I have tried on and off to exercise, nothing lasting any more than a few weeks at a stretch. I have tried on and off to eat better. I must say that this was easier to do... when you have no money, you don't eat out. My weight has bounced around a bit, depending on how active my job was or how well I was eating.
Then I had Audrey. She was a lovely (nearly) eight pound baby and yet, somehow, I had gained 50 pounds. I buckled down shortly after she was born and started exercising every morning. This lasted perhaps three months. I lost a little bit of weight but I never got down to my pre-pregnancy weight which was quite a bit higher than my pre-marriage weight. Just over a year later, I was finally getting my energy back and feeling ready to add fun activities into my days with Audrey. Trips to the zoo happened multiple times a week and playing with my little girl wasn't completely exhausting. Within months I was pregnant again... that stopped nearly all attempts at reasonable exertion.
So, here I am, nine months after Henry and finding myself a few pounds heavier than my post-Audrey, pre-Henry weight... If I keep having kids, I'll slowly die in an avalanche of cellulite. Anyway....
I have continued to exercise on and off the past nine months, but nothing consistent. I'm one of those people who needs a routine to stick to, or I'll forget or lose interest. So, here's my brilliant idea:
I've set up a little reward jar for myself. Ben and I made these cute little origami stars tonight.
Every time I exercise, I put a little star in my jar. Any time I want to reward myself for being good, I take two out, so I will need to consistently fill my jar in order to keep rewarding myself. Ben will be keeping me honest, ensuring that I don't "sneak" rewards. Once I get into a routine, I may not need the reward jar anymore since, as they say, the action reaps it's own rewards. I'll let you know when I hit my target weight. 36 pounds to go!
What have you done to shed the body clutter???
5 comments:
I got a physically demanding job... Plus, it doesn't hurt to be taking a fitness class at school.
Working out sucks. . . I have found, however, that if I have a goal in sight, I can do anything. I ran 1.25 miles on Wednesday, played basketball for almost an hour tonight, and I can now do 11 push ups. (I couldn't do more than one a month ago.) It's all about what you want. . . and going for it.
I hare working out with every fiber of my being...that being said I noticed that if I keep it simple and do it with a friend I stick with it. I exercise with Misty twice a week after I drop off Rachel at school first thing inthe morning for an hour. When it gets warmer I will add a day of running but if I exercise five days a week I will not stick with it. Oh and SOuth Beach..that always helps to shed weight!
The best combo is to eat right AND exercise. If you cut back your calories by 250 (Which isn't much) and exercised and burned 250 calories, you would burn off 1 lb a week (There are 3500 calories in a lb: 500 calories x 7 days = 3500. For two lbs a week, you need a deficit of 7000.). You don't want to lose more than that a week because then you are losing muscle instead of fat. Nothing like a hungry body eating itself!
This calulator helps me to know what my caloric needs are based on my weight and how active I am: http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/calneed After I know what my body needs, I can easily subtract the calories, and know what my limits are for the day.
Also, to keep you exercising, do something different every day! Switch it up with yoga, pilates, walking, whatever. Something different for 30 minutes will keep your body guessing and burning calories. Weight lifting will give you the most burn (start with 3 lb weights. It's amazing what they do!), and make you a calorie burning machine for up to 48 hours.
What has helped me (though I found it tedious at first) is to make a food journal. If you are seeing what you are eating, you can quickly determine a pattern, and can eliminate those things that really don't give you what you need (nutrients) and give you what you don't need (fat).
well, I have lost 10 lbs since Christmas and am hoping to shed another another 50 lbs.
The first 10 lbs was easy. No soda and no late night snacks... :)
Eventually I will be adding in the exercise... :) Let's have race.
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