Project Get Skinny

When Luke and I got married, I was no more in shape than I am now. Yet somehow, in the 2.5 years that we've been married, I have gained around 15 pounds. Not cool. I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday, and I did not like the number I saw when I stepped on that scale!

I guess I attribute my weight gain to the fact that my metabolism has really slowed down!

At any rate, I can no longer sit around and eat whatever I want without seeing the consequences when I step on a scale. Darn. It was nice while it lasted!

I have decided to challenge myself to lose those 15 pounds before my sister's wedding on June 25. Here is my inspiration picture, taken on my wedding day. I want to look like this girl again!
My stomach was pretty flat (although admittedly it was not toned...you can sort of tell if you look closely. haha!) My arms were much smaller, my face didn't look swollen, and my legs looked a lot better.

(I took some "before" pictures today so I'll have something to compare myself to in June. But I don't have the guts to show those right now when there's no "After" pictures yet. haha!)

So anyway, what are my reasons for getting in shape and losing this weight? First of all, as I mentioned earlier, Julie's wedding is coming up in a few months, and I don't want to feel self-conscious in my dress. I absolutely shudder at the thought that my arms are going to be bare. My arms are my least favorite physical feature! Also, I just realized that this is probably the last little stretch of my life that I can say that I've never been pregnant. I know once I become pregnant and have a baby, it will be MUCH harder to lose the weight. So I guess I'm trying to stay ahead of the game there. And also, just because I hate the way I look and feel right now, and I know I'm not taking care of my body.

I can't deny the fact that buying my iPhone was a huge motivator to getting in shape. I found the BEST nutrition and fitness app, and I love it: Daily Burn. Does anyone else use this? You should get it if you have a smart phone or iPod Touch. Here is a brief example of what it can do:

My favorite part is the "Track Nutrition" feature. Here you can search for just about any food imaginable, and it will bring up all the nutrition information and serving sizes for that food. You type in what you ate and how many servings you consumed, and it calculates your caloric intake. Based on what kind of diet you have programed (low carb, low fat, high protein, balanced diet, etc. I chose "balanced diet"), it will set a daily limit to your calories. If you look above at the "Track Nutrition" section, you can see how many calories I had left for the day after breakfast.

Here is where I programmed my breakfast foods. It took probably 3 minutes. I love this app!
As I was typing in my breakfast foods, I couldn't find the vegetable oil spread I had used. So I went in and made my own entry! So easyThen I wondered...what if I go out to eat? So I searched for one of my favorite meals at Olive Garden, and found all the nutrion information! It was depressing though, because look how many calories are in Olive Garden's Fettuccine Alfredo...the LUNCH size780!! And that was one of the dishes with lower calories! You don't want to know how many calories are in the chicken scampi, which is another entree I like to order. *Shudder*

And if you are willing to spend $4.99, you can get the UPC scanning feature. With this, you can take a picture of the bar code on any food item, and it will automatically fill in all the nutrition information for you. Being new to the wonders of the iPhone, this just blew my mind. Unfortunately, I am not willing to spend the money at this point to buy that feature. But it is really cool!

Along with the nutrition feature, you can track your workouts. You can choose a whole workout regimen if you want to. I decided to do the 30-Day Shred instead, though. I'm starting it today! And if I record my heart rate during the workout, the app will tell me how many calories I burned! Pretty cool.

Other features include a weight-tracker, and a graph to show weight-loss progress.

By the way, the basic app is FREE! I love it.

All that to say, I'm really excited about this, and very motivated too! Let's hope I can keep up the motivation for the next 4 months!

I'll probably be updating monthly on my progress or lack thereof. Haha...This blog helps to keep me accountable with things like this! I can't wait to feel good about myself, not be embarrassed by my arms anymore, and not see people staring at my abdomen, wondering if that's a baby in there or just flab. One of the worst feelings in life is to be mistaken for a pregnant woman when you're not one!

Have a happy Monday!