Motivation by Humiliation Update - Week One

Week one which consisted of May 1-May 8 was definitely a success. I stuck with my diet and only had a few slip ups here and there. The key thing I found was to increase my water intake (I dropped all soft drinks) and eat filler foods. Some of my favorites of the week are 1 cup of chopped strawberries stirred with 1 packet of Splenda with sugar and topped with a small dollop of cool whip. This was a perfect after dinner snack for only 2 points. Subway is definitely my go to place if I want to eat out. There are great choices and they have a decent selection of baked chips. I also loved eating a snack of caramel mini rice cakes and a green apple. It was only 2 points and like eating a caramel apple. Unfortunately I am not able to cook many of my Relish! meals because even their "lower calorie" meals are not as low-cal as I need.

Exercise-wise I was able to do the Shred-It everyday. I have a love/hate relationship with this workout. It is very intense and there are no breaks - the hate part. I love though that when I get overwhelmed I only think to myself how many circuits are left and that I can do anything for 20 mins! I really recommend this workout for moms because it is easy to fit those 20 minutes into your day. I am also trying to take Belle out for a 20-30 minute walk every day.

The official weigh-in from as of May 8: 2 lbs lost, and I am in a weight bracket that I have not seen in over two and a half years!

Here is the bad news though... I have come down with the stomach virus that Belle had. I have been sick sick sick. There are no problems with sticking to my diet with the virus as I really don't want to eat more than crackers and broth. The problem is that I can't exercise or I will truly pass-out. Once I get my energy/strength back I plan to return to the exercise routine. I am praying hard that I have experienced the worst of it today with the 101.5 fever and other unpleasantness. I have to give major love to my husband who came home early from work and has taken care of Belle so that I can recuperate. He tried so hard to make my mother's day special even though I was sick. I think we are going to have a re-do mother's day this coming Sunday.

Sick Little Girl

Unfortunately, sweet Belle has come down with the stomach virus again. Tuesday night we were up all hours with her sick and we went into the doctor on Wednesday. Thankfully she has held down little bits of food since last night. The hard thing is I need her to fill back up on those fluids and drink, drink, drink. She thinks this idea is less than stellar and we have a major meltdown anytime the idea of fluids is presented. If any of you have tips they would be greatly appreciated. We have already tried Popsicles, Gatorade, pedialyte, juice, ice chips, feeding with a syringe, etc. As soon as she wakes from her nap we are going to try getting a juice slushy from Sonic.
Please pray that we can get her to drink and she will be on the mend quickly. We are supposed to leave on Saturday to spend Mother's Day in St. Simon's but I don't see that happening right now. I am trying to be positive but I get down so easily when I see her hurting and so lethargic. I guess it is the nurse in me that has an innate desire to make it "all better".
Stay tuned as an update from my Motivation by Humiliation will come tomorrow or Saturday!

Beginning a New Phase

I took an unannounced break from blogging the last few weeks to realign my priorities. There is so much that I need to blog about, but I really appreciated the time off. Over the next few weeks I will hopefully get caught up.

That being said I am starting a new phase in my life. Over the past 15 months I have taken a lot of the focus off of taking care of myself. I don't think this is a bad thing because I have a well-adjusted, bright, beautiful little girl who received my focus (and still will). Now it is time to focus on me a little. I have finally reached a point where I am at my "pre-pregnancy" weight. That's great, right? Not really, see I was actually overweight before I got pregnant, and now it is time to buckle down and do something about it. Is my problem dieting? No. Is my problem exercise? No. My problem is motivation. Once I commit to something I am pretty likely to follow it through. The problem for me is being motivated to make the commitment. Yeah, I don't like the way I look in the mirror, but I could live with it if I had to. Now comes the tricky part....

Let me introduce you to "Motivation by Humiliation". I have taken a lovely picture of how I currently look in a sports bra and shorts. It is not awful, but definitely not what you want to show your friends. I have been planning for the last week my plan of action. I am committing to losing at least 10 pounds by August 31. If I do not lose this weight by that date I will post said picture on my blog for 24hrs. Thus the humiliation part.

I know what you are saying, "10 pounds is nothing", but when you have a medical condition that makes it difficult to lose weight it is HARD. If I achieve the 10 pounds prior to my goal date I will set a new goal weight and goal date. My short-term goal is 10 pounds and my long-term goal is 25 pounds. I will achieve this by a combination of weight-watchers points and calorie counting. I will be starting my first 30 days with Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred-It. After that I will add in pilates, strength training, kick boxing, and core workouts. I am printing copies of my before picture to post on my mirror, fridge, pantry, and car. This will keep from snacking throughout the day and ordering unhealthy drive-thru.

What do I need from you? I need encouragement galore. Being insecure about your body sucks and being unmotivated just makes a vicious cycle. If any of you want to join in feel free and we can encourage one another. If you have tips that worked for you please share.

I am so excited about this and about being confident in the way I look .... eventually. I did my first day of the Shred-It today. I was surprised that I actually made it through it (even if I felt like I was going to pass out for the hour after)!