Saturday, October 23, 2010

A struggle with snacking...

My first few days of being on the weight loss wagon have been alright. I have been trying to watch what I eat, and make healthy decisions. I started buying veggies and storing them in portion sizes to enjoy at meal times or snack times. However, my love of baking is a weakness of mine that is going to hinder my goal. I love to bake/cook. I have a guilty habbit of eating for the sake of eating. I have put all my baking in a cupboard where I cannot see it, because every time I walk into the kitchen, there goes another cookie (muffin, bisquit, etc) in my mouth :(

I am not cutting anything out 100%. I believe eating in moderation is good. But not when I am eating like 10 goodies per day. I need to realize that the only person I am "hurting" by sneaking these extra treats is myself. I am trying to offer myself and my children veggies, fruit, or smoothies in place of our previous snacks of junk food. When I am in a grocery store, I am proud to say that the majority of the time I avert my eyes past the cookies, chips, etc.

November 3rd is my 6 week Post-natal check up, which means I am on the look out for some sort of exercise program. (dance, Yoga, join a gym, we shall see what I can find!) I have been walking, but nothing that I would count as physical activity:) And so, I continue on for another week of making healthier choices and decisons.

~Cheers~

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Weight Loss Wagon

Where do I begin? This is my first ever blog post so here goes...
For years I have struggled with an ever present issue of being overweight. Ever since I was a child I have been "big boned" & "husky". I can remember as far back as grade 2 and being teased about it. Not a great self-esteem booster that's for sure!

Anyone who has ever had a weight issue, can identify with the different issues a person may experience. My decision to do something about being borderline obese started in the fall of 2008. I just had my third child in June 2008. When I was a teenager, I remember joking around  saying that if I ever hit 300 pounds I would kill myself. Well that time came as I weighed myself the day after giving birth to my son. 302 pounds. I was mortified. Of course I wasn't going to kill myself, but what the heck? How did that happen?

When I was 16, I got pregnant with my first daughter. She was born in September 2002. I gained 60 pounds with her and shed a total of her 8 pound birth weight. With my next daughter, born July 2005 I again gained 60 pounds and only lost her 9 pound birth weight. So back to the 300 pound mark...
I was devastated. I realized that I needed to do something about it. Not only was my blood pressure borderline my whole life, I started getting migraines when i was pregnant with my first daughter.

I went back to work when my son was only four months old. I met a lot of awesome people working for the City of Prince Albert. Many of the women there were on Weight Watchers and they encouraged me to join. I ended up starting Herbal Magic that night. I forked out a grand total of $700 just to sign up for 5 days a week of one on one counselling. Not to mention what I would have to pay for pills per week. I joined at the end of January 2009, weighing in at 281 pounds. The first ten days went by and I lost a total of 10 pounds. In those ten days I didn't have one migraine. I continued to lose a total of 63 pounds in 6 1/2 months. I felt great! I quit the program in August of 2009 due to lack of finance. It was just too expensive to keep up with all the pill buying. $25 per month for one kind of pill and  $50 per week for another. For another 6 months after that I managed to keep off the weight (without pills) except for 2 pounds which I gained back. My motivation other than my family, was looking at pictures of myself in earlier years...YUCK!

I found out in January 2010 that I was expecting another bundle of joy! This news got me some negative criticism. "You just lost all that weight, and now your just gonna gain it all back again!" For the most part I continued to eat healthy (and whatever I could keep down for the first 4 months of it)
In September of this year, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. (My fourth child) AND I only gained 30 pounds with her.

So, why I am here today? Well, I am jumping back on the Weight Loss Wagon, and my goal for June/July 2011 is to lose 75 pounds! I am currenly sitting at 258.3 pounds. So by next summer I would like to weigh in at roughly 185 pounds. My reasons for doing this is simple, I would like to be around long enough to see any grandchildren that I might be blessed with get married:) Maybe even see a few great grandchildren! I would like to feel amazing in anything that I wear, I would like to feel sexy when my husband looks at me, and I would like to be healthy and fit enough to be able to run around with my children in the many years to come!

In the days, weeks, and months to come I am going to blog my way through my goal. Here's to shedding 75lbs!! Woot Woot!!!!

~Cheers~