Week 6

No weight loss to report. This was a frustrating week. Just when I was starting to get the hang of things, I hit a roadblock. After my weigh-in last week, my nutritionist decided it was time to lower my caloric intake. I went from 1500 to 1300 calories per day.

Congratulations....you've lost so much weight that now you get to eat less food! What kind of crazy universe is this?

I could really feel the difference. Especially with breastfeeding. Annie has been cranky all week, but still refuses bottles. She has also been waking up at least twice each night to eat - which has been making me cranky. After three days of hungry baby and mommy, I upped my calories to 1500 again. But it still didn't seem to help Annie. And obviously didn't help me on the scale. My nutritionist is going to check with her teachers to see if we lowered my calories too soon and caused my body to freak out a little. She tried to reassure me that we'd find a solution and suggested that perhaps I gained some muscle mass this week or I am retaining water.

I'll just have to keep trying and hope we can find a good solution. After all, I am making a permanent life change. This is probably not the only bump in the road that I will hit while making this journey.

On a happier note, our team challenge/competition was to run a 5k. Eeeek! I have not been able to run more than a mile since I was in junior high school - and I could barely do it back then. I am happy to report that I finished the race in 28 minutes. I know that is not an amazing pace, but hey, it is progress! And half of the race was a steep uphill. After finishing the race, I drove it in my car to double check the distance. It was actually only 2.5 miles. The girls who organized the challenge must have been confused about the length of a 5k - should be about 3.1 miles. Oh well. At least for a little while I thought I ran a full 5k. Two girls from my team took 1st place (20 min) and 2nd place (21 min). We were all pretty happy with how much our physical fitness has increased in six weeks. I am still just a jogger, but I can feel a runner inside of me waiting to emerge.

Week 5

Have I been doing this for 5 weeks already? I am happy (and surprised) to report that I lost 3.3 pounds this week. That is my biggest loss so far. And I'm only 3 and a 1/2 pounds away from my goal for the 8 week program!

I was once again nervous about this week's weigh in. I struggled with my sugar cravings this weekend - and the cravings won. After a few cupcakes, a handful (or two) of Skittles, some dark chocolate, a bagel and cream cheese, and too many carb loaded snacks in general; I was pretty humbled by my weakness for all things sweet. I exceeded my calorie budget (by 100's of calories) three days this week. I also missed two workouts with my team due to traveling.

We went to Utah for our nephew's baptism. This time I didn't pack food for myself and figured I could count on my willpower to get me through. I was wrong. I was tired from traveling and felt like stuffing my face to help myself stay awake. I did have a great loss this week, but I felt pretty crummy from eating all the junk food and I didn't like the stress of worrying I might not lose anything.

So what did I learn this week?
1) Always plan for success by preparing ahead of time. If I had packed better food choices for myself I know I would have been less drawn to the Almighty Sugar over the weekend.
2) Try to get adequate sleep. This one is still hard for me with two young children who often need me during the night. But when I do get a good night's rest, I feel less inclined to use sugar to keep myself going.

Thanks to those of you who have joined myfitnesspal.com. It is fun reading what you're doing and knowing that you're there for support. Here's to another week!

Fun at the Museum - OLE!

At the end of our first day in Salt Lake, Lily was hit with a stomach bug. Not sure if she was carsick or ate something bad. She threw up in the car. That was not fun to clean up - and Jeremy and I missed out on a wonderful dinner the school was hosting so we could take care of our sick little Bug.

Day two she woke up happy and healthy as if nothing had happened. I decided to venture into downtown again. I took the girls to the Museum of Church History and Art. Admission is totally free and there is so much to see. Lily was not interested in the art, she wanted to play in the child area. They have a magnetic quilting board that lets you create your own quilting squares. Lily called it the "puzzle wall." She did not want to leave it - until she discovered the dancing. She dressed up and revisited the Latin American dancing station three times. The music was fun and she loved the big flowing skirts to wear. I tried to dress up and show her what to do with the skirt. Lily loved dancing with Mommy and showing Daddy her pretty dress. All the stations had a Latin theme. We tried a tortilla toss, played on a ship, did some computer games, and learned some Spanish. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Drake's Baptism

We spent part of our weekend in Utah for our nephew Drake's baptism. It was a wonderful trip. Lily loved playing with her cousins. We are so proud of Drake for making the decision to be baptized and we know it will be a blessing to him for the rest of his life.

Sunday Shenanigans

The girls looked especially sweet to me today as we were heading out the door for church. I plopped Annie on the couch, grabbed the camera, and tried to get a good sister shot in less than three minutes. It is getting harder and harder with Lily. She doesn't want to pose for the camera anymore. And we really needed to get out the door. Oh well! After church Annie got her first taste of vanilla ice cream. She was in heaven. Jeremy couldn't get it to her mouth fast enough. I love the picture with the spoon in her mouth - she's smiling while eating. Mmmmmmm!

Look Who Can Stand!

Annie just started crawling two weeks ago and now she can pull herself up to standing. She does the same thing Lily did at this age - once they are up, they are afraid to get back down. So they stand there and cry until someone comes to rescue them. If you look closely you can see the tears in Annie's eyes.

Weight Loss Tool

I forgot to mention the biggest tool that has helped me track my calories and food intake during this process. It is a free website called myfitnesspal.com. I use it everyday to input my food intake and keep myself within my daily calorie limits. The website has an extensive database of nutritional information for all kinds of foods and it has an option for entering your own recipes and determining their caloric content. If you want to try it you can add me as a friend and we can help each other. My name is listed as christinehall45.