Holidays, Hang-Ups, and Working Out

Big news from the past few weeks is:

I've been working out!!!

Not every day, and I'm sure not as much as I should be, but at least it's something! Once or twice a week I go with my friend and work-out buddy Rozemary to the little gym in her apartment complex, and we do 20 minutes of cardio, a couple of weight machines, and then hit the pool and soak in the hot tub. It's been great and I wish we could find time in our busy schedules to do it more often!

When I'm not doing that, I've managed to motivate myself to do a work-out video, for the first time in my life. I've never really liked work-out videos much. (Can you say total snooze-fest?) But over the Christmas break I saw some Biggest Loser work-out videos on sale for $8 at Best Buy, and figured if anybody could motivate me to do a work-out video from home, it would be Bob! And seriously? It's a dang good work-out!

I like the one I got, Biggest Loser Boot Camp, because it actually has three levels of work-outs that you can move through as you get stronger.

I'm still on the Level 1 work-out, and it keeps my heart-rate up the whole time and thoroughly exhausts me by the end. It's pretty cool how it feels like Bob is talking to me through the TV, and I really like the work-out he does. He combines upper and lower body work-outs through most of the program, and I use my 5-pound weights that I bought about a year ago and NEVER used until now. (Isn't that embarrassing? At least I'm using them now!)

I definitely recommend this DVD for anyone who has trouble staying motivated but wants to work out from home. All you need is a small amount of floor space and some weights. I really want the Biggest Loser Wii game now too!

It's good that I've added some working out into my weight loss program now, because boy do I need it! I've discovered two things now that I'm back to the weight I was before I got pregnant:

#1- My weight loss is slowing down, most definitely. And that's partly because I'm having a harder time staying motivated and sticking to my diet as closely. Now that I fit into my old clothes again and am back to the decent weight I was at before, it's REALLY hard to stay very strict so I can lose more!

and #2- It's SO MUCH easier to give into the cravings now. The foods I love just call my name, and I can't resist them as much as I used to when I was above my pre-pregnancy weight.

My main craving lately: Tillamook Cheddar cheese. Heaven in a slice. Not kidding.

String cheese has just really not been cutting it lately. Instead of string cheese, I'll sometimes cut two small slices of Tillamook cheddar, and just savor it with my lunch or dinner. It's SO good!

For this past Valentine's week. . . it's been bye-bye diet, completely thrown out the window. I made SO many yummy treats, and it's just been a mad eating frenzy of brownies, heart-shaped sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookie bars, and my box of See's chocolates. Yes, I've been very, very bad. And this next week is not looking to get a whole lot better, since my birthday is this Saturday. A girl's got to indulge for her birthday, right?

I vow that March will be a much better month. Thank goodness for all these holidays, to completely ruin our diets. :)

Nutrisystem added a few new items to their menu, and by FAR my fave is the new double chocolate caramel bar. It's a lunch option, and I really like it!

I get really tired of eating soups every day for lunch, so it's great to find a bar that I actually like. I only ordered three and ate them already, so I'll look forward to ordering a whole bunch in my next shipment. That's the only new menu item that stands out much to me. Trail mix bar = gross.

So for the past few weeks, (really since I got back to my pre-pregnancy weight) I've been losing one pound per week. I expected this, and am at least still happy to see the number dropping. I am currently at 153, which is three pounds below my weight when I got pregnant. Only 8 pounds away from my goal weight. . . it sounds so awesome! I'm really doing this!!!

New Year, New Goal!

So do you want to know what the antithesis of "diet" is? A long vacation. Especially to a place where you have multiple favorite restaurants and you dream about the food you'll eat there long before you're actually there.

Yikes.

I spent three weeks with my family down in San Diego. I had a marvelous time with family and friends, and didn't think too much about calories or fat content. Hey, it's December AND vacation, right? I did take a few Nutrisystem meals down there with me, with the best intentions of eating them every once in awhile. I mostly only ate the breakfasts that I took with me. . . but at least it's something! I did hold back more than usual on Christmas treats. I ate lots of Christmas candy (my sweet tooth is VERY happy in December!), but I didn't make some of my favorite Christmas treats that I usually make (chocolate mint brownies and pretzel rods dipped in caramel and chocolate) because I knew I'd want to eat them ALL if I made them. So I did use a small amount of restraint.

What absolutely killed me was the eating out! I'm only down in San Diego twice a year, so there is no way on this earth I'm going to be able to resist eating at my favorite places! I had some of this:
(Actually, I only ate there once! Surprising!)

My biggest weakness when I'm in Southern California is most definitely MEXICAN FOOD! I crave it like mad! It's just so delicious down there! I had two heavenly meals at the Old Town Mexican Cafe, my very favorite.

Yep, cheese fries are another weakness. And boy, were they GOOD!

I may have only had lunch at In 'n Out once, but I don't even know how many lunches I ate at Rubio's. Rubio's is the BEST place to eat lunch. I just can't get enough of their grilled chicken nachos! I guess it's a good thing they don't have any Rubio's in Seattle, because I could never resist it!

And I had a couple of these. . .
(My favorite dessert, the Molten Lava Cake from Chili's! Also can't get that anywhere in Seattle. It makes me want to cry, it's so good).

So. . . I didn't exactly meet my goal of maintaining my weight over the holidays. And now you know why.

The good news is, I weighed myself this morning (I've been back for two days now), and I'm at 159. So really a weight gain of 3 pounds is better than I thought it would be! Now I am back on track with my strict Nutrisystem diet and hoping to be at 145 by the end of March. 14 pounds to go! It should be easier to stay motivated right now than it was in the fall, since the rest of the world is joining me in new year weight loss goals. :)