I did NOT get hit by a train.

Hey Girls! It's good to be back and I apologize for being off the page for so long. It's been really busy with lots of things going on. We went of vacation for a week and there was all the prep for that and then when we got back from vacation we found out that Max's Auntie Fari is moving to California and could only watch him for one more week. Mad dash to find childcare. That issue has not been resolved but it's moving along. Still there was quite a bit of stress. =)

I have to admit I fell off the eating healthy and exercising band wagon but not as much as I originally thought. I seem to have a hard time with the AND part of the eating healthy and exercising goal. For about 10 days I actually managed a decent amount of cardio and even some strength training - though not much of that. I even did OK with walking, etc. while we were on vacation. Unfortunately, the eating well went by the wayside. For example, the celebrating of National Donut Day. Now this week, I've been doing well with the healthy eating, good portion control and almost no junk food or sweets and very little exercise. Perhaps this coming week I can manage to incorporate BOTH into my routine.

I had to share that I've discovered the skort which I previously made fun of BUT I LOVE IT. At this time in my life it's the perfect fit. I highly recommend it for the transitional body.

Here's a picture from the ball. You can't really see the dress but it's a picture. Sorry it's not a better dress picture, Min.



My new goals are to walk or treadmill for 1/2 hour a day for the whole week. Do some push ups/sit ups/ squats and overhead claps 3 times this week. Continue on the healthy eating (breakfast, low sweets and sensible dinner) and drink water. The last of my goals is to actually blog at least every other day so that I'm keeping track of how it's going and keeping in touch with living healthy peeps.

Talk to you gals soon!

In case you are wondering, the title is a somewhat obscure reference to O Brother Where Art Thou. George Clooney's character gets sent to a prison farm and his wife tells their children he was hit by a train. When he escapes the farm and sees the girls, they say, "Mama says you got hit by a train." It's funny if you've seen it. I swear.

The Little Engine That Could

This morning I paid $20 for 22 minutes and 36 seconds of motivation and massive muscle fatigue. It was totally worth it! My friend, Anna Claire invited me to a group class with Amanda with whom she's done several personal training sessions. I got up, played with the baby, fed the cat, fed the dog, spent a few moments with my honey and managed to eat a little protein, complex carbs and an orange before heading out the door by 7:45 to drive to our 8 am class. I can't even begin to tell you how accomplished I felt just getting to the class on time. =)

We had a little warm-up and I'm a little embarrassed to say that I was tired about 3/4 of the way through the warm-up. Then we got our workout assignment - 100 push ups, 100 air squats - 100 sit ups and 100 jump pull ups. And we were timed which is why I know it lasted 22 minutes and 36 seconds. Thank goodness we could divide the 100 into smaller sets of reps. I did 5 sets of 20 reps. I huffed, I puffed and I laid my face in the grass where I'm pretty sure my very own dog has peed (but I didn't care at that moment) and I finished! I am so proud of myself! I just kept telling myself "You can do this." A few of the final push ups were a little sketchy but they got done. I also took a walk with Dan, Max and Hoover this evening. I am not quite sure how my body will feel tomorrow but I know that I WILL FEEL GREAT!

Today was a major hurdle for me. I had a really tough pregnancy in terms of how my body reacted and couldn't really exercise very much after I found out I was pregnant. There was sort of one thing after another and it all culminated in pregnancy induced hypertension, bed rest, pre-eclampsia and ultimately peaked with me being hospitalized for post-partum pre-eclampsia about a week after Max was born. The whole thing could have been a lot worse and I'm grateful it wasn't. Still, three days in the ICU is an eye opener and it had a really strong impact on me. I became fearful for my health. I'd never had high blood pressure or anything before and, unfortunately, I still have it. I have to take medication (which makes me feel about 100) to control it and I was really fearful that I would hurt myself by exercising too much, too hard or in the wrong way. I was sort of paralyzed.

When I decided to join you gals I made an appointment with the doctor to talk about how to exercise healthfully while being mindful of the blood pressure. She provided me with good information and I put that to use today. I'm happy to report that nothing seems amiss. I really feel empowered. I still have a couple of weeks of walking ahead of me before I can run or jog but as I learned in "What to Expect the First Year" you can't crawl before you can sit. So, I'm practicing my sitting in anticipation of crawling, then walking, then running and I am trying to remind myself every day how important a good foundation is to the success of whatever you may be building.

O happy day!

p.s. We had a great time at the ball and will fill you in on a future post. Mindy, it will be a while for pictures because while I rememberd to bring the 10 pound camera I forgot the 1 gb memory card!

Traumatic Dressing Room Moments

Drama at Nordstrom Rack last night. Dan's unit has a ball on Friday, uh, tomorrow, and I didn't have anything to wear. I thought I'd just pop down to the rack and find something. NOT SO SIMPLE! Squish, squish, squish and POP! I won't frighten you with the gory details but I didn't actually bust a seam or anything it was skins popping out...EEWWWWWWWWWWWW! I almost brought myself to tears in the dressing room or really I just felt so bad that I felt kind of sick.

On the positive side, I'm trying to use it for motivation rather than a theme for a little pity party (though that was tempting for a millisecond). So, I came home, drank a glass of water, did my crunches, leg lifts and flutter kicks, had a cuppa tea and off to bed. I do feel better this morning. =)

So far, I've managed to meet all of my goals this week except potentially the 5x cardio, which I will meet if I work out the rest of the days this week. We walked 6 miles on Sunday and 3ish on Monday. I've had whole grain cereal or sprouted grain bread with eggs for breakfast and have managed to avoid sweets. Watermelon is filling in for candy and yogurt for ice cream.

Wish me luck in holding steady at the ball. Though in all honesty I probably am more likely to twist my ankle in my tall strappy sandles than eat dessert. =)

Getting Started

It's been two weeks in the works and here I am with a fitness and weightloss journal. Miss Min and her fab friends have inspired me to pick up the running shoes, put down the cupcake and try to get over the 142 pound post-baby hump or should I say lump?

I am starting at 142 and my ideal weight is in the neighborhood of 120. Even more important than the weight is feeling good and getting solid as opposed to the floppy, squishy gal I am today. That leaves my long-term goals as follows:

1. Get moving and keep moving so that I can walk a marathon and maybe *run* a half marathon in November. I want to feel strong again.

2. Eat healthy. For me this translates to add veggies, reduce meat, reduce sweets significantly and limit dairy - especially cheese.

3. Lost this new found tire around the middle and tone down to around 120 - 125.

I'm really looking forward to this journey with the support of new friends and old. I have been struggling with the body transition after baby and have let things stay put a little bit too long.

I'm going to try to define some weekly and monthly goals as well and that's where I'm at right now. My biggest challenge is going to be finding/making the time to exercise and COOK healthy while still trying to figure out the motherhood thing. Any thoughts, tips, encouragement is greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to it girls!