Weight Loss Tips from a Real Person

This is a pic of me leaving the hospital after having Jackson. It is my before picture. If I get a good full body shot of me now, I'll post it, but I don't really have any right now.

Okay, let me preface this blog by saying I am not intending to brag here, someone actually asked me to tell how I lost my baby weight, so I thought I would post it to the blog in case anyone else was interested in what I have learned about dieting/working out and weight loss in general. If it helps you, then that is my good deed for the day. If not, and you just want me to stop talking about my weight, then stop now and don't read any further!

The night before I had Jackson, I topped the scales at 190. This was intimidating to me because I had never had this much weight to lose before and I wasn't sure if I could do it. Granted, some of my weight loss was having an 8 lb baby and water weight, but today I am a very muscular 148, and descending. I lost at least 30 lbs on my own since September 2007.

Colleen's Tips for Weight Loss

1. Exercise is a must, but you have to mix it up and find something that you ENJOY doing. I started exercising 2 weeks after Jackson was born by walking a mile around my neighborhood. My doctor absolutely forbid me to do anything but walk for the first 6 weeks, but I broke the rules once I started feeling normal again, and began jogging at about 4 weeks. I figured, I know my body better than my doctor. (Plus, I had developed my delivery/first days at home pics and one was a shot of me from behind while giving Jackson a bath. Needless to say, I get REALLY motivated to work out after that!) After that, I began running up to 3 miles a day 3-4 times a week, then I moved on to going to the gym 3-4 times a week where I started lifting weights, taking Pilates, Cardio-Kickboxing classes, a Weights/Cardio Mix class, running on the elliptical machine, and throwing in circuit training every now and then.

2. I recommend working out in a gym, particularly a women's gym. Most women's gyms have free child care, which I love because I not only get a good workout, but I get a couple hours of me-time several times a week. I think women's gyms are better than others because 1)I always feel self-conscious lifting weights or doing classes when I feel watched by men. 2)At the women's gyms, there is always someone bigger than you and smaller than you. The ones who are bigger make you feel less self-conscious, and the ones who are smaller make you feel motivated to look like them. 3)There is an energy and comraderie at women's gyms that you can't find anywhere else. Everyone is so supportive because the ladies all around you are here for the same reason you are. The instructors at my gym are SO high-energy and encouraging. People go out of their way to tell you they are noticing how hard you are working and how great you are looking. It just feels good! 4)The equipment is specifically geared toward women. You don't have to sort through all the stupidly heavy free weights to find a set of 5's or 10's, and the weight machines are ones that WOMEN need, not men who are trying to bulk up. Also, balls, med balls, jump ropes treadmills, bikes and ellipticals are plentiful so you don't usually have to wait for one to open up to use it.

3. Have a work out buddy. This doesn't have to be some one who works out with you or someone who even has the same weight loss goals or plan that you do, it is just someone who you report to. My workout buddy is my uncle, Dwight. We are really close to my aunt and uncle (They live in Celina, TX) and he is a workout nazi! The man is 50 and when he takes off his shirt, 20 something guys put theirs back on! All he does for me is support me. When I work out particularly hard, I text him what I did and he texts me back something to the effect of "Muscle tone looks great in a swimsuit" or "I'm gonna have to run tomorrow to keep up with you" or something that makes me feel strong and proud of myself. When I see him, he tells me how muscular my arms are looking or asks me how many times I worked out that week. He is just my encouraging, keep going, you're doing good workout buddy. I know this may seem weird since he is my uncle, but you just have to understand how important being fit is to him. He respects people who maintain a healthy body.

4. Don't diet, calorie count. The key to weight loss is much like the key to budgeting money. You have to burn more calories than you eat. For this reason, I have found that fad diets don't work for me. Calorie and fat gram counting works for me. When I try to eat or cook weird foods that I don't normally eat or even like, I get burned out very quickly, and then I'm back to where I started. Keep track of how many calories you burned at the gym and keep track of how many calories you eat. At the end of the day if your intake calories are higher than your output calories, you basically aren't going to lose any weight that day. This brings me to my next point...

5. Keep a food journal. Again, much like money, every little thing adds up. If you aren't paying attention, before you know it you have racked up a ton of debt and you think, "There is no way I spent that much money!" Then you look at your credit card bill and see that all your $25 trips to Wal-mart have accumulated $500 in debt that month!! When you write down what you eat and what you have burned, you are more aware of what you are putting in to your body. It enables you to make smarter choices. After I had been on a weight loss plateau for several months, I got frustrated and started taking Alli to help me get past it. Incidentally, I wasn't all that impressed with Alli, but what I loved was the food guide and journal they give you. The food guide is a handy purse-size booklet that tells you how many calories and fat grams are in popular foods and the journal just helped me remember to write it down. There is also a guide to help you decide on a weight loss goal, and what kinds of things to eat and to avoid to help you reach your goal. For my goal, I can only have 19 fat grams per day, so I paid attention to what I ate and made sure I didn't go over that.

6. Drink lots of water. I drink about 3-4 bottles of water a day, sometimes more if I go to the gym. I read somewhere that a lot of times when people feel hungry, they are really thirsty. If you drink water, you are likely to eat less because you feel more full. That is why they make people drink so much water before meals in the military to help them get in shape in boot camp. If you aren't a fan of water, try Propel flavored water or Sam's choice flavored carbonated water. Sam's choice flavored carbonated water is like flavored Sprite, but like water, has no calories or fat grams. I had to stop drinking it because the carbonation weas hurting my stomach, but Propel is a good option if you have that problem, too. It is just like Kool-aid, but without tons of sugar and with only 25 calories per bottle. I recommend you keep it in the fridge though, because without being cold, it tasts like children's Tylenol to me.

7. Snack smart. Find things you like to eat that are healthy or healthier for you than what you normally snack on. For instance, I love chips, so when I am craving the crunch, I choose Quaker's Mini Rice Cakes. Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it. They are actually pretty good! I prefer the Cinnamon and Apple flavors, and stay away from the fake chocolate types. When I absolutely need chips, I look at the serving size and count out exactly that many chips and put them in a bowl and put the bag away. That way I know exactly what I have eaten and don't sit there with the bag, watching TV or whatever, engaging in what I like to call "unconscious eating." If you want more suggestions on things you can try as substitutes for other things, let me know.

8. Don't eat out!! Even a small McDonald's cheeseburger alone has 310 calories and 12 fat grams. If you're eating out at nice restaurants, they cook with more sauces and gravies, plus you can't really get a calorie count of what you have eaten. You just cannot lose much weight if you are eating out several times a week. When I eat out, I just count that day as a bust because very rarely can I work out enough to cancel out what I have eaten for the day.

9. Don't give up! When you hit a weight loss plateau, don't quit! It happens to everyone. It happened to me several times. Just keep in mind that if you are lifting weights, your weight is going to go up a little or stay the same because you are building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat. Don't quit lifting though, because lifting weights burns a lot of calories. Plus, it makes you look muscular and lean. You'll see a difference in your body quickly if you lift. You have to find something to hel you take it to the next level. Like I said earlier, Alli helped me through one plateau, bumping it up to 2-a days for a week helped me through another. You just have to find what works for you.

Here is a website I refer to a lot: www.calorie-count.com
It has calorie counts for popular foods, nutrition information for fast foods and other restaurants, and it can tell you how many calories you burn doing certain physical activities. It really helps me calorie count.

Anyway, hopefully this helps you if you are trying to lose weight. If not, sorry to bore you with stuff you probably already knew! Yes, it is time-consuming at first, but after you get into the habit, it really isn't so bad. When you start seeing a difference on the scales, it is worth it!

Are there Dr. Pepper rehabs?

As most of you know, I am not a morning person by any means. When I started teaching 3rd grade 4 years ago, I found I needed a little more of a pick-me-up to start my day, but in my religion, coffee drinking is advised against. So I began drinking Dr. Pepper. Before this, I rarely had a soda of any kind, unless I was out to eat, but after a few months I was hooked. I found I needed a Dr. Pepper to start my day, and the sooner I got one, the better I felt. Occassionally, when my class was particularly unruly, I had a "2 Dr. Pepper" day, and the kids knew if I sent one of them down to the vending machine, it meant they were in trouble. They even started buying me cases of Dr. Pepper as Christmas gifts and for Teacher Appreciation Day (which I LOVED!) to make sure I had it. At the end of each year, when my class wrote their letters to the next group of upcoming 3rd graders, they warned them that without one, I could get pretty cranky. Now I am completely and hopelessly addicted. I have been trying to lose weight after having a baby (very successfully, I need to point out. I am lower than my pre-prego weight right now, and I am continuing to descend!!), and so I have been trying to stop drinking Dr. Pepper. I mean, who needs that much sugar every day if you are trying to lose weight?? BUt I can't stop! Even going a few hours without one in the morning, gives me headaches and makes me feel exhausted and not well.

After having a baby, my stomach can no longer tolerate carbonation. Soda of any kind makes me very sick to my stomach. My stomach just can't process the fizz quick enough. Within hours of drinking a Dr. Pepper I will be very violently ill. STILL I CAN'T STOP! I begged Ben to let me stop buying pop of any kind because just the sound of him cracking open a can makes my mouth water like Pavlov's dogs, but he feels that is too extreme! It is absolutely ridiculous that I can't get control of this problem. I consider myself to be a strong person. I lost all the baby weight, right? I have been through a divorce, bankruptcy, and a foreclosure. I have self-discipline. But not when it somes to this. And so, my friends, I turn to you. I need an intervention or something! What can I do?? Any ideas?

Watermelon and Popsickles

My little guy is getting to be so much fun! Now that he is a speedy crawler, we play hide and seek around the living room furniture! Jack sees me, gets excited and comes scooting in my direction to get me, then I move and sneak up behind him and get him! He laughs and laughs! He has also mastered standing without assistance, but still can only pull himself up to his knees. He did, however, climb up one stair the other day, and since he has discovered the stairs he keeps going in that direction, but we have them gated off, so when he goes in the pre-k room, we just close the gate.

Also, Jackson is trying new foods every day and what a beggar! I try to give him something from my plate at every meal so he can try new things, but lately he doesn't want to wait until I give something to him, he whines as soon as we sit down to eat! He loves to squish watermelon between his teeth, and the other day I was eating a popsickle and gave him a lick. That was a mistake. He practically attacked me for it after that! He was trying to grab it out of my hand and was climbing up my legs (I was sitting), mouth open, to get to it! Tomorrow when we are cooking out at Sara and Dwight's, I'm gonna strip him down to a diaper and let him go to town with popsickle! Stay tuned for pics!

Bathtime Friend

Jackson has made a new friend this week and he was found in an unexpected location...in the tub! It seems there is a little friend who has just been waiting for Jack to notice him in the silver drain cover (or whatever you call it) directly in front of him! Jackson was delighted to find him there this evening because it is the EXACT same friend who plays with him on long car rides! (I have a mirror in front of his carseat so I can see him in my rear view mirror.) I could hardly get him out of the tub tonight, he was having so much fun. Of course, with new toys, a new friend, the mysterious silver water-sucker at the bottom of the tub, and the realization of the acoustic capabilities of the bathroom, Jackson had to scream and squeal all through the experience! He truly is so funny to watch sometimes! He's turnign into a little boy, exploring eveything all the time, instead of a little baby. I can hardly keep him still these days. What happened to my snuggly little baby??

Mobile Man

Ho-ly Cow! I'm exhausted! A few days after my last blog, Jack figured out how to get up on all fours and rock back and forth. I thought that would last a while, but oh no! The next day he was taking his first crawl-steps to a welcoming proud papa. It has been 2 weeks and now he is pro! He will no longer stay on his blanket and play with toys; his poor little legs are getting raw. I have to keep pants on him because no amount of lotioning seems to help! Of course, with mobility comes accidents, and I am fighting my nurturing, over-protective mother instinct and allowing him to fall. I know he will learn how to pick himself up and move on if I let him do this. It has been hard though, not to scoop him up in my arms and cuddle him when his pride is injured from a recent fall. I'm trying not to raise a sissy-boy, so I just tell him, "You're okay. You're tough." He looks up at me as if to say, "Mama, where were you on that one??" Inwardly, I'm crying inside...

I'm really glad we haven't spent a lot of money on toys since Jackson doesn't spend any time playing with toys now. He has better things to do, people! ...like find things he is not allowed to touch! His favorite among this category are: dirty silverware in the dishwasher, the trash can, Lady's food, the vertical blinds, and many, many cords! He actually managed to rip a door stop off the wall and was near having it down his throat when mommy caught up to him and stole his fun toy away! (Luckily, Mommy just completed her infant/pediatric first aid and CPR course, so she knows just what to do if said baby manages to complete the task next time! Super mommy to the rescue!!)

The other new thing this month? A is for..attitude! Who ever said a baby under 1 year can't talk back is wrong, wrong, wrong!! My little man says all kinds of dirty words at me, the only problem is they aren't intelligible yet! They come out as a sort of mad growly grunt with a furrowed brow and a death look! Yes, an 8-month-old can give a death look, I've seen it!

Jackson is also trying new words. Well, no one else believes they are new words because they sound pretty similar to the old words, but I spend so much time with him, that I know he has an extensive vocabulary and I happen to speak Jackson, so let me translate for you. He can now say duck (Duh), Dada (Dadadadadada), Mama (buhbuhbuh), and Uh-Oh (Uh). We are working on Bite (Buh), Bottle (Buh), and Bye-Bye (Buh with a hand curl movement). Genius in the making, I tell you!

One of Jackson's favorite pastimes is reading bedtime stories. He will actually sit on my lap and remain still through at least 3 board books. His favorite books are the barnyard animals books. For some reason, he is keenly aware of animals around him and loves to hear the sounds they make. He laughs hysterically as I attempt to make bird, cow, chicken, bumblebee, dog, horse, and many other animal sounds. He really loves stuffed animals and finger puppets as well. Last week, I had us both laughing until we couldn't breathe when a giraffe finger puppet kept giving him kisses on both cheeks.

Stay tuned for next months blog! I'm sure it will relate Jackson's new walking abilities as he is quite good at walking with minimal assistance, and can stand momentarily without support. He is pulling up on furniture to his knees right now, so it won't be long until I am chasing a toddler on foot around the house! Good thing daddy has the stairs and the play room gated off! Now I can let him loose in a huge play area that I know is safe for him to play in and I can get work done at my table, too. I'll post pics of the new crawler and my now too-cute, finished Pre-K as soon as I get my camera fixed. (Pics are coming out blurry right now and I can't figure out why!)

Jackson's Many New Talents

Jackson will be 8 mos old at the end of April and he has many new talents I am eager to share!

First, he very clearly babbles dadadada over and over. I don't think he really knows who dada is yet, but he does seem to say it more when Ben is around. A few weeks ago we had just finished a bath and were talking to each other in the bathroom mirror, as is our tradition after bathtime, and Jackson was babbling dadada as usual, and I repeated it in a whisper. Jack looked at me, then smiled and said it back to me in a whisper. It was hilarious! I thought it was just a fluke, but he did it several times and even showed daddy when I excitedly interrupted his studying to share the funny moment. Of course, he hasn't done it since, but it was a great mommy moment!

Next, my little guy is almost crawling. Already he has mastered the art of moving around by creeping. He can turn like a pro, get himself from sitting to tummy, and can scoot himself backwards and off the blanket in seconds. But just in the last week, he has figured out how to get up on all fours and rock back and forth! This is really funny to watch because inevitably, he tries to move forward, but when he moves one arm forward, his other arm isn't strong enough to support his body weight, and he falls forward and gets very frustrated with himself. I think a major motivating factor for him is that he gets super-excited when the dog is nearby. He is VERY eager to chase her! I'm sure Lady can't wait! She loves him, too, and frequently comes to him of her own accord and lays down belly-up so his flailing arms might rub across her belly. They are the best of friends, but sometimes his wiggling and screaming gets to be too much for her and she goes to find peace and quiet in another room. Jackson is always so disappointed when she leaves and writhes his body around to be in a position to watch her go, scream-demanding for her to come back this instant!

This month Jackson has also discovered that he can do many things by himself! Several times he has tried to take the spoon away from me when I am feeding him, and absolutely refuses to eat unless I let him hold the spoon with me. He is a cracker-eating pro, even though he only has two teeth. He really loves to pick up his own food and stick it in his own mouth and yells at me sometimes when I try to do it for him. Strangely, he still won't hold his own bottle, hardly even tries, and we haven't had many successful drinks from the sippy cup, but we are still trying. He can also walk very well with minimal support from us, and sometimes stiffens his body and tries to slide off my lap so he can walk (usually because he sees Lady and wants to go chase her). He is not yet pulling himself up with furniture support though. He also gets very angry with me when I change his diaper now. What used to be tickle time and lots of laughter, has now turned into wrestle-mania! He just wants to get down where the action is and play, play, play!

He has also discovered the joy of banging on things. One time his toy tub turned over and instead of playing with the many toys at his feet, he found that thumping his hands on the tub was much more interesting. We got him a little drum that plays music when he hits it and he loves it!

His strong personality is really coming out these days and now that we have his schedule a little more stable, he is just lovin' life!

Cry It Out

Many of you may be wondering how the "cry it out" method is working for Jackson...

We started about 10 days ago, and at first it was really hard for both of us. I was simultaneously trying to move his bedtime up to 8:00 because so many of my friends with young children were shocked to hear that he doesn't go to bed until between 9:00-10:00. I thought I must be doing this bedtime thing all wrong!

The first night he cried for about 40 minutes and I left him alone. When I would go in to check on him, it seemed to start up a whole new level of crying, so I stopped going in. He woke up several times during the night, and I would wake up to listen for him to stop crying, sometimes laying down at the threshold of his door, trying not to fall asleep. The next night was much better, with Jackson falling asleep after only 10 minutes, but again, he woke up several times during the night. He seemd to be a much lighter sleeper than before. Also, he wasn't napping very well during the day and he was cranky all day long! Plus, it was distressing to me that every time we even entered his room, he started crying thinking I was going to leave him in there! After several days of this, I decided it was time to stop traumatizing my child and I let him stay up until 9:00. However, when it was time for bed, we'd go through our routine, and I'd put him in bed. This worked much better for us both!

Now Jackson sleeps through the night from 9:00 pm-6:30 am and still takes his long 1.5-2 hr nap in the middle of the day and a short 45 min nap in the morning and evening. Plus, he is so cheerful and has stopped freaking out when we go in his room. His separation anxiety is better during the day now, too.

Thanks to all of you who gave me advice! I could tell from responses that everyone really took time to listen to my problem, take it to heart and give me the best advice they could give! I think everyone I sent my email to replied! I really appreciate it! It takes a village to raise a child, I hear, and since I seem to know nothing it may definitely take a village to raise mine! (I mean, how come you all knew so much about the cry it out method and I didn't know you were supposed to start it so early?? And by the way, how come nobody told me this BEFORE!! lol)

I'll keep you expert mothers posted with upcoming problems!! Thanks for all your help!