I know I haven't posted in a while... sorry. It's been crazy here I'm trying to get the house and laundry all clean so I can on vacay for spring break.

Just to catch up... I did maintain my calorie count and twice I rode my bike 20 minutes almost 4 miles 110 calories burned.

I weighed on Friday... 187 !! I lost another pound...

Today I weighed again cause on Friday it was "that time of the month" so i was holding water. PLUS my baby had been sleeping 9 hours so I was really full from not feeding him as often. Today both those things were over so I wanted to see if it made a difference. Apparently so because between that and riding my bike 2 more days and eating right 2 more days I lost more. My scale this morning said 185 !!!

SO... 185 !!! I am so excited ... I'm going on vacay this week but I'll check in when I can. I'm going to try and stick to my calorie budget as much as possible.

Peace
Steph

Tip for today...vitamins. I had not been taking mine but I started on day 6 and I've noticed a difference in how I feel. I think with cutting my calories and breast feeding my multi (I'm using prenatals still) is helping to ensure I get all my nutrients and so does Colt. :o)

Still nothing really to say today... except I noticed I've gotten far enough into my diet that I'm stating to miss a few things. I really hope to see at least a pound gone on Friday to help shore up my resolve.

"The Skinny" for today is
No formal exercise I was running errands today.

Breakfast:oatmeal 260
AM Snack: granola bar and pears 240
Lunch: Steak and cheddar panini 360
PM Snack: apple and cheese 405
Supper: corn dog cauliflower and cheese sauce choc skim milk 370
Dessert: Kashi oatmeal dark chocolate cookie 130

Daily total 1,765

Peace
Steph

It looks like I may have to change my schedule and post the days stuff the following morning. That just keeps working out better.

Todays tip is don't go crazy with your diet. Make sure that you don't cut your calories by to much. Eating to little causes your body to go into survival mode and it will hold on to everything it can.

Nothing much to say today...

"The skinny" for today is...

Rode bike for 20 minutes about 3 and a half miles and burned a little over 100 calories !!

Breakfast: Shredded wheat skim and orange 310
AM Snack: grapefruit 100
Lunch:Healthy choice chicken 420
PM Snack: peanut butter whole grain and skim chocolate milk 410
Supper: Chicken club Panini 360
Desert: 170

Daily Total 1,770

Peace
Steph

Sorry no tip today !

Today was ok just super busy so I didn't have time to even think about boredom or depression eating !! YAY !! Being so busy makes it hard to blog though...

"The skinny" for today is
No formal exercise LOTS of work and projects

Breakfast: shredded mini wheats and an orange 310
AM Snack: biscuit and cheese 365
Lunch: pepper jack and bacon stuffed chicken breast and cauliflower in cheese sauce 300
PM Snack: Peanut butter toast and 8oz chocolate milk 410
Supper Salad 300
Desert low fat ice cream sundae 130

Daily total 1,815

Day 5 is a so so day not happy, not sad just kinda there...

Today's tip is... MINTS !!!!
I know this may seem silly and like I'm just trying to come up with something in a hurry but thats not the case. Like I mentioned before I've been watching The Biggest Loser and one of their sponsors is Extra sugar free gum. They are constantly plugging it on the show which is getting annoying. But it does seem to work ok at keeping my mouth busy and giving me a little bit of sweet. On jillianmichaels.com she suggests brushing your teeth every time you eat cause it is so yucky to snack or drink with that minty taste in your mouth. I like that idea better but I have really thin enamel and sensitive teeth so that option was painful. But I found a happy middle ground, sugar free mints. Icebreakers are my favorites cause they are strong. They have the same few calories as the gum and same minty fresh feeling in your mouth as the tooth brushing. It has helped me TREMENDOUSLY with my boredom grazing!!!

Normally today would have been hard not to emotionally eat with Justin leaving out again so I am VERY glad I got on that scale yesterday. Seeing that 4 pound drop was exciting enough to keep me in check. Also knowing that I have 6 weeks til he gets home again and I can look so much better than I do now when he gets back. That is the whole reason I started when I did so it's a help to see that I'm already making progress in such a short time. Imagine what I can do in 6 weeks.

SO "the skinny" for today is...
I don't do formal exercise on the weekend. Just whatever I get cleaning and playing with my kids. It gives my muscles a little recovery time. But today Andrew and I played outside and we washed the car which took MAJOR scrubbing and "elbow grease".

Breakfast: Peanut butter toast, grapefruit 360
AM Snack: Granola bar 120
Lunch: tuna sandwich and a salad 305
PM Snack: pretzels 130
Supper: Beer batter chicken and cheese fries 780
Dessert: low fat ice cream 120
Daily total 1,815

That wraps up day 5
Peace
Steph

So I wasn't going to weigh today because I just did on Tuesday. I was gonna wait til next Friday. Well I couldn't help myself and I got on the scale anyway... I lost 4 pounds between Tuesday morning and this morning !!!!!!!!!! I am so excited and so extra motivated ! Then the boys and I went to the playground with a friend and I used that as my exercise chasing them around. It was so much fun ! We are gonna have to make it a regular thing. Then to make a good day GREAT Justin got to come home for the night !!!!!!!!

So no tip today I'm typing this in a hurry to go spend time with my hubby before he leaves :o)

I am soooo glad I didn't binge yesterday when I was so down. It was so awesome to get on that scale and see that drop ! Today was easy to stay on track I was so busy !

I will add my calorie count for today on here tomorrow Justin's ready to watch a movie! Gonna go snuggle :o)

OK small problem ... can't find my paper with all my calories on it...
But I remember my daily total was 1785 !!

Today I have no tip. I've been busy... I had a friend visit and I'm preoccupied with the bad news I got today. So I haven't had the time or mind set to put together the tip section of my blog. PLus I didn't get yesterdays typed up and posted til today so it's gonna cover both days :o)

So as you can guess today has been really hard in the emotional eating area... REALLY hard. Today I get warned that Justin may not be home on April 30th he may have to be out up to 3 more weeks. I am so NOT HAPPY... I want warm brownies, fudge sauce and vanilla ice cream or a brownie batter blizzard from DQ or even a chocolate or jamocha shake from Arbys. My skin is crawling I want it sooooooo bad. But maybe, possibly, eventually they will let him come home and I want there to be a noticeable difference so I'm NOT gonna run out and get all those and eat them. But it's tempting, very tempting.

SO the "skinny" for today is
15 minutes on my bike but I fogot to write down the calories it said I burned :o(

Breakfast: Frosted shredded wheat and skim, orange and 8oz gatorade 365
AM snack : apple and 3oz colby jack 405
Lunch: peanut butter on whole grain, 8 0z chocolate skim, half cup carrot sticks 493
PM snack: pretzels 130
Dinner: Healthy choice chicken parmigiana 350

NO DESSERT tonight... there was an "apple crisp" cup in the healthy choice and if I eat anything sweeter I'll pig out and ruin my progress...

That wraps up day three

Peace
Steph

SOooooo I am getting this up a day late. Things are crazy and I am so tired. I am not sleeping well without Justin.

Today I want to share with you a website www.jillianmichaels.com
I have started watching The Biggest Loser for motivation and have become slightly obsessed with Jillian. She looks amazing ! While I know we have different bodies and I won't look "like that" I want to get to the "like that" for my body type !! So her website is great. There is thing that says they'll give you a free weight loss plan. Thats sort of true. It does give you a general guideline after analyzing your info. But if you wan a meal and exercise plan to go with you have to pay. However I found the guideline/outline VERY helpful.

Today was pretty easy as far as cravings go I was running errands most of the day so I had no boredom cravings and was so busy I didn't get sad cravings either. I did splurge on dessert though... I couldn't help myself.

The "skinny" for today is

Again no formal exercise I was running around all day though :o)

Breakfast:Life cereal and skim milk plus 2 tangerines and 8 0z Gatorade 285
AM snack: granola bar 120
Lunch: Corn dog, cauliflower in cheese sauce, apple 295
PM snack: 8oz skim nesquick, peanut butter on one piece whole grain bread 410
Lean cuisine Panini chicken club, mango peach applesauce, 8 0z gatorade 500
Dessert: 1 cup Edy's slow churned thin mint cookie ice cream 240
Daily total 1,850

Yes I splurged a little on dessert but I still did ok on my calories and I don't plan on doing that every day. I needed my comfort chocolate. But hey I chose ice cream so I could get a little more dairy and not a candy bar (what I really wanted) which is totally empty calories so go me !! Yes I could've eaten 1 serving at 120 calories but hey, half a cup of ice cream is a joke. I'm finding it hard to get as much dairy as I'm "supposed" to. I don't really like it except cheese.

Well thats day 2...

Peace,
Steph

Since today is day one it is also "Weigh Day". It is also time to set my first goal !

Starting out I am 5'4" and weigh 193
Healthy weight for someone my height is 115-140. So for now my end goal is 140. That may change as I see how well things go.

My first goal is 12 pounds by April 30th. Thats about 6 weeks and 3 days. If I lose 2 pounds a week I can meet the goal. that is easily attainable and healthy even while breast feeding. I know I checked with my sister :o) I made my first goal for 6 weeks cause I want to lose a good bit by the time Justin gets home. After this I'm not sure how I'll set my goals.

My tip for today is ... drink lots of water. I did because it is good for the breastfeeding and it turns out I ate so much less. I've always heard that sometimes when you get the munchies try a drink you might actually need that not food. Apparently they were right. I munched a lot less when I sipped a lot more.
Sorry, I'm on a time crunch and still formulating exactly what to do so I promise from now on the tip section will be better. :o)

Today was soooooo hard not to give in to my emotional eating. There was a pan full of brownies and I was very down and missing Justin badly. It would have been so easy to give in and justify it but I didn't. YAY me !!!! Those brownies were calling my name loudly though. LOL !

For exercise I'm going to start with riding my recumbent bike twice a day and when I'm doing well with that I'll switch it up to 1 video workout and one bike ride daily.
Calorie intake... When I did a consultation with my sister before getting pregnant with Colt we decided on a calorie intake of 1400-1500 to lose weight. Once again since i'm feeding the little guy I'm gonna start with the higher number and then add my 300 extra breastfeeding calories. That gives me a total of 1800. I'll play with this number as I go if necessary.

So "the skinny" for today is...

No exercise. I had some projects to finish and they took all my free time that the baby didn't demand. Plus I slept in. I couldn't sleep last night. I've never spent a night without Justin so it was hard.

Breakfast: Life cereal and skim milk plus a tangerine and 8 0z of Gatorade 250
AM snack: Apple 75
Lunch: crunchy peanut butter on whole grain and glass of skim milk 420
PM snack: pretzels 130
Dinner: Healthy Choice balsamic chicken dinner 400
Dessert: 2 Kashi dark chocolate oatmeal cookies 260
Daily Total 1,535

I was short on my calorie intake today so I guess it's ok that i missed working out. However since I'm breastfeeding I really need to make sure I meet my calorie quota. I'm gonna have to add about 300 calories. The trick is making sure they are not empty ones. They need to nourish me not add weight since the only reason I'm adding them is to feed my baby well.

I feel like I'm off to a good start ! Here's to setting my first goal and hopefully achieving it!!

Peace
Steph

So here's how things are gonna go... (for now things may change as I go if I find something that works better. I am working around the schedule of 3 kids. :o) )

I will blog every evening and each day's entry should have 3 parts.
1. A tip I find that day or maybe something I already knew but used that day. Just some helpful info of some kind.
2. A journal about my day... if I found it hard to workout and why, if I had cravings and if I caved or not. :o)
3. My log of food and exercise... so calories eaten and burned.

After this Friday will be my "Weigh Day" and will have a special paragraph about that.

Also I have an incredible advantage... My younger sister is a dietician and is a tremendous help with my diet especially since i am breastfeeding and want to lose safely. She might occasionally on the weekend post a quick helpful blurb on diet so watch for that !!!

Now here's a little "about me" and why I'm doing this.
I was always thin growing up but then... I went thru 4 pregnancies and I definitely ate for 2 with each one. Okay I ate for 3 or 4 :o)And I never lost much inbetween pregnancies. My third pregnancy we lost the baby at 36 weeks and I'm an emotional eater so I "ate" my feelings away constantly. And the pounds kept piling on. Now I'm at a place where I don't plan on any more babies any time soon, if ever, so I'm ready to get all this weight off and let the skinny me back out !!!
Also my extra incentive to start now and stick with it is my husband (who loves me just like I am no matter what) has left out on the road to be a truck driver. He will be gone a 6 week stretch this first run and I want to see how much I can lose while he's away and surprise him when he comes home !

I will start posting this evening. So here goes...