Reasons for Overeating

I just read a very powerful post on Roni's site. She talks about emotional eating and it is really great. Here is a little quote:

“You will not lose weight until you value yourself more.”

It really made me think about myself and my own habits. I feel that since my IVF attempt in June, when I have let "getting pregnant" go, I am finally making some progress with getting in shape. I feel like a big weight has been lifted (not pounds, but figuratively :) and I can see what a toll this (infertility) has taken on me, mentally and physically. Out of the past 6 years, I have been trying to get pregnant for 4 of them, and pregnant and having a newborn, the other 2.

Now, I feel like I can make fitness goals. It is exciting.

I can't wait to see what happens.

I promise to post more...

Yo-Yo Exercising

My poor body. Due to my fertility treatments, I have been a yo-yo exerciser. Just when I thought I had started to get in better shape, I stopped. Then half-way started up again. Then stopped again. You get the picture, right.

So yesterday I started 30 Day Shred AGAIN. I thought I was going to DIE!!! I couldn't finish the push-ups, or the lunges, or the side to side arm lift things. Jillian would have been screaming at me could she see the wimp that I was...(Thank goodness she couldn't.)

So today I tried to talk myself out of doing it again. I thought about doing the Biggest Loser Power Sculpt video, but I knew that it wouldn't be as hard, and when every muscle in my body hurts, something must be right? or wrong... :) So the little angel on my shoulder won out over the little wimpy devil, and I did it again. Yea for me. I even managed on both days, to do 30 mins on my elliptical after. Even though I felt like Jello.

So I probably ate a bit too many calories today, and started picking my body apart, and then I thought about how I can only do better if I can keep up the workouts. I saw major improvements before I stopped last time, and now, with no (forced) stopping in sight, I am so excited. Maybe I can really get into shape this time for the first time in YEARS!

Update

Haven't posted in a while, and wanted to post an update. After dealing with infertility for the past few years, we finally did IVF last month. Well, I found out a few things about my body, and getting pregnant was a long shot. Suffice it to say, that the treatment didn't work, and I am not pregnant.

So we are giving it a rest for a while. It has been close to impossible to try to think about weight loss and cooking and recipes, and since those things weren't a priority, neither was blogging about them. But now that fertility treatments are over for a while, I am ready to get back on track!

The Plan:
I am not going to be super strict with counting points, but I will have them in the back of my mind as I eat and cook. I still will be making weight-watcher dinners and trying out new recipes, but I am going to try to lose the rest of my weight by eating reasonable and incorporating a great workout. We'll see how it goes. I did gain about 5 lbs last month and I am hoping to lose that soon.

I am just excited to have my life and body back! I am excited to see what kind of progress I can make. Wish me luck!

Orange Creamsicle Protein Shake

While we are on the topic of protein shakes, here is an idea that I came up with when I had some orange juice around. (I don't keep it on hand that often because of the calories) My daughter loves "shakes" so I can make this one and split it with her:

Orange Creamsicle Protein Shake
2 Servings/2 pts ea.

12 oz. orange juice
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I use designer whey)
3/4C cup ice cubes
1-2 tablespoons sweetener (I use Splenda)

Blend well and split in half. Enjoy!

Special K Protein Shake

Ok-more beverage posts...
The folks at Special K contacted me and asked me if I would like to try a sample of their new(ish) protein shake. Of course, being a sucker for anything free and easy, I said yes. A couple of days later the shake arrived and I immediately had to try a taste. I am not a regular consumer of protein shakes; I only occasionally mix up my own with Designer Whey Protein powder, but rarely buy the pre-made ones.

Back in the day, when I was working full time, I would buy the Slim Fast shakes, or the Costco ones to help me get breakfast in. Of course I liked them, anything chocolate and sugary is good to me. However, they never filled me up for more than a couple of hours.

They sent me the Milk Chocolate flavor, which was very tasty. There is 10 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber, which is nice since most protein shakes don't have nearly that amount of fiber. In Weight Watcher's terms, they have 3 points.

Summary:
Tastes Great (Similar to Slim Fast)
3 Points
A great snack, but it wouldn't work for ME for a meal replacement

There is a Reason for the Slacking

So a couple of months ago I mentioned that I was going through IVF to try and get pregnant. Well that first round got cancelled because my body was not responding very well to the drugs, and not enough follicles (which contain the eggs) were developing. So that round turned into artificial insemination, which wasn't successful. So this month we have gone through the whole IVF process, which has resulted in only one healthy embryo, which was implanted yesterday. So you can understand why my posts have been few and far between. Now I am on bed rest for several days and finally have lots of time on my hands.
So send your positive thoughts my way that this little embryo sticks!

P.S... We don't even want to talk about how I have been eating the past couple of weeks. The good news, is I have maintained my 128 lbs through all this up until Monday when I was weighed before my egg retrieval surgery.

SoBe Lifewater 0

Here is another good option for naturally sweetened flavored waters. Personally, I like the VitaminWater 10's a little better, but these are pretty good too.

These are really interesting flavors:

Black and Blue Berry: Husband loved this one
Yumberry Pomegranate: Pretty Sweet, toddler's favorite
Fuji Apple Pear: Interesting and Different, we all like it