Workout Jams?

I went on a 2.5 mile walk this morning. Boy, am I worn out but I also feel very energized at the same time if that makes sense. It is a good worn out! The place where I walk has lots of hills and sometimes it is hard to stay motivated to make it up one More hill. I found that what really kept me going was a good song on my iPhone. There are certain songs that, when they came on, really helped me push through a hill and keep going. Right now the groups that really keep me going are:
        *Florence and the Machine
        *The Lonely Island
        *Katy Perry
        *Eminem

What songs do you listen to while working out that really keep you going?

How I Am Keeping Track of It All

There are certain things that I like. I like making lists, I like keeping track of things, and I like my iPhone. Luckily I stumbled across a great little app that lets me incorporate all 3! It is called My Fitness Pal and I LOVE it! You can keep track of your weight, how much water you take in, what foods you eat, how many calories you eat, how much your exercise, and how many calories you burn. Whew! That's a lot! And it is all in one spot!

It is really easy to navigate. It has a great search feature for the exercise and food portions. Another thing I love about the food search feature is that it has restaurant food in it. So, if you know you are going on to eat somewhere you can look up how much that specific meal is going to put you back as far as calories go.  I also like that you can look up specific brands of food so you know it is accurate to what you are eating. For example, this morning I had a Donut Shop Medium Roast K Cup (black) and a 6oz Stonyfield Organic 0% Fat Lemon Yogurt and both of those exact things were on there.

I just really can't say enough good things about this app! Did I mention that it was free? Yeah, even better! I would recommend it to anyone!

Can we talk about exercise?

I have yet to find an exercise that I enjoy. Maybe I just have my hopes too high in hoping that it is something that is supposed to be enjoyable. I like going on walks with my family, but I don't really think I am burning too many calories on a leisurely walk with 5 kids who get worn out before we get far enough for me to even almost work up a sweat. I enjoyed yoga, but didn't really have the time to make it to the classes. Any suggestions? What do YOU do to exercise and how do you stay motivated with it?

I will say today was my last day of LPN school and I have a few weeks off until I start RN school on August 1st. I am hoping that having these few weeks off with nothing extra to do will help me to really focus on eating right and exercising. I went to the store tonight and stocked up on yummy fruits and veggies so that there is something here for me to snack on. I CAN do this!

I am an emotional eater...

When I am happy... I eat...
When I am sad... I eat...
When I am depressed... I eat...
When I am celebrating... I eat...

This list could literally go on and on. This is such a hard habit for me to break. I like to eat and it seems like I want to eat for just about any occasion or emotion that I feel. I don't know how to stop this. Take today for example, I have not been in the best mood (for no real reason actually, who knows why?) and I have eaten like crap. Not just eating too much, but eating bad stuff. **sigh** I really need to think of some things to do that can distract me from eating like this. Suggestions??

So far, so good

So I am just about 2 day into this thing and so far it is going well. Today, I got up early and had a little bit of breakfast before heading to school. I took some grapes to snack on during my morning session of school and it really seemed to help. I didn't feel like I totally pigged out during lunch like I normally do. It is now after 8:30 and I am not having anything else to eat tonight. This is hard... I feel like I want to and need to eat. I am going to try my hardest to distract myself though. Hence, why I am posting right now!

Although my last couple of days have gone well, I am not going to pat myself on the back just yet. It is easy to stick to different routines when they are new and fresh. In the past when I have tried to do anything like this, I usually sputter out at about the 1 week mark. I am praying that doesn't happen this time. I need to keep moving forward and making progress!

Weigh In: 6/13/2011

Official kick off weight for this whole shebang: 167

I am going to try and weigh in every week that way I can keep track as I go. I already started the day off by actually having breakfast. I had some coffee and then a sliced apple with some peanut butter. Here's to a great start!

2 of My Known Downfalls

When I got this idea in my head that I wanted to get serious about losing weight, the first thing I thought I should do is to take a real look at my routine and see where it is that I fall. So far I have come up with 2 major things (with many, MANY more to come I'm sure):

1. I RARELY eat breakfast.
This one is a combination of me not really liking a lot of breakfast foods and the fact that I am usually not that hungry in the morning. If anything, I will have a cup of black coffee and call it good. I know this is bad since without breakfast my metabolism for the day never gets kick started or revved up. This also causes me to overeat when lunch time rolls around because by that time I am famished.  I plan to work on eating breakfast this week by setting my alarm just 10 minutes earlier and making myself eat some yogurt or whole wheat toast with peanut butter.

2. I am a nighttime snacker.
I eat SO much after dinner every night. It is in my mind that this is like a little reward for myself after a long, hard day. I find myself eating things almost right before I go to bed some nights. I know this is not good since my body does not have time to digest it all before it goes into shut down mode when I am sleeping. I plan to working on eating less after dinner this week and am setting a time for myself of having nothing to eat after 8pm. I hope to slowly work that time back to 6pm, but 8pm is a start!

How I Got Here

I wish I could say that my weight is due to the fact that I have 5 kids and that they are so close in age. Sadly, that is not the case. I weighed 130 pounds when I got pregnant with Brodie (babe #1) and by the time I had Sawyer (babe #4) I weighed 150. I was fine with 150 and I would kill to be that now. When Sawyer was about 8 months old, I had a miscarriage. This threw me into a spiral of depression and comfort eating. To this day, I still feel sad about the baby we lost and feel like I am have to deal with that pain alone. Happily, a couple months later we got pregnant with Elliot (babe #5) and I gained little weight when pregnant with her.

The combination of having 5 small kids and also dealing with depression was the reason I ate so unhealthily (is that even a word?). It was my comfort and something that was constantly there for me no matter what. The pounds kept adding up and up gradually until I got to the point I am at now. I weigh 170 pounds and wear a size 16. I know there are people much bigger than that, but to me this feels enormous. I have never been this big in my life.

The decision to stop eating meat in November had a lot to do with health reasons (and also TONS of environmental reasons) and I really do feel much better having that out of my system. Now it is time to take it even further and make a lifestyle change that involves exercise and eating even better! I truly feel it is as much about attitude as it is actions.

Time to get serious....

Hello and welcome! My name is Heidi and I just turned 29. I have been married to my husband, Jason, for 9 years this coming week. We have 5 children, 4 boys and a girl, ranging in age from 2 to 8. I am graduating from nursing school in a couple of weeks. I am sure by reading those few lines you can imagine how busy and hectic my life is! Because of this, I have let my health decline and my weight increase. At this point, I weight 40 pounds more than I did on my wedding day. Wow...

The point of this blog is mainly a personal one. I want to document my journey as I try to lose 20 pounds by my 30th birthday. I also am going to use it as a place to post recipes (I am a new vegetarian, as of last November), weigh ins, and also a place to vent my frustrations and celebrate my achievements. I am looking for accountability from any readers I might have as well as tips and tricks they may want to share.

It may not be pretty, but it will be honest. Time to get serious...