New Year, New Goals

I wonder why no one likes to call them resolutions when that's what they are. Maybe because we think that makes us less likely to be successful with them? I really think that's the main reason. Whether you call them goals, intentions, aspirations, or resolutions, they all mean the same thing. They mean you want to make some sort of change from how you were living in the previous year. Well, just like many of you, my friends, I have goals as well.

The main goal I'll be focusing on in this blog post is oh so stereotypical: weight loss/getting back in shape. Though it's somewhat embarrassing for me to have this problem (mainly because I'm not used to it), I'm going to be very honest in this post. I gained 36 lbs. during my pregnancy with Graham. The doctors recommend 25-35 lb. weight gain and my doctor told me I should gain on the higher side of that based on my pre-pregnancy weight, so not too shabby, huh? I certainly could've done worse.

However, my post-pregnancy weight loss has not been as expected. Many people told me (and I read on birth boards) that most of the weight would pretty much fall off, especially if I was breast feeding. Not so with me. I've lost only 14 of my 36 lbs. and Graham is over 2 months old! All the rest of this weight is clinging to me for dear life. Though I wasn't eating perfect and I couldn't work out for 6 weeks, I was eating less than when I was pregnant and breast feeding. I'm sure most new moms don't eat perfect and work out right away and the ones I know don't seem to be having this much of a struggle losing the weight!

I've been feeling pretty gross... I don't fit in any clothes. My pre-pregnancy clothes are still too small and my maternity clothes obviously fall off of me (or just look plain weird). I refuse to buy new clothes that are even fatter than my old "fat clothes."

So I knew I had to do something ... and what better time to start than the new year? I am on a mission to lose all my pregnancy weight by the time Graham is 9 months old. It took me 9 months to put it on (easily) and I hope to get it all off by 9 months (though I know it will be a lot harder).

What am I doing to achieve this goal? First, I know I need to make a diet change. The hardest thing for me to give up by far is sodas. I LOVE Coca-Cola and had been drinking far too much of it in the past 2 months, in addition to other high caloried drinks (such as Starbucks (*sigh* my precious...). I have no specific diet plan other than eat healthier and eat less. So far, so good. I'm eating more fruits and veggies and less of whatever the main dish is (and making healthier main dishes, at that). Also, though I'm not a breakfast person, I'm trying to make myself eat something at breakfast, in addition to lunch and snacks so I don't just pig out at dinner time.

I am using the E-Mealz website. I signed up for the Low-Fat Wal-Mart for 2 plan and it gives me a menu and shopping list every week for low-fat meals for 2 people.

I found and have started utilizing this awesome website called My Fitness Pal. On it, you can do many things. You enter your weight, your goal weight, how many times you want to exercise per week, and your goal date for the weight loss, along with other things, and the website gives you goals for the day in terms of eating (calories, fat, carbs). You track your food intake on the website (it has nutritional info for SO much food in it's database, so that's a lot more simple than you may think); you also track your exercise and how many calories that burns. If you enter your exercise, the website tells you how much more you can eat that day. I plan to exercise at least 3-4 times a week. You also track your water intake on the website; I'm working on drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day. By the way, that helps keep me from drinking those calorie drinks too.

Anyway, I started this on January 2 and will continue to keep you updated on my progress. Let's just hope the weight loss is somewhat faster than it has been so far! Any encouragement/well wishes are welcome!