May update

So here it is May already and I am not exactly where I wanted to be at this point in time. Big surprise! I can say that I have lost some weight. My clothes are visibly looser than they were when I began this journey. I have not gotten on the scale yet. I refuse to do that until I can safely get into one size smaller than I am right now. My XL clothes are definitely to the point of being baggy now. My L clothes range from slightly snug to noticeably loose. I tried on 2 pairs of pants that are size M (they are maternity, but I will have to stay with them until I lose more of my pregnancy gut) and they were to say the least, extremely tight. Well, that was a month ago. I tried them on again on Saturday and they were still tight, but not like the sausage casing that they were the first time I tried them on. So I am making some progress, albeit not as quickly as I would like. That is my own fault, unfortunately. The biggest stumbling block at this point continues to be my eating. I just don't understand where all of my willpower went! Seven years ago, I was a size 4 and I had wonderful willpower! I would just look at the way my clothes were fitting and say to myself, "Okay, no more junk food!" And then I wouldn't eat it anymore. I could actually pass it up! Of course, I had a helping hand back then that was banned a couple of years later. You know what I am talking about. The gloriously effective ECA stack. For those of you that don't remember ephedra, it was "stacked" with caffeine and aspirin and it kicked ass at helping me lose weight and conquer cravings. Oh the good old days. I have been doing some research into other products to see if I can find anything comparable to the effectiveness of ephedra. I have found some that look like junk in a bottle and some that actually looked promising. I will definitely keep you posted on those developments. Signing off for now. I will be continuing my weight loss endeavors this morning with another Turbo Fire workout. It's Fire 55EZ this morning.

Well, this is my first week of my new program, Turbo Fire. So far, I really like it. I had to forgo my workout today because I am getting over a mild cold. The one frustrating thing about having 3 kids is that someone is inevitably always sick. I try to be very conscious about washing my hands frequently and not touching my face, but that does not guarantee anything really. So, I am trying to make the best of my situation and at least eat the way I should.

You think I would learn!

So, I have been endeavoring to eat relatively clean now for about 4 weeks. I have been doing pretty well with my meals. It's the snacks that get me! Well, last night, I was craving carbs big time. (It's that Special week for me and this usually happens.) So, there is a box of bacon and ranch pasta salad on the pantry shelf. So, what the heck. I make it for dinner because my 2 year old will eat it along with me. I put in a can of chicken, like that will make it all healthy with some protein. I then proceeded to take a bite of it. It tasted horrible! Needless to say, I only got about 4 bites of it down before I had to switch to a bowl of cereal. I don't know how my husband can eat that stuff for lunch on purpose. Needless to say, this was a good thing for me because it means that my body is starting to not like the junky stuff that I would eat regularly. I am starting to notice more and more that eating junk has begun to not sit well with me anymore. But, you think I would learn this lesson instead of constantly going back for the junk!

Serious pondering

So I have been doing some serious pondering the last few days. More and more I keep hearing about the Paleo Diet and I must say, I am intrigued. The testimonials are all wonderful. That's true of a lot of diets also, but I really agree with most of what they say about that way of eating. We definitely eat way too many processed foods. I agree that our bodies were never meant to run on large amounts of grains. Fruits and veggies have way more nutrients than whole wheat bread. I also know that for the past couple of weeks, since I have started incorporating more veggies into my eating that I have noticed a difference when I don't eat them. When I eat a truly unhealthy meal it just does not sit right with me anymore. I am really considering giving this paleo thing a try. I know I will definitely miss some things, like my Greek yogurt. But, if it can help jump start my weight loss it may just be the kick in the pants I need right now.

Time for an update

So here we are 3 months into my Year of Fitness. So far, I don't know how much weight I have lost. I am afraid to get on the scale! The last time I did, I weighed 3 pounds MORE than when I started. Didn't quite understand that one, because all of my clothes are getting looser. Needless to say, I don't really want to get on a scale again for a while. I am just going by the way my clothes fit. I can definitely tell that I have lost some inches. I am losing my weight from the "top down" as they say. My bras are looser, and not just in the circumference. I can definitely tell that my boobies are shrinking. I was hoping to keep them after all of the hard work I went through to get them (3 pregnancies). Oh well, if that's the price I have to pay to fit into my old clothes again then so be it. I finally got an android phone and loaded it up with a couple of apps to help me track my caloric intake. That's the reason why my weight loss is not coming along as fast as I would like. I just take in too many calories! So my goal for the rest of March is to track my eating as accurately as possible and try to cut my calories down to what they should be. I definitely like the workout program I am doing. It's not always feasible for me to do it 5 days a week. I usually average 3-4 days. I don't miss my strength training workouts if I can help it, but I have no qualms about skipping my cardio workouts. I really need to get those in. I know that I need both to get this weight off. That's most likely another reason that I am not seeing the weight loss I want to see. Skipping my workouts. Sometimes it just can't be helped. With 3 small kids, one of them is inevitably always sick or coming down with something. So I inevitably end up fighting off some type of sickness like every other week.

Checking in

Well, here it is December already. My youngest daughter is 3 months old, my middle daughter is almost 2 and my oldest daughter is in the midst of potty training. So where am I on my journey? I am in week 2 of ChaLean Extreme. I decided to use this program after not really being thrilled with Power 90. It's a sound program, just not for me. I really like Chalene after watching some footage of her on the Beachbody website and viewing the Turbo Fire program online. I wanted to start with that one, but after watching a few minutes of some of the workouts, I decided to try ChaLean Extreme and build some muscle first. Being 36 and not having worked out consistently for almost 4 years now, I have really lost a lot of the muscle I had before my pregnancies. So, I took pictures, which was not a pleasant thing to look at, and I took all of my measurements. I started the program last week and have been sticking to the eating plan about 75% of the time. I have definitely noticed a difference in the way I feel now that I am not eating as much junk. I just plain have more energy! That definitely helps with 3 kids to keep up with. I will take my pictures at the 30 day mark and weigh myself then. I am holding off until that time because women tend to focus so much on what the scale says instead of what our clothes say. I would much rather listen to my clothes! I have a weight in mind that I would like to achieve, but I also have a closet full of clothes that I would like to fit into. I don't care how much I weigh as long as I my clothes fit me the way they used to.

planning

So, I had my 3rd daughter 11 days ago. I am now trying to get back into planning mode for my meals. I have been basically eating whatever for the last 6 weeks. I honestly have been too tired to really watch what I ate. Now that's going to change. I planned out my meals for the next week. I also factored in 2 cheat meals because there is no way I could survive without them at this point. I will be starting a post natal workout on the 4th of October that will last 6 weeks. After that, I will move onto to Power 90, and eventually onto P90x. We will see how everything goes. Right now, my biggest hurdle is keeping to a clean eating regimen when I am sleep deprived and have 2 other children to take care of. These next few months are going to be a challenge, but I think I am up for it!