Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Back on the Weight Loss Journey

This new year I made a promise to myself that I would really start getting more active and working on my post baby body.  Since Nick and I have decided we are done having kids I am finally ready to have somewhat of a decent body back and start feeling comfortable in my skin again.  Nick and I joined a local gym.  Picking a gym is kind of difficult.  Since we have three kids and they will usually go to the gym with one of us, childcare was a big deal to us.  Now I know most bigger gyms have childcare, but I have learned that most gyms are now charging their members for childcare.  I think that is ridiculous because I already pay a nice fee to use the gym - it should be just included in the price.  Our gym is a smaller gym so it offers all the weights, but no pool and not a huge range of classes.  That I am fine with because it offers free childcare and other free benefits like personal training.  The childcare isn't anything fancy, but the kids love going and beg to go, which is a BIG motivator for me to go to the gym daily.  I am really proud of myself and have been to the gym going on 6 weeks, 4-6 times a week.  That is some dedication and hard planning on my part.  Every morning I have my gym bag packed and after I'm done with work I change at work and head to pick the kids up.  Then we all head to the gym.  I have to remember to pack snacks for the kids and extra diapers if needed.  It also makes for a later evening, but if I plan and prepare everything it goes pretty smoothly.  My goal along with working out was to loose my last 10lbs and to really tone up my body.  I am a member on bodybuilding.com and really love their site and all their good information.  I decided to start Jamie Eason's Live Fit program.  You can check it out here.  It is a free program and she has some wonderful tips.  It is a 12 week work out program and she breaks it down into three phases.  Each phase consisting of 4 weeks.  The 1st four weeks (Phase 1) she really has you eating lean and getting into the routine of working out and building muscle by weight lifting.  The 2nd four weeks (Phase 2) she has you working out more days and adding in cardio to start building more muscle and leaning out.  The 3rd four weeks (Phase 3) you start focusing on fat burning and not muscle building anymore.  Trust me when I say each week gets harder and harder.  On the site there are printouts so you can keep track of your weights and your exercises.  I just do it on my phone since I have my phone on me while I'm listening to music.  Overall I'm loving the extra boost of energy I'm getting and how it is making me feel about my body.  I've noticed small changes on the toning but not so much weight loss yet.  I have dropped down a pant size though - which makes me super happy.  I think if I worked harder at the eating end of it all I would notice more changes.  That has been my hardest change to make and I'm really trying and cooking healthy recipes and exploring different ingredients.  Baby steps....


Example of what the website looks like and how it breaks down in days per week


Check out my before pictures here!  I will be taking pictures this week to show my progress.  I am currently half way through the program.  Stay tuned....

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