Monday, February 15, 2010

Big Fat Zero

That's exactly how many pounds I've lost after working out 5-6 times a week for 5 weeks. In fact, when I stepped on the scale this morning I'd gained a pound.

20 pounds in 30 days? I'd settle for 2 pounds in 30 days. I did lose a pound and a half during week four, but then we made sugar cookies with the Nate cousins for Family Home Evening last week, so that was the end of that.

These girls have been my BFF's for the last five weeks:

I started exercising in November, but as is typical for me, I only lasted two weeks before I let sick kids and holiday plans and just plain laziness get in the way of my good intentions. I'd been struggling with what to do for exercise because the weather had turned cold and there's not exactly a Gold's Gym on every corner in a town of 500. Several people have treadmills and elliptical trainers that they use at home, and I was welcome to borrow them, but it just seemed too inconvenient to drag my kids to someone else's house and worry about Mack falling down the stairs or trying to climb on the equipment. And then there was the question of what to do when one of the kids was sick. So, after talking with my friend Julia, I decided to give exercise DVD's a try. I ordered Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred and while I waited for it to arrive I checked out some DVD's from the library. I did cardio/toning and some Pilates.

When I started doing the workouts, my SIL Dianna, who spent a week in our tiny house last summer (without the wood stove taking up half the living room), asked, "Where in the world do you have room to exercise?" Here's a little visual:

(Photos courtesy of Amelia. I think I deleted 27 pictures of the wood stove after prying the camera from her hands.)

I was doing my workouts in the late morning and I found it to be frustrating because Mack was always climbing all over me and Amelia was whining for me to do something for her every 3 minutes.

So when I got the 30 Day Shred video and recommitted to exercising at the beginning of January, I started getting up around 6:15am and doing my workouts before waking Lily up for school. I have been quite surprised to find that I can actually wake up that early and that I like having the quiet time to myself. They say it takes 27 days to form a habit and I am now pretty well in the groove of getting up early and exercising.

It has been frustrating not to see a lot of results after working so hard. My arms aren't quite as flabby and my legs are getting toned, but I haven't really lost any fat. For the first two weeks I alternated between the 30 Day Shred and Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga. I liked the yoga because it really helped my posture and balance, and it gave me a "lighter" day in between the harder workouts. The 30 Day Shred has 3 circuits of 3 min. strength-2 min. cardio- 1 min. abs for a 20 mintute workout with the warm-up. In the first two weeks I gained a couple pounds, presumably from building muscle mass, but it didn't seem like I was losing any fat. I thought maybe I wasn't working hard enough, so in the third week I just started doing the Shred video everyday and moved up to Level 2. After another week of that, I decided that there was too much toning and not enough cardio to accomplish my goal of losing fat. I might be strengthening my abs, but if you can't see it under all that chub, what's the point? I started doing the elliptical a couple days a week instead of the Shred, and that's when I lost that pound and a half.

Enter cookies. And Golden Graham s'mores. And sick kids so I couldn't go to Katie's house to use the elliptical. I just went back to doing the Shred everyday in week 5 (I am up to the Level 3 workout, though.) This morning as I was getting dressed to exercise and I discovered that I was up to 159 from my starting weight of 158, I was just so discouraged. I started the video, did the warm-up, then got down on my stomach to do supermans. I found myself hitting the pause button, sprawling out on the carpet and quitting.

I really don't want to diet. I mean I really, REALLY don't want to diet. I love food. And in the past I've always been able to eat whatever I want as long as I exercise. I'd rather exercise twice a day than have to cut back on the good stuff. But after doing these workouts for five weeks with little result in the way my clothes fit (other than my quads have beefed up so now my jeans are tight on my thighs), I'm gonna have to break down and modify my eating. My main problem is treats.

Have I mentioned that I love sugar cookies?

In fact, I've eaten two while typing this post. I have to get rid of the treats, y'know, so I can start dieting...

Please give me some ideas for healthy snacks and meals, preferably ones that everyone else can stand to eat also. 'Cuz if there's one thing I'm not doing, it's making two separate meals every night. Also, if you have any suggestions for a good cardio workout, please share.

Ok, I'm off to work it with Jillian and the girls while I wait for this to come in the mail.

And I will NOT eat a sugar cookie right after I'm done.

11 comments:

The Dragonfly said...

First, you look really good. Second, I have not exercised once since having my baby. And I hate myself for it. Third, the only way to avoid treats is to not have them in your house. Painful for all involved. YOU CAN DO IT!

Lori Gerten said...

I second Sam's comment. You look great in your work out clothes. Girl I do NOT look like that in my work out clothes.

I'm a big fan of lower sodium and tons of water. It works and if you can work out every morning at 6:15 am then you can try this.

Who the heck really gets up at 6:15 am to work out anyway???? I'm sorry that you didn't get results that you wanted to see. That doesn't make sense.

I'll be thinking about you!!!!

Lori

Dianna said...

I'm impressed - no arm pit hair!! Dang, not only do you get up at the crack of dawn to exercise, but you shave daily too!! I'm in the same boat...no willpower and way too many lbs to lose. Keep up the great work. You will start losing fat.

Dianna said...

You have inspired me....I'm gonna go walk on the treadmill. So, even if you don't get down to your goal weight, you can feel good that your story has helped others. (you buying that??) LOL Seriously, off to sweat off some water weight! Thanks for the kick in the tushy.

Brian and Rebecca Nate said...

Do be so hard on yourself. After I had Kaden, I didn't do a whole lot for about a year and a half. Then I did a little, but just enough to let me eat a candy bar once in a while. I am kind of blessed to not have a true "sweet tooth". I don't really need the sweet stuff to get me going. I really like eating vegetables and fruit. I didn't see any results with myself, until I kicked up my workout to 40 minutes. I lost 10 lbs. in 2 months doing that. It does take a while, but it will come eventually. I commend you for doing those home exercises for 5 weeks, I never could get motivated for more than 5 minutes. This summer we will work it out so we can run together in the mornings somehow. You do look good, girl, keep it up!!

Becky in Wyo said...

Just read all your recent posts. Bawled my eyes out with Sara's video. Last night's talk was good. I gotta quit staying up late. It's horrible.

Workouts, workouts... Man, dieting sucks. For me, it's mostly about portion size. I'm like Becca, I don't have a monster sweet tooth (usually), but I just love to gorge on yummy food. I can eat and eat. Stopping at one portion is a challenge for me. And loading up on water is always a good idea, because I'm convinced that some of our munchies simply come from our body's subtle demand for hydration.

Lisa said...

I so hear you. I have done diet and exercise before and had no results, that's motivating right there, not.
Anyway, good job! I just found an interesting webstie, radiantrecovery.com and it talks about sugar addiction. LOL. Thought it was funny because of the sugar cookies. I think I am going to try it though.

Pinspot said...

Sue, Sue, Sue. You may not have lost any weight, but girl, you stuck with it (at 6:15 am!?!?) and you should be proud! I used a bad cold that began around day 6 as an excuse to stop, and I haven't restarted. :( I'll get back to it soon. As soon as the girl scout cookies are outta my cupboard and in my belly.

Anonymous said...

Have you tried a spoon full of peanut butter about thirty minutes before meals? Or an apple instead of sweets. When,I try to lose weight the first thing to go is bread. The big thing is to stick with it and do not weight, use the clothes I want to wear method.

Anonymous said...

All of the previous comments are awesome, so here is my two cents: The other day I went to the store and got stuck in the produce section thinking, Man, I really need to eat more fruit and veggies. So I just started loading up my cart with everything that looked good... Green peppers, Carrots, Cellery, Snap peas, Apples, Oranges, Bananas, Grapes... You name it! Then when I got home I rinsed everything off and cut up the veggies and put them in small containers in the fridge all ready to go for snacking. I also left some rinsed snap peas and cut up celery on the counter in a bowl where little hands and mom's could easily reach. I found that as I went to the kitchen I would grab some veggies to snack on instead of a cookie. Wierd I know, but it really does help to have the good stuff visible! Love ya, you look good!!

Apis Melliflora said...

I'm coming to this late in the game. But you're doing a fantastic job. You look great and don't you feel better?! Just remember muscle weighs more than fat. I'm always lighter when I'm not exercising, but I feel terrible.

I gave up dessert for Lent. Want to join me in that crazy endeavor until Easter? =-)