Losing It - 2012 Edition!

I'm back! Hopefully for the whole year. Admittedly last year fizzled out a lot faster than I had hoped and not only here. I lost 16 pounds in the first 12 weeks of 2011 and then gained 4 back to end the year with a 12 pound loss. Not very impressive considering how far I have to go. So a new year, a new start, a new challenge (or 5!)
Challenge 1: Run 16 miles a week.
Challenge 2: Complete the Hundred Pushup Program
Challenge 3: Cut drastically back on the amount of meat I eat (notice I did not say quit eating meat!)
Challenge 4: Get my compulsive snacking under control.
And here is the big one
Challenge 5: Hit my 50 pound weight loss milestone, get down into the normal BMI range, and hopefully lose 30 pounds.

I know that this may seem like a lot and trust me, it seems like a lot, but I need to take control this year. If anyone follows my LoseIt! posts on Facebook you can sort of figure out how much I snack given how many calories I log running, interval training, and doing Bob Harper's yoga.

So here we go again!

Calories Burned

I have been going along on this weight loss journey counting my calories and exercising. I have just been going with what Lose It! or my treadmill tells me I am burning, and not really thinking much of it. Well the other day I decided to strap on my heart rate monitor and crunch some numbers.

Running - I run at 5 mph on the treadmill, so not killing it by any means, but I get it done. The other day I ran for 40 minutes. According to Lose It! I burned 416 calories. My treadmill had me at 417 after a 5 minute cool down. So those have been pretty close all along. According to my heart rate monitor, an Iron Man, my average heart rate was 157 for the 40 minutes of exercise (I did not include the cool down) and the calories burned was 740-something! Wow. That was a big difference so I decided to use EBSCalc on the iPod touch which has a calorie burned calculator. According to that I had burned like 640-something.

It sort of makes sense to me, I do have a ridiculously high heart rate so any calculations based on that might be off a little. Those calculators also take my age and weight into consideration and my treadmill, not so much. So it got me thinking - how many calories am I really burning during the 30 Day Shred? So this morning I used my heart rate monitor again.

The Shred - A 25 minute circuit training video by Jillian Michaels. I am currently at Level 3 and it kicks my butt pretty good. According to Lose It! 25 minutes of circuit training burns 261 calories (267 calories at the beginning of the year!). According to my heart rate monitor my average heart rate was 137 and I burned 360 calories. And EBSCalc tallied my calories burned at 320.

So I am still tracking my calories with Lose It! and will be sticking with their ideas of calories burned. I figure that it has worked so far, 13 pounds this year and nearly 40 total! Also, I am sure that I underestimate some food choices so it all comes out in the end. It has been an interesting little experiment, teaching me a little more about exercise every day!

Feeling Overwhelmed

I don't know if it is a result of being trapped inside by the cold or what but I have been feeling alone lately. I love where we live but I am sad that I am not closer to either my parents or my sisters. We moved away from our friends, not by a lot but by enough. And I am sure it is just the weather because people always stay in more when the weather sucks, and it sure has sucked this month.

I love my family and I wouldn't trade what I have for anything. I feel very blessed in my life. I do wish that we had more friends in the stage of life we are. It is hard to try to balance family life and still hang out with our friends, sans kids. If we had a babysitter it would be easier but how do you find a babysitter? I mean seriously, how? I had a number, but Chuck had to go and throw it away so now I am back to square one.

And Chuck traveling just makes it that much harder. Trying to make it work out with two kids all day and night, no break, it is exhausting. I finally figured it out tonight the worst part; putting James to bed is usually my down time, I don't have to worry about Amelia, the house, the cat, anything. I just nurse James and close my eyes and relax. I don't have that now. I either nurse James while Amelia runs rampant and naked through the house, or while reading Amelia books. I really miss my time with James.

Amelia also has been trying every last nerve I have. I realized tonight that I really need to learn some patience and anger management. It is very frustrating trying to manage dinner with no help. Not just making it, but eating it as well. I have mastered making it with the help of a little tv time and the walker, but eating it, that is another story. Amelia still gets distracted when eating if she is not getting a lot of attention so when I have to feed James she sort of loses the plot. And then if I focus on Amelia, James ends up throwing his food everywhere. I swear after a meal it looks like a bomb went off in a supermarket.

The End of 2010

I have heard a lot of bad news this year, a lot of lost jobs, deaths, hard times. 2010 has not been an easy year for a lot of people and for them I am sure the hopes are high for 2011. I feel very blessed to be able to say that 2010 has been a terrific year for me and my family. Chuck got a new job in February and it has gone exceedingly well, we moved into our new house in March, James came into our lives in June, Amelia turned 2 in July. I am so lucky to have so many blessings in my life.

Of course a new year always makes us pause and think about what things could be better in our lives. We resolve to do things better, make ourselves better, be better. There is a lot that I could do differently to make my life better; here is a short list:

1. Be healthier. Limit portions, healthier choices, more exercise.

2. Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred starting Jan 1st.

3. Get James sleeping through the night.

4. Vacuum my downstairs everyday. James will be crawling soon and I don't want him eating dirt!

5. Take at least 1 non baby picture everyday (this will continue through the year)

6. Finish Narrow Dog to Carcassonne I have been trying to finish this book since LAST Christmas. Not for any particular reason other than I don't have a little light in my bedroom.

7. Be more patient with Amelia.

Merry Christmas!!!!

I am like a frickin' kid this Christmas. I am the most excited one in my house. I want my kids to wake up and see the cool things we got them. I am giddy with excitement.

Alright, that is done. But honestly this has been a pretty cool Christmas. We are in our new house, we have a big tree. Amelia is finally old enough that she is getting into the spirit of the season. We have been made humble by the generosity of our friends. It truly is a magical time of year and I am so blessed. Last night we had some friends stop by to visit which was awesome. Tonight a friend stopped by for a visit, and a neighbor popped in with a poinsettia for us. Tomorrow we will be seeing family as well as Sunday. I just can't get over how much love is in my life and how lucky I am.

Phoning it in

I do not like this phrase. It really bugs me and I don't know why. What does it even mean? Where did it come from? Ugh.

Okay so anyway. Another pet peeve of mine lately is people lying to me. I am a big girl, I don't need to be coddled. I have a big belly, I know that. When you tell me I don't it just makes me irritated. I realize that my belly is not as big as it used to be but that does not mean that it is magically not fat. (I Love you husband and appreciate your support)

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And So Begins a New Theme

Ok, I can't keep it up, the whole Losing It thing. Titles are not so easy to come up with! So here we are and the titles will just be whatever. James is 6 months old and I told myself that sleep training started at 6 months. But it is proving to be more difficult than I expected. Amelia needed to sleep training around 7 or 8 months but that was because she went from sleeping 7 to 7 to waking up once or twice. I don't recall it being so hard with her. It was certainly difficult, any time my kids cry it breaks my heart. I just don't recall it being as hard as it is with James. It is terrible listening to him cry and I know that it means that I just won't and I won't get sleep and I will be tired and cranky. But he is just so little and cute and I love him so much.

Seriously though some days are harder than others. He was sleeping 7 to 3 then 7 again. That isn't bad, I can handle that. Lately though he has been waking at 9 and 3 and 6 (at which point he comes into bed with me!) And Amelia usually wakes up once so I have been having some sleepless nights - which Chuck usually wakes up from with no idea what I have been through.

Last night was better and I got 5 and a half hours of straight sleep! It was amazing, and I got to snuggle with my little guy in the morning. So here is hoping that last night's trend continues!