Sunday, January 3

Headache vs. Willpower

I am staying true to my 'no pop' rule for the moment. But dear heavens, I have a headache. It may be the lack of sweet sugary soda, the complete shut off of Chocolate Hershey kisses entering my bloodstream, or deletion of most white carbs the last three days. Or all of those. But none the less, a headache has appeared.

Christmas vacation was full of all of those, and I may have over loaded on all of the above for the last two weeks. Myself and my family enjoyed the sweet goodness of The Pioneer Women - Cinnamon rolls, the creamy Mashed potatoes and even a few homemade pizzas. I can not let myself link these wonderful, sinful edibles, google will help you with that. Unfortunately the result of this carb coma-inducing pig outs, is now willpower testing cravings and a headache that I know will most likely be helped with a nice ice cold glass of Coke.

Oh sweet Coke. I miss you. I miss your sister Sprite, your cousin Vernors and all things that come with those fizzy little bubbles that tickle my throat and tummy. I know you and the chocolate teamed up to get me back with this headache. But I am sorry my friend.

You are cut off. I will conquer and we may become friends again one day. Ok not as good as friends, but as in a once in a while meet up.

Headache. You can leave now.

Saturday, January 2

56 Week Challenge Kick Off!

Yesterday was the start of my 56 week challenge to lose 56 lbs. So I can be in my 130's by Thirty!

My hubby helped me take my baseline body measurements which I will check again in a month.

56 Weeks left Stats
  • 189.6 lbs
  • 45" Waist
  • 26" Thighs
  • 45/39" Bust
  • 13.5" Upper arm 
I do have to admit that after 2 weeks of Christmas Holiday goodness with my boys and rest of family, that my first day of the challenge was a bit of a 'challenge'. I started off the day with some fruit and peanut butter and was feeling quite good and smug with myself on how I was starting off my challenge right.

I did great until we headed over to my parents and saw the Chocolate covered potatos chips that were left over from the Christmas party a few days before. I didn't eat the rest of the box, I think I ate about 6-7 and left 2 in the box... I imagine things would have been ok there, but I also saw the cashew jar and had a slice a pizza before leaving to come home. I felt a wee bit bad about it all, but the end of one day leads to a fresh start tomorrow, right?

I know I am going to have to remember that I am going into this challenge looking for one pound difference each week and not to go extreme on resisting foods I enjoy, feel bad for giving in a bit, and then punishing myself. I want to make good changes on my food intake amount and make wise food choices throughout my challenge.

Keeping the balance will be a challenge along the way.

Monday, December 14

501 Steps or 2.5 Miles...

This past weekend, my husband and I ventured on a get-away to Chicago to see the sites and enjoy some time without the wee ones. It was a great weekend and we were able to enjoy fairly good weather to walk around town the whole time.

Knowing we were going to spend our time walking and wanting to see Just How Many Steps I could get in during our trip, I wore a cheap Pedometer all day on Saturday. Cheap as in 'Company Employee Freebie' = Super Cheap.

I was really looking forward to seeing our progress as we went about town and to then try to translate the steps walked to calories burned, thus getting to know how my '130s by Thirty' system was going to work for me.

Well by 3pm we walked from our Hotel to Macy's on State Street, to 'The Bean', back to Macy's, rode the rail up to Michigan Ave, walked Michigan Ave, and then walked back to our hotel. As we got into our room for a quick rest before dinner. (Cause who doesn't want to take advantage of a nap on a child-free day?!?) I checked my freebie Pedometer.

501 steps.
WHAT?!? Only 501 steps?? That does not add up AT ALL. Just the other day in our house and a few errands I racked up a messly 1200 steps for most of the day. How could all of our walking add up to 501 steps? Just a walk from the bathroom to the bed in the hotel room was 6 steps. Seriously?

I conferred with my hubby and he agreed. The Pedometer was bunk. For the rest of the weekend the Pedometer took a time out in my purse.

Today as I was thinking about '501' again, I decided to estimate just how much we walked during our weekend. A quick Google mapping and entering in our routes - I estimate in the same time period that I wore the Pedometer, we walked 2.5 Miles. So much more then the messly 501 steps! Combine the 2.5 miles with the rest of our walking and I estimate on the low end that we walked 4.5 miles the whole trip!!

All that walking did make me feel good, well, would have if I wore more sensible shoes. Boy did my feet get a work out and then add the great Chicago food we snacked on....

I am counting the trip as neutral calories 'eaten vs. walked off'!

Friday, December 11

130s by Thirty - The Plan

As I am an current a stay at home mom of 2 small boys, I need to have a realistic plan of attack for eating and exercising. I am limited on alone time to be able to work out in our house on a treadmill and currently do not have the opportunity to attend a gym. I also know that completely eliminating some foods in my diet will drive me crazy and will only set me up for failure. So I am going into this with a plan that is flexible for change and realistic for my current lifestyle.

The Do's
  • Drink More Water! 8 glasses a day
  • Eat more fruits and Veggies - 2x a day.
  • Start walking and exercising - 4 times a week.
  • Increase fiber intake.
  • Eat 5 times a day.
  • Eat food that I enjoy in decreased quantities.
The Don'ts
  • Don't drink Soda. It is just empty calories and full of sugar.
  • Decrease / Eliminate 'starches' as fillers. No sides of potatoes, fries, chips etc...
  • Decrease White flour and breads.
Tracking Changes
It just so happens that I have a yearly physical coming up in January, so I will have blood work taken at that time that will give beginning and ending physical statistics. I also plan on tracking my Weight and body dimensions with the frequency of weekly and monthly, respectively. I will also be wearing a pedometer to track my 'steps taken' each day. To create a baseline of the above tracking parameters, I will take body dimensions after Christmas and am currently wearing a pedometer a few days a week to figure out my current average steps taken each day.




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Thursday, December 10

130s by Thirty - Who am I?

Who is '130s by Thirty'? I am 28yo Wife and Mother of 2 small boys who is by medical stanards - overweight and sick of feeling fat, un-cute/sexy and at most times doesn't enjoy shopping for clothes. I tend not to think of myself as 'overweight' but 'chubby'. Cause 'Chubby' is cute, right? Chubby is loveable, squeezable and happy. Right? Um. Not so much as an adult Woman/Mom.

I am Happy. I do enjoy my family, life and who I am. But am I doing everything that I would like to do? No. Do I enjoy being out in the summer weather playing with my hubby and boys? No. I choose not to wear shorts and tank tops, due to looking fat in them, having my thighs touch each other and then having my self esteem hurt in the process. I do wear a swimsuit to be in the lake/pools with my older son, but while I enjoy him having fun, I don't like how I look or feel wearing a swimsuit. Especially when the swimsuits that I do buy have features that are designed to cover up as much as possible and appear to be designed with a grandmother in mind. I Hate that.

I could totally go on and on about how clothes are not cute for 'the chubby', how my body jiggles and wiggles when I don't want it to. But to keep it short, it all leads to the reason why I am here. To be in my 130s by Thirty.

Starting in Jan 2010, I have 13 months until I turn Thirty and I plan to drop approximately 56 lbs to reach 130 pounds. 56 lbs - 56 weeks. A pound a week on average. I only wish it was as easy as it sounds. By making some changes in my eating and exercising habits, I hope it well be! *yes I know it is going to be hard work, just applying some posivite thinking for the moment.