Welllll, what can I say?

You don't exercise, you eat way too much...it's no mystery what happens next. I gained .6 pounds this week. Ugh. Obviously I'm not surprised and, truth be told, I'm just thankful it's not more. I'm all ready to start hitting the gym again. I was feeling so good before rash week/s sidelined me. I want that feeling back. We've got doctor appointments this afternoon so I'm plotting an evening trip to the gym. Friday evening gym visits are the best, it's usually pretty empty. Sunday mornings are good too. So are Saturdays. Alright, no excuses.

I don't have to worry too much about my eating. I'm learning more and more that when I exercise the eating part comes easier. It's probably a stress thing. I exercise and the stress gets burned away with the calories. No exercise and the stress gets taken in with the calories in the form of food. It's funny, I don't go around feeling stressed but I'm pretty sure that is what's happening. Either that or I exercise and can't stand ruining my hard work by overeating. Ah, like most things, it's probably a combination of things. All I know is exercise = better eating.

And of course I'm feeling super fat these days. That just adds to the lack of inertia. What a trio, feeling fat, overeating and no exercise. If that's not a recipe for gaining weight I don't know what is. Gotta intervene. Exercise it is!

On the baby front - Marek is doing well. I'm still breastfeeding, something I'm very proud of because it's been a challenge. He's growing and changing so much! The biggest things are smiling and "talking". I took some video. Here we are chatting it up. Enjoy!

Mother's Day should be Mother's Weekend.

Where is the time? I can't believe it's been over a week since my last post. It was a pretty busy week though. First and most upsetting was I was struck with two rashes. TWO! I'll try to make this brief. First rash started and I believed I had some awful contagious disease and Marek was going to get it and I was going to have to kill myself due to the guilt. I went to see my doc who referred me to a dermatologist. Turns out it was an allergic reaction to a mango. Who knew? Second rash was due to my not knowing how to properly deal with my milk jugs. I'll spare you the details. All in all, I'm the new queen of the creams. The good news is both conditions are clearing up nicely. The downside is that I was sidelined as a result, didn't exercise at all last week.

On to some good news. I went to my WW meeting this past Friday and am happy to report I LOST A POUND!! Yippee!! It always feels good to lose some weight. After this past weekend, I'm going to have to re-focus if I want to keep it off.

But first, on Friday afternoon we headed out for a hike. I recently heard about a trail I'd never been on so we decided to explore it, the Terra Linda/Sleepy Hollow Divide Open Space Preserve (north section). The trails were very nice, not too steep, not too flat and with beautiful views. The only downside is there could have been a bit more shade, though Miguel did a good job of keeping Marek shaded. We'll definitely return here on a cooler day. Lots of trails we did not get to explore. Some pictures from our 45 minute hike...


I have so few pictures of Marek and I together. I'm always behind the camera. So after a post-hike diaper change I plopped down for a picture with my little man!!

After the hike we went into town and had burgers at The Broken Drum in San Rafael. And after that we hit up Cold Stone Creamery where I had a small mint ice cream with Oreo bits. I know, it's just not right to be describing burgers and ice cream on a fitness blog...but in real life we can eat those things AND lose weight :) All in moderation...and coupled with some exercise. Anyway, Friday was just one of those days, perfect.

What did I do for my very first Mother's Day? Well, my mother treated us to a night at a local country club resort in Napa!! We checked in on Saturday afternoon (Miguel went ahead early Saturday morning to get in 18 holes) - my mom had brought all sorts of yummy snacks in which I promptly indulged - bread, salami, cheese, mayo, cookies, chocolate...on and on. Enough about food. Before dinner Marek got a bath. The bathroom sink made a perfect bathtub!

...and was all clean to head to the restaurant!

We went out to dinner and I had some yummy salmon, mashed potatoes, etc.

On Sunday morning grandma got some baby time...

...and then we hit the brunch. I again ate a ton...bacon, eggs, waffle, butter, croissants, butter, potatoes, butter...Are you seeing a pattern? Yeah, lots of friggin' butter! But it was yummers. After brunch mom and I went to the spa to chill while Miguel chilled with Marek in the room. The spa facilities were niiiice. I didn't get any treatments, just laying in the sun with music and a magazine, and a little champagne!, made me happy enough.


Now that I have a baby I often find myself asking, "Why didn't I do this more often before"? I am comforted to know my life is no longer a wasteland of couch and TV time. That's one of the best things about health and fitness, life is no longer passing me by! Thank you Mom for a wonderful weekend!!

I indulged a bit too much in that lovely sunshine and now have a bit of a burn on my chest and back. That, together with my not quite completely healed rash(es) is making me hesitant to go to the gym. Rash + Sunburn makes sweating no fun. I have another busy week ahead, lots of doctor appointments. I'm going to focus on healthy eating and try to get in some gym time later this week. Let's hope I can hold on to that 1 pound loss!!

Healthy Snacking

I made it to Trader Joe's and loaded up on the healthy snacks. I bought some old favorites like...


I've raved about the Fage before, how good it is with an apple. At only 2 Points and 13 grams of protein the yogurt is really good bang for your calorie buck. The Trader Joe's Light String Cheese is great because it's only 1 Point, most are 2 Points, even other light versions. Bananas are, well, bananas. And the Spicy Spinach Pizzas weigh in at 3 Points but they are super tasty. I pop them in the toaster oven and four minutes later...yummmy.

So those are some quick and easy snacks but I have a couple cracker snacks I also want to share. First is the Flax & Honey Flatbread crackers with The Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss spreadable cheese wedge.


You get three crackers in a serving for 1 Point and the cheese is 1 Point so spread the cheese on the crackers and for 2 Points you get...


Together with a piece of fruit and a big glass of water and you've got a pretty hearty snack.

But Kristy told me about a snack she's been eating lately, hummus mixed with cottage cheese, so I tried out a version of it with crackers.


I took 1/4 cup of the hummus at 1 Point blended with 1/4 cup of the cottage cheese at 1.5 Points (I did Lowfat instead of Fat Free because of the nursing, when I'm no longer breastfeeding I'll go back to FF) spread on a serving of the crackers at 2 Points for a very hearty, tasty 4.5 Point snack. Maybe post-nursing I'll cut the serving in half.


What else do I snack on? I like cottage cheese and a can of mixed fruit or peaches in lite syrup (I buy this box at Costco and always have them on hand). With FF cottage cheese it's a nice 2 Point snack. Notice a trend in my snacking? Protein. Protein is the secret to fulfilling snacks. Without it, I'm hungry again 10 minutes later.

Of course fruits and veggies make great snacks too so I'm always stocked up on 1 Point apples and various other favorites. How do I know the apples are 1 Point? Because they all are. In my book, all apples (and all oranges) are 1 Point, no matter the size. I did not get fat eating apples and oranges.

On a slightly sad note I'm a little bit under the weather. I wonder if I pushed my body a bit too much? I feel good but the virus makes me think maybe I wasn't as strong as I was feeling. No, I don't have the swine flu, but a little bug that's keeping me from working out. So far I've tracked this week, even the THREE (!!!) Weight Watchers' ice cream bars I ate yesterday. Hopefully I can keep the eating in check (that is, not go over my allotted points) since working out isn't an option right now.

I'm really enjoying having the support of this blog back in my life. The comments are always so helpful and encouraging and just writing down what I'm doing and why, getting out some of my unhealthy thinking, and reminding myself how this really works - it all makes such a difference. Thank you for reading :)

I Didn't Lose Weight

But I didn't gain either. I stayed exactly the same, 179.8 pounds. I'm hoping my explanations (water retention, etc) are accurate and that next week I might see some movement on the scale. It's always a challenge to work your butt off and not see any immediate outcome. But it's also a chance for me to walk the walk and not look to the numbers for positive reinforcement.

I feel so much better than I did a week ago and I know it's the exercise - my energy level is improved, despite getting marginal amounts of sleep, it feels easier to move around, I'm just feel stronger all the way around.

When I started back to Weight Watchers I would have guessed that I'd change my eating habits first and then resume working out sometime down the road. I guess I assumed so because that's how I did it when I started WW the first time in February 2007. But no, I'm into the exercising but not feeling very motivated to tackle food. That's not to say I haven't made changes, I have. I'm eating more veggies, cutting back on the sweets and generally trying to make better choices. But tracking is non-existent (though I have tracked so far today!) and, more importantly, I'm not that motivated to follow the WW Points plan. Without motivation, everything is harder.

I think this is a good thing because I'm seeing the results of exercise already. With food changes I think the outcomes are slower. Of course, I'm not seeing the results on the scale yet, but I know that will come. This is a reminder that this is a lifestyle change, not a diet. If it were a diet I'd be down in the dumps, and though I'm not happy about it, I'm not upset either.

So I used the disappointment at the scale to propel me to head to the gym. I got in 45 minutes of cardio and lifted a few weights before childcare ended at 1pm. After some sweat and endorphins I cared even less about the scale.

Well, I'm off to Trader Joe's to find some healthy snacks. I need some whole grain snacks now that I've run out of Cheetos :)

Let Me Explain...

So I realized yesterday's post was sort of depressing. Kristy was so concerned she called to see what she could do to help. Thank you :) And the comments were so encouraging. Thank you all! But what I failed to say in that post was that the list was meant to motivate me, not meant as a list of how I'm feeling now. Fortunately, I'm not feeling that way now, but I want to avoid feeling all those things. Does that make sense? So thank you for the encouragement and everything, though I'm doing pretty good it's always nice to be reminded.

And why am I doing so good? Well, I've been a busy bee! I already told you I went to the gym on Sunday and Monday. Well, I carried right on and went Tuesday and Wednesday (yesterday) too!

A little gym log action:

Tuesday:
15 minutes elliptical, Level 6
15 minutes treadmill @ 3.5mph walking with four 5.0mph minute intervals jogging
300 calories burned!
No weight training. I needed to let my body rest after Monday's training session.

Wednesday:
15 minutes elliptical, Level 6
15 minutes treadmill @ 3.5mph walking with four 5.0mph minute jogging intervals
15 minutes on the upright bike, Level 6
450 calories burned!!
Weight Training...

Back & Biceps
Seated Row
Inverted Back Extension
Bicep Curl
Straight Arm Lat Pulldown
Lat Pulldown
30 crunches!.

What I discovered about my abs is that it's my lower abs that are weak, my upper abs seem fine. So crunches were fine, I did 30 without too much difficulty. But I could barely lift my legs off the ground when I tried to do bicycle crunches. So those were out. I will take it very slowly, I don't want to create any lasting problems. Oh, and my heartrate monitor said I burned 150 calories while weight training. I wanted to swim a few laps, like 10, and hit the jacuzzi but called home and was told to get home STAT, baby was hungry!

So that was the Back & Biceps routine. The other two routines in the plan are:

Legs & Shoulders:
Squats!
Lunges!
Upright Rows
Calf Machine
Leg Extension

Chest & Triceps
Pushups (modified)
Tricep Extensions or Kickbacks
Dumbell Flies
Close Grip Chest Press

Seem doable in a half-hour? That's what we're aiming for. I felt pretty darned good after completing the back and biceps routine.

And what about today, you ask? Well, as you may have heard there is a pandemic going on. It's made me a little nervous to drop Marek off in childwatch as there was a sick person there the other day and I just don't want to take unnecessary chances. Plus, I figure my body might need a break from the gym. So I went for a walk! We walked from home to the closest coffee shop and back. Can you say 4.33 miles?! And 715 calories burned! It took me about 45 minutes each way, with a break at the coffee shop for some fuel for both of us (I'm getting pretty good at breastfeeding in public with the hooter hider). That's a picture from our walk. Walking in the stroller is like a sleeping pill to Marek, he conks right out!

It felt so good to be outside. It was perfect outside weather, a slight chill in the air, cloudy, but not cold and not windy. Oh, here's the route in case you are as curious as I am compulsive:



And there was another new family out enjoying the day :)



Finally...a picture from this morning.



Honestly, I didn't know my heart could hold this much love.

Ok, tomorrow is weigh-in Friday. I am trying to prepare myself for the possibility of not losing. A: My eating has been less than stellar and I tracked for less than one day. B: I started a workout routine this week and I'm probably retaining water as a result. C: I started weight training again. Is it possible I gained some muscle already? In any event, three reasons why I might not see a loss, and might even see a gain on the scale tomorrow. I've been very good and resisted the urge to weigh myself so I don't know what to expect. I am reminding myself over and over that I don't have any expectations of myself to lose so any outcome is just fine. But, well, you know how it is.

Well, that's it from me. I can't believe I wrote this all in one sitting!