Goals

January Goal Review:

1.  Work out for at least 20 min per day EVERY DAY in January.  I quickly realized that I wasn't allowing myself the flexibility that I need to be a good mom.  (And a mom who sleeps.  And showers.)  So I changed the goal to 31 workouts in 31 days, allowing 2-a-days to make up for skipped days.  I still wanted to get in a workout on as many days as possible, though.
Result: After I do yoga (or go for a walk with my mom) this afternoon, 31 workouts in 31 days.  I skipped 7 days, working out on 24 individual days.  But I got in those 31 workouts.  I even did a core session or two that I didn't count, since those are only 10-15 minutes long.

2.  Complete EP5K upright, preferably running.
Result: Check.  Upright, ran every step.  Resounding success!

3.  Count calories every day.
Result: Check.  This isn't difficult with my Livestrong calorie counter app.  My purpose here was to rebuild awareness of what I'm putting in my body without putting pressure on myself or jeopardizing my milk supply.  Done.

4.  Start back to work.
Result: Check.

So I'm really quite pleased with myself regarding my January goals.  I didn't make any of my goals so strenuous as to be unachievable, but I did have to put in the work.

So what's on tap for February?

I have 2 goals:

1.  Do a core workout EVERY day.  I don't want to say 28 core workouts in 28 days, because core workouts are inherently less time consuming than full workouts, so I think they should be flexible enough to work in no matter what.  The bare minimum to count is 100 crunches.  I mean, come on, I can do that!!  I absolutely positively have to get some of my core strength back.  This goal reflects that desire/need, and hopefully will put enough of a focus on my core that I see some real improvement.

2.  No ice cream.  The calorie tracking last month revealed to me that I'm eating too damn much Blue Bell.  And it is difficult to track precisely, and probably one of the major reasons I didn't lose more weight last month.  There are plenty of other desserts that are super yummy and lower calorie and easier to track.  Like 1/4 cup of M&Ms at 210 calories.  3 Golden Oreos (super yummy!) at 170 calories.  When I eat ice cream I eat a minimum of 360 calories, so either one of these is a major improvement.  So there it is: no ice cream in February.

I'd also like to continue the good habits I started last month: lots of workouts, calorie tracking, and finish Couch to 5K.  Bring on February!

Full disclosure: weight this morning was 143.6.  I think it is a little high because of the race yesterday - it had been hovering around 142.  But officially 3 lbs lost in January.  My pie-in-the-sky hope for February is to crack back into the 130's.  *fingers crossed*

EP5K Race Report

This was my first post-partum 5K, and also my first uninjured race in over 14 months, so I had pre-race jitters like it was a marathon!

P and I got up at the crack of dawn, I pumped and we made 2 bottles: 1 for Z to eat when she woke, and 1 for during the race.  Then we got her up and P fed her while I got ready, and we headed downtown around 5:30.

Got an excellent parking spot near MMP, on a road that would allow us to easily escape downtown.  Walked over to the start line and took a pic.



Left P and Z there because it was drizzling and there was a large awning at MMP that they could hang out under and still get to the start.  I needed to head to the GRB to take care of my nervous tummy.  Here is the line for the bathroom, which was at the bottom and on the left.  There were probably 30 women behind me at this point!



Then headed towards the start line.



I ended up closer to the start than I wanted to seed myself, but I could tell from looking around that seeding was not really happening, so I didn't bother trying to fix it.  You know the dude in front of you is going to be slow when he thinks he needs a reflective vest at an organized race!  They asked who all was doing their first 5K, and I swear half the crowd raised their hands!  Yay for new runners, but boo for new runners who don't do a quick bit of research on race etiquette.



So the start was the cluster that I thought it would be.  People dodging like crazy.  I decided to wear the Garmin for the first time since the Austin Half.  I knew my pace would be slow, but I was curious and wanted the data for a baseline.  I also thought that knowing how much farther I had to go might help me push through the desire to walk.  Oh, now is a good time to mention that this is the most undertrained that I think I've ever been for a 5K.  I had only gotten through week 4 of Couch to 5K, so my ONLY goal was to run every step of the race.  And I really wasn't sure I would make it!

So we started off, and I aimed at a pace that I thought would be sustainable.  Fought off desires to walk from about 5 min in.  At the first mile, I glanced at the Garmin: 10:05.  I was actually pretty pleased with that, since I felt like I was practically creeping along.  Second mile, 10:05.  I'm nothing if not consistent.  I was really wanting to walk, but I knew at that point I was 2/3 of the way through.  Then we turned onto that last, almost mile long straightaway, and that really helped me.  I could see the GRB in the distance slowly getting closer, and I knew I just needed to get there.  The last .5 mile was really rough, but I wasn't going to walk with so little left to go!

Final time, by Garmin: 31:56.  I just checked my records, and that is my slowest 5K since May of 2007.  But I finished, and I ran every step of the way.  This is just the beginning of my "comeback", just a platform for improvement, just a benchmark for future measurement.

And I got a medal!



I actually ran in a skirt.  I feel like a total tool in skirts, but my shorts still don't fit yet.  Also ran in my brand new Brooks Glycerin 8's, and got a blister on the ball of my left foot.  I don't think it was the shoes' fault, though, I just think I need my callouses to come back already!!

She rolls!

Unfortunately, I wasn't filming, but I was taking pictures, so here it is:

Before roll.



After roll (what the hell just happened, Mommy??)




I know it was totally an accident, but it was on her own, and what was once an accident can quickly become a purposeful act.  Unfortunately rolling causes a complete redesign/rethink in the way we deal with The Kid.  In a most inconvenient way.  No longer can we leave her laying anywhere that isn't on the ground and walk away.  And nix putting her into her various seats without strapping her in.  The price of progress, right?

And one more pic: we went for a walk with the moby.  I thought she looked too cute in her little hoodie!   I tried to get mom to take a picture of us outside the house, but she still needs practice!  The first time she asked, "Ready", and as I was saying "Yes" she took the picture!  Whatever happened to "1...2...3, cheese!"???  The second time she had a little focus issue.  So you're getting the bathroom self-portrait.  Sexy.  (Please ignore the mirror-flaw situated on my cheek.  The first shot I took actually had it over my teeth.  Now that was sexy.)




Z was so cute on the walk.  At first she was looking all around.  Then she wanted to suck her thumb.  She had her arm propped against me, but not her head, rendering her thumb stationary while her head bounced with every step I took, so she was bobbing up and down on that thumb.  Hilarious!  Finally she threw in the towel and took a little nap on me, but by the end she was alert and looking around again.   Oh, and walking with a 13 pounder on you = excellent exercise!

Duh!

I was weighing myself in the morning after pee but before pump. I lose one ENTIRE POUND when I pump. What an idiot!!

Weight this morning: 141.8


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Ovulation Overalls

This pic is for J: I call them the "ovulation overalls" because just seeing Z in them makes me want another baby.  Stat.  They are just that fucking precious.




Also, check out The Kid who is WALKING with the help of only P's hands around her hands!  When did she get so grown up??  And shouldn't there be rolling and crawling BEFORE walking?  One way or the other, she lurves her some walking.

National Pie Day!

I must admit, National Pie day was hard on the diet.  In fact, the entire weekend was hard on the diet.  You see, I was very very good last weekend.  So I was ready to chow down this weekend.  And if there is one thing I've learned in dieting, total denial isn't good.  Within reason, if I feel the need to eat something "bad", then I need to eat it, or risk falling off the wagon hard.

So on Friday when P got home, I demanded Freebirds.  It was actually within my calories that day because of exercise and very low cal eating up to that point in the day.  Good for me!  (But I always suspect my calorie count is significantly less accurate when I go out, so I still count it as "bad".)

Then on Saturday I made roast and mashed potatoes.  This is my favorite meal.  Ever.  From its easiness to the way it makes my house smell to the childhood memories it conjures - if I know what my last meal is before I die, it would be my choice.  And I have to say, this time I made some damn fine mashed potatoes.  Yukon golds, with Molly MacButter, Smart Balance butter, and milk, somehow guesstimated into the perfect proportions for buttery smooth goodness.  Add the gravy from the roast and I was eating and grooving standing up in the kitchen.  No time to go sit!  Again with this meal, I don't think it is all bad, but I could have eaten fewer potatoes.

So when I saw all the tweets running around about National Pie Day, I wasn't sure I should ask P to go.  But it is exactly the kind of think I want to get out and take Z to, and that finally won me over.  I don't want Z to grow up in a boring and un-fun house because Mommy can't unclench and eat some good food occasionally!  P, both surprisingly and unsurprisingly, took a little convincing, too.  Surprisingly because I didn't think he'd turn down good food.  Ever.  Unsurprisingly because I know he doesn't really like to leave the house on Sundays, and because it was about a 20 minute drive.  But I won him over, and off we headed to the Heights.

The event benefitted the Houston Food Bank, and featured Oh My Pocket Pies and Mmm Cupcakes, among others.  They had savory pies, for a fee: I had a pot roast pie and a veggie pie, both super yummy.  They also had free dessert pies: I had a smore pie.  Omg, yummy.  Then I got a lemon cupcake, and tried P's red velvet cupcake.  Also omg yummy!  There was live music, so we danced with Z, and art to look at.  I'm really glad we went.  Here are some pics, and sorry, none of the food: I was too hungry to take the time!






Weight this morning was down, despite yesterday: 142.6!

2am

It is 2am and I am pumping. P just rolled over to me, laying on my back in bed with a pillow hugged to my chest, and said, "Can you please roll over?" Apparently I was taking up too much room for him. Even though, for the record, I was on my side AND I was sharing it with a cat, but whatever. Anyways, my response was, "Roll over, sure, if you want my boobs to explode." My best visual is this: imagine you are lying on your back in bed. There are two bowling balls in paper lunch sacks (the flimsy kind) attached to your chest with... oh, let's say glued on with Elmers. Now mentally roll over.

See, here's what happens: I start out on my side. At some point soon after midnight my discomfort becomes so great, I end up on my back. This happens every single night. I hate sleeping on my back. And I hate feeling like my bowling balls are going to break through their sacks. So I sleep shittily after that point and NO I CANNOT ROLL OVER. Thanks and enjoy your significantly more restful than my sleep.


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Not So Ghetto Any More, Baby!

Or, my return to the Y.  Which is located in a new place.  In a new building.  That I had seen exactly once when I was 9 months preggo.

So I knew this morning I needed to build some time into the schedule.  I was going back to the Y, where I had a locker that was empty that I claimed on a preview day when I was all ginormous.  I couldn't remember the locker number.  I sat down the night before and programmed the combo lock so I'd be ready.  I figured I'd just walk in and start asking questions, and that's just what I did. 

I found out my locker number, and where to scan my card, and that I need to grab towels on the way into the locker room.  I talked to the nice lifeguard who is now a greeter-man, and showed him a pic of the Zig.

Went into the locker room, and my lock didn't fit through the holes.  Went back to the desk, got a new lock, had the lady help me program it.  Went back to the locker room, talked to a lady that used to have a locker right next to mine, stripped to swimsuit, discovered that I couldn't close the new lock.

Went back to the desk in my swimsuit, asked for help, received it, finally got locker locked.  Took a pre-pool-rinse and put on my swimcap.  Went to pool.

Bitch was crowded.  Started circling with old-Speedo-man and 2 other dudes.  I used to be faster than OSM, but now I was working hard just to keep pace with him.  It was the best circling experience I've ever had, though, as no one in the lane was fast.

Knocked out a pitiful 700 in 20 minutes, and my arms were screaming for mercy, so I called it a day.

Back to locker room, shower, dress, ready for work.  Go to leave and realize I've left my swimsuit hanging in shower.  Retrieve.  Go to leave again, realize I'm not wearing my rings.  Return to locker, can't find.  Go through bag, can't find.  Assume I left them at home, leave Y and go to work.

Get to work, go through bags one more time, still can't find.  Have uneasy feeling... call Mom at home and ask her to retrace my steps, no rings.  Call Y and ask if they turned up in lost and found.  No.  The same nice lady from earlier offered to go look near my locker.  No dice.  Escalate to full on panic.  Call Preston.  Decide to sneak out of work and go look for them at the Y.  Recheck my car.  No.  Drive to Y.  Start where I parked that morning and walk in with eyes on the ground searching the whole way.  Get to locker.  Pull out each and every item within, shake it, lay it on bench.  On the very last, and I mean very last item, there is the box.  Underneath everything.  Thank goodness!!  And UGH!!!

So, hardcore insane morning.  But on the positive side, the new Y is lovely.  Very nice.  I will enjoy working out there.

Real Progress

*crossing fingers so as not to jinx*

So, last week was, in fact, a growth spurt.  I HATE HATE HATE growth spurts.  With a passion.  The revival of the midnight and 3am feedings makes me want to curl up and die, just so I can close my eyes.  And this one lasted a forsaken 5 days.  Longest one she has ever had by 3 horrifying days.  Oh, and by the way, this all happened to coincide with my return to work.  Fun times.

What happens with that kind of feeding is that I am up for an hour.  I'm not always sure why it is exactly an hour, but it always is.  Go upstairs, comfort baby, change baby, feed baby, rock baby back to sleep, try to transfer baby to crib without waking the beast, I mean baby, go back to bed.  Then wake up 90 minutes later and do it again.

This was all super-depressing for me, because what I had looked forward to the most about returning to work was really returning to working out.  I figured with child care on hand and the return to the semblance of a schedule, I'd get to build it into my routine.  But all that waking up totally killed it.  When the alarm went off at 3:30, if I wasn't already awake feeding Z, I had empty boobs from all the nighttime nursing and I was exhausted, so I just rolled over.  I did manage to fit it in in the afternoons, but I was upset because the point of going back part-time in the beginning was to settle into the routine, and I won't have afternoons for much longer because I'm building up to full-time.  And goodness knows I'm not going to work 10 hours and then spend the only 3 hours I get with my Kid on work days working out.  It has to be in the morning while she is sleeping.

All of this led up to a come-to-Jesus between P and me, and a new arrangement: I take all wake-ups from bedtime-2am, he takes 2-4:45am, and Mom takes 4:45am until one of us gets home from work.  This way I should always be able to wake up with a 3:30am alarm to pump and work out and make it to work on time.  So far this week it has worked.  Of course, she hasn't woken up before 4:45am this week.... but it is a load off my mind just not even carrying the monitor into the room to stare it while I ride the stationary bike.  And knowing that I am going to get to finish my workout and make it to work on time even if she does wake up is golden.

I'm keeping up with the calorie tracking every day.  I need to do one more two-a-day to make up for a missed workout last week.  I weighed 145 even this morning.  And this morning for the first time, I have residual soreness from the working out.  Yesterday I did Tae Bo in the morning, and Couch to 5K Week 2 Day 2 in the afternoon.  I am very pleased with the soreness.  And the progress. Very pleased.

Salmon poo

Last night I had salmon for dinner. Mom says that today Z's poo smelled nastily of salmon. Can't say I'm sad to have enjoyed the salmon and missed the poo...


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Progress?

Well, I have counted my calories every day so far.  Not that I have come in under my target every day, but at least I'm counting, and making strides towards getting the eating under control.

And I have gone back to work.  Which was stressful, but which I fairly sucessfully forgot after an hour with my babe.

I missed a day working out.  Already. :-(  What I did do, though, was 2 workouts yesterday to make up for the missed one the day before yesterday.  I think this level of flexibility is what is going to be necessary for succeeding in the brave new world that I have created.  So, while 31 workouts on 31 days is the goal, 31 workouts IN 31 days will be acceptable.  This morning I didn't work out because Z was up twice during the night, and I was still rocking her back down when I should have been working out.  No matter, I'll try for one this afternoon.  I did Couch to 5K Week 1 Sunday and Tuesday... it is amazing to think that I started from Week 1 in 2007, and almost exactly 2 years after that I ran a marathon.  And almost exactly 2 years after that, I started C25K again.  Is there a 2013 marathon in my future...?

My official weight on 1/1 was 148.8, but that was in the evening, while I normally weigh in in the morning, so I'm guessing it was a little high.  No matter, that was as best as I could do since I wasn't home that morning.

My weight this morning was 145.8.  The lowest I've seen postpartum.  I'll take it.

Another New Year

For the past few years I've written a post looking back at last year and looking forward with goals for the coming year.

Well, last year I met none of my goals. (I think. I'd have to actually go back and take a look to confirm that, but since my goals usually involve weight loss or maintenance and races, I feel pretty confident in stating that I met none of them.) What I did do was create a human, incubate her, give birth to her, and support her through her first three months of life. And that makes it all ok.

The very presence of the tiny human in my life makes it much more difficult to establish reasonable goals for 2011, but generally speaking, I would like to return to my pre-pregnancy weight range (125-130 lbs), start working out regularly again, start back to work and maintain a healthy work-life separation.

With all that in mind, my more specific January goals are as follows:
Work out for at least 20 min per day EVERY DAY in January.
Complete EP5K upright, preferably running.
Count calories every day.
Start back to work.

I'm already on track with the calorie counting today, but it's going to take an effort to work out today, especially seeing as it is already 5pm. But I will make the effort. I will, damnit. After the tiny human wakes up from her nap. On me.

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