November 12, 2005
This is the first day of my journal, but not the first day of yet another attempt at losing weight. I will start with my story and how I came to decide that I will stick to losing that extra 30 pounds.
I am a 29 year old mother of 3 beautiful children.
For the past year or two I packed the pounds on, due to stay at home mommy depression, computer, and horrible eating habits. I was lazy, horribly lazy. The house was always messy, only cleaned when I knew company was coming...the visible part of the house that is. I sat my butt at the computer when the kids were in school and played online games for hours. I ate junk food, lots of it. My husband drank, and if he drank, I drank. He also played the computer in the evenings, and I played with him. This whole time I was conscious of my weight and how much I gained, buying diet pills, supplements, shakes - the whole nine yards. But...what good were these products if I didn't exercise and eat right. Heck, I rarely even drank water...Coca-cola or bust was my motto.
Hurricane Rita came, and we left our home for 5 weeks. The electricity was out, and there was no water. We went to my husband's company and stayed in their office building....for one night, then on to a motel in Houston, TX...funded by the Red Cross. It was on that one day at my husband's company that I realized what I had become. I looked at all those well-groomed women that I had seen on occasion over the years, and how well they maintained themselves, always smiling and caring. I went upstairs to that empty office room we were staying in and cried. Later that day, I bought new makeup and had my nails done...for the first time in 2 years. When we were moved to the motel, we had few clothes since we had evacuated in such a rush. I went to buy some jeans at the local mall and bought my usual size 10 jeans and medium v-neck shirt....not trying them on, just rushing back to the motel and hanging them up. We went out to eat one night and I decided to wear those new clothes...and to my dismay I could not wear them...my fat hung over the waist of the jeans, so hideous. The shirt I bought was tight and showed that fat band that bulged out from my pants. So it was back to sweats and a T-shirt. Two weeks later we went home and lived in a camper and used a generator for power. I ate horribly those days as well, gaining more weight. 5 weeks after the hurricane, our power was restored and we moved back into our house. I started taking the diet pills and gave weight loss another shot. Again, it was a half-hearted attempt and the fat remained there.
Then one night we went to Tuffy's, an eatery in our town. As I ate my chicken with cheese and mushrooms piled on top, and baked potato loaded with butter, cheese and real bacon I looked around at the other people eating there. One woman was stuffing her face, so large her chair was too small....she was eating the same meal I was!! Another was eating with her family as well, the whole family large and chowing down on fries and fried catfish. I barely ate my food after seeing them. The next day I went to Wal-mart....no makeup on, and hair up in a ponytail, looking frumpy as usual. But I found myself looking at people more, and their body sizes and shapes. The ones I looked at most were the frumpy overweight ones, filling their baskets with cookies, chips, hot dogs, etc. I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror there, and decided then and there I was going to lose this weight. When I came home I looked online for diet plans, read dozens of various testimonies, trying to find what was right for me. Then one little phrase kept coming to my mind....famous because of Nike : "JUST DO IT" And that was what I was going to do....just do it.
For the past two weeks I have been keeping my house clean, fixing my hair, donning makeup and using the old "Gazelle" exercise machine along with various other exercises. I must add my view on telling if I lose weight. I put my old jeans on a small table in my room. Every two weeks I plan to try these jeans on and see if they fit. My scale is broken and I plan to keep it that way. Last time I saw my weight it was a whopping 160 lbs. I was caught off guard dieting before and weighing myself at the doctor's office only to see I gained weight - muscle weighs more than fat. Keep in mind, I do not want to become perfect, or super-model skinny. I want my husband to look at me and say "WOW". I want to feel good about myself when I go out of the house, and when I look in the mirror. I want to wake up and have the energy to complete my day. And crash-diets...Nuh uh...they don't work. I said I'm going to do this the right way. SO along with the diet supplements, exercise and eating sensibly, I am on the road to losing the pounds and hopefully keeping this lifestyle. Now I'm not trying to say starting this regimen was easy...not at all. It was hard, temptation is always there. And doing the exercises can be somewhat hard sometimes. Diets take discipline, lots of it. The ability to commit to it and think of it constantly is always a key to being successful with it. Not all of us are able to stay naturally skinny, and we are all different body shapes and sizes. The best thing to do is find a plan that works for you with the least pain as possible...as I have finally done after 5 years and three kids later (2 being twins! - boy was I huge)
A sample of my exercise plan thus far (though not perfect, it's a start) :
5:30am - 70 crunches, and 50 leg lifts on each side. ( I like to wake up 30 minutes before everyone else and do this, I find I'm less grumpy trying to get everyone off for the day )
Before lunch - 30 minutes on the "gazelle" - I find reading a good book while on this whittles the time away.
Evening - 70 crunches, and 50 leg lifts on each side
NOTE: I also do some exercises throughout the day thanks to an old Victoria Principle book I read a while back about exercises to do while doing ordinary every-day activities. I now faithfully do them every day.
1. When I fold clothes I do mini-squats, squeezing my butt-cheeks together tightly when coming up from the squat.
2. When cleaning the kids' rooms I do a lunge each time I pick something up from the floor, alternating my legs as I do so.
3. When I vacuum, I alternate my arms, using them to push the vacuum cleaner rather than my legs.
4. When doing dishes I do calf exercises, lifting up on my tippy toes and down.
5. Mopping the floor....it does wonders for your whole body
6. Walking briskly when cleaning the house helps too. Remember every burnt calorie counts.
A sample of my daily eating habit now: This includes a diet supplement, fat burner pill, and daily multi-vitamin w/ calcium.
I drink nothing but water, but have an occasional Fresca or Diet Rite soda (with splenda) at suppertime.
Breakfast: Special K cereal with Skim Fat-free milk
Lunch: Grilled chicken, fish or veggie burger patty with various steamed veggies with onion to flavor (NO OILS used)
(note: I try to stay away from peas and corn, they tend to have sugar and fat in them, though a small amt)
Supper Grilled chicken fish or veggie burger patty, steamed veggies, baby leaf salad with fat-free dressing and fat-free cheese, sometime with a tbsp. of sliced green olives. Fat-free and sugar-free Blue BUnny vanilla ice cream.
I have yet to try on those jeans just yet after these two weeks, but my husband says I look thinner. Tonight I am trying them on before we take a trip to town to go shopping. I will fill you in tomorrow on how they look. Also, today I tried this famous fad diet for 3 days, called the "3 day diet". I read positive and negative things about it, but I will see in 3 days if this actually works. I will definitely keep my exercise regime going during this time. My notes for this diet today are as follows:
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Well...the breakfast was filling...except for the horrid grapefruit, which I had to choke down, gagging the entire time....oh how I loath that fruit. I had a hard time with the coffee part, putting a lot of splenda in it just to tolerate it. Lunch was pretty good....I love tuna and the toast made it just right...again, more coffee loaded with Splenda. Supper looks pretty good, looks like a lot of food, but with few calories....and ICE cream....woot!!! I did my situps and leg lifts this morning and my 30 minutes on the machine, along with the laundry squats.
This is the first day of my journal, but not the first day of yet another attempt at losing weight. I will start with my story and how I came to decide that I will stick to losing that extra 30 pounds.
I am a 29 year old mother of 3 beautiful children.
For the past year or two I packed the pounds on, due to stay at home mommy depression, computer, and horrible eating habits. I was lazy, horribly lazy. The house was always messy, only cleaned when I knew company was coming...the visible part of the house that is. I sat my butt at the computer when the kids were in school and played online games for hours. I ate junk food, lots of it. My husband drank, and if he drank, I drank. He also played the computer in the evenings, and I played with him. This whole time I was conscious of my weight and how much I gained, buying diet pills, supplements, shakes - the whole nine yards. But...what good were these products if I didn't exercise and eat right. Heck, I rarely even drank water...Coca-cola or bust was my motto.
Hurricane Rita came, and we left our home for 5 weeks. The electricity was out, and there was no water. We went to my husband's company and stayed in their office building....for one night, then on to a motel in Houston, TX...funded by the Red Cross. It was on that one day at my husband's company that I realized what I had become. I looked at all those well-groomed women that I had seen on occasion over the years, and how well they maintained themselves, always smiling and caring. I went upstairs to that empty office room we were staying in and cried. Later that day, I bought new makeup and had my nails done...for the first time in 2 years. When we were moved to the motel, we had few clothes since we had evacuated in such a rush. I went to buy some jeans at the local mall and bought my usual size 10 jeans and medium v-neck shirt....not trying them on, just rushing back to the motel and hanging them up. We went out to eat one night and I decided to wear those new clothes...and to my dismay I could not wear them...my fat hung over the waist of the jeans, so hideous. The shirt I bought was tight and showed that fat band that bulged out from my pants. So it was back to sweats and a T-shirt. Two weeks later we went home and lived in a camper and used a generator for power. I ate horribly those days as well, gaining more weight. 5 weeks after the hurricane, our power was restored and we moved back into our house. I started taking the diet pills and gave weight loss another shot. Again, it was a half-hearted attempt and the fat remained there.
Then one night we went to Tuffy's, an eatery in our town. As I ate my chicken with cheese and mushrooms piled on top, and baked potato loaded with butter, cheese and real bacon I looked around at the other people eating there. One woman was stuffing her face, so large her chair was too small....she was eating the same meal I was!! Another was eating with her family as well, the whole family large and chowing down on fries and fried catfish. I barely ate my food after seeing them. The next day I went to Wal-mart....no makeup on, and hair up in a ponytail, looking frumpy as usual. But I found myself looking at people more, and their body sizes and shapes. The ones I looked at most were the frumpy overweight ones, filling their baskets with cookies, chips, hot dogs, etc. I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror there, and decided then and there I was going to lose this weight. When I came home I looked online for diet plans, read dozens of various testimonies, trying to find what was right for me. Then one little phrase kept coming to my mind....famous because of Nike : "JUST DO IT" And that was what I was going to do....just do it.
For the past two weeks I have been keeping my house clean, fixing my hair, donning makeup and using the old "Gazelle" exercise machine along with various other exercises. I must add my view on telling if I lose weight. I put my old jeans on a small table in my room. Every two weeks I plan to try these jeans on and see if they fit. My scale is broken and I plan to keep it that way. Last time I saw my weight it was a whopping 160 lbs. I was caught off guard dieting before and weighing myself at the doctor's office only to see I gained weight - muscle weighs more than fat. Keep in mind, I do not want to become perfect, or super-model skinny. I want my husband to look at me and say "WOW". I want to feel good about myself when I go out of the house, and when I look in the mirror. I want to wake up and have the energy to complete my day. And crash-diets...Nuh uh...they don't work. I said I'm going to do this the right way. SO along with the diet supplements, exercise and eating sensibly, I am on the road to losing the pounds and hopefully keeping this lifestyle. Now I'm not trying to say starting this regimen was easy...not at all. It was hard, temptation is always there. And doing the exercises can be somewhat hard sometimes. Diets take discipline, lots of it. The ability to commit to it and think of it constantly is always a key to being successful with it. Not all of us are able to stay naturally skinny, and we are all different body shapes and sizes. The best thing to do is find a plan that works for you with the least pain as possible...as I have finally done after 5 years and three kids later (2 being twins! - boy was I huge)
A sample of my exercise plan thus far (though not perfect, it's a start) :
5:30am - 70 crunches, and 50 leg lifts on each side. ( I like to wake up 30 minutes before everyone else and do this, I find I'm less grumpy trying to get everyone off for the day )
Before lunch - 30 minutes on the "gazelle" - I find reading a good book while on this whittles the time away.
Evening - 70 crunches, and 50 leg lifts on each side
NOTE: I also do some exercises throughout the day thanks to an old Victoria Principle book I read a while back about exercises to do while doing ordinary every-day activities. I now faithfully do them every day.
1. When I fold clothes I do mini-squats, squeezing my butt-cheeks together tightly when coming up from the squat.
2. When cleaning the kids' rooms I do a lunge each time I pick something up from the floor, alternating my legs as I do so.
3. When I vacuum, I alternate my arms, using them to push the vacuum cleaner rather than my legs.
4. When doing dishes I do calf exercises, lifting up on my tippy toes and down.
5. Mopping the floor....it does wonders for your whole body
6. Walking briskly when cleaning the house helps too. Remember every burnt calorie counts.
A sample of my daily eating habit now: This includes a diet supplement, fat burner pill, and daily multi-vitamin w/ calcium.
I drink nothing but water, but have an occasional Fresca or Diet Rite soda (with splenda) at suppertime.
Breakfast: Special K cereal with Skim Fat-free milk
Lunch: Grilled chicken, fish or veggie burger patty with various steamed veggies with onion to flavor (NO OILS used)
(note: I try to stay away from peas and corn, they tend to have sugar and fat in them, though a small amt)
Supper Grilled chicken fish or veggie burger patty, steamed veggies, baby leaf salad with fat-free dressing and fat-free cheese, sometime with a tbsp. of sliced green olives. Fat-free and sugar-free Blue BUnny vanilla ice cream.
I have yet to try on those jeans just yet after these two weeks, but my husband says I look thinner. Tonight I am trying them on before we take a trip to town to go shopping. I will fill you in tomorrow on how they look. Also, today I tried this famous fad diet for 3 days, called the "3 day diet". I read positive and negative things about it, but I will see in 3 days if this actually works. I will definitely keep my exercise regime going during this time. My notes for this diet today are as follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well...the breakfast was filling...except for the horrid grapefruit, which I had to choke down, gagging the entire time....oh how I loath that fruit. I had a hard time with the coffee part, putting a lot of splenda in it just to tolerate it. Lunch was pretty good....I love tuna and the toast made it just right...again, more coffee loaded with Splenda. Supper looks pretty good, looks like a lot of food, but with few calories....and ICE cream....woot!!! I did my situps and leg lifts this morning and my 30 minutes on the machine, along with the laundry squats.
They were very helpful and I will take your advice into serious consideration. I don't have a gym nearby sadly, but will buy some freeweights when I get a chance. As for shakes can you recommend any? I can barely stomach Slimfast or Boost.