I must admit I was really nervous getting on the scale this morning. I was hoping that I would see a weight loss but deep down I knew that was not going to be the case. This week I am up .5 pound. Bummer.
Here are my official stats:
SW: 177
CW: 148.5
GW:125
Pounds lost: +.5
You see, I am having a real issue with exercising. Well it is not so much the exercise as it is the desire (or habit) of wanting to stay in my warm comfy bed. All last week my alarm would go off at around 5:00am and I would lay there and think “I need to get up…I need to get up” then….I would fall back asleep.
Once I got out of bed I would shuffle downstairs, grab my coffee, and either sit in the living room with Matt or head upstairs to my office to blog. The entire time thinking “I could be done with my workout by now”. Ugh!
I thought long and hard about my dilemma. The issue comes down to routine and habits. In a post the other day I said when we are struggling or feeling unmotivated most likely it is our old bad habits fighting with the new ones we want to implement. During the holidays I fell back into the bad habit of sleeping in and now that is fighting with my desire to wake up early and workout.
Another issue (for me anyway) is the ability to balance all that I want to get done in the morning. Right now, my mornings (when I actually get up) are my only time to focus on writing my blog. Now that I am trying to add exercise to the mix I am feeling this pull between three things I want to do (sleep, blog, and workout). I started to feel pretty overwhelmed but then decided to just take a step back and plan out a system. I know I can make it all work if I take a moment to organize an approach.
My morning solution is going to be power walk on my treadmill 30 -45 minutes Tuesday, Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Blog on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I know you may be wondering why I am choosing to add more days for blogging than exercising. For one, anytime in the past I have tried to work out more than 4 days a week I always burn out. So my goal is to start with 4 days a week then go from there. Also, I have a lot I want and need to get accomplished with Skinny Mom’s Kitchen. Besides blog post and all the technical behind the scenes stuff I am actually working on my first ebook. Not to mention I love blogging and it keeps all this healthy lifestyle talk on my mind.
I can’t end this post without talking about the food. I was really happy with my menu plan last week. Everything I made followed my clean eating guidelines so I felt good about the quality of the food. Notice I said quality? Well, quantity is another story. Even quality food has calories and when we eat too many we will not lose weight – or if you are like me you will gain. I was tracking my main meals but my issue was in eating my kids scraps (aka leftovers). I also found myself snacking a little here and there at work, while I was cooking, and also over the weekend at my parents. Pretty sure I did not enter those tiny mouthfuls in My Fitness Pal.
Even though those small bites might seem harmless they can add up quickly. Now that I think about it a lot of these habits are what I struggled with (and wrote about) last year in my post The Mom Moments that Made me Fat.
Lesson learned this week:
- I need an organized approach to fit in everything I want to accomplish in the morning and make it a routine.
- I need to be intentional with portions and snacking. For example, if I put into My Fitness Pal that I ate 1 serving of pasta then I need to make sure it was only 1 serving of pasta.
There is my week. Sure I had some setbacks but you know what? I am ready for this week and feel confident in myself moving forward. I blogged yesterday and worked out this morning. So far so good!
How was your week? Would love to hear all about it! List your stats and comments below.
Your doing great regardless of one bad week ; ) Every week is new to start again and get back on track and organize everything again. I know you can do it!!!
Starting Weight 1/1: 143.2 lbs
Weight Last Week 1/8: 142.5 lbs
Current Weight 1/15: 139.8 lbs
Goal Weight: 125 lbs
Loss of 2.7 lbs this week
Thanks so much Melissa! That means a lot to me. You did great this week!! Go girl!
SW- 156.8
CW- 153
GW- 125
pounds lost so far-3.8
This is the first week that I felt like I really had a plan and carried some of it through. The week before this I had gained some back due to not eating good ( I totally understand those little bites adding up) and not working out. I am having to adjust how and when I workout because I am learning that a 2 year old doesn’t care what my intentions are if it doesn’t work for her it isnt going to work for me!lol!
Oh I remember the toddler days. I swear there were days just surviving to bedtime was enough for me
You are doing great Amber! Keep it up!
SW – 201.0
CW – 200.0
GW – 145.0
Pounds lost so far – 1.0
Starting:152.6
Last week: 155
Current: 150.6
Way to much eating out and gained so I really got my butt in gear and eat at home or bring food with me
You did awesome Naomi!! Great job! I need to get my but in gear this week.
I work out at night aftermy kids go to bed (they go to bed at 7). I have to put my workout clothes on when I get home from work or else I’m tempted to not workout. You could try putting your workout clothes on as soon as you get up. I’ve heard of people sleeping in their workout clothes! That might be a little too much.
You’re my inspiration!!!
Those are great ideas!! Believe me you are all my inspiration!!
I understand wanting to work out in the morning as a logical option, and we all feel better for the day knowing we already got one good thing done, but in my opinion morning exercise isn’t for everyone. I used to try to force myself to exercise in the morning but I would skip more often than not. When I gave in and switched my plan to working out either 1) between leaving work in the evening and going home or 2), the later evening post-dinner, I became much more consistent and stopped dreading it. And I have learned to appreciate it as a mental “break” (meaning a rest as well as a separation) between the busy/do things part of my day and the time to relax before bed. So while I don’t know all the constraints on your time, if it is a real struggle every day it might be work considering rearranging things a bit. It is way easier to stick to an exercise routine you enjoy instead of dread. (Maybe also changing what kind of exercise you do would make it more worth looking forward to, too!)
Ok, I’m starting today! You have inspired me to try again!
SW 179.5
SW . 173.4
GW. 140
I just started the SHRED Diet yesterday. Its approach includes a lot of fruits and vegetables. I do so much better with structure, but there is also a lot of flexibility built into the dailu meal plans. It also includes daily exercise goals. After day 1, I’m excited!!
One of my biggest a-ha moments is that I am not a morning person. I used to set my alarm early but I’d never get out of bed to actually exercise.I know, earth shattering realisation, right? So now I plan what exercise I want to do on the days I want to exercise (pre-planned) with the only part being that before I go to bed I want to have found the time to have gotten it done. I’m a “to do” person so this approach works much better and I have found I’ve been more successful this way – even if it means a few times I’m doing my C25K run 30 minutes before I go to bed!
Here is an update on my exercise progress if you want to check it out.
http://morethana-mom.blogspot.ca/2013/01/c25k-week-2-update.html
SW-179.2
CW – 175.4
GW – 135
TL – 3.8
I lost 2.6 lbs this week! Wahoooo!! I’m so excited! I am exercising 3 times a week for 30 minutes each. It’s not my favorite thing and it’s hard to get going sometime but I keep that feeling of accomplishment as my motivation! Good luck to you!! Maybe start out exercising just 2 days a week to start until that becomes habit. Then add more. Just a thought!
We all have weeks that don’t go as well as we hoped! Finding the time for the treadmill will help, but you might want to try to use one of your workout days for toning. If you increase your muscles, your metabolism will increase so you’ll burn more calories for the rest of the day. Kettle bells are great for this and you only have to use them for 15-20 minutes to get a great workout! I did Weight Watchers 3 years ago and lost 40 pounds. I’m now at my goal weight and have maintained it for the last 2 years. The weight came off very slowly at first when I was focusing on just the eating. Then I started doing some light cardio and the weight came off a little bit better. When I added in toning the weight and inches came off pretty quickly.
I feel such comfort in hearing about others as they struggle with weight loss. I think the honesty is what we all need to say to ourselves “ok last week was a bad week, next week WILL be better!” I went backward a bit last week. I have not added the exercise component yet! Baby steps! Still working on getting water into my body and less Mt Dew! This next week my focus is on tracking my food – doing this with my Girl Scout troop! They are keeping a food log for 2 weeks & I am too! (To find out if we need to change our eating to some healthier “stuff”). Keep up the honesty!
SW: 197.6
CW: 191.8
PL (from last week): +2.2
Total PL: 5.8
GW: 150
SW: 195
CW:186
PL Last week: 1
Total PL: 9
Using MFP is really keeping me honest. Didn’t exercise Sat. or Sun. but that’s ok. We are in this long term, like a marathon and not a sprint. Keep it up, all of you!
SW 164
CW 158.2
Lost 4.8
You are doing great. We were sick last week which blew my exercise world apart, but I kept on track for eating, so getting back on that horse is hard, but doable! Have a great week.
I had to quit thinking I had to exercise for a set time period….’cuz I never did it. I figure some is better than nothing and a couple minutes here and a couple there add up! I shoot for 15 but if I only do 5 it’s better than nothing.
SW 233.3
CW 164.4
Down .4 this week.
I think I forgot to sign in last week. Oops! No change though. This week I’m down.
Had a REAL hard time getting motivated to do anything positive, but I think I’m headed in the right direction now. Made a meal plan for the week, and I got up the past two mornings and did a wee bit of exercise. Gotta start somewhere. Looking forward to re-incorporating healthier habits. I know what they are; I just need to DO them. No more eating my kids’ leftovers, grabbing a piece (or 5) of candy, or eating junk. Can’t stay 40 and flabby! 
SW 153.5
CW 152.5
GW 127
lost 1 lb. yippee!!
SW: 130.8
Last week: 127.8
cW:127.4
GW: 119
PL this week: .4
PL total: 3.4
I am a little disappointed that I am only down .4, but it’s lower than last week, so I will take it. Need to add exercise in to my schedule as well. Will try this week!
SW: 206
CW: 175
TL: 31
This week down 2.4!!
thanks for the accountability
My weight didn’t go down like I’d hope, but the upside is that I exercised 5 days this past week, yeaaa!
And my goal is only to do 4 days per week, but really starting to enjoy it. CW: 126.6, GW:110, last week was 125.6., so up a pound, PL: 1.
SW: 210.6
CW: 188.6
GW: 160
TL: 22.0 since July 2012
Working on adding exercise back into my schedule this week!
Wow, Tricia! You’re already on the path I’m slogging down.
SW: 209.8
CW: 207.2
GW: 150
TL: 2.6 this week!
It’s tough when you realize you’re over that dreaded 200. Way to go! Your success is really inspiring to me. Thanks for sharing!
SW: 159.4
CW: 157.4
PL: 2
I am pretty pleased with this as I had gained nearly a pound last week, so I have actually lost 2.8 pounds in the last week. Finding it very hard to get exercise with a 2 month old baby – everytime he sleeps. I just want to sleep, too, NOT exercise! I found out about myfitnessplan through this website and I am such a huge fan, so thanks!
SW: 195.9
CW: 191.7
Lost: 4.2
I feel like I did great my first week, and lost 4.2lbs as a result of being careful and tracking what I ate. So you’d think success would breed success, and I’d be doing great this week because of the incentive? Yeah, not so much. And I hear you about working out in the morning. I have a dog who HATES it when I try to work out (he barks, jumps at me, etc. CONSTANTLY while I’m doing it) so I have to put him in his crate if I’m going to work out. So my plan was to work out first thing in the morning before letting him out. I love my bed though.
So I haven’t done any early-morning workouts yet.
It is always comforting knowing that I am not the only one who sets my alarm to get up at 5:00AM to workout and ends up going back to sleep instead! It is a hard routine to get into and I am failing at it miserably myself. For me – I just need like 2 – 3 more hours in my day to really get everything I would like to accomplished! Thank you for sharing your struggles and I hope through sharing, you realize you are not alone as well! Good luck on your first book!