The beginning of a long road...

My cousin, a mommy blogger like me, started tracking her weight loss on her blog a couple months ago.  I thought it was such a great way for her to hold herself accountable to her weight loss goals.  It also struck me as being very honest and vulnerable in a way that I admired.  So I guess you could say I've decided to follow her lead.

I'm going to start a weight loss journal here on my blog. 

I know a lot of you are probably thinking, "Wait a minute.  I signed up for cute baby pictures and videos of that adorable little girl singing her ABCs.  I don't give a flying flip about workout regimes and dietary goals and pounds lost and all that hoopla."  To those people, I have to apologize.  But this is something that I need to do for myself.  I don't pretend to imagine that this is a topic that all of my followers will think is fascinating.  But by putting myself out there in this way, I feel more pressure to succeed, and that's something I know I need: accountability.  So this is more for me than it is for you.  Feel free to skip the weight loss entries, if you're not interested.  

There will also continue to be cute photos/videos of both the girls, so DO NOT DESPAIR!  I know what your needs are and they will not go unfulfilled.  

So.

Preamble complete.  

I've been working out routinely for about 5 weeks now.  I've lost 7 pounds in that time.  Which is better than I thought I'd do because I've not been serious about my diet.  But it's a start.  And I'm feeling like I have more energy and I'm actually WANTING to work out, which is a big step.  But since I've started working out, I've encountered a hurdle: plantar fasciitis.  So my workout regimen has had to change: I was doing a lot of walking/jogging and that's just not something that I can do right now.  So instead I'm doing the eliptical a lot, sometimes swimming.  Anyway, I'm hoping that this pain clears up quickly so that I can get back to the kind of workout that I'd like to do, but I've heard that it can take many months for plantar fasciitis to heal.

At first, I was just working out for the energy and to feel better.  But seeing that I'm losing weight, I'm thinking that maybe I should take this whole thing seriously.  I'm working out 3-5 times per week, for 30-60 minutes.  As far as my diet, what has worked for me in the past is to count calories.  I've successfully lost weight on a 1200 calorie/day diet.  But I'm not comfortable limiting my calories because I am breastfeeding.  It's hard to know how many calories you are burning in milk production, and the last thing I want is to lose my milk before Ellowyn is ready to wean.  So I'm not going to worry about quantity of food and instead focus on food quality (meaning I can eat as much as I want as long as the foods I eat are healthy and nutritious).

Anyway... the first goal that I'm setting is to lose 30 pounds.  I may have more to lose than that, but I'll reevaluate once I get there.  

So...

30 pounds to go.