday

Breakfast:  Soy latte

Lunch:  Salad with light ranch dressing

Dinner:  Veggie and egg white omelette, 1 serving tater tots

Snacks:  1 cup tomato soup, 1 oz blue corn and flax tortilla chips with 2 tbsp salsa, pudding, jello

1 mile walk

Thursday

Breakfast: Skipped breakfast...I know, I know, bad Natalie.

Lunch:  Chicken nuggets from chick-fil-a (this is actually okay to eat if you don't get the waffle fries), side salad with light Italian dressing

Dinner:  Mexican potato casserole (weight watchers cookbook)

Snacks:  1 cup V8 broccoli soup with toast, pudding

Friday

Breakfast:  Waffles, soy latte

Lunch:  2 oz roasted chicken breast, 1 cup broccoli soup, 1 oz blue corn and flax tortilla chips with 2 tbsp salsa, apple sauce

Dinner:  Baked chicken with ziti (weight watchers cookbook)

Snacks:  Small turkey sandwich, jello, Breyer's ice cream sandwich (only 160 calories!!!)

2 mile walk

Week 2

Week 1 is over, and I would definitely say it was a success.  I'm down 7 pounds this week, 33 pounds overall, and I have 62 pounds to go!  Most importantly, though, I stuck to my plan the entire week, without any cravings.  I would usually be craving something bad for me by about the third day.  I exercised every day except for one.  I wanted to try to get some exercise every single day, but with a newborn baby, it's a little more difficult than I thought.  I stuck to my eating plan all week, which, historically, has always been the hard part for me, so I'm very proud of myself.  Here's what my week looked like:

Saturday

Breakfast: steel cut oatmeal, 1 cup 1% milk (I measure 1 cup exactly)

Lunch: charbroiled chicken sandwich, side salad with lite Italian dressing 

Dinner: chicken cacciatore (weight watchers cookbook)

2 mile walk 

Sunday

Breakfast: 2 Kashi frozen blueberry waffles, 1 cup 1% milk

Lunch: bowl of broccoli cheese soup from Panera (sounds fatty, but it's actually low fat, low cal)

Dinner: Jambalaya (Better homes and garden cookbook)

Snacks: cucumber slices and mini sweet peppers with veggie dip, pudding, and jello

Exercised with my resistance bands (afterwards I decided to wait for my doctor's approval to use them again, so I'll stick with walking for now)

Monday

Breakfast:  2 Kashi frozen blueberry waffles, 1 cup 1% milk

Lunch: chicken breast (pulled from a roasted chicken), 1 large hardboiled egg, 1 stick cheddar cheese, apple sauce, 5 green olives

Dinner: veggie omelette (1 whole egg, 2 egg white, 1/4 cup cheese, veggies), tater tots (I counted out 1 serving...although I wanted a lot more)

Snacks:  cucumber slices and sweet mini peppers with veggie dip, pudding and jello

2 mile walk

Tuesday

Breakfast:  2 Kashi frozen blueberry waffles, 1 cup 1% milk (I know, I'm boring)

Lunch:  chicken breast, 1 large hardboiled egg, 1 stick cheddar cheese, apple sauce

Dinner:  shrimp and veggie creole (weight watchers cookbook)

Snacks:  pudding and jello

20 minutes of cardio in the gym (it was raining all day)

Wednesday

Breakfast:  2 Kashi frozen blueberry waffles, 1 cup 1% milk

Lunch:  chicken breast, 1 large hardboiled egg, 1 additional egg white, 1 stick cheddar cheese, apple sauce

Dinner: 1/2 boneless porkchop, 1 serving cous cous, green beans

Snacks:  peppers with veggie dip, pudding, and jello

20 minutes of cardio in the gym (still raining)

Thursday

Breakfast:  oatmeal, 1 cup 1% milk (I ran out of waffles)

Lunch:  chicken breast, 1 large hardboiled egg, 1 additional egg white, 1 stick cheddar cheese, apple sauce

Dinner: Jambalaya

Snacks: 1 slice of toast with 1 tbsp peanut butter, pudding, jello

Friday

Breakfast:  oatmeal, soy latte (yummy!)

Lunch:  salad with lots of veggies, lite ranch dressing

Dinner:  more oatmeal

2 mile walk

I have found that it's easy to stick with an eating program if preparation is easy, that's why my breakfasts and lunches were pretty much the same every day.  To prevent myself from getting bored, I'll change it up every week.  I was also going to try a different recipe from my cookbooks every night, but that was going to be way too expensive, so I decided that I would try 2-3 new recipes each week.  Also, I need something sweet everyday, which is why I eat jello and pudding everyday.  I decided not to go with the sugar free versions, because then they are loaded with artificial sweeteners.  The real versions are still very low in fat and calories, so it's okay!  

Since I had such a good week, I'm feeling more motivated than ever, so I'm going to keep it up!

Week 1

I'm going to try and do my updates on Saturdays, but I didn't get a chance yesterday.  Yesterday officially began operation: stop being a fat ass.  I have 49 weeks to go.  I did my official weigh in yesterday, and I was already down 1 pound, and I hadn't even started yet.  I won't post my starting weight until after I've lost weight, because it's a little embarrassing.  I will say this though: I'm down 26 pounds from the day I gave birth, and I've got 69 more to go.  I'll also post before and after pictures once I've lost the weight.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping to make meals from my cookbooks.  I'm using the Better Homes and Garden cookbook, and a weight watchers cookbook that I found on Amazon for seven cents.  Pretty good find.  I'm allowing myself 1500 calories per day...300 at breakfast, 400 at lunch and dinner, and two to three snacks per day, which will equal another 400 calories.  There are a LOT of yummy dinners you can make that are only 400 calories, as long as you stick to the proper portion sizes.  In my next post, I'll include all of the dinners I made, and if anyone wants the recipes, I would be happy to e-mail them.

As far as exercise, I'm going to get some in everyday, even if I only have time for a twenty minute walk, or jogging up and down the stairs, I will get some exercise in.  I also purchased a resistance band set and some 5lb ankle weights.  I've finally gotten to the point where I don't feel like I need to look perfect, I just want to be healthy, so the few things I can do at home should do the trick.  On days that I don't have to work, I'll put Casey in his stroller and take him for a nice long walk.

I guess that's about it for this week.  Next week will be a little more exciting :)

Just getting started.

Okay, I knew I had a lot of weight to lose, just judging by the number on the scale in the doctor's office.  But it wasn't until just now, looking through pictures that my nieces had taken of me a couple of days ago, that I realized, I'm not just a little overweight...I'm actually a fat person.  I wish I could attribute this all to baby weight, but to be completely honest, the majority of my weight gain came BEFORE I got pregnant.  I did gain 40 pounds during my pregnancy, but I have a whole lot more than that to lose.  I've lost a substantial amount of weight before, but never have I had so much to lose.  I figured a blog might help me to stay on track, even if nobody ever reads it.  I will keep a journal throughout the week, and post a blog every weekend until my son's first birthday.  This gives me 49 weeks to lose 70 more pounds, or die trying.  I've already lost 25 pounds in the 19 days since Casey was born, and I am very confident that I can lose the rest.  I'm not trying to get stick thin, I simply want to get healthy for my son, my husband, and whatever children we have in the future.  Wish me luck!