My THM Update - 9 pounds gone!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

I'm feeling quite lucky like a leprechaun today since I've finally reached a BIG goal in my weight loss saga. I'm now just over three months on Trim Healthy Mama and drum roll....

I am down about 9 pounds and quite a few inches (will measure and update shortly).  I'm healthier, slimmer and feel really, really good - emotionally and physically.  While 9 pounds doesn't sound that impressive overall (some ladies are dropping 20-30 pounds in three months on Trim Healthy Mama!!) for me, it's a huge victory since I've been struggling with this for quite some time.

As of March 2012, I'm down 20 pounds.  I'm now currently 10 pounds away from my true pre-pregnancy weight (150-ish) and at my first goal of my pre-second child weight (160).

I have to admit it feels really good to be at this goal.  This is a day I thought would never be here. Having really tried everything from Eat To Live, Weight Watchers, South Beach, Cinch, 21 Day Sugar Detox and a few other methods - Trim Healthy Mama is truly what finally has worked for me in these past 3+ years I've been struggling to lose weight.

And, since visuals are more powerful than words, I share with you below two pictures to show my progress.

Just to refresh your memory, I started Trim Healthy Mama on December 12, 2013 right after I ended my 21 Day Sugar Detox.

The image on the left was taken at our family photo shoot we had done literally FOUR days before I started THM.  The right was taken just the other morning.

Left image is Decmber 8, 2013 and the right is just the other morning.

Then, just for "fun" I decided to dig up some older photos of myself - which were quite hard to find since I didn't enjoy having my picture taken.  Nonetheless - here it is...

March 2012 (180), February 2012 (170), February 2014 (163) and the other morning (160).

Far left is when we were at Disney in March 2012, next is Disney end of January/early February 2013, next is February of this year and the last image is just the other morning.  I can definitely see the weight loss in my face more in the last two pictures.  While I'm holding children (trying to strategically block myself!) in the first two pictures, you can see I'm clearly larger in my face -  and honestly just larger all over!  And all I can think when I see the image to the far left is "Who is that???" Because it certainly doesn't look like "me" and at that point I didn't feel like myself either.

So, from my tiny little speck of the Internet here, I'm hoping to inspire someone that if you have been stuck or wanting to finally lose the "baby" weight - or ANY type of weight - it is truly possible with the right plan.  I've found something that finally works and I'm so thankful.

I have some toning to do and am currently working out 3-4 days a week now.  Hopefully will have a true "after" picture to share shortly as I hopefully reach my goal weight!

~Carly

Eat To Live

Hello!

Well, as usual (lately anyways) this post is overdue.  I've had some changes happen over the past few months and I've been way off schedule. And sidetracked.  And distracted.

However, I've had a little more time to get back to doing a little more work now that my kiddos are both in preschool a few mornings a week.  It's not a lot of time, but I have been able to reclaim a little "me" time which has been very nice.

As you know from reading this blog (or if you're just joining me, welcome!) then you know that I'm somewhat of a diet hopper.  It's pretty safe to say that if dieting and I were family we'd be beyond dysfunctional.  This post is coming about three weeks into my latest "diet" craze on a lifestyle called Eat To Live by Dr. Joel Furhman.

Image courtesy of diseaseproof.com

Dr. Furhman has been featured in the documentary Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, on the Dr. Oz Show a few times and is highly respected in the medical community.  You may be thinking along the lines of Doctors writing books - aka Dr. Atkins of the Atkins Diet, Dr. Agaston of South Beach Diet, etc.  I thought along the same lines also - another Doctor with some miracle diet - blah blah.

Until I read the book.

It totally made sense.  In an easy to read and follow type of way.  The diet itself is another story.  It's NOT an easy diet to follow if you're not used to eating this way at all.  Especially when you have two small children who are somewhat picky and a husband who likely won't consider eating this way.

Luckily, I had already been drinking green smoothies and eating more of a vegetarian style diet for some time now after seeing a few documentaries, reading some articles and talking to some people.

Okay, back to the point...

According to Dr. Furhman and some other people recently - like Michael Pollen...this way of eating isn't or should not really be a short term thing.  Dr. Furhman  has said that weight and health have to go hand in hand.  They are very much intertwined.  This book promotes healing diseases such as diabetes (among other things) with the foods you eat.  This book promotes a vegan lifestyle for six weeks and in that six weeks you can lose up to 20 pounds or more.  There are non-vegan or vegetarian options you may follow but the results may vary.

I highly suggest reading the book, but in case you can't or just don't want to and would like the lowdown on the diet, here it is in a nutshell:

UNLIMITED (eat as much as you want):

• All raw vegetables, including raw carrots (goal: 1 lb. daily)
• Cooked green vegetables (goal 1 lb. daily)
• Beans, legumes, bean sprouts, or *tofu (minimum 1 cup daily in total of these)
• Fresh fruit (at least 4 daily).
• Eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, onions, tomato and other non-starchy vegetables, cooked and raw (unlimited) (Dr. Furhman calls these GBOMBS on a Dr. Oz show)

*Beans should be eaten daily; tofu should be eaten less frequently.

LIMITED (not more than one serving):

• Cooked starchy vegetables OR whole grains–Maximum 1 cup per day (butternut or acorn squash, corn, sweet potato, brown rice, cooked carrots, whole grain breads*, whole grain cereals*)
• Raw nuts and seeds (1 oz. or 28.5 grams a day) or 2 ounces avocado
• Ground flaxseed (1 tablespoon a day)
• Soymilk, low-sugar preferred–Maximum 1 cup a day (I've been using unsweetened Almond Milk)

*avoid breads and cereals as much as possible

OFF-LIMITS:

• Dairy products
• Animal products
• Snacks between meals
• Fruit juice or dried fruits
• Salt
• Sugar

Sound confusing or crazy to eat that many veggies and avoid all that other stuff?  Glorious bread, sugar, sweets, chicken, cheese?  Yes.  It is.

Image courtesy of myself

At first.  At some point in the book it is mentioned that it's recommended to eat that much veggies, but not necessary.  He does say the more greens and veggies you eat the more weight you will lose.  I think I maybe have eaten the full two pounds of veggies a few days out of the past few weeks.  But still, I've been eating a lot of vegetables.  A lot.

So, going on week 3 how am I doing.  You're dying to know, right?  

Well, after my escapades in weight loss this year - Weight Watchers, Cinch, etc...I was nearly back up to my original weight when I started dieting!  

Frustrating.  Annoying.  Insert expletive here.

I've been yo-yo dieting all year.  Since I've started this plan, as of 5 days ago I've lost 5.8 pounds!  Yes, I've been tracking what I eat still on MyFitnessPal.  And yes, I count cleaning as cardio these days :)  It's extra and it counts.

Is the weight loss miraculous?  No.  Do I feel really awesome and amazing? Yes.  I can't tell you how good I feel cutting out a lot of the Standard American Diet (SAD).  So, again, this was as of 5 days ago and I haven't weighed in since so it may be more at this point.  

Have I stuck to the plan exactly?  No, not as I would have liked to in a "perfect" world where there are no cheddar bunnies to tempt me or heavenly smelling chocolate chip cookies I baked for a cookie swap coming up.  So, yes I have "cheated" a bit on this plan - I had a sprinkle or two of some cheese on a few things and I did have a turkey burger (all natural) the other night.  I did in fact taste test the cookies to make sure they were tasty.  So by no means have I been perfect.  I even had some cake for my son's 3rd birthday this past weekend.  I passed on the pizza but just could not pass on having some cake :)  

Again, this diet Dr. Furhman promotes is all about healthy weight loss that can be sustained over time.  I have really enjoyed this diet so far and I plan to continue. 

Do you know anyone who follows this diet?

By the way, feel free to add me as a friend on MyFitnessPal - I'm duckycarly!

~Carly

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho It's Back to Cinch I Go!

Happy Monday!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend. It was rainy here but we had a nice day Sunday and went strawberry picking.  You can't beat fresh produce!

I quickly wanted to put an update on where I stand diet-wise and my realization - I've got a bit of diet obsession and confusion.  I can't seem to stay focused on one before switching to another.  I started off with the Cinch Inch Loss Program.  On that, I lost 6 pounds and 5 inches in less than 2 week.

So, why on earth did I stop that?  Well, I'm not going to kid you - it is expensive.  I received the two week starter kit for free.  I wanted to continue, but the cost frightened me a bit.  (Stupid mistake - keep reading)

So, I opted to not continue with it and joined Weight Watchers since everyone was raving about it and I decided to join the bandwagon.  Why spend extra money when I can count points and track things with Weight Watchers - "the number one diet in the country"?  There was a special 3 month sign up promotion which cost about $60.

Well, initially I lost on Weight Watchers - key word being initially.  BUT, I felt hungry.  Nothing is worse than when you're on a "diet" and you're hungry.  I was cranky and irritable and tried not to be.  Even though I had used tracking and journals before to help lose weight - this was different.  I was obsessed with my points.  How many points were in these?  How many points do I have left?  Is this worth it to eat it if it's 4 points?  What if I run out of points?  Points...points...points!  I was working out and earning activity points, I stayed within my daily points and dipped into my "extra treat points" every now and again but they never were used up - ever.  According to Weight Watchers, people I spoke with and even the Customer Service guy I spoke with - I should be losing when in fact I had gained back a few pounds.

All this effort and nothing to show for it. I was irritated and it got annoying.

Really annoying.

Then, one day last week, I was perusing through the pantry because *big shock* I was hungry - and I came across a Cinch Snack Bar that must have been left over from my last order and a few extra packets of the Chocolate Shake Mix.  I'm pretty sure I "ooohed" out loud and excited at my find.

So, for lunch that day, I had a shake for lunch.  It was good.  Like, super-yummy-good.  And, for the next few days, I couldn't help but think to myself:


Why did I stop using this?  It worked fast.  It tasted great. And, I felt awesome and saw results.  

WHY DID I STOP?  

Sorry for all caps - but I was mad at myself!  Well, I already mentioned it before - the cost - but then that got me thinking too - this program is designed to be a 3-4 month time commitment and you learn with the program to go into a lifetime maintenance after you lose your weight and inches.

So, it's simple.  Back to Cinch I go.  Pulling another diet switcheroo - but this time, I've ordered enough for an entire month's worth instead of the two weeks supply.  I ordered it Saturday and I can't wait for it to arrive!
I lost 6 pounds and a few inches pretty quickly last time and now that I'm working out again on a regular basis, I hope to see results quickly again.

Therefore, Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho it's back to Cinch I go!

I will take measurements and everything again - like last time and keep you posted on my progress again.  In the meantime, have a great day!

Motivation...got some?

Hope you are well on this lovely Memorial Day Monday!  Thank you to all those who serve and have served our country.

One thing I've been struggling with lately is motivation. How to find it, how to keep it going and how to keep it at the forefront of all that goes on in day to day life.

I'm sure we can all agree that a huge part of weight loss, exercise, eating right and lifestyle changes all stem from motivation.

Aside from the obvious reasons for losing my toddler weight - my motivation was to not only look better but also feel better, too. I had really wanted to lose 30 pounds before my 30th birthday last year. That didn't even come close to happening. You can read more about that here.  However, my new goal is revised.

I'd like to lose 20 pounds by my 31st birthday. I'm just around the full 10 pounds lost so far and I don't plan on stopping any time soon.

As motivation wanes and disappears, I surprisingly got a little dose of motivation that has pretty much been exactly what I needed and seems to have really hit home.

So, what is this magical motivation?

I apologize for the blurriness of the picture - but if you look past my swinging iPod headphone cord, you'll clearly see that it is a walker in front of the treadmill next to me.  And, on that treadmill next to me was a very old man - close to 85 years old at least - walking on the treadmill.

I thought in that very moment:


WOW.  If he can get on that treadmill and walk then I sure as HELL can walk, if not RUN.


I mean, seriously - what on earth is my excuse?

The answer is - I don't really have one.  Not one good excuse.  If he can leave his walker and get on that treadmill despite his reasons or medical condition - then I can get my more than healthy @ss on that treadmill and work out.

I know the picture doesn't really do the power of the situation justice - but I ran/walked for 29 minutes this day.  What's so great about that?  Well, this situation really gave me a boost and reality check I needed.

I continued to be active for the rest of the week, too.  I went on a run Saturday morning and was going to go to the gym this morning - but they closed early and baby sitting was not available today. BUT, that's not an excuse, so I'll take a run on the treadmill in our basement in a little bit - too hot here to run outside today!

When you lose your source of motivation, where do you find it?  What re-ignites your passion for fitness and health?

I'd love to know!
~Carly

Laughing Does Wonders

So have a little laugh!

More update on Weight Watchers later this week ;)

Yikes - been awhile!

Hi there!  My absence is inexcusable - to myself and to all who have been checking in to read.

I've maintained my loss from Cinch and continue to enjoy the snack bars, but I have decided to not continue using the products.  Since they are great quality and wonderful ingredients, unfortunately it is also somewhat expensive.  At this time, I'm not going to continue with the shakes but will recommend it to anyone who asks!  I have some left that I plan to use as a treat now and again.  Yum.

Along with my decision to eat more of a vegetarian-based diet, I've decided to also join Weight Watchers.

I've seen some friends on Facebook who have joined to make a change and have had some huge success with it.  Consumer Reports has rated it the #1 diet in the country and anyone I've chatted with has either used it in the past or knows someone (like me) who raves about it and it has worked for them.  I actually used the old points program back in 2002 and I lost weight, but I think it was because I was extremely active while on the plan and did a ton of walking at an internship I had at a theme park.

So, what the hey - why not try it for myself...again?

I joined the online program this morning - even though I've been counting points for a few days now with the help of a close friend who just joined and let me sneak a peek.

image via weight watchers web site

Today's plan is to track my points using my online account and the Points Plus Program and get back to the gym now that my sprained ankle is healed.

So, as the spokesperson Jennifer Hudson sings and says - It's a new day.
Be back soon to update!
~Carly