Day 5:

I can't decide if yesterday was good or bad. I guess maybe that means it was just a wash. My food wasn't great, but I think the amount of exercise I did helped counteract any bad food decisions.

Breakfast was peanut butter and jelly sandwich (weird, I know).

Lunch was ham and cheese on wheat with mayo/mustard and fresh spinach, mmm.

Dinner was a cheeseburger from In-N-Out (I really don't even care for In-N-Out that much, but Paul really does so I went with him). According to myfitnesspal.com it's actually not THAT high in calories and I stayed was below my calories yesterday. I only had probably 6 or 7 french fried and water to drink with dinner.

Cheats:

After dinner we went to a friend's house and they had snacks. I had 3 Red Vines,and probably two hand fulls of strawberries with this strawberry cream cheese/marshmallow puff mix. I also had a Dr. Pepper yesterday and a truffle too.

See what I mean about not being able to decide?

My exercise saved me, as I walked for almost 90 minutes with a baby on front and pushing a double stroller. Then I did about 50 minutes of yoga. It was a good workout day.

Now let's see how the weekend goes.

P.S. - In case you're wondering, I'm down 3 lbs. so far. =) Yay!

Day 4:

Today was tough since I had to take the boys to the doctor in the morning. It threw my whole day off and made it difficult to find motivation. I coped out on breakfast and had a bowl of Life cereal. Not the worse choice, but not the best. For lunch I had a tuna melt which was yummy and not a bad choice IMO. I also had a bowl of rice from the leftover sunday chicken. Mmmm. I have a weak spot for my rice. For dinner we had beef stroganoff, but I think it was a decent-sized portion.

I almost didn't get my exercising in due to the lack of motivation from my messed up day, but I finally got up the umph around 4:45. Fortunately, Paul made dinner while I did my 30 minute upper body circuit. I'm glad I didn't forgo it as I felt better after, and didn't want to miss a day so soon in the competition. If I can just continue to take it one day at a time, one meal at a time I think I can do really well and stick with this.

Cheats:

1 key lime truffle

1 raspberry cream chocolate

Day's triumph:

I was offered a brownie at our RS activity and I turned it down. I will not be a compulsive eater!

Day 3:

I was HUNGRY today!

Had Malt-O-Meal for breakfast with a little milk and brown sugar. Had a grilled cheese sandwich as a mid-morning snack, then some leftover stew for lunch. As an afternoon snack I had a PB&J, and then sunday chicken and rice for dinner with some corn on the side. I had 2 legs and a fair amount of rice, but I don't feel bad since I am trying to nurse two babies. I also had a bowl of cereal between dinner and bed cause i just need those extra calories right now.

Workouts were good today. My core circuit only took about 15 minutes because I didn't want to overdo it, so then I did about 35-40 minutes of power yoga (didn't look at the clock, so I'm not sure). When Paul got home I took a 30 minute skate. I actually made better time on the way back then out, so yay me.

My yoga didn't tape because I forgot to turn off the VCR after programming it! I was so sad. I will try again tomorrow.

Legs are pretty sore, but I'll make it through.

Cheat:

1 key lime truffle

Progress

Little sore today. I like it! I may have overdone the lower body just a pinch yesterday. I did upper body Monday and seemed to have gotten it just about right as I was just sore enough yesterday to feel it, but not be in pain. My legs are a little more sore than my arms and shoulders. So, almost everything's a little sore today, but it feels good! It's good to know I'm doing something. Today is core, so I will have to be very careful to NOT overdo it or I will make things very hard on myself for the rest of the week and I don't want to debilitate myself. Wish me luck here on day 3! So far the scale is moving in the right direction!

Oh, and good luck to everyone else out there too!

Important Discovery

I've made a very sad, but important discovery.

Milk is not my friend.

I know, that should probably be kind of an obvious statement right? Well, I didn't realize. They say dairy is good for you. . .but in moderation. I really love milk. I drink milk like water when it's around. The scale was starting to go down a few weeks ago, then it went up again. I was discouraged and frustrated because I was SO excited when it started to go down. Looking back, I realized it started to go up again when we got more milk in the house. It's only l%, but it doesn't matter. When it's here, I drink it. . .too much. Since I've cut back, I can see a significant difference. 

Yay, for discovering what doesn't work for me!

Yoga

I have really come to love yoga. Really. When I first started it, I didn't get it. At least that's what I think looking back. I didn't appreciate it for what it really is. It just seemed like a lot of pointless stretching and an only slightly effective workout.

I know better now.

BYU channel has a program called Total Body Workout every morning. It used to be at 4:00 am and 9:00 am, which was perfect for me. I could wake up, get breakfast done and then do some yoga. The best part about the program: I love the instructor. I mean, I really love the instructor. That almost never happens in exercise videos. They usually drive me crazy. Too perky or too bossy or too annoying, or too. . .something. The second best part: I don't have to do the same routine day after day because there's been so many tapings for the BYU channel. Mostly because it was available, I did it a lot and I've really come to love it now.

They recently changed the time (okay, I don't know how recently because it's been awhile since I've done it) to 7:00 am. That's kind of early for me. I need all the sleep I can get right now. So I'm going to tape it. Yay! I'm so looking forward to being able to do some yoga tomorrow! I REALLY wanted to do some today after my leg workout and just stretch everything out, alas, I had no yoga to do. So I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I think it's been long enough since the pregnancy to start getting back into some poses. Wish me luck!

Oh, and if you haven't really tried yoga or didn't give it a fair chance, try it now.
Give it a chance.
I think you'll come to love it as I have.

Day 2:

Honesty time.

Today was not quite as good.

It wasn't bad, just not as good.

Breakfast: two eggs on toast.

Lunch: peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Dinner: spaghetti (probably too big a serving), green salad, and french bread.

BUT, i did refrain from having a second piece of french bread, which I would not have done before.

That's progress, right?

Workout: approx. 30 minutes weight lifting, lower body circuit.

Tried to supplement with something else, but just couldn't get my legs to cooperate.

Did a few sun salutations A and B.

Cheats:

1/2 a DP (gave the other have to Keith so I wouldn't drink it).

1/4 Mother's Day cupcake. I shared the rest.

1.5 oatmeal chocolate chip cookies at West's house.

Plan for tomorrow:

Yoga.

Core circuit workout.

Maybe rollerblade.

Week 1---Day 1:

It was a good day! My morning was ridiculously filled with busy trying to take care of four kids and one dog and a messy house, but I started off the day right by eating Malt-O-Meal for breakfast. Yes, it had milk and some butter and a little brown sugar in it, BUT i maintain that it was still better than a bowl of cereal--or more likely still, nothing.

My philosophy is to NOT cut out all the good things that make life and food yummy, but just to cut back significantly.

Having said that, Mother's Day was an awful weekend to start this challenge! I have See's in my house, which is rare, and a whole bunch of soda--also rare, and a yummy cupcake just begging to be eaten (another mother's day gift). BUT, I can be strong!

I had some leftover pasta for lunch. Again, maybe not the BEST choice, but better than frozen burritos or ramen or again, nothing. (I don't NOT eat on purpose, I just get distracted or too lazy to find something to make.)

Finally got some workout time around 1:00 when I got all 4 kiddos to sleep at the same time. . .well, mostly. Did a 30 minute weight lift circuit on my upper body, then did a 40 minute tae-bo video (the whole thing!) I wanted to go rollerblading when Paul got home from work, but we had plans to go see Iron Man 2 last night so I didn't have the time.

For dinner, crock pot beef stew. And at the movie, nothing! We don't usually buy anything as the prices are so exorbitant, but since we didn't pay for tickets and had time to spare I thought Paul might get something. I'm not sure if he was trying to be thoughtful to my weight loss plan or if he just didn't feel like it, but either way, I'm grateful he had the self control to pass the concession counter. =)

Day's Cheats:
1 raspberry cream see's candy,
1 pudding cup after movie to take the "munchie" edge off.
Stayed away from cupcake and soda, though I put one in the fridge to get cold.