The First Post - also known as "Possibly TMI"

So here it is: my first post. I promised that the person who came up with the best title for the blog would be mentioned in the first post and as promised, all credit goes to…Mary Lavender! Yay Mary! Thank you for coming up with such a cute name! Now, as she and Debi pointed out, anything ending in “osophy” implies that the content is comprised of thoughts, ideas, statements, information, etc. – just no questions. Basically I took that to mean I can say anything that I want, and no one can argue with me. I like that. Let’s go with it.

There are a few reasons that I wanted to start a blog. First, as most of you know, I’ve been trying to lose the baby weight ever since I was given the go-ahead by my doctor to begin exercising post-partum, about two years ago. It’s not been a successful endeavor. I’m hoping that by chronicling my attempt to lose the weight I can find some encouragement and motivation from all two of you that I know will read this (thanks Mom and Pat!). Second, I’m hoping it will motivate me by holding me accountable. Third, if there is a chance someone will stumble upon this who is in the same situation that I’m in, I would like to have the opportunity to encourage that person by showing them that they aren’t alone and there IS someone else who complains about it more than they do. And last but not least, it gives me yet another outlet to talk about my wonderful family and my beautiful, two-year-old and too-smart-for-my-own-good, daughter. And anything else that I want to compla...er, talk about.

Let’s go back to the beginning of this whole weight-loss mess. When I was in middle and high school, I was fat. No sugar-coating it; I was just plain LARGE. I was not even five feet (okay I know, I’m STILL not even five feet. Shut up.) and weighed 141 lbs. I joined Weight Watchers with my mom and aunt and lost some weight. I started working out in the afternoons after school every day, too.

During our engagement, Pat and I decided to join WW together to slim down before our wedding and I remember my last weigh-in being 118 lbs. From then, I gained and lost for a while.

After we got married, I joined Curves. That was pretty great. I went at lunchtime and just had a Slim-Fast shake at my desk. When we could no longer afford it, I started doing The Firm workout DVDs at home. That’s when I really slimmed down. I can’t remember how much I weighed, but I know I was wearing a size 5. I still felt like I needed to get my body fat percentage down, but I was comfortable in my own skin for the most part. I could wear a bikini at the beach and be happy. I wasn’t really watching what I ate, I didn’t deprive myself of anything that I wanted but I didn’t overindulge either.

I became pregnant in September of 2006. I wanted to be one of those cute pregnant chicks that didn’t look pregnant unless you saw them from the side. I vowed to work out and eat right. Then we had some unexpected situations arise that were stressful and emotional. I stopped working out because I just didn’t feel like it and I started to eat all sorts of crap and lots of it. By the time I gave birth in June 2007, I had gained 50 lbs and weighed 170. I could NOT believe what I did to myself.

When I went to the doctor for my 8-week check up, I had lost 20 lbs. already. He gave me the green light to begin exercising so I began walking on the treadmill every day. I remembered that I lost the majority of my weight when I was exercising, not really dieting, so I didn’t focus on my eating habits very much. Slowly but surely, I started to gain a little bit of those 20 lbs. back again.

Once I had built up a bit more strength and stamina, I started adding in The Firm DVDs again. I still didn’t focus on my eating habits and eventually, I gained 10 lbs. back and weighed 160. I was SO ticked off that I was gaining weight even though I was exercising.

Since then, I’ve exercised on and off (some weeks doing all five days, other weeks doing just a day or two, and still other weeks not at all) and tried to cut back on desserts and fried foods. My weigh-in on 05.24.09 was 161.6, 40.2% body fat.

Starting last Monday, July 27th, Pat and I have been doing a fruit/veggie/whole grains only “experiment.” If I call it a diet, I won’t do it. Seriously. I worked out all five days last week and took the weekend off to rest. My weigh-in last Saturday, 08.01.09 was 163.8, 42.4% body fat (I have a Tanita scale that measures body fat percentage – I know muscle weighs more than fat so this way I can see if I’m actually losing fat or not).

Let me just tell you that I am TICKED OFF that in the past month, I’ve gained two pounds and 2% body fat. I’ve still been working out, trying to eat better, and I worked out that ENTIRE week PLUS stuck to the “experiment” perfectly. Pat will say that I can’t be upset because I didn’t weigh myself at the beginning of the week so I might have gained more than that but lost some over the week. You know what? I don’t care. I weigh more now than at my last weigh-in and that’s all that matters in my head.

Grrr.

The weekend wasn’t awesome in regards to sticking to the plan. I threw my MIL a surprise birthday party at BD’s Mongolian Grill on Saturday, so we originally planned to make that one meal a cheat meal. Although I must say, I did do really well because I left out the pasta and only had potatoes as my carbs. The rest of my meal was veggies. Then we found out that Pat’s best friend Scott and his girlfriend Kelsey were in town for the weekend so we invited them and some other friends to come over that night for Wii games…and we blew it with the margaritas and beer. On Sunday, Scott’s parents (the reason he was in town) were renewing their wedding vows, so we ate the pasta at the reception and the wedding cake.

Yes. I KNOW. But we got right back on track yesterday with the “experiment” and I’ve worked out both days so we’re doing okay.

Let me just say that if I haven’t lost anything when I weigh-in this Friday, someone is going to get a fat lip. I am NOT kidding.