Goodbye Gluten.

I've discovered something about myself since starting my Blood Type O Diet. I'm sensitive to gluten. I cut it out of my diet because it was listed as the #1 harmful thing I could consume. I thought it was be more difficult to give up being that I (used to) LOVE whole grains. It has become easier than I thought... not only do I feel SO MUCH BETTER being gluten-free, but I've noticed that when I do consume large amounts of gluten, my stomach haaaaaates me. I always thought I just suffered IBS or something... but I think I now understand why I had such an issue before.

Gluten is the devil.

Well, not literally... but for my diet, it definitely is. If I have any now, it's in small quantities... although sometimes even small amounts upset my poor tummy. I've been doing so well on this diet... eating a lot of veggies and fruits... consuming as many of my super foods as I can and as little of my evil minions. I feel great... lighter, healthier, happier. Besides my uterus taking it's madness out on me, things are looking up. (I'll save the uterus talk for another blog... let me just say that after Necon giving me 1 good month, it has stabbed me in the back and is showing it's true colors.)

I'm so good during the week. When I cheat, it's usually on Saturday and I try to enjoy myself. This past Saturday included a very delicious sub at Subway... my first contact with bread of any kind in 3 weeks. It was tasty, however my stomach hurt afterward, but I just ignored it. It wasn't until dinner time when I ate another tiny bit of bread that my stomach reeeeally got upset. Thank you, Kristin, for giving me your super-marshmallow-expanding-antacids. They were a lifesaver!

Week 1: Success!!

The hardest part is over... I actually started the diet, for real this time. I've started the blood type diet and lost 4 lbs my first week! The first couple of days were hard and I felt hungry... but then my body adapted and now I feel full on much less food. Less and healthier food! So here I am, 4 lbs down and 16 to go... now that the hard part of starting the diet is over, I hope the next 10 weeks are just as successful. I don't expect to lose 4 lbs a week... I always lose the most the first 2 weeks (probably all water), but I do expect to continue to lose 2 lbs a week to achieve my ideal weight by Halloween.

By the way, I only worked out one night last week and still lost 4 lbs. :) I did 30 minutes of aerobics on the Wii Fit and it was a lot of fun and beneficial. I need to try to cram 2-3 workouts into my week to keep things going... I'll feel so discouraged if I plateau and I can't have that.

I've been spending more time in the healthy+organic section at Kroger lately... there are a lot of gluten-free options available... the test is if they actually taste good... so far, I've been lucky. We'll see how lunch goes today with the cookies and crackers I bought.....

Until next time...

I'm serious this time!

Okay. This time I'm serious about this whole weight loss thing and I have a PLAN!

A good friend let me borrow this book:

...and wow! It's very interesting. it explains a lot about how our blood type affects how our body functions in every way... the foods we eat can affect our weight (duh), hormones, thyroid, metabolism, everything! PCOS ladies, this is where we come in...

I'm kind of hoping that this new diet will not only help me lose 20 more pounds, but also help get my hormones under control. I have O blood and so my body demands a high protein, low carb diet... basically Atkins, although I'm not going to follow Atkins guidelines. I am going to use this book as my guide and watch my calories, sugar, etc... there is a list of super foods that help my blood type lose weight, and then evil minions that cause weight gain. This means some good and bad things...

Good! I can eat lots of meat, which I LOVE! This diet is very friendly towards seafood (sushi!!!) and many delicious vegetables. Artichokes are one of my super foods and I love the excuse to eat artichokes until my face falls off.

Bad! I have to cut out whole wheat products and glutens. Whaaaaaaaat?! Mind you, I am the person that always bought the bread at the store with the MOST amount of grains broadcasted on the label... I love grainy bread! Unfortunately it isn't my BFF. I'm cutting back. O blood also doesn't care for dairy, which I knew, but I do love cheese... and sadly, my favorite cheeses are now in exile. :( Coffee... well, we won't go there. I nearly have a seizure just smelling the coffee aisle at the grocery store..............

There is a LOT that goes with this diet... basically, I am going to cut a lot out but I'm not going to go crazy insane. I will enjoy some dairy... but the #1 evil minion on my list is the whole wheat, so it's outta here! This is my 2nd day and so far I'm feeling okay. This is taking a lot of will power. The main thing is O blood people need a very sweaty workout (haha) and well... I need to find some time for that.

So here I go... new goal: lose 20 lb by Halloween... if I can do that, I'll enjoy some candy corn, my Halloween favorite. :)

So... about that weight loss thing...

Yeah. It stopped. I've lost 32lb since having Zoey and now it's just kind of stopped. It's time I start more aggressive measures... but part of the problem I have right now is sitting.

Yes, sitting.

I bought Tone-Ups so my walking would be more aggressive. I had every intention of spending more time at the park. I still have this intention, but I cannot do it when it's over 100 degrees outside every single day and humid as a sauna... I cannot take Zoey out in that mess. You practically sunburn just from looking out the window. It has gotten pretty bad... that has hindered me a lot. Plus, I work at a desk all stinking day... I try to get up and move around, but sometimes I get so busy I hardly remember to pee... I'm not even kidding. I'll go 8 hours without peeing during the day. I just forget. I don't know why. Boo to working.

I feel awful right now. I need to lose 20lbs. None of my clothes fit right... so I don't feel attractive at all. I tried getting a haircut to boost my self-esteem but it's just not enough. I need to lose this weight. I hardly fit in my maternity pants OR my pre-pregnancy pants... there just isn't a place for me in my closet anymore. :(

I've decided I'm going to try going back to what I know works for me, but it takes finding the time to do it. I need to get going on the WiiFit again... but who has time? By the time I make it home from work, I cook dinner and take care of Zoey. Then I go to bed. I have to find time!!!

The only thing I have time for is Slimfast.

I did a Slimfast diet for our wedding and it helped me lose 17lb. I'd do a shake for breakfast... a 100 calorie snack of some sort around 10 a.m.... another shake and something small like a 1/2 sandwich or lean cuisine for lunch... another 100 calorie snack in the afternoon... then enjoy more calories for dinner since I LOVE to cook... but I'd eat on a smaller plate... then I'd have a 100 calorie ice cream for dinner. I was keeping my calorie intake between 1200-1500/day and making sure I got a certain amount of protein. It worked and I didn't feel like I was depriving myself because of the snackage... chocolate is always good. :)

So here I am again, determined to lose this weight by my birthday. Can I do it?

Please motivate me. I wanna be a hot momma.

So... it's been a while...

Heh, sorry. I have been a bit pre-occupied as of late. Zoey is 8 weeks old and doing awesomely... she has some acid reflux so she's on baby Zantac, which typically works great, but every once in a while she'll still completely soak through the thickest burp cloths and bibs... she likes to do this in public... she really likes to miss the burp cloth and cover the front of my shirt.

She's in her colic stage, but I'm counting my blessings. Breastfeeding has slowed waaaaay down... I still do it periodically but the milk machine is coming to a halt. Yes, it's true... it's my fault though. I started pumping less often to purposely pull back the supply because we had no room left to store the milk, plus I was hurting from creating 10oz every 3 hours... I mean, seriously, it's difficult to lug that around... pumping less meant the supply went down to 10oz every 6 hours... and now I'm at about 7oz every 7 hours. I pump enough for 2 meals each time I pump so I am just scraping by without dipping into our freezer... but it works. On top of cutting down the pumping sessions, I started birth control to keep the PCOS... well... under control. Happy ovaries mean a happy mommy. We finally did buy a deep freezer so now we can put big people food in our regular freezer. I've decided I'm going to start doing formula at night to help her sleep better and keep the breast milk going during the day... stretch that stuff out longer before we have to do exclusive formula. Zoey eats better... she no longer has these feeding spells... just the reflux problems, but she'll eventually get over it. I wish I could have exclusively breast fed from her day one, but I'm just thankful I've produced as much milk as I have and that I'm able to give it to her. It saves us money and gives her the live antibodies she needs.

I'm now only 5 lb away from my pre-pregnancy weight! This means I only have 25 lbs to go before I'm where I want to be weight wise. Instead of buying Shape Ups, I bought Tone Ups... these are SO cute... I got them in the mail and ended up having to send them back for being too small, but I'm waiting for my new pair right now... what do you think?
They're half the price of Shape Ups, perform the same, and perfect for summer weather. Who wants to wear socks and heavy shoes in 90 degree humid weather? Not me.

Okay so that's about it on the baby front... here are a few pictures for your viewing enjoyment...

...at a friend's house...

...having an underwater adventure!

...hanging out on daddy's lap...

Mothers Day!

Best Friends :)

Looking for a weight loss buddy?

I think it helps to have someone to keep you accountable when it comes to losing weight. I have about 35 lbs of pregnancy weight I'd like to lose right now. Okay, it isn't all pregnancy weight... about 20 of it is... the rest is what I would have liked to of lost before the pregnancy... This isn't something I can do on my own. Before my wedding, I lost 17 lbs by simply doing Wii boxing several nights a week. It was fun and exciting. I used SparkPeople.com to keep myself in line and it worked really well. But... 35 lbs is twice as much to lose.

When I came home from having Zoey, I was a swollen whale. I have managed to drop 20 lbs in 4 weeks, mostly from pumping so much milk all the time and just not having much of an appetite. The weight loss has slowed a bit, which was expected. I have 2 more weeks before I'm allowed to start working out and I'm dying here... I want to start now. So I figure I'll at least get a decent plan in place and put myself out there... you can all help me stay in line. I sure could use it and I'm sure one of you could use a little help, too. Anyone with me?

This is my plan...

1. Breastfeeding + Pumping.
You burn 600 calories a day just doing this. 600 calories! Hello! That's lunch! God knows I'm a milk machine right now so I just may be burning more than that...

2. Shape-Ups by Sketchers.
Not the cutest shoes in the world, but my mother in law has lost a lot of weight just wearing these shoes every day and she looks amazing. My plan is to buy some and to walk the Green Way at the local parks with Zoey as many weekends as possible.

3. Wii Fit.
This "game" is a great weight loss tool. It has a weight and BMI tracker, plus a wide variety of exercises. If I just do this 3 nights a week for 30 minutes, it'll make a huge difference. It's fun, too, so it doesn't really feel like exercise... thus, helping me get over the "chore" of working out. It's all a mental thing, you see....

I know that with producing milk, I'm supposed to consume additional calories so my supply doesn't go down. I'm not going to really focus on my calorie intake so much as I'll focus on how healthy things are. Since having Zoey, I've been consuming more fruit, drinking more soy milk, eating more veggies and whole grains. These are things I always liked, I just eat even more now. I have little desire for greasy cheeseburgers.

I plan on starting this new regiment full-force on Monday, May 10. I'll be a little over 6 weeks post surgery then. My goal is to lose 35 lb by October 5... my 26th birthday. Seriously if I can't do it by then, I have issues. I should be able to lose it by early September but I decided to set a more realistic and comfortable goal. I want to be healthy and fit for my baby girl. She is already trying to crawl so I'm going to be in for it earlier than expected and need to have the enery to keep up with her. October is my favorite month of the year... it's the perfect weather in Tennessee and I figure my birthday will be a good time to go shopping for new fall/winter clothes as my reward. I have a thing for sweaters.

So! Who's with me? Anybody??