Days 1 and 2 of the path to fitness!

Since I graduated this weekend, I now have free time to throw myself into fitness and getting healthy again.

Almost two years ago, I worked my ass off (literally) to lose weight and get in shape. By the time I started this blog, I was as small as I had been since I was a freshman in high school, and feeling great. Then, I got pregnant.

Don't get me wrong--Tristan is THE greatest thing to ever happen to me, but I'd be lying if I didn't say he came at about the worst possible time in my weight loss program. I was so close to finding a maintenance program to use, and then I got the shock of a lifetime.

My weight gain during pregnancy was in large part my own bad habits (giving in to many, many cravings), hardly ever exercising, Thyroid balance issues and just bad genetics.

So when I ballooned up during the last two months of my pregnancy, I was less than pleased but figured once I had the baby I would quit retaining water, my body would quit stockpiling fat like the world might end soon, and the weight would "fall off" like it had for other mommy friends of mine, especially since I planned on exclusively breast feeding for six months. If you haven't heard the hype around breast feeding and weight loss you probably haven't been pregnant before. People LOVE to say, "oh with all my kids I put on 70 lbs and I lost it all in two months by breast feeding alone, and eating all the cake and French fries I wanted!"

I want to slap these women. Out of jealousy, of course. I'm not saying their lying, because I know for a fact many women are able to do this, but I am saying that these women are pretty damaging to the egos of those of us whose bodies go into survival mode while nursing.

I posted months ago about how defeated I felt over my weight. I wish I could say my journey started them, but instead, nothing. I started exercise programs, then got too busy to keep up with them. Between 65 hour work weeks, and a 16 credit course load during my senior year of college, and an infant son, I had two dinner choices: cook and get only 3 hours sleep, or pick up dinner and get 5.

But these are all excuses, reasons why I didn't do what I simply just need to do. I'm ready for a new life, or maybe just a small piece of my old one. I want to wear a bathing suit again. Hell, a bikini even. I want to be able to shop anywhere, and look good in almost everything I try on. When I'm out running, I want to be the girls I see now when I'm out--the ones that make me say, "I wanna be THERE". I want to spend my weekends biking, hiking, playing volleyball, I want to go kayaking, rock climbing--even if it's just a rock climbing wall. I don't want to have to find the right way to stand and the right angle in pictures, I want to look fantastic from all angles. I want to get rid of my muffin top, gain a space between my thighs, and have toned arms for the first time in my life. I want men to say "damn" when I walk by.

It all starts here.

I want to blog my progress in order to stay on track with my goals. For the first 4 months I'm doing the following for exercise:

Day 1: Cardio
Day 2: Tae Bo
Day 3: Yoga
Day 4: Rest

And repeat through the end of September. The cardio program is a half hour run that at week one has me running one minute walking 90 seconds, and by week 8 just straight running the whole half hour. Since I've added so much Tae Bo and yoga to the routine, that the 8 week running program will end up taking me 10.

Diet wise, I am quitting a lot things like fast food, fried food, processed food, and super fatty food. This week is our transition week, where I have started eliminating some things (mayo, baked goods and sweets), but I know for the next couple months in order to retrain myself I need to be extremely vigilant about food. Still in search of a good clean eating plan, but I should have one soon.

So, Day 1:
Cardio intervals. Had a GREAT run, my previous flirtatious with this program have definitely helped. Didn't track meals til day 2.

Day 2:

Diet: meatloaf for lunch with dinner roll and baby red potato. Used sour cream and butter. Coffee for breakfast (no time to eat, but yes I know I need to start!), and a turkey sub from jimmy johns without mayo but adding oil vinegar and avocado. Salt and vinegar chips and unsweetened iced tea with it.

Did tutorial for tae bo as a refresher on form, then the warmup of the actual workout. Took about 20 minutes but still made me sweat. This video is definitely going to kick my ass.

On to day 3!