Monday, September 19, 2005

My fitness journal, part 1

Let me first start by saying I am not trained in fitness or diet, so make sure you check with your doctor first before you try anything I might advise. Does that legally make me unresponsible for you falling on your butt or spraining your ankle or getting food poisoning? I hope so. :)

First I'll describe me until I can post a picture of myself. I'm 5'3" tall, smallish-framed, somewhat blonde, hazel eyes, yada, yada.

I don't really know what my true hair color is now, except that it is starting to get gray. I've been putting various colors on it for a few years now. I let my roots grow out about 2-3 inches before I color, so it looks dark blonde with a bit of gray peeking through until you get down to the colored part. I also have a perm growing out, which I mean to do something about soon. I'm so indecisive when it comes to my hair. I usually get a new do once or twice a year, then have mediocre-hair syndrome the rest of the year. Oh well, mothers rarely have time to worry about looks with very small children in the house.

After that unnecessary rambling, I'll comment on my build. Being a short person, any extra 5-10 pounds really shows on me. So, when I was pregnant with my daughters, I gained 40ish pounds with both of them, weighing in at around 163 at each birth. So, you can imagine what I looked like in the 9th month--a beached whale? Seriously bloated? Everything on me got big. I'm envious of those tall, skinny women who just have a little bulge in their bellies when they're pregnant, and maybe just a little plumpness in all the right places.

After my second daughter was born in January, I instantly dropped about 25 pounds in a couple of days. Birth will do that to you. :) So, that was a big help. I went home weighing about 138, I think. Now, after my first daughter was born, I decided my ideal weight was 115, so I had 23 more pounds to lose.

I've never been a very overweight or obese person, thankfully, but as I said before, being short makes any extra weight make me look really chunky, especially 23 pounds.

I had joined Weight Watchers (WW) after my first daughter was born and lost all my weight and then some within 16 weeks, and had been a lifetime member since then. So, when Zoe was 6 weeks old, both DH (dear husband) and I joined WW, and began losing 1-5 pounds a week, but we became drop-outs when the meeting night was changed. It just wasn't a good night for us. I decided I would just use the tools and tips I learned for healthy eating in WW at home. I'm not counting points but I am eating very near the WW guidelines, and preparing healthy food for our family.

Now, after that background, I'll break down the topics I will address in my ongoing fitness journal that I know you can't wait to read every day :). Here is a list of how I lost weight, and how I'm getting and staying fit and healthy.

  1. I breastfeed my baby--no formula.
  2. I eat healthy meals and snacks for the most part on weekdays and allow myself to indulge on weekends.
  3. I exercise 5 days a week with a combination of strength training, aerobic, and abdominal exercise.
  4. I drink lots of water.
  5. I try to get 7-8 hours of sleep at night and catch naps when I can.
  6. I take "me-time" when I can.

Tomorrow I will go in-depth about breastfeeding and how it can help you lose weight. Men, you're out of luck on this one. You're allowed to skip tomorrow's lesson :)

If you made it this far, God bless your heart. You must be bored. Tune in tomorrow to My Fitness Journal, Part 2!

3 comments:

Joan said...

Wow. Misty, you are the humor lacking in my life for sure. I just love you to peices. Keep writing. I need it. We should require reading your blog is people are going to read mine!

Oh! Look forward to joining you on your regimine tomorrow. I am blessed with friends who try to kick my butt as thoroughly as possible a few times a week right now! I did pray for God to help me get back off my duff not long ago...here we go!

Me

Joan said...

Wow. Misty, you are the humor lacking in my life for sure. I just love you to peices. Keep writing. I need it. We should require reading your blog is people are going to read mine!

Oh! Look forward to joining you on your regimine tomorrow. I am blessed with friends who try to kick my butt as thoroughly as possible a few times a week right now! I did pray for God to help me get back off my duff not long ago...here we go!

Me

Joan said...

Well, that actually did twice...I'm not sure why...now you get to figure out how to delete unwanted comments.

Me