September Goals Recap

Well hello October, where did you come from? Can't believe we're on the down slope of 2013! I sure do love this time of year though!

Without further ado, here is my recap of my goals last month!

1. workout 3 days/week - nada, zilch, nothing
2. use My Fitness Pal to track ALL eats everyday - estimating about 80% of my eats tracked
3. weigh 181 by 9.30.13 - Knocked this one out of the park!

I'm pretty bummed that I didn't even get one workout in these past 2 weeks. I'm not going to list excuses either. Life is busy, everyone has kids, a house to clean, pets to feed, yada, yada, yada. If you want something bad enough you'll make time for it...bottom line! Monday morning I set my alarm for 4:45am and hit snooze. Oops! I really am just not a morning workout person {espeically while nursing!}. I started out October right though, I got in a 30 minute power walk on my lunch hour today. I think this will be the best time for me to workout.

Five out of 7 days of the week I'm on plan, tracking everything that goes in my mouth. Its the weekend that trips me up, specifically Sunday. Sunday is Kyle's cheat day and for some reason I feel the need to cheat along with him. Not necessary! Sunday the 22nd was BAD! MFP told me to just go to bed 'cause I'd eaten such a ridiculous amount of calories {j/k...but it should give me warning messages when I'm stuffing my face on days like that}. This past Sunday wasn't as bad, but I could have done without the ice cream for dessert or that 3rd piece of pizza {promise they were small!}. So still some work to be done in the tracking/eating department.

And finally I'm here to tell you, on September 30, 2013 I stepped on the scale and smashed my goal of 181!! Check that out!! Nothing like beating a goal you set!

Stay tuned for my October goals post {now I need to go write them}!

Do you beat yourself up if you don't meet a goal you set? Or do you brush it off and set a new goal?

Weight Watchers vs My Fitness Pal

Happy Monday blog land! Are you ready to make it a great week? I sure am! Today I wanted to talk about what I'm doing to track my food.

I've decided to use My Fitness Pal {MFP} to track my eats. I haven't abandoned Weight Watchers {WW} completely and I don't think its is a bad program at all. I've actually had a lot of success with WW. For me, right now where I'm at, using My Fitness Pal is the best option.

Here are just a few of my reasons why I chose MFP:

1. Its free!
2. I like the accountablity of my friends on MFP.
3. Love the huge database of foods.
4. Protein/fat/carb ratios
5. Its easy to snapshot day at a glance, week at a glance, etc.
6. Did I mention its free?

Obviously the big part for me right now is that MFP is free. My family has some big financial goals we are reaching for and adding another expense like WW, when I can use MFP for free, seems un-necessary.

As I move foward in this journey I will keep you posted on my likes/dislikes with MFP vs WW! And if you're on MFP add me "dbangert2".

What are your thoughts on MFP vs WW?

Exposed

Did you catch my September Goals post? I let a few things out of the bag in that post! For one I exposed my weight to the entire world {or the 5 people who read my blog, lol!} to see! And secondly, you may have noticed one of my goals was to use My Fitness Pal to track my eats, where in the past I had used Weight Watchers. I'll get to MFP/WW later. Today I'm going to talk about that wretched # on the scale.

One of my goals was to weigh 181 by 9.30.13. Obviously if that is my goal you know that I currently weigh more than that. Yikes! That's a big number, but I plan to only make it smaller.

Lets take a trip down memory lane. When I originally started this blog 5 years ago I was tipping the scales at 202. A month ago, on August 12th, I stepped on the scale knowing what I would see would not be pretty. 192.6. I was less than TEN pounds of being my highest weight {not counting when I was prego}. Time for a change!

That very day I changed how I was eating and did really well for 2 1/2 weeks. I lost 8.4lb in that time frame. Then my 29th birthday {my golden birthday!} rolled around and I splurged on some treats. The next day my wonderful husband threw me a surprise birthday party and I splurged even more. Then it was a long weekend with family in town and I got even more lax with my eats. And instead of getting right back on track after the long weekend it continued....until September 16th, something clicked that day!

I needed to make a change...for good!

That brings me to where I began {again} this time last week!

Last Monday was my first day tracking my eats and making better choices. I didn't weigh till Tuesday. The verdict of eating terrible for 2 weeks: I gained almost 4lbs of my weight loss back. So disappointing! The only thing I could do at that point was to push forward and get rid of those 4lbs...and a whole lot more!

Back to my September goal. My goal is to weigh 181 on 9.30.13, if you do the math, is a 6.8lb loss. I know, sounds like a lot, but I also know its totally doable! I've got this!

A lot of people are ashamed of "that number" the scale says and I used to be, but honestly it doesn't bother me now. I know it doesn't define me. I've come face to face with it and I know what I need to do to change it! Wallowing in the pity of my chubby thighs & love handles covered with yoga pants & baggy sweatshirts will not help that number go down one bit! So I'm facing the facts, exposing it for the world to see, and can't wait to report to you how it will change over the coming weeks!

What's your view on that number on the scale? Are you embarrased by your weight or no biggie?

September Goals

If you happened to catch my post the other day you know I have some BIG goals in the weight loss department {read: 30+lbs to lose}! Something that helped me the first time I lost weight was setting monthly goals so I'm going to do that again.

September is already over half over, but I'm still going to set a few small goals to get me going in the right direction! Without further ado, here my goals for the renaming part of the month to get me going in the right direction.

1. workout 3 days/week
2. use My Fitness Pal to track ALL eats everyday
3. weigh 181 by 9.30.13

Those are three fairly basic goals, but I'm starting small and plan to get a little more specific and intense in October.  They may be simple but they are measurable. You better believe on September 30th {or Oct 1st!} I'll be doing a "September Goals Recap" to let you know how I SMASHED these goals!

What is your plan of attack when you set goals? Simple or more complex? 

13 Months?

Good evening blog friends!

Hello??? Anyone still there after my 13 month blog break? I can’t image why anyone would stick around, it’s been pretty boring around these parts lately!

Here’s what’s been going on in my life the past 13 months:

• My last post mentioned a goal of weighing 162lbs by 8.31.12, well that didn’t happen because this happened:
  
  
  

  
Yep, I was baking baby #2!


• I had great intentions of having a healthier pregnancy than the first time around. I started out really well, but I quit working out week 14 and around week 20 I had already gained 17lbs. It didn’t stop there, I ended up gaining almost 50lbs again! {not good!!!}

• Something good did come out of that weight gain though; I got my sweet baby boy, Avery James! He made his arrival on March 7, 2013 weighing 9lbs 11oz and I completely fell in love all over again! Who knew you could love two little people SO much?!?
  
•  I thoroughly enjoyed my 12 week maternity leave at home with my kiddos. I didn’t workout or track my eats though. After Memorial Day I went back to work full time and also have a small part time gig as well.
• Now here I am, Avery is over 6 months old and I still have 20lbs to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. AND…I’d like to lose about another 10-15lbs on top of that! So this mama has some work to do!

I’ve quickly learned that being a working mom of 2 is HARD WORK! I always thought I was busy before I had kids and then when Adelyn made her arrival, she filled up my time even more. Now that I look back I had SO MUCH free time before I had 2 kids, perspective is a funny thing! I’m not going to use that excuse anymore. I’m going to make time to work out, meal plan, and spend some time on me! {Goodness that sounds selfish!}

Stick around…or come back, please! Blogging was such a key part of my weight loss back in 08-09 and I want make it a key part once again!

August Goals

Hopefully you saw the recap of my July goals recap last week. I know that those monthly goals are a key part of my success and my overall goal, so I plan to continue to set goals each month.

Check out what I’m shooting for in the month of August!

August Goals

1. workout 5 days/week

2. attend every WW meeting

3. sign up for a 5k race

4. track ALL eats everyday

5. weigh 162 by 8.31.12 {lose 6.6 lbs}

{source: pinterest}

Do you set goals for yourself? If so, how often?

It’s the little things…

One thing I did to keep me motivated to work out during the month of July was to write down my workout each day and put a sticker on the calendar for those days. Yes, I’m sure it sounds silly & maybe childish. But after I started I was so excited and wanted to fill up that calendar!

I used some free {sesame street} stickers I randomly got in the mail {side note: when you have a baby, you somehow get lots of random things in the mail!}. I just keep a sheet of stickers clipped to the back of my calendar.

I printed each month through the end of the year, so when August 1st came I was ready for a new month!

What do you do to keep yourself motivated to get those workouts in or meet your workout goals?