Monday, February 14, 2011

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!

8 comments:

  1. Several years ago, a girl worked in an office near mine, and she and I favored each other in looks. (NOTE: we did not look exactly alike AT ALL, but we had similar hairstyles and features.) She got pregnant and when she was probably 6 or so months along, I walked into the building one day and the cleaning lady stopped me and said "Boy you're really blossoming!" I'm sorry - what!?!? I never wore that dress again!!

    I've been working on my weight too (lost a bunch due to emotional distress last summer and now have to find a way to keep it off with the appetite back in place) and here's something a friend challenged me to do that really does help.

    I keep a food log (not as cool as your app, but same general idea) - but in addition to what I consume each day, I also keep a list of everything I said no to. Especially on days when I look at the list and think "man I was a porker today!" it's encouraging to be able to say, "yeah, but look at everything I turned down!"

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  2. Wow, sounds like a great plan! I totally understand about wanting o be where you were at your wedding day, and in time for your sis' wedding. I'm still so embarrassed that I didn't get down to my goal weight for my sister's wedding last April, after putting on 25 pounds the year before! It sounds like you have real, attainable goals though, so that's great!

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  3. I've just recently started counting calories and it is depressing. I was eating over my limit even though I thought I was doing okay! Sigh!

    I don't have a smart phone, but this looks great!
    I hope you manage to lose the weight you want to.

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  4. Great review on that app! I'll have to check it out!

    Good luck with the weight loss. You can do it! I've put on weight since I got married too... not happy about that! and I've totally thought about the losing-weight-post-baby part of it! I definitely want to get it off NOW before it's combined with baby-weight!

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  5. I gained a lot too after we were married. My metabolism pretty much disappeared. I joined "Daily Mile" to keep myself motivated to work out 5-6 days a week. I've also been focusing on whole grains, and tons of fresh food. When I track my food, I usually use Livestrong.com

    Maybe I should try the shred...I've heard so many good reviews about it!

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  6. Good luck, Jessica! I gained about 20 pounds after I got married and decided to do something about it. I bought the 30 day shred and started working out and tracking calories. The video was killer, but I did lose a few pounds and inches with it and it really got me motivated to keep working out. Now a year and a half later, I am still working out at least 20 minutes. I don't track calories as much, but I have a good estimate of how much to be eating each day. Oh, what really helped me too was setting goals each month for myself. So, I would say, I want to work out at least 30 minutes five days a week. If I accomplished that at the end of the month, I would get some type of reward.

    And I never deprived myself. If I wanted something, I ate it. We still went out to dinner every week, but I would start saving half of my meal each time. I knew if I deprived myself or didn't eat dessert or never ate out, I would just gain all the weight back after I reached my goal weight. I did lose the weight slower (20 pounds in about a year) but I have actually kept it off.

    Oh, I love Olive Garden too! The chicken alfredo is my favorite!

    Feel free to email me if you need motivation or have any questions! :)

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  7. Good for you Jess! You can do it! It will take time, but with that time you will get GREAT results girl!! I will be doing the same too. I am hoping to exercise before work in the AM.

    Thanks for that app, I am going to download it tonight, and get started on it!!

    Keep us posted on how you are doing!!

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  8. I have to say I'm with a lot of the above married women. What is it about getting married that makes you put on weight? My nana says it's because "we've become comfortable with each other" I guess that's good and bad, haha. I want to lose around 15 pounds too, basically I want to be back how I was on my wedding day too. My goal is May 7th, the day we graduate college. Here's to happy weight loss! Maybe we can encourage each other!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment! I read and appreciate each and every one. Blessings to you!