So one of the classes I am taking this semester is Yoga.  It will fulfill my PE requirement for my curriculum.  I was a little nervous and skeptical about it before class started.  I just didn’t see how Yoga could help you lose weight or relieve stress.  Let me tell you something, Yoga is awesome.  Now my Professor did say I should still do some cardio if Ireally want to lose weight but Yoga is great for strength training.  Maybe I will take a multiple vitamin too. 

All I know is that I feel fabulous after class and I totally look forward to the next one. 

So we are through with week one of nit having cable.  We decided to cancel it because it was just an expense not worth paying for since we hardly watch it.  Tony NEVER watched it and lately Nicki has mostly been on her computer.  I am home all day and still never watched it much.  It was mostly background noise.  I certainly don’t miss those mesothelioma commercials or commercials in general.  I hate them.  I hardly EVER watched a show real time.  I would record it on the DVR and then watch it just after the show ended so I could fast forward through the commercials.  The best part is since we are saving the money every month on cable, I can use that money to go to a gym.  No more pregnancies=time to get fit!

I haven’t really posted about this lately and that is only because I kinda “relapsed” if you will.  Back in August of last year I set out to lose weight and get in shape.  I told myself I wanted to hit my final goal by Jan 2010.  I know that seems like a long time but I had gained 60lbs with both lil ones and I was in need of losing weight before I even had kids.

I dedicated and motivated.  I started off moderate and that was only because I was so out of shape and still recovering from a c-section.  Over a very short period of time, I think a month, I became really strong and was able to turn up my intensity.

I went in to the “weight loss” idea FULL FORCE.  I didn’t eat sweets, I logged all my food, counted calories to a “T” and worked out every day.  Maybe I sabotaged myself by doing things that way.  I CRAVED sweets.  It was really difficult around the holidays to stay on track.  For Thanksgiving, I was still trying.  I made sure I didn’t over do it, I even made a low-fat/calorie apple pie.  I love apple pie and that was really hard.  I missed having the traditional pie.  By Christmas, I think I was just over worked and burned out.

For the last few weeks in December, i was no longer counting calories, the week of Christmas I wasn’t even working out.  As of this point, however, I had lost 60lbs.  I was about halfway to my goal.

I thought I was going to get back on track for the New Year and I did go workout on occasion but I wasn’t watching what I ate or counting calories.  I mean I ate my 6 small meals and ate in moderation.  I still tried to stay away from certain foods.

Well as the month of January went by and now almost February I have completely gone back to my old ways.  I don’t eat it for any other reason besides…IT’S TASTY! It is also A LOT of work.  To constantly count calories and watch what I eat.  I have had a few things going on in my life, trying to make some money from home and now the move.  I couldn’t figure out how to be a mom, start my online business, do my chores, spend time with the kids and Tony, workout and sleep.

I chose the things that were important to me at that time.  I have maintained my weight and I am for the most part pleased about that.  One of the other things keeping me from eating well is that funds have been a little tight so I have not been able to get the healthy foods I would like to eat.

I vowed to myself, however, next week the move will be final, I have made some items to add to my Etsy and Ebay stores and we have money to stock the house with good foods.

So I don’t necessarily want to say March 1 I will start again because Monday and Tuesday and well Wednesday too will be hard to get my 6 small healthy meals in.  We will be moving, packing and driving.  So as soon as everything calms down I will get back on the “wagon”.  Back to working out and eating healthy.  I don’t want to take any diet pills because they always make me feel jittery.  I do think I will take some Super Cissus.  Basically it is supposed to help with joint pain.  I am getting old and sometimes just feel all my body in pain.  Working out sometimes intensifies it.

I am halfway to my goal.  I am going to set a smaller goal to hit sooner.  Basically cut in half what I have to lose, hit that goal and then go on.  I just think when I see the big picture and how much I have to lose, I get discouraged when I am losing the healthy 1-2 pounds a week.

So I will keep you updated. 

One of my big motivators to work out and lose weight is watching the Biggest Loser.  Seeing all the contestants lose weight and hearing their weight loss stories.

Current and past contestants were  in the news and on talk shows a couple weeks ago.  I found out that on the Biggest Loser they have a total of 7 months to lose the weight.  Don’t get me wrong that is by no means a very long time to lose 100+ pounds but it is longer than I thought they had.  For some contestants that is an average of 4-5 pounds a week for 7 seven months.  Knowing that, I feel a little better.  Sometimes I get discouraged when I see some of them lose 10+ pounds in 1 week and think “man I haven’t even lost 1 pound this week” LOL!  I know that they eat, breathe and sleep weight loss and they have trainers yelling in their face and pushing them to keep going but it just seems crazy.

I also found out that these contestants workout about 8 hours a day.  I totally could lose 100 pounds in 7 months if I had 8 hours a day to bust a move on some workout machines.

I guess my point is that they dedicate months of their time to losing weight. I am hearing more and more from the trainers that how the contestants are losing weight is by no means normal.

I think it was Extra that I was watching and they showed 3 past contestants from some of the first seasons, had all gained a bunch of weight back.  One guy had gained more than half of what he had lost.  He had lost 214 pounds and gained back 122.

I think that is what keeps me thinking that I am doing things right.  I mean the man weighed over 300 pounds when he started.  In 7 short months he dropped a ton of weight – it is so easy to go back to old habits if you don’t change your whole idea of food and eating.

It has been a while since I have been to the gym, but I am still losing weight….a little.  I still for the most part watch what I eat and I don’t pig out.  I learned a lot about calories and fat.  What is good and what isn’t.  I have a few things going on right now and that is what is keeping me from going.

I no longer deprive myself of the things I want to eat.  I may even eat some every day but I don’t go crazy.

Even though I have not worked out in a few weeks, watching the Biggest Loser is what really keeps me on track.  I also look at pictures of myself from right after I had Isabel.  OMGoodness, I can totally tell I lost the 60 pounds and I can’t believe I ever let myself get to that point.  I will never go back there.

Once my move is complete and I can get some organization to my life, my priorities and everything in between I am going to start working out again.  I will get to my goal, one day at a time!

Today I decided to go to the gym in the afternoon.  We have been living off one car (Tony’s car needs a new tire) and I decided to drive Tony to work so I could run some errands.  Since we probably wouldn’t get home until late tonight, after I pick him up, we probably wouldn’t end up working out.

We didn’t go last night because I had a really bad kink in my neck.  I knew I wouldn’t really be able to workout so I took the day off and it actually feels much better.

Anyways, I guess weekend afternoons is when all the skinny minis go.  There were 3 girls in there, I swear, no bigger than 90 lbs wet.  LOL!  But they had nice bodies.  One girl, her shorts were so short I could see her butt cheeks.

I really want to look like that…..LOL!  Actually that will never happen, I have never ever been that small.  I don’t think I have the body frame to get that small.  I workout, I eat healthy and it is just such a SLOW process.  Maybe I just need to find some diet pills that work. Ones that will help this whole process along.

I have tried so many and all of them I have gotten really bad side effects.  I will have to do some research online to see what I can some up with.

Ok so this may be a TMI post but I am just in utter disgust and wanted to share…….

Now I know that passing gas is a normal function that we all need to do now and again, however, have some courtesy when in public.  I am back in the swing of working out so the other night I went to the gym.  Tony was still working so unfortunately I had to go alone.  I live in an apartment complex and the gym is not really big AT ALL!

Nobody is ever really working out.  Most of the time Tony and I are alone or I am alone.  Well today I get down there and it is me and one other girl.  She is working out on the elliptical, 3 machines away from me.

I have now been working out hard for about 10 min on the stairmaster and starting to breathe heavy.  I am in need to take the occasional deep breathe.  OH MY WORD, I took a deep breathe and inhaled what I thought was a stink bomb.  I thought I was going to die.  The girl had let one rip.  Now I was listening to my music so I couldn’t hear anything.  It must have been one of those silent but deadly farts.  Seriously I couldn’t breathe, my eyes sorta bugged out of my head…..I kept trying to blow in my nose to keep from passing out.  I almost had to leave the gym.  I am not sure but she may have pooped her pants.  We were in a small confined space in the gym where it is hot and that smell just was horrific.  It was so strong I think it singed my nose hairs.  I had to do a butt check to make sure I hadn’t somehow let one seep out but I had no gas pains and it surely wasn’t the smell of my gas.  Ya know you can usually tell your own funk.  LOL!

She left about 10 minutes later and it still smelled in the gym.  Just have some courtesy that’s all, if you have to pass gas, excuse yourself.  Especially when you are stuck in a small space with someone else.

That’s all I ask!

Tony and I decided a couple months ago that I wasn’t going to be that concerned with my salt intake since when I workout, I sweat A LOT.  I still was a little conscious of how much I was eating and trying not to consume too much.  Since using myfooddiary.com I was able to track everyday.  Well over the last couple weeks I have (not so much) not been worried about it at all.  Seriously I was eating about 5000+ mg of sodium a day.  That is A LOT!!!  Well I am wondering if that is why I feel so bloated over the last week, why I have a 3 pound gain.  Maybe I am retaining a good deal of water.  

I have been watching old episodes of Biggest Loser and I heard one of the trainers tell a contestant not to consume more than 1200 mg of sodium a day.  WHAT??  Are you kidding me???  

I would have to only consume 1/5 of what I was.  That is going to be hard.  I told myself I would try over the next few days to eat less sodium.  So I was looking in my cabinets and pantry and tried to find low sodium foods and well…….it was hard.  I thought I could eat (just for a couple days) more oatmeal and some cottage cheese and then dinner will have the most sodium.  

Cottage cheese, I was disappointed to read that it contains 400 mg of sodium per serving (1/2 cup).  That is not good.  At least for what I am trying to accomplish over the next couple days.  No cottage cheese for me.  Chicken and tuna even has a good deal of sodium.  How ever am I going to only consume 1200 mg?   Unless my fridge is packed with fruits and veggies and financially that is just not possible.  Fruits and veggies down here is really expensive. 

I need to see if my weight dilemma right now is water related.  If it is not then it is either muscle gain or that I am destine to be overweight.