Healthy Monday #4

I now weigh 131! Which Means since last week I've lost two pounds. I would love to lose a couple of more this week before Easter; my goal is to get under 130 by then.

I think what's helped is that I've started riding my bike a little every day, even if it's just around the neighborhood. Also, I've started drinking two cups of coffee in the morning; supposedly, caffeine helps boost metabolism (followed up by TONS of water)

 I thought I'd share this link with you guys, it's a slide show of some really helpful tips to cutting back calories without depriving yourself

I have a question for you bike riders out there. I really like hats, specifically fedoras and I would like to wear them more including on my bike rides but I feel like they'll fly away, especially on main roads with cars zipping by. So how do you keep it on? Any ideas?

Healthy Monday #3

I dropped a pound this week! So now I'm at 133.

Do you guys count your calories? I kind of do. I don't keep track of how many calories I eat in a day, but with certain foods I measure out my portions or follow certain "rules" I give myself. For example, I measure out a serving for a bowl of cereal and that's all I'll usually eat in the morning, sometimes I'll eat fruit with it. This way I don't go crazy and fill my bowl with too much. With dinner, it's a little harder to figure out whats considered a serving, depending on what it is. This is where my rule fits in. Last night I ate hamburger helper and broccoli. I piled on what broccoli I wanted first, and then gave myself a smaller portion of hamburger helper. I was still hungry so instead of going for more helper, I ate the rest of the broccoli. During weeks I remember to do this, I don't indulge too much and I lose a pound or two.

Do you guys give yourself rules when it comes to controlling your eating habits? 

Healthy Monday #2

Ugg... I gained two pounds (134). The past couple of weeks I haven't been able to go to the gym much because I've been so busy with this huge order, which is finally done! Yay! So, it's back to the gym and back to trying to eat healthy for me.

Does anyone else go to the gym or some kind of exercise? What do you feel really helps you? What keeps you motivated?

What keeps me motivated is my iPod. As long as I have good music I can keep moving for hours (I don't exercise for hours though, I have a baby waiting for me you know!) 

Healthy Monday #1

You know, I get tired of blogging about all the same stuff over and over again. I've noticed a common theme on other blogs is to have a blogging schedule for every day of the week. Which is something I'm going to experiment with, and will probably change up as I'm figuring out what works for me, so bare with me here :)

Since I'm trying to get back to my pre-baby weight and this blog is about my life and very much apart of it, Monday will become about healthy things and my adventures in losing weight. But before I dive into this post I'm going to give you a little bit about my weight history.

The heaviest I'd ever gotten was 160, and for someone who is naturally curvy (even at her skinniest) and is only 4'11" that's a lot; and that was in high school. My Mom and I went on Weight Watchers and I lost 40 lbs. I felt fab. But it didn't last long, I lost it too quickly and gained 20 pounds of it back, putting me at 140. My Freshman year of college I took a health class and P.E., both are a requirement. My health class really gave me a motivation I never had before to lose the weight right and keep it off (Yes there is a wrong way to lose weight). I started burning off 400 calories at the gym every day with the help of my trusty iPod, I cut certain things out of my diet, like mayonnaise, white flower, and butter. I still ate fast food burgers but I asked for the small meal and had my burger made dry (which means no mayo or secret sauce), I also stopped drinking soda. I got my weight down to 123 and kept it off for 2 years. And then I pregnant. I was very careful about my weight during my pregnancy and only gained what I was supposed to, which was 30 lbs. Now, for those of us who have have children know that you lose some of the weight when you give birth. I lost 15 lbs as soon as Tessa was born, and because I was breast feeding her I lost 8 lbs that first week, leaving me to shed 7 lbs. Easy right? No. Something about having a baby and your change in hormones makes losing weight much more difficult, and gaining weight so much easier. On the weekend of my birthday I gained 5 lbs in addition to the 7 I already had. So far I've only lost 3 lbs of the 12 that I need to get rid of.

My original goal was to try and have the weight off before Easter so my dress (which had fit anyway) would fit better. But then I gained 5 pounds so now my goal is to lose at least two more pounds, so I can be back at the 7 to be able to zip up my dress.

So, now that you know a little bit about my history and goal, my original post was going to be about healthy snacks. Whats your go-to when you need a little somethin' somethin' before a meal? Mine is homemade popped popcorn. It's full of fiber so it helps to make you feel full and keeps you from making poor choices when you need something to eat. I don't salt or butter mine. Salt makes me hold on to water which makes me bloated and causes the numbers to go up on the scale and of course butter is just fattening. But I don't like having to cook it all the time. So does anyone have a quick, easy, healthy snack tip you would like to share?

I look forward to hearing from you!