Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Start of Something Good

So, this post is going to put it all out there. I'm going to announce to the public world some things that most, if not all, women keep close to their hearts. Even hating to share with their doctors. I'm going to give you my number. The big number...you know, the one we all avoid looking at when the nurse says "first I'm going to have to get your weight...". I'm doing this for a myriad of reasons.

1) This is my journey, I'm documenting it because it's something I need to do, something I want to show my kids later.

2) I want to inspire people to do something healthy...even if they love eating ice cream and brownies and ohmygosh the chips and salsa.

3) This is real people. I am like...what is it 80+%...of Americans who are morbidly obese. Those people who try to say the BMI doesn't take into account bone structure, or muscle mass (**disclaimer, it totally doesn't, but when you're off the chart, you know. You. Know.). The people who struggle with the mirrors in changing rooms, or change their normal type of dress because skinny jeans aren't skinny jeans when they're on a chunky person. The people who are terribly afraid of sitting next to another person on an airplane and taking up more than just their seat. The moms who don't climb on the toys, or go down the slides with their kids because they're afraid that they're too heavy. The moms who sit on the sidelines instead of going on the carousel because there's a 250# weight limit, and you're past that. This is real. This is me.

When I started getting serious about losing weight I weighed in at 274 pounds. That is the heaviest I've been aside from when I was 9 months pregnant. That's frighteningly close to 300 pounds. That is scary. And embarrassing. Shameful. But, it's where I'm starting.

Because Jason's coworker got him started doing P90x and his wife wanted me to do Insanity with her, we got into Beachbody's workouts. I had heard about them but wasn't sure I was really that dedicated. Jason would go over and workout, then come home, then I'd go to their place to workout and we'd finally be home and all together at around 8ishPM. It sucked. The workout was great, but I hated being away from each other. So, I ordered Insanity and we started doing it together when Jason got home from work. Then, we switched to doing it in the morning. This is an extreme, high intensity cardio workout. It is really, crazy, insane hard. But I did it, 6 days a week. The only days I missed were when I caught Christopher's stomach bug. Then came the max interval time, 30 more days of super high intensity. After the first day I wanted to give up. But then I told myself that I didn't give up the first 30 days so I could keep going this time. Then about 3 or 4 days in my knees started hurting. Did you know that for every 1 pound overweight you are it adds 4 pounds of pressure to your knees? That's 400 pounds of pressure on my knees...and I was doing jumping jacks, hop squats, and several other jumping exercises. On top of that I had gained 4 pounds. That's right folks, now I was up to 278 pounds. It was too much.

I got really disappointed in myself. I didn't want to give up, gosh I want to get fit. I'd drastically changed my eating habits. I'd followed the formula to get my calories in line. Apparently when you're as heavy as I am, dropping to 1,800 calories a day puts your body into starvation mode. Oops. So, I started doing some more research on Beachbody; looking for a workout that would be OK for my bulk, and OK on my joints. There are a few different ones, but I settled on the 10 minute trainer. It's Tony Horton who does P90x and he breaks down the workout into basically 3 10 minute workouts a day, 7 days a week. If you don't have enough time, well surely you have 10 minutes. When I started this week my weight was 271 pounds. So far I'm following the schedule, I'm on day 4 and I'm actually burning more calories than I was with Insanity. I think because I can actually do all the activities on 10 minute trainer.

I also bought their shakes. These shakeology shakes actually have all the veggies and super foods you need for one day in one shake. It's kind of pricey, but I figured that it's time to spend money on something I'm doing for me. I got the chocolate one and it comes with some recipes to change it up a bit so that you aren't drinking the same old thing every day. I'm eating one for lunch each day, then trying to eat some veggies for a late afternoon snack. Cucumbers, carrots, peppers, etc.. They taste pretty good, though I've had some that were gross. Like frozen berries, milk, and the shake mix. Yuck. The chocolate mint one wasn't very enjoyable either. So far my favorite is the banana and peanut butter one. So yum!

Some things I think are important for starting a weight loss/exercise program:

Make sure it's something you'll do. I desperately want to be a runner. But, those extra 400 pounds of pressure on my knees? Kills during a run. I have tried a few times and it gets me depressed which spirals me into a "I'll never change, I'm destined to be fat my whole life" spin.

When changing your eating habits, don't go huge. Look, I know this isn't what people normally say, but seriously? I can't suddenly choose a veggie burger over a cheeseburger or broccoli over french fries. What I can do? Learn portion control. Last night I was craving brownies big time, so I made a brownie in a mug. 200 calories, and no chance of me nibbling on an entire pan until it's gone. In 1.3 days. We're still eating pizza and burgers, I'm just limiting my intake of those things and trying to add other, good for me things.

Get a heart rate monitor that can measure calories. I am using myfitnesspal to track my calories in and out. It's awesome. But apparently 30 minutes of cardio does not burn the same amount of calories for me that it does for whomever put that in. If you have something that can tell you how many calories you have burned, then you can track the appropriate amount.

This post has turned out to be way longer than I intended. If you're still reading...thank you and I'm sorry. :) I hope to have more tips and updates on what I'm doing. Possibly some recipes that I'm trying out that are good and good for us too.

I'm making a good beginning, I hope that I can continue to keep it up and I hope that I can keep a healthy body image in mind. I'm not doing this for looks. I'm doing this for health and to be here for my boys and for healthy pregnancies (hopefully!) in the future.

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