Here are my pictures for 3 months later. Down 25 lbs! My daughter had to take them with me :)

11%

11% that is what I lost since January 1st. It wasn't enough to win the Weight loss Challenge I was apart of but I'm still pretty proud of myself. Here's to the next 3 months! I'm apart of another challenge so we will see how I do!

What an amazing month I had for my weight loss! I've lost a total of 10 lbs. I'm not even sure how. It started out very slow in the beginning of the month. Which I found interesting because I had more time to exercise. The last couple of the weeks were very stressful, I had no time to exercise except for my two physical jobs. I have decided that the reason was, I was gaining muscle during those weeks I was exercising and lifting weights. Because of that muscle I was able to burn through more calories towards the end of the month. I could be wrong but that was reasoning. I do love to do strength training. I know many women are afraid of lifting weights because they do not want to bulk up. However, strength training will help you burn fat faster. Alwyn Cosgrove, a fitness expert , wrote a great article discussing the Hierarchy of Weight Loss. There were many studies highlighting the benefits of weight training in comparison to cardio.

Overweight subjects were assigned to three groups: diet-only, diet plus aerobics, diet plus aerobics plus weights. The diet group lost 14.6 pounds of fat in 12 weeks. The aerobic group lost only one more pound (15.6 pounds) than the diet group (training was three times a week starting at 30 minutes and progressing to 50 minutes over the 12 weeks).

The weight training group lost 21.1 pounds of fat (44% and 35% more than diet and aerobic only groups respectively). Basically, the addition of aerobic training didn’t result in any real world significant fat loss over dieting alone.

Thirty-six sessions of up to 50 minutes is a lot of work for one additional pound of fat loss. However, the addition of resistance training greatly accelerated fat loss results.

Even though strength training is a great way to lose fat don't forget to adjust your diet if you are wanting to lose weight. Your diet is responsible for 80-90% of your successes or failures.

I wanted to share one more thing this month. If you have known me since I started teaching water aerobics at KOPFC you may remember the many times I have injured myself. My hip flexors and my back have been the biggest culprits. I have been asking doctors why I have been so prone to injury in just the last few years. I'm always stretching and warming up before exercise, even when I teach water aerobics. The doctors and even some of my friends have told me I must be over doing things. Most recently when my back went out , the doctor told me it was probably because of the epidural I received during delivery of my baby. None of it made sense to me. So I went on my own mission to search out what else could be the reason. I have found it. Diastasis Recti.

Diastasis Recti as defined by Wikipeida: Diastasis recti (also known as abdominal separation) is a disorder defined as a separation of the rectus abdominis muscle into right and left halves. Normally, the two sides of the muscle are joined at the linea alba at the body midline. Diastasis of this muscle occurs principally in two populations newborns and pregnant or postpartum women.

The separation of these muscles creates that mommy pooch that many of us get after having children. The constant separation from each pregnancy makes it worse and worse.

The fact that I found amazing is that 1 in 3 women of some degree of diastasis. Why have I never heard of this? Why have none of my doctors given this as a possible reason for all my injuries? The gap in the my muscles makes my core weak.  And a weak core leads to injuries. The second fact I came across that shocked me even more is that crunches and many other types of ab work just make it worse. I've been doing many types of ab work since I had my first child 12 years ago. Trying to get that baby pooch to go down. Instead of helping, I was hurting myself. Don't worry there are answers to help you strengthen and bring those muscles back to where they are supposed to be. Go ahead and Google Diastasis Recti and you will find a whole slew of books, blogs and websites to help. I'm currently trying to research a way to bring these exercises to the water.

Do you have a diastasis? This quickie test will tell: Lie on your back with knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Place a hand behind your head for support. Next, place the index and middle fingers of your other hand just above your belly button, pointing them downward. Raise your head and neck off the floor and press your fingers into the separation between your muscles. If you can fit more than two fingers into the opening, you likely have a diastasis.

Morning thoughts

I have a moment before I have to go to work. I just wanted to post on how things are going these first two weeks of March. I just can't seem to get myself to keep track of my points. I have an app on my tablet and phone. I've even tried keeping a food journal on paper. I have been eating well, just not keeping tract. With two kids and two jobs it's hard to find time to sit down and enter everything and figure out the points. Not to mention portioning everything. Who has the time? I always wish that there was some way whatever you put in your mouth it would automatically show up on some app exactly how many calories, fat, fiber ect you have eaten. Ahhh, first world problems! Whoever comes up with an app like that will be a billionaire I think.

Looks like exercising may not happen this week. I'm working more hours then usual. When I get home it's time to make dinner and then go back to work. At least both my jobs are physical. I really want to do a exercise video I have that is like a boot camp for 30 days. I only have a month left of the contest I'm participating in and I think that could help me make the most of my last month. But where to squeeze it in to my schedule is the question.

February was a hard month for me. You many have noticed there were no posts for the month of February. There were many factors that kept me from posting. Every excuse is lame. I will try harder!

I started out the month with no loss. Which I wasn't too concerned about since I had a rough week of staying on track with my weight watchers points. However, still managed to exercise enough to not gain anymore weight. I was quite proud of myself for working that hard. After that everything started going down...or should I say up, as in weight. I hurt my back the same day I weighed in. Not quite sure what I did. I have been lifting lots of weights and I have a 20 pound 4 month old baby. So I think my back couldn't take it anymore. I was out of commission for a good two weeks. Whenever I hurt myself to the point where I'm not able to exercise I always give up all hope and decide to just eat what I want. And I did. I gained 4 lbs that week. That 4 pound weight gain was like a slap in the face. Which is what I needed. Why do we do that to ourselves? Yes, I know you have done it too. Some reason comes along to tempt us to just give up on our goals and we grab a hold and don't look back. Sometimes I feel like I'm just waiting for a reason to stop eating well. Company, holiday, the weekend and even a bad day. We (I ) have to realize it's ok to cheat a little. In fact, it helps to have a day where you eat more calories then the day before. It's supposed to trick your metabolism. But when I use that cheat day as a reason for just letting the rest of the week go I fail miserably. One thing I have learned after years of trying to lose weight, don't let that one day or one week make you want to give up all together. “Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second.”- William James I am glad I didn't let that week let me give up. Because this month has a happy ending. I skipped weighing myself for a week. When I stepped on the scale the last week I lost an amazing 8 lbs! It has given me a new excitement to get this weight off.

I hope for all of you that are currently trying to lose weight or just get healthier that you let March be a new beginning for you. It is the beginning of spring anyways! Everything around us is getting a fresh start. Why not you? Why not me? 

Rough times

Well it's been a rough week. I over did it last weekend. When I go out to eat I never chose healthier options. And I went out to eat a lot this week.  I figure if I'm going to spend the money I'm going to get what I want. I made it to the gym on Tuesday but that was the only day I exercised. I may have over done it on the weights however because my lower back has been pretty messed up this week. On Friday I made it worse. I was just setting my baby down on the couch when all of a sudden there was a horrible pain that made me scream. I had to call my mother in law and she picked me and the kids up. I went to the chiropractor. But still in quite a bit of pain. My husband is having to do pretty much everything. Luckily the exercise I did do this week helped me not gain any weight. I stayed the same. I'm very nervous for this week. I can barely move and not sure how I'm going to exercise. Guess I'll have to be extra careful when it comes to the eating part. 

What's going on

January 1st, the D day for many starting a diet. I was no different this year. I had my 4th and last baby (knock on wood) October 1st, 2012 and had gained 80 lbs over the course of those 9 months (10 months to be exact). On top of 20 lbs I had put on over the holidays before getting pregnant. The holidays are always rough for me. I LOVE FOOD! That is why I waited till January 1^st 2013 to start.

I stepped on the scale January 1^st and it read 212 lbs. Kind of weird, 212 lbs is what I weighed when I started my weight loss journey after my last baby. I've done this, diet thing many times before. I always gain lots of weight while I'm pregnant. I have big babies, is the excuse I make. My smallest baby, Layla, was 8 lbs 15 oz and my biggest baby,my latest baby, Oliver was my biggest. He weighed in at a whopping 10 lbs 11 oz. Even though I lose a lot of weight after giving birth I still usually have plenty more to lose.

January has been a hard month so far. At the beginning of January it was the left over holiday food and candy. Middle of January the inversion started to get to me. I am defenatly an emotional eater. If I feel depressed, bored, happy, sad I want to eat something. The inversion is making me feel depressed. The cold temperatures make me want to just stay home. When I'm home I find myself in the kitchen often, trying to find something to snack on. I've learned to only keep low calorie snacks in my home when I'm on a diet. However, then my husband gets mad that there's only diet food to eat. It's a never ending battle.

I managed to lose 2 lbs the first week. The 2^nd week I stayed the same weight. The 3^rd week I finally manged to find some time to exercise. I used the elliptical and lifted weights one day and went to water aerobics twice. Exercise is very hard now that I have 2 kids. I try doing things at home but the kids hang on me and always need something. Going to the gym I need to find a babysitter or have planned so I can make sure they have room in the nursery for the baby. The last week I managed to work out once. I still managed to some how lose 2 lbs.

For my diet I will be following my own version of Weight Watchers. After my first baby I tried Weight Watchers. I lost 20 lbs over 6 months I believe. Being that he was my first baby and I was only 20 that was really all I needed to lose. Ever since then I've done some version of Weight Watchers after my babies. I only paid for the system the first time. After that I got so used to how it worked that I started doing it on my own and tweaking somethings in the plan. I will be using that same sort of “diet” this time around. Plus exercising when I can. You can follow my weekly progress on this blog and check the SPLASH newsletter at Kearns Oqurith Park Fitness Center for my monthly updates. I will be writing about my ups and downs during my journey. I want to help inspire you to keep up with your weight loss goals. I hope to also share any tips or recipes I come across. I am also competing in a weight loss contest till the end of March so I will up date you how I do in the competition as well.