Week 1 - Weight Loss Adventures

So I officially began my weight loss journey in earnest last Saturday. I decided to use my old Weight Watcher's points tracking system and to commit to exercising once again.

I had my husband take photos of me from the front, side, and back. It was a monumental moment for me, as I avoid pictures of myself at all costs these days.

Firstly, I can't believe how deconditioned I am, so I decided to start on the treadmill. I've done 2 miles per day at a speed-walking/lazy-jogging pace while lifting 3-pound weights in various arm exercises to raise my heart rate and hopefully tone my arms simultaneously for about 15-20 minutes, as these boobs have never been amenable to bouncing of the jogging degree (there is no such thing as a sports bra to hold 'em steady). It is enough to make me sweat like a hog. I figure it is best to work my way into this by reconditioning myself to avoid the inevitable discouragement I predict I would feel when having to stop at half the repetitions (or less) than those in all of my workout videos.

The treadmill is actually fun to do, and the time flies (45 minutes) doing it in front of a TV with my favorite music blaring. I guess I need something to look at, despite rocking out and getting funky.

It's important to note a few things about walking on a treadmill that I personally had never used until this point:

1. Trying to get down to the beat of your tunes can make you lose your balance but is big fun.
2. Reaching across your body in front of you, i.e. left arm reaching for the weight in the right-sided cup holder, can make you lose your balance.
3. Closing your eyes or turning your head, even for a millisecond, can make you lose your balance, and you should just forget about looking behind you altogether.

Family and scheduling conflicts are most definitely my biggest hurdles. This week my husband's job interfered, as did his habits, despite his promise of support; I had a few appointments myself; and I had a friend in need. My practicality tells me there is no reason to get up, shower, apply makeup, do my hair, come home, remove the makeup, sweat profusely, shower again, reapply, redo the hair, etc. I have to do it before I need to leave the house, which isn't always doable. Therefore, some of these exercise bouts occurred less than 12 hours apart, i.e. 10 p.m. one day, and 8 a.m. the next.

My husband took off to work early leaving me with a ton of work to do, so I pulled a really late night to work in both me time and work and burned myself out the next day, but I got back on and did it anyway; only 35 minutes rather than 45, while constantly talking to my 3-year-old and talking him off the step-ski-bike machine.

Meal planning is right up there with the aforementioned. Last night everyone was happy to be eating Sloppy Joe's (what they didn't know was that it was the WW version for 5 points). I made it at noon, tasted it, and couldn't tell the difference between it and the canned version my husband introduced them to. Neither could my husband or the boys, but my daughter, the pickiest and frequently whiniest child on the planet took one bite and decided the "crunchy things" ruined it. Sigh. The crunchy things were green peppers, and she focused more on the color than the texture, despite eating the other half of that raw green pepper with me earlier. I sometimes wonder if she simply takes joy in being difficult.

I completely ignored the mess that greeted me each day upon completion of my workouts/exercises, such as the "groceries" (a man's version of groceries), strewn across the counter, the dish-filled sinks, the toy-strewn house, etc. I figured hubby let that happen, so he can do this for me and handle it the next day if need be. The biggest problem with that mess is that it makes preparation of my more complex and fresh-ingredient recipes almost dreadful. During one particular day of mess and day of running children here and there, I did a trip to Wendy's choosing the better options for the points that remained for me that day.

My biggest fear is that the organizational freak within myself will win out over my desire to achieve this one particular goal for myself. It makes it very difficult to take me time when these things are gnawing at you sometimes with guilt. This is how I find myself today almost 100 pounds heavier than when I met my husband 18 years ago (an average of around 5 pounds per year), and to clarify, it is because I put myself last to tend to everything that *I* felt needed attention more, and the last time I ignored it, it turned into the mess I found myself having to deal with this past year before freeing up the issues enough to start this try. This can't happen. It is as simple as that.

So, the big reveal for this week, is that I walked/exercised for 14 miles on a treadmill and I lost 4 pounds. Not sure what happened there, as yesterday it was 5 pounds.....could be the hormonal issue that has arisen....maybe the two glasses of water I didn't manage to work in yesterday.....but either way, it is a loss.

ADDENDUM: Today, 1 day later, than goodness, I noticed that I'm in a lower points range for my current weight, so there I was eating 2-5 points more than I should have been for a couple of day. Better week next week!