Weight loss goals

A few weeks ago, when the weather turned colder, I put on my favorite jacket and was surprised when it didn't fit well enough for me to zip it up.

Back when my jacket still fit.
This was in June of 2010 when I was (unknowingly)
about 15 weeks pregnant with the twins

I knew I'd gained weight during my pregnancies, but as far as I could remember this jacket had always fit within a few months of giving birth.  The fact that it didn't zip up now was proof of something I'd suspected for a while - I'd put on weight while Brandon was gone.

Last Wednesday I went to the doctor and received even more proof.  I weighed 10 lbs more than I had when I was 9 months pregnant with Veronica.  Not exactly something I wanted to find out.  

It made sense though.  One of the ways I coped with Brandon being gone was to eat candy and snack.  I didn't eat the healthiest meals either. I can't tell you how many times we had just pasta or tatter-tots for dinner.

All things considered, gaining a few pounds during a deployment wasn't that bad.  I'd stayed faithful to my husband, my kids were well adjusted, and our finances were in control.  But now that Brandon was home I didn't want being overweight to become a normal thing for me.  I wanted to lose that deployment weight, plus lose the extra weight I'd put on during each pregnancy.

I figured I'd need to loose around 40 lbs.  I came up with that number because I'd put on about 10 lbs per pregnancy and 10 more during the deployment.  I asked my doctor how much weight she recommended that I lose.  She looked up my target BMI and told me that I should weigh 145 lbs to be at a 25% BMI.  I laughed at that number.  I don't think I've been 145 since I was 15 years old.  I don't put a lot of stock in the BMI for a lot reasons - mainly I just don't think its an accurate way off assessing health.

 I tried to get my doctor's personal opinion on the BMI, but she wouldn't give me a straight answer.  She did suggest that I could do a target weight of 165 lbs.  That sounded a lot more doable.  I was 165 lbs when I was 21 and worked on the Snow College Ropes Course.  It was the best summer of my life and I was in the best shape too.  I would love to be that healthy again.

To get to 165 lb I'd have to lose 68 lbs.  (I'll save you the trouble of doing the math and just tell you that I weighted 233 lbs at the doctors appointment.)  That's kind of a daunting number so I've split it into two goals.

My first goal is to get down to 200 lbs by my 30th birthday on February 7, 2015.

My second goal is to weigh 165 by my 8th wedding anniversary on May 17, 2015.

That gives me 6 months to lose weight and fit back into my wedding dress.

I came home from the doctors appointment and started planning out the changes to my lifestyle.  I'd been thinking about doing several of these things for a while, but now the timing was finally right to implement them.    

The first big change I made was to start eating better - a whole lot better.  Nine months of cooking exclusively for toddlers had made me into a pretty bad eater.  I snacked way too often, drank too much juice, and didn't have enough foods that weren't carbohydrates in my diet. Sure I ate salad pretty often, but other than that I wasn't eating healthy.

So I made a commitment to eat a lot more protein, more fruits and vegetables, and more complex carbohydrates. I decided to pretty much stop eating sugar. Drinking juice also went onto the no list.  I also gave up snacking between meals.

I thought there would be a hard adjustment period where I would be hungry and cranky.  But instead the opposite happened.  From day one I felt so much better.  For the first time in a long time I felt full.  And I stayed full until the next meal.  That right there was enough to motivate me to keep eating healthy.  From now on eating junk is synonymous with being hungry.  And I hate being hungry.

My other big change was to start exercising.  This is a habit that I've needed to get back into for a long time.  Before I had kids I would walk 4 miles every day.  Even after I was pregnant I still would walk 2 miles every other day.  After the twins were born I'd take them on long walks.  But then I got pregnant with Derrick and it was all I could do to get the kids to the park every day.  After we moved here and I found out I was pregnant with Veronica my exercising really took a nose dive.  For almost the past two years my "work out" has been to take the kids to the park - which is across the street.

I've wanted to work out more, but I've been in survival mode for so long that I didn't know if I could physically afford the energy.  People would say things like, "you'll have so much more energy" or "it will help you feel better."  On some level I knew they were right, but mostly I just thought about how tired I already was.  I was always afraid that I'd do a big workout, and be exhausted on a day (or night) when all heck would break loose at home.    

When Brandon came home I decided I could start working out.  First I started doing a little routine in the morning.  It was nothing special, just some planking, and then some stretches that I could do while laying on my back.  I liked that I could do it even if I was sleepy.

After I committed to losing weight I decided to start jogging on our neighborhood bike trail every night.  That first night I tried to make excuses not to go, it was too dark, too cold, blah blah blah, but Brandon made sure I went.  I could tell how out of shape I was, I couldn't jog very far and walked most of the way.  But I really liked it.  After that first loop I was hooked.

I forgot how much I liked being by myself.  I've always thought that I would need a partner or group to keep me motivated to exercise, but I love the chance to be by myself and just think.  I like doing lots of other things by myself and at my own pace so it makes sense that I like exercising on my own. All day long I look forward to that moment when the kids are in bed and I can go run.  I also like that  it's just outside my door.  I don't have to schedule extra time to commute to the gym.  I can just leave my house.    

Its only been 9 days since I made these changes in my life, but I already feel so good.  And I've learned so much about myself too.  I'll talk more about the things I've learned later.

And guess what?  On the third day after I started eating better and exercising I was able to zip my jacket closed again.  I still have a ways to go before it fits me like it should, but I'm very happy about this little success.

Charlotte took this picture while sitting on the floor.