Non- Scale Victories

So today was my weight watchers weigh in and I was expecting good things. I did everything right last week, tracked all my food, worked out every day, drank all my water, got my 5 fruits and veggies, etc... When I got on the scale though I was only down .6 lbs. I was a little disappointed, but then the topic of our meeting was celebrating non-scale victories and it made me realize that even though I didn't have a big loss, I still have a lot to celebrate.

1) I worked out every day last week and even jogged on the treadmill twice! Finding time to workout with the three little ones is tough. Sometimes the only time I have is after 9 pm when the kids are all in bed and I'm exhausted. Still I made myself do it and I definitely feel my body getting stronger.

2) I actually wore non-maternity clothes to church on Sunday. Sure, I had to stuff myself into them like a sausage but it still felt good to wear something that wasn't designed for a pregnant woman.

3) My girls asked me to make sugar cookies with them last week and I managed to get through the whole experience and only eat ONE cookie. That is a true sign of will power for me since usually I eat a ludicrous amount of cookie dough, plus several of the cookies and way too much of the frosting. So yeah, this time no sampling till they were done and I stopped at one. (patting myself on the back big time for that)

4) I made it through the entire butt section on my Slim in 6 DVD without wimping out or stopping. Those who have done this workout (Naomi) Know that it is SOOOO hard to do without stopping.

5) Someone at my weight watchers meeting told me I look great for just having a baby. Who cares what the scale says? Hearing something like that always makes you feel good. : )

So that's the update for this week. Next week I'm shooting for 3 days on the treadmill and hopefully will work my way up to 2.5 miles without stopping. We'll see how it goes!

Hello Treadmill, My old friend : )

I'm back people! I'm BACK!! Well, not back to my former running shape but I'm back on the treadmill and MAN it feels GOOD!! I'm slow, like 12 minute mile slow. But I don't even care because I'm sweating and my heart is pumping and every minute I'm on there I feel stronger and stronger. Getting my sweat on like that reminds me that I AM strong and that I can STILL do hard things! Woot! (can you tell I just got done with my workout? Still riding the runners high I guess ; )

So yeah, I spent almost 8 weeks rehabing my foot and it's finally well enough that I can run on it. I'm still icing it and wearing my inserts around the clock but it's just doing tons better and I'm so happy!

I started my work out tonight walking at 4.0 mph for half a mile. Then I picked it up to 5.0 mph (12 min/mile) and jogged for a song (3 minutes or so?) then I went to 5.5 (10:54 min/mile) for a song, and back to 5.0 for a song. Every other song I'd rotate between the two speeds. The last song was J-Lo's new On the Floor single (awesome running song) and it really got me going so I ran at 6.0 for the whole song. I was sweating SO hard and I had to work my tail off to run that 10 minute pace for those 3 minutes but it just felt so good to push myself after being sedentary for the last 9 months.

Getting back in shape is really really hard, but I knew it would be so I don't feel discouraged. It helps to just keep my expectations realistic and not to compare myself to what I used to be able to do before I got pregnant, but rather to what I could do when I was pregnant. Two months ago I could barely waddle 10 feet without stopping. Today I jogged for 2 miles without stopping. I think that's reason to celebrate : )

Slow but steady progress

Thursdays are my weigh in days at weight watchers so I'm going to try to at least post every Thursday to keep myself honest and hopefully motivated to stay on track.

Last week I only had a 0.4 lb loss and I wasn't surprised since I had majorly gone off plan and wasn't tracking my food like I should. After that I felt motivated to get back on course so all last week I wrote down every last bite I took. It really made a big difference and when I weighed in at my meeting today I was rewarded with a 3.4 lbs loss! My leader said, "Weight watchers is great because if you kind of do it, it kind of works, but if you really do it, it REALLY works." So very true.

I'm really loving the new program because there's tons of flexibility, all fruits are now ZERO points so you can eat them to your hearts content which means when you're out of points, you still never feel hungry because you can eat fruit. Also since I'm nursing I get a TON of points (43 a day) and it seems like I'm eating so much but the amazing thing is, I'm still losing weight, just slow and steady but that's fine with me as long as I get there eventually.

So yeah, along with being really good about what I put in my mouth I've also been working out consistently. I do this program called Slim in 6 from Beachbody.com and it's great because it has a 25 min easy DVD, a 45 minute moderate DVD, and a 60 min intense DVD. So far I've only done the 25 minute and 45 minute ones but I hope to work my way up to the 60 minute one in another week or so.

Finding time to work out with 3 kids is HARD. like majorly hard. I would do it early in the morning but the baby still gets up throughout the night to nurse so I'm just way too exhausted at 6am. I've been trying to fit it in while he naps around 9am but it's always such a fiasco. The girls are up by then so they're trying to do my workout with me, but they mostly just end up crawling all over me while I'm trying to do push ups and sit ups or hanging on my legs while I'm doing squats. It makes me wonder if I'm really getting a good work out at all but at least I'm trying right? Yesterday it took me an hour and a half to do my 45 minute DVD because I got interrupted so many times to change a diaper, wipe someone's bum, get someone a snack, break up a fight, etc... I just had to laugh because I guess this is my new "normal" now that I'm a mother of 3 : )

So that's the update, still haven't gotten back on the treadmill yet. The foot is improving but it's not 100%. I'm doing everything I can to baby it so I can recover and get back to doing what I love, running. Not that I could run right now even if I wanted to. haha! Pretty sure I'll have to start with walking but that's okay. I've started from ground zero before, I know I can do it again.

And just for fun here are some of the things I've been eating lately. Since lean meats, whole grains and fruits and vegetables have less points values that's what I eat the most of. It's been fun trying new things and when I do I get excited and take pictures (although some aren't that great since I took them with my phone)

Salmon, brown rice and stir-fried veggies

Slow cooker lasagna from the weight watchers recipe book. This was AMAZING! so savory and delicious and amazingly low in points. (camera phone pic doesn't do it justice)

Quinoa with squash, zucchini and grilled chicken on top and the famous weight watchers 0 point soup which is surprisingly delicious and easy to make.

And sauteed chicken over brown rice with broccoli, topped with Japanese ginger marinade. delish!

Little victories...

When you have 3 kids (and one of them is a newborn) it's the little things that feel like victories.

Today was especially victorious. I got the kids dressed, fixed the girls hair all cute, fed them all a nutritious breakfast, nursed the baby, WORKED OUT! (woot!) TOOK A SHOWER!! (aw yeah!) packed snacks and lunches for everyone, bundled up all three little nuggets, loaded them in the car and got all of us to playgroup by 10:00 AM!!!! Holy cow I felt like a freaking Gladiator!!! I was rocking out in the car all the way to playgroup, seriously can't believe how awesome it felt to get somewhere, ON TIME, with all three kids, and I even showered and looked decent!

Other victories this week:

-My first week on Weightwatchers was a success! I lost 2 lbs and tried out lots of new recipes on my family. Taber ended up losing like 4 lbs thanks to my delicious and nutritious cooking and we all feel better now that we're eating healthier food.

-My foot is slowly but surely starting to feel better. My podiatrist gave me some shoe inserts that I wear at all times, even around the house. I've also been icing it a couple times a day and stretching it as well. I can tell it's making a difference.

-I started working out again! YEAH!! Nothing crazy since I still have foot issues but I did start a little 25 minute strength training DVD and man it feels awesome to sweat again! I can tell I have a long way to go because this DVD used to be ridiculously easy for me and now it kicks my butt! I'm super sore after only doing it for 2 days but I'm excited to get my body moving again.

-Baby is sleeping in 4 hour blocks now so if I go to bed at 11 he only gets up once in the middle of the night. Soooo nice to get longer stretches of sleep in!

-We were able to take a last minute family overnighter to Cape Cod which was tons of fun and a reassurance that we can still be spontaneous even as a family of 5. : )

I'll leave you with a fun past and present photo. After I took the pic with me and Cam on the beach my sister sent me a similar one of my mom and my brother that was taken 32 years ago! Kind of fun.

Time to get my buns in gear...

Sooooo.... After several months of NOT exercising (or blogging about it) I decided it's time to get moving again. My third pregnancy is officially over and even though I gained 43 pounds (behold my giant torpedo belly)

It was worth it to meet this little guy. Say Hello to Mr. Adorable.

He got here almost 4 weeks ago and I have to say, adjusting to 3 kids has been a kick in the pants! There is NEVER any down time. Okay, that's a lie since obviously there's time for me to be blogging right now. But that's only because the girls are plugged into a t.v. show and the baby is sleeping. (Oh and Taber is on paternity leave so yeah, I've got some back up) Seriously though, 3 kids feels like a lot more than 2. Good thing they are so cute.

Back to exercising. Like I mentioned before, I gained 43 lbs with baby Cam, topping the scales at 173 (which is a lot for my 5 ft 2 frame) 4 weeks later I'm down to 156, so 17 lbs down and about 30 more to go. (I'd love to get back to 126ish but I'd be happy to see 130 again)

With the girls I joined Weightwatchers to drop the baby weight since they have a program for nursing mothers. It worked great and I lost all the weight both times by about 4-5 months postpartum. So I'm sticking with what works and will attend my first WW meeting tomorrow night. I'm really excited to get back into good eating habits and eventually back into my regular clothes! (which I know won't be for awhile but still, something to look forward too.)

The only set back is that I've been diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in my left foot. I went to a podiatrist and he says that the rapid weight gain from my pregnancy put a lot of pressure on my foot. On top of that my ligaments were already really lose because of pregnancy hormones and I never wore supportive shoes because the last thing I wanted to do was bend over my giant belly and tie my shoelaces, so all of that combined to produce this major BUMMER of an injury. The doctor says I can't even WALK on the treadmill, let alone run until we get it under control.

Soooo, that has been lame, because I'm feeling great and like I could definitely start walking again and maybe even jog but that's not going to happen for awhile. So my plan is to focus on eating healthy and focus on strength training things like push ups and arm bands and low key pilates videos to get some tone back in my muscles. It's going to be a long journey back to fitness, especially with my foot issues, but I will get back.

Oh yeah, I have a running blog...

I guess it's hard to remember to blog about exercising when you haven't been exercising. Oops! I have to laugh when I go back and read my journal of the day I found out I was pregnant. I had such good intentions, I was going to be so fit during my pregnancy. I was going to run, work out, eat right and not gain 50 lbs. Well today I'm 29 weeks along and I'm not looking so good on my goals. Here's the good and the bad. I'll start with the bad to get it out of the way:

Bad:

1) I haven't done any sort of consistent exercise in 3 months. Last month I only "worked out" 3 out of 30 days. (and those work outs were barely worthy to be called real exercise)

2) At my last Dr. appt I was shocked to see that I've already gained a solid 29 lbs. That would be cool if I was due next week. With 11 weeks to go that's not happy news.

3) My Dr. informed me last week that you only need 500 extra calories a day when you're prego. WHOA! I think I've been eating at least 2 to 3 times that amount!

4) Halloween didn't help my eating habits. Up next: My birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. It's gonna be really really hard not to gain another 20 lbs before this baby gets here.

5) My neighbor saw me for the first time in a couple months and said, "Wow Becca, your face has gotten so round and swollen! What happened?" I told her it was probably just the pregnancy but she looked at me with deep concern and said, "Yes, but what else?" (in her defense, she's not from the U.S. and I think in her culture it's okay to say stuff like that) STILL, it's one thing to get a big belly when you're pregnant, but it's not fun at all to get pregnant in your face!

Okay, I'm done with my whiny venting. Here's the good news : )

GOOD:

1) I feel really awesome. I have tons of energy, I can keep up with my kids. I can lift both girls, transfer car seats, bend over and do baths, and overall feel pretty agile and spry for a big pregnant girl.

2) While I'm not thrilled with my weight gain, I have to admit it was pretty darn fun eating all the awesome stuff I did to gain it! We're talking some good good grub!

3) Taber still thinks I'm hot.

4) I love feeling my little guy move around. He's super active and it's just fun bonding with him even before he's officially "here."

5) I walked today. It took me 35 minutes to walk 2 miles but at least I put my running shoes on and made my body move. It was awesome.

6) I won't be pregnant forever, and when I'm not, even if it takes awhile, I'm confident that someday I will be back on the running scene and putting miles back on the road.

Until then, I'll try to be better about blogging on here. If nothing else to at least chronicle the last bit of my pregnancy so I don't forget the joys, aches and pains of the fabulous 3rd trimester : )

A moment to Brag...

So I'm feeling pretty darn proud of myself right now because for the last two weeks I have been totally rocking my workout routine! I made a goal to work out every day (except Sundays) and so far, I haven't missed ONE day! 6 for 6 last week, and so far I am 4 for 4 this week.

To count it as a workout day I have to do a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise. Some days I do two 30 minute sessions. One session for my strength training DVD and one power walk session. I try to do both but if I don't get one in at least I feel good that I did 30 minutes of something that day.

I can tell it's making a huge difference from my last pregnancies. I have more energy and my weight gain is happening at a much healthier pace than last time around. (in the 2nd trimester with Brinley I gained 10 lbs a month 2 months in a row! yeah, 20 lbs in 2 months was a bit extreme) Now I'm shooting for the recommended 4-5 lbs a month and I'm right on track for that to happen.

I've mostly been walking these days but yesterday I wanted to see if I could still run. So I did 2.5 miles and didn't walk the whole time. My average pace was 9:53 min. per mile. I was feeling quite proud of myself for the first 2 miles but the last half mile I started having those contraction like cramps again. I probably should've walked but I was so set on running the whole thing that I kept at it and when I was done the cramps continued for about 30 minutes.

Moral of that story is, it was a nice ego boost to see that I can still run, but I won't be running anymore, at least until I want this baby to come out and then bring on the contractions! For now though I think power walks and aerobics should be enough to keep me fit throughout this pregnancy.

So that's the update for today. Oh yeah, and we also found out we're having a BOY! We're so excited to buy some boy stuff and get some blue in this house that is overrun with pink : )

World's wimpiest workout partner

On Friday night I wanted to go for a jog outdoors but it was dark and I'm always nervous to run alone when there could be creepos out there. I was trying to think of a solution when Taber suggested I take our dog Monty. Dogs love to run, I figured it was a great idea. Now, Monty can be a real diva sometimes and I'm sure that Maltese aren't exactly bred for running. Still I figured I was mostly walking anyway so he should be able to keep up. I got all ready with a reflective vest, headlamp, and my trusty new workout partner. We set off into the night at a very slow jog. He was way excited at first and was 6 feet ahead of me pulling hard on the leash.

Sadly that only lasted for about half a mile. After that he slowed way down. Soon he was right beside me. The further we went the slower he got until his leash was all the way extended backwards and he was a good 10 feet behind me. I was determined to get 2 miles in though so I literally PULLED that lazy little bag of bones for the last half mile until we made it back home. What kind of wimpy dog can't WALK 2 miles?!! I mean seriously, we had to walk most of it because the guy could not keep up. I checked my stats later, we were doing 14 minute miles, come on MONTY! 2 year olds can go that fast, DOGS are supposed to be 10 times faster!

When we got back I gave him some water and then he sprawled out like he was half dead on the floor. I swear you would've thought the guy just ran a marathon.

I told him he was officially the world's wimpiest workout partner and that I wasn't taking him out with me again. Of course the next morning when I was lacing up my shoes he was wagging his tail and just begging for the leash. I decided to give him one more chance. SAME THING HAPPENED!! Our little 2 mile walk ended with me dragging my dog on the leash back to our house. I decided he is totally useless as a workout partner but still makes a great companion and a patient, loving (albeit wimpy) little lap dog.

August mileage challenge

Today I saw a cool challenge on It's What Moves Me, one of the running blogs I read. Whitney is 6 months pregnant and has accepted the challenge to walk, jog or run 80 miles in the month of August!! I was pretty impressed. I ran 87 miles back in March when I was training for my half marathon but that's when I could run double digit distances and before I was pregnant.

I love the idea of having a mileage goal though so I've decided to adjust the challenge to be more realistic for me considering my current fitness level. In June when I was nauseous all the time I ran a sad total of 16 miles. In July, feeling a little better, my monthly total was 25. I figure if I shoot for 50 miles in August that will still be a heck of a lot more than I've been averaging and be a pretty worthy goal for me. That means I'll have to run/jog/walk an average of 2.5 miles 5 days a week for the rest of the month. Much more than I'm doing now but totally doable!!

I started today with a 2.25 mile jog/walk on the treadmill. I jogged the first mile but was having really tight almost contraction like cramps the whole time so I slowed down and walked the rest of the way. Once I started walking the cramping stopped so I was glad I listened to my body and backed off. I walked at 4mph and a 2.0 incline and was still able to work up a good sweat! Next time I think I'll start off right away with walking and then when I warm up I'll attempt to speed it up. I think jumping into it too fast is what caused the cramps.

Anyway, I'm excited to have a solid goal to work towards this month. Wish me luck!

Life in the 2nd trimester

Well I'm approaching 16 weeks and happy to report that I'm totally over the morning sickness and my energy is starting to come back! My house is getting clean, I'm playing with my kids, I'm even cooking dinners! My family is happy to have normal mommy back instead of pregnant zombie mom. I started doing a strength and toning workout DVD in the mornings and I really like it. Much easier on the bladder than running and I feel like I'm toning parts of me that don't necessarily have to look pregnant.

Running has slowed down quite a bit. The bladder can barely take a 20 minute run so yeah, it happens once or twice a week max. My pace is about 10:30 these days and sometimes it can be disheartening but then I remember that I couldn't even WALK a mile when I was prego with Teya so jogging 2 is pretty darn good for me! I had to stop comparing myself to all the buff pregnant runners out there and compare myself to me. When I was pregnant with Teya I was completely sedentary, did ZERO exercise, gained 40 lbs, and looked like this (warning, it's scary).

And when I was pregnant with Brinley it was a little better since I tried to walk once in awhile and wasn't as sedentary since I was chasing around a 2 year old. Still, I wasn't exactly tiny.

So looking at my previous pregnancies, I'm happy that I'm actually working out 2-3 times a week and still maintaining some semblance of fitness. See, pregnant me running at on the track last week (excuse the cheesy face). I might not be fast, but at least I'm still moving : )