"Diet" update

So, sometime in late March my husband and I got back on the diet that we were on when I was pregnant with Silas.  Before I get chastised for dieting while pregnant, I wasn't technically dieting; more so just eating better and significantly less calories, but still more than enough to grow a baby.  More than enough to grow a huge baby, actually.  I mean, he was 10lbs for goodness sakes!  Anyway, in the beginning of my pregnancy, while monitored by my OBGYN I lost 25lbs and Corry lost almost 65lbs.  Then I got to the point where I was 9 months pregnant and said 'screw a diet' and gave up. 

In March I convinced myself that I wanted back on the diet, but mostly because I knew that I had to go to my endocrinologist and he always has an issue with my weight.  Overall, even at my weight, and except for the thyroid cancer 10 years ago, I am a healthier person.  I have a good heart rate.  I have a good/low blood pressure.  I have excellent blood sugar.  I have no real problems due to weight (yet).  I know that odds are good in the future I will develop some issues, especially since I have a family history of diabetes and heart issues, so that is one of the reasons why I want to get this weight off. 

Back to March - I wasn't ready to be on a diet.  Well, I was ready to be on a diet but I didn't have the support that I needed from friends/family so it wasn't happening.  I don't think that the general public really understands what a difference it can make for someone who wants to be on a 'weight loss' program to have a strong support system.  For me, it's all the difference in the world.  I was not able to stick with it for more than a few days without my husband totally on board with me and without my family support system there. 

Since we now have Grace living with us, it became even more apparent that the time to get back on the better eating plan was now back upon us.  It is so important that we teach all of our children how a positive relationship with food looks, steps to avoid being an emotional eater and how to have a good body image.  We are working on it. 

Fast forward to 7/16/2013 - the first day of the rest of our lives.  We are 100% dedicated to this and we have been rockin' this new life.  We don't really have a caloric goal for every day, per se.  Corry figured out our BMR (basal metabolic rate) and thus the number of calories that your body should burn daily while not performing normal activities.  We are really striving to get around 1200-1300 calories per day, but not really putting a number to it.  If I get more than that, I am not going to go out and do anything crazy, but I will go and work out that night to ensure that I get some positive-ness into that day.  We are having some cheats and we are still eating 'real' food, so we don't feel like we are starving ourselves, but we are very strict on portions.  We learned this the first go-round.  You have to measure everything that you eat.  If you don't, you will grossly overestimate the amount of a true portion.  We look up all calories and track them daily in a journal that we fill out together so we keep each other honest.  We weigh in on Sundays (who am I kidding - I weigh myself like 9 times per day - but I only track the weight that I see on Sundays).  I use www.myfitnesspal.com to track my foods during the day since I would definitely forget something and that most certainly keeps me honest. 

It is definitely not easy.  My company announced our second quarter earnings this week and so our department is celebrating an awesome second quarter by providing snacks and drinks everyday to all folks in our department.  This is both awesome and a trick at the same time.  The good news is there is always diet soda - which I know is not the best because of the artificial sweetener, but it's better than regular soda with the calories and the sugar.  However, there are barely appropriate snacks on that cart.  Luckily, during this second week my stomach is starting to adjust to the lesser amount of food and I am finding myself less hungry than I was during the first few days.  Really for me, that's the kicker - if I can get through those first couple of days then I am golden usually. 

I will say that this week has been more difficult than normal.  I am dealing with the surge of hormones because of PMS (TMI, I know, but we are being honest here...) and wanting to eat everything within a 100 mile radius.  I am finding it more important to be drinking a ton of water during this week not only to keep the bloating at bay from the aforementioned condition, but also to keep those cravings under control.  The majority of time, at least for me, if I think that I am hungry, I am really either bored or thirsty.  I have been trying to keep at least one bottle of water on my desk at work and any time that I am bored, thirsty, or hungry, I try to challenge myself to drink the entire thing.  Unfortunately, for most of the day that means I am running to the restroom like 9 times in 3 hours, but it is well worth it for the health benefits associated with getting enough water. 

Other than wanting to eat cheese enchiladas with dessert and a margarita blamed on PMS, I am doing excellent.  I feel amazing.  We are starting to walk at this middle school track by our house.  I spent over an hour outside today with my husband using a lawn mower (which sucks) and weeding my garden.  *sigh* My garden is in such a state of disorder right now it is sad.  I am working on it though.  I feel amazing.  I am starting to be able to see the lost weight in parts of my body and that is making it easy to keep going. 

I hesitate to tell the amount of lbs that have been lost this time because 1) it seems unbelievable since the number is rather large, and 2) I know that I will get some flack because most of the time you see this amount in one of those fad diet programs and I definitely don't think this is that.  I think that I could see myself living this life for the rest of my life because I am not depriving myself; just sensibly limiting what I should not be eating to an absolute minimum. 

I will share the amount even though I am scared to because I am proud of what I have accomplished and it has been some work over the last few days.  As of this morning, I am down 18.6 lbs in 9 days.  I have 3 more days until my official 'weigh-in' for the week so that still gives me a bit of time.  The weight loss is slowing down a bit which I expected.  I know from the last time that the first week you lose a tremendous amount of weight and it's basically a jump start.  I am not taking any supplements, drugs, or on any type of special programs.  I am definitely in this for the long haul, because ideally I have over 100 lbs to lose. 

I would like to keep blogging this journey, even if no one reads these because I would like to have a history of this to look back on when I accomplish my goals (that I have yet to set) in this new life that I am setting up for myself.  If you have any weight to lose, I encourage you to join us.  Corry and Grace are both doing excellent with this as well - we are all losing similar amounts and even my mom has joined in and is making 'skinny' meals and snacks while over here.  I appreciate all of the support that I am receiving during this time because this is definitely one of the hardest but also one of the best things that I can do for myself. 

Until next time...

-Sara