Married in Chicago

Crap Week

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 15:07:00 +0000

Last week was a crap week, filled with nerve wracking interviews, too much stress eating, and too little working out (#didn'tmakeittothegymonce).

The good news?

Today is Monday, which means the start of a brand new week with brand new possibilities. I don't have to repeat last week! I can get back on course!

And there is nothing like having a CANCUN trip in the near future to remotivate me.

Yes, you read that right. Some friends and I have decided to take a last minute girls trip to Cancun in February. We are leaving our husbands and kids and going to lounge on the beach with pina coladas. It is going to be pure bliss. We leave in about 5 weeks.

So! New! Goal! Is to be down 20 pounds by Cancun. Currently, I'm down 15. So, all I need to do is steadily loose about one pounds per week between now and then. Totally attainable. Nothing crazy. #allaboutthatslowandsteady

A very exciting thing about this goal is that once I'm minus 20, I will be officially 1/3 of the way through my weight loss goal. CRAZY. I totally remember when losing 5 pounds felt impossible, and now I'm talking about making it to twenty. Progress is nice. But! I can't get complacent. I need to remind myself how awesome it will feel to be down 30 . . .40 . . .50. . . 60!

And with that, time to get my day started so that I have time for the gym!

Peace out.

Note To Self

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 15:16:00 +0000

When at the grocery store and hubby suggests buying a box of soft delicious chocolate chip cookies, say NO. Because if you say yes, you will wake up at 2 in the morning and eat two cookies.

Sugar addiction, folks. The struggle is real.

I'm Nervous!

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 18:58:00 +0000

My tummy is full of butterflies and nerves today and I could barely sleep last night. Today is a big day in our household! Not only is it Neill's first day of work at his new job, but I have my first interview for internship next year. Eeeek!

I spent most of the morning prepping for the interview and then decided to go to the gym for some exercise. I thought it might help be work out the nerves and pass the time before my phone interview.

For some reason though, I felt so tired once I got to the gym. So, I cut my workout a bit short. Do I feel awesome about that? No. But am I proud of myself for even making it to the gym in the first place? Heck yes.

I am constantly having to remind myself that perfection is not a realistic goal. I didn't have the perfect workout, and that is okay. I won't have the perfect interview, and that is okay too. I just have to do my best and trust that it is enough.

Finding Inspiration to Lose Weight in the New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 21:28:00 +0000

A new year is here, and I'm on a journey to find a new me. Or rather - an old me. At the end of 2015, I don't want to look like some supermodel or some fitness chick I follow on IG. Nope. I just want to look (and feel) more like I did a few year ago. So some of the best inspiration for me is scanning through old photos of me, when I was a much healthier weight.

Vegas, February 2009. Horrible outfit, but looking slim!

In Puerto Rico, July 2009

Honeymoon in Negril, June 2010

New York, October 2011

Looking back, I can't believe how skinny I look! While I might never get back to exactly how I looked years ago, seeing these pictures helps me believe I can meet my goal of losing 60 pounds.

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 19:56:00 +0000

I hope 2015 brings more laughter than tears . . .

and more calories burned than consumed :)

Coming Out of the Holi-daze

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Tue, 30 Dec 2014 21:51:00 +0000

After a long long long week with the inlaws in West Virgina, I am back at home. While there were many awesome things about the week we spent with family, let me tell you - I don't know if I've ever moved so little and eaten so much. It was like food coma 24/7.

Cookies
Cake
Fast food
Pizza
Chips
Chocolate
Did I mention fast food?

There was a cornucopia of subpar, low quality food around. And I fell for it - hard.

Splurging on a delicious artisan pizza would be one thing, but stuffing my face with papa john's pizza . . . its just low.

The thing that really makes me mad about the whole situation is that the food didn't even taste good. ALERT: PAPA JOHN'S PIZZA IS NASTY! I don't enjoy eating it. It makes me feel greasy and gassy and gross.

Any normal, sane person would have been able to walk away from the crap food. But not a food addict. Not me.

So I ate, a lot. And I didn't exercise at all. And the combination of over eating and under moving put me in a real funk.

I'm slowly slowly slowly coming out of the calorie haze. I went to the gym today for the first time in like two weeks and tried to sweat out the toxins. But, you know what they say - you can't outrun a bad diet. So while the work out definitely lifted my spirits, I'm not so sure it will negate the impact of last week.

BUT I remain hopeful.

Looking at my spread sheet, IF by the end of December I am down 15 that will mean that I was able to lose 15 pounds in 3 months (October, November, December). IF I can maintain this rate of weight loss, I will be 100% on track to lose 60 pounds by next October (my original goal).

I'm going to work hard this week to make sure I make it to sub fifteen by Friday!

Self Sabotage

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 19:29:00 +0000

Last time we chatted, I was feeling pretty confident that I would be able to be sub 15 pounds by Christmas. I was down 13 pounds and had 14 days to lose the next 2. Totally doable. Right? Right.

Unfortunately, at this point it looks like my goal isn't going to happen.

First, there was the holiday party on Saturday night, which included copious amounts of cheese and chocolate.

Then, out of sheer laziness, there was pizza on Sunday night and a burger and fries on Tuesday night.

And don't even get me started on the pesky bag of chocolate I bought on Saturday that has been calling my name every day. While I am happy to say I haven't binged on it, a little piece here and there certainly adds up.

To top it all off, today will be my last workout before leaving town on Saturday morning.

It occurs to me that a lot of this could be self-sabotage. I didn't have to eat so much cheese at the party. I certainly didn't have to order the pizza and then eat so damn much of it. And I really shouldn't have bought the bag of chocolate, knowing it is a weakness of mine.

Instead of working extra hard this week to meet my goal, its almost like I stopped trying. Why, when it was looking like I was really going to make it happen, would I suddenly lose motivation?

Anyways, I don't know what else to say about this other than I screwed myself over. And it doesn't feel good.

p.s. I think it is silly to obsess about the numbers. Down 14. Down 15. The difference is pretty arbitrary. I don't want to go down the road of being crazy about every quarter of a pound. That being said, weight is a convenient metric to use for goal setting and it is fun to have goals.

p.p.s. I really don't want to beat myself up about this. The fact of the matter is, never ordering in or never indulging at a holiday party just isn't realistic for me. Or rather, it isn't the type of life I want to live. So, any diet I'm on has to be flexible enough to let me enjoy those things IN MODERATION. And maybe that is the piece I feel a bit down about? If it was just the party, or just the chocolate, or just the pizza then no biggie. But all of them in the same weekend as left me feeling a bit . . . blah.

Sweatin It Out Sundays

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Sun, 14 Dec 2014 18:33:00 +0000

After an indulgent Saturday filled with cookies, chips, cheese, and hot chocolate left me feeling bloated, I really needed to work up a sweat at the gym today.

Mission accomplished.

Bad Workout

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 02:25:00 +0000

So it happened. I had a bad workout. I felt like crap all day today and by the time 5 o'clock rolled around I REALLY did not want to go the gym. No no no. I was tired. I was hungry. My back hurt. All I wanted was to go home and order pizza.

Let's take a second to think about how delicious pizza is.

mmm

Okay, moving on . . .

I really wanted to go home, sit on the couch, and eat takeout pizza. And I knew that if I brought it up to Neill, there was a possibility that he would agree and that I would be able to spend the evening being a a fabulous coach potato. Doesn't that sound nice?

But, there was also a teeny part of me that remembered the commitment I made to myself to go the gym after work on Fridays. And there was also a small part of me that remembered my goal to lose 15 pounds by Christmas.

So I went. And I had a bad workout. I couldn't get into the groove and each minute was torture. I almost called it quits after 20 minutes. But, I sucked it up and kept going. And for that, I'm proud.

Not every workout is going to be stellar. I am going to have stumbling blocks along the way. But, if I keep on keepin on I have faith that I'll end up where I need to be.

Quick Update

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 13:32:00 +0000

I wish I had time for a long post right now, but in four minutes I need to start getting Jonah and myself dressed so that we can get out the door in time. The morning hustle is intense in this house.

BUT

I've got some exciting news to share!

I'm down THIRTEEN pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excuse me while I do a crazy happy dance.

Remember when I said that being down 15 pounds by Christmas wasn't realistic? Well all of a sudden it seems like that goal is totally attainable.

I have 10 days until we leave for WV and 14 days until Christmas.

Let the count down begin.

Sweatin It Out Sundays

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 02:31:00 +0000

I hit the gym hard this morning and got a good sweat in. Sometimes there is nothing better than zoning out at the gym. It clears my head. Gives me peace. It puts me in a good mood.

Meal Planning

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 16:35:00 +0000

Every so often, Neill and I sit down and go through our finances to make sure that we are still on the right track. A few weeks ago, we did just that. Much to our dismay, we came face to face with the realization that more money was going out than coming in. And when we looked to see where the money was going, we discovered that we were spending an inordinate amount of money on groceries. Like, a lot a lot a lot of money. The worst part of this for me was that I often felt like there was nothing to eat in the house. Plus, there were lots of times when we ended up throwing unused food away after it had gone bad. It was not a good situation.
The answer we came up with?

Meal planning! Every Sunday morning before going grocery shopping, I sit down and come up with a plan for what we will eat for dinner in the coming week. So, for example, this past week the meal plan looked like this:

Monday 12/1: Salad with tuna and garbanzo beans with homemade salad dressing
Tuesday 12/2: Taco night with ground bison and all the trimmings
Wednesday 12/3: Spinach quiche with roasted asparagus
Thursday 12/4: Ground bison stuffed bell peppers
Friday 12/5: Leftovers
Saturday 12/5: Homemade pizza night and salad
Sunday 12/6: Grilled cheese and tomato soup

I try to reuse the same ingredients to minimize how much we have to buy. For example, at Costco the ground bison comes in a two pack. So, one pack went to the tacos and one pack went to the stuffed peppers. Another ingredient that did double duty was cheese. We bought a bag of shredded mozzarella cheese. We used it to top the tacos, I put it in the quiche, I mixed some into the peppers, and rest of it went to the pizza.

I also try to plan a mix of easy and more labor intensive meals, based on when we will have time to cook. I'm home on Wednesdays, so it was easy for me to make the quiche, roast the asparagus, and do all the prep for the stuffed peppers. Then on Thursday, when I had less time to cook, all I had to do was eat up the peppers in the microwave.

It has only been a couple of weeks, but so far our system is working out really well. Not only are we spending less on groceries, but also we are being more purposeful about what we spend our money on. And planning in leftover meals makes sure that we aren't throwing away food.

Big news!

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Thu, 04 Dec 2014 15:36:00 +0000

I have some exciting and big news to share with y'all!

I stepped on the scale this morning and BAM - I'm down 10 pounds from my starting weight! I've been working like crazy to get here since the end of September and it feels SO GOOD to finally reach a goal. Maybe I should be embarrassed that it has taken me two months to lose 10 pounds, but I'm not. I'm just proud of myself!

I've made huge lifestyle changes since starting this journey. Before, I never worked out. Now, I work out every other day. Before, I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it. Now, I focus on eating home cooked foods and watching my portion size.

But you know what the biggest change is?

I'm making myself a priority.

Before, I felt too guilty about taking time away from my family to work on myself. So I completely let myself go (I hate that term, but it really applies here). Now, I see that I'm a better wife, mother, and person when I take time to get to the gym. Yes, it means sometimes I miss dinner or even bed time, but you know what? It means I'll be around longer, and be healthier longer. And having a happy, healthy parent is what is best for Jonah.

The scale doesn't lie!

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 20:28:00 +0000

Well I did it. I was brave. After I woke up this morning (5 am - ugh), I stepped on the scale.

As softly as possible, of course. And it wasn't so bad!!!! It could have been worse!!! Yes, I gained back a few pounds. But, I'm hoping that this is mostly water weight and will shed off this week.

Originally, my goal was to lose 10 pounds by Thanksgiving and 15 pounds by Christmas. Since I only lost 8 pounds by Thanksgiving and I ate like a pig while in West Virginia, it probably isn't realistic to think that I'll lose a total of 15 pounds by Christmas.

7 pounds in three weeks just ain't going to happen.

But, I'm going to go for 12. Which means, according to my weight this morning, I'll have to lose about 4 pounds over the next three weeks.

To this end, I hit the gym today and, according to my heart rate monitor, I burned close to 600 calories. Go me! I did 20 minutes walking on the treadmill at a steep incline, 20 minutes on the bike, and 10 minutes on the elliptical. I'll really need to keep this up until Christmas if I want to see results.

Part of me wants to try the 10 day advocare cleanse. I've seen some amazing before and after photos and I like that it isn't a "no eating" type cleanse because I don't play that game. Part of me thinks that for 30 bucks it is worth a shot, but the other part of me knows it is probably a waste of money.

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Thu, 27 Nov 2014 15:12:00 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

We are out of town, visiting Neill's family. I'm pretty sure I've already gained five pounds. Ooops.

Hope everyone is enjoying time with family!

Weight loss

noreply@blogger.com (Married In Chicago) — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 12:39:00 +0000

Oh me and my scale are in a love-hate relationship right now. So are me and the gym. And me and food. And everything else having to do with trying to lose weight.

Here is the bottom line . . .

I got fat. It's true. I own it. I'm not saying that to put myself down - I'm saying it because it is a fact. Over the last two years I got fat. I had a lot going on and I was depressed and blah blah blah. For a while I was stuck beating myself up over this fact. But, I've moved on to the "I'm going to do something about this" stage. Which, if you ask me, is a much better place to be.

So. I joined a gym. And I go. And I've lost 8 pounds. (yay for small victories).

But, the truth of the matter is I have another 50 to lose before I will be just normal fat rather than crazy obese fat. Normal fat I think I might be able to live with after seeing this side of the fat equation. In all honesty, I dream of the day when I'll be normal fat.

Seeing as how I have quite a bit of weight to lose, I'm trying to take the long view. This will be AT LEAST a year long journey. Probably more if I keep eating cheat meals like its my job. It helps me to think about my goals along the way, you know - to break up the humongous goal of losing 60 pounds. Right now, I'm hoping to be -15 by New Years. I think it is doable if I stay on my grind.

Lord help me!