1 week down, the rest of my life to go!

So yesterday marked one week.  No pictures to post today, because change takes time.  Last week was an experiment.  I'm the type of person who does all or nothing, which can be hard because when I feel like I've failed I tend to say f-it and just eat whatever, without control, and with later regret.  From Wednesday night through Friday I just gave in to nightly craving.  Why is it so hard to maintain control at night?  Friday night I ate Domino's and it made me feel horrible for the rest of the night and all day Saturday.  As a result I woke up Saturday with determination.  I focused on eating protein, protein, and more protein and felt much better Sunday.  Yesterday I tried to focus on protein, but add in some veggies, because home girl feels plugged up.  Not sure if it is from all the crap I ate Wednesday through Friday, the high protein and low carb diet Saturday and Sunday, or a combination of both, but I don't like feeling this way.  I'm on the search to find some happy medium.  It's all about balance and moderation.

Today is Monday and a new week with new goals.  My goals are:

• To continue eating high protein
• To limit processed carbs as much as possible
• To eat more vegetables
• And to track my water intake to make sure I'm drinking at least 8 glasses (Something tells me I've been consuming more caffeine and less water)

I'm feeling positive about this week because my husband is willing to eat low carb with me for dinners and I have some fun meals planned.  Plus, I weighed myself today and despite not feeling like I did my best (I'm terribly hard on myself if you couldn't tell) I'm down 1.1 lbs!  Here is to week 2! *raises water bottle and chugs, chugs, chugs*

Let the journey begin

I normally would never do something like this, but I feel like I need to be open for accountability.  I've been trying to get back to my pre-mom body since my son was born, or at least around the 8-12 week mark, and while I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight, maybe even a few pounds less, everything just looks different from the me I remember.  By no means am I overweight, but I guess by today's standards one could argue a whole bunch of things about my body, but that's not my point or the direction I want to go with this post.  I'm working on making me happier with me and more comfortable in my own skin.  My body has changed a lot in the last few years, but the biggest and hardest change for me was when I was diagnosed with PCOS a few years ago.  I stopped taking birth control in an attempt to get pregnant and at first everything was fine, but then my period just got longer, and longer, and eventually stopped coming.  And somewhere during that time I started putting on weight especially around my midsection and found it extremely hard, no matter how much I dieted to lose the weight.  It really hurt my self esteem.  I saw my OBGYN and was diagnosed by ultrasound and blood work with PCOS with insulin resistance, which was confirmed by a Endocrinologist.  I went on Metformin to get a period and control the pre-diabetes and it only did the later.  If you are wondering Metformin did not make me lose any weight.  

Fast forward to today.  My son is almost 9 months old!  I can't believe.  Time goes by so fast.  I'm still fixated on my stomach and those damn love handles.  However, while I blamed them on PCOS in the past my recent blood work was normal.  Go f-ing figure.  I did try going back on Metformin, but this time could not deal with the stomach bloating and constant feeling of nausea.  I last almost 2 weeks on it, but had to stop taking it a few days ago and already feel so much better!  Luckily for me since I've been tracking what I eat I was able to analyze what I believe I'm doing wrong.  Scratch that... what I believe I could be doing better.  (I'm channelling that positivity yo!)  I've definitely changed how I exercise and frankly do a lot less of it than I did in my 20s, but my diet could definitely be improved and that is going to be my focus.  And today is the day.  Today is the day I start take steps in the direction I want.  

Exercise

Getting exercise in has been a challenge.  I went through a phase where I got up at 5 am to work out, but it's hard and I like... no, need... no, like and need sleep so my option becomes exercising at night or going on walks at lunch (I do that often).  And while I could go workout right after work and leave my son longer at daycare, I don't even consider that an option.  I get so little time with him during the day that those few hours we get together before he goes to bed are really important to me.  I need time with him and I'm not willing to sacrifice that at this point.  And I also have a dog who deserves more than being put in the backyard to do his business.  So my exercise generally involves going for a mile or 2 walk with both my boys (yes fur baby and human baby).  Lucky for me my baby is entertained by being outside so this is my main exercise these days.   Working out at home can be more of a challenge, however, I do find that if I can get in about 20 minutes of home exercise when Carter is in his walker with some toys.  

Plus we get to spend some time together and he often thinks me trying to get in shape is hilarious.  You're welcome kid!   

I truly believe that every little thing you do during the day adds up so if I can only do 10 minutes here or 20 minutes there I'm happy.  I did something and something is better than nothing.   

Diet

This is sitting on my counter right now:

I love dessert.  LOVE.  I'm pretty sure I asked my husband last night why cupcakes can't make me skinny.  Seriously, why can't they.  They're just so good.  And I'm so addicted.  I eat dessert every single night.  That's one thing I want to work on.  

Counting calories hasn’t been working for me in terms of changing how my tummy looks.  Everything I've read says:

     1. Cut the sugar (I'm trying!)

     2. Watch the carbs (but carbs make me happy!!)

     3. Stop eating 2 hour before bed (but how else will I stay awake?)

     4. Eat more protein

My goal for this week is to try this low carb thing.  Not sure if I can do Keto style low-carb. Let me rephrase that: I have absolutely no desire to do that.  I need some carbs and being extremely restrictive has never worked for me.  I haven't really decided what version of low carb I want to do in terms of macros other than trying to reduce sugar and sweets in my diet while eating more vegetables.  I'm about sensibility and moderation.  Also, my goal is to eat more protein.  The other day I read that you should eat the number of grams in protein as your desired goal weight.  120 grams of protein seems like a lot of protein, but I'm going to trust my research on this one and reevaluate my short term goals in one week. 

So stick with me as I document this journey and please be nice, because it is not easy to put yourself out there.

Alta HR Review

I love fitness trackers.  They give me a lot of incentive to move a little more.  And since I also love food, like LOVE food, I'd rather move more than have to diet.  Deprivation does not work for me.  I've had various fitness trackers over the years and tend to bounce from tracker to tracker.  I loved my Fitbit Charge HR, especially since you can manually record any exercise from pilates to weight lifting to the elliptical.  The same was true for the Apple Watch, however, I ultimately gave up the Apple Watch due to poor battery life.  By 5pm on most days my watch would be at the verge of dying after only going on a walk at lunch.  That just didn't work for my fitness needs.  Plus I didn't use most of the functions of the Apple watch and it is big and bulky. 

Which brings me to the Fitbit Alta HR, my current fitness tracker.  I wanted something that was smaller and more delicate than the Apple Watch or Fitbit Charge HR and the Alta HR seemed to fit the bill.  Plus I like that you can switch out the bands and Amazon sells adorable and affordable metallic leather bands.  Aesthetically, I like the Fitbit Alta HR more than other fitness trackers, but it falls short when it comes to functionality.  If you want to manually track exercises you need your iPhone with you and the only exercises you can manually track are running, walking, or hiking.  Additionally, the Fitbit Alta HR is supposed to auto recognize exercises after 10 minutes of activity.  This has been hit or miss in my experience.  It seems to recognize walking and elliptical workouts with fairly good accuracy (continue reading on for more on that). 

On Wednesday I worked out on the elliptical wearing both my Polar RCX3 heart rate monitor and Fitbit Alta HR.

Yes, I forgot to change the time after daylight savings... sue me.

 

The Alta HR was accurate at recognizing the length of my workout (25 minutes), but it underestimated my average heart rate and thus calories burned.  A 40 calorie difference is not that significant and I would rather have an underestimate of calories than think I can consume more food and eat more calories than I should.  If that makes sense.

On Thursday I went for a long walk because mama had to run an errand.   

I did pause my workout on both my Polar monitor and Alta HR and the Alta HR reflected this pause correctly (total time walking was 31 minutes).  Once again the Alta HR calculated that my average heart rate was significantly lower than the Polar monitor.  Because of this the Alta HR estimated that I burned 75 calories less than the Polar monitor.  Now I was cool with a difference of 40 calories, but 75 calories?  Come on now.  Of any workout the Alta HR should be able to most accurately track walking, but clearly it doesn't.  (And on a side note I was shocked that the elliptical was more accurate then walking.)

And don't get me started on any activity that doesn't involve walking or elliptical like movement.  I did a exercise class this afternoon with the following Polar heart rate results:

 

The Alta HR gives me credit for 30 activity minutes (I already did 9 minutes this morning walking), but it doesn't auto recognize the activity 

I thought the point of the Alta HR was to be able to auto recognize activity after 10 minutes of an elevated heart rate.  According to my Polar heart rate monitor, my heart rate average 150 beats per minute during my exercise class.   It is disappointing that the Alta HR didn't even recognize any activity other than giving me credit for 30 more minutes of activity.  So if I didn't wear my Polar heart rate monitor I wouldn't know how long I worked out, average heart rate, or calories burned.  For the record 304 calories burned means I can have dessert!  And frankly, the Alta HR only recognized my walk from this morning because I manually tracked it through my phone.  I've been doing this since the Alta HR is so unpredictable with auto recognition.  I'm ready for a new fitness tracker.

Fitbit just missed the mark with the Alta HR.  I've already had to replace my Alta HR once after it stopped tracking my steps and I only bought this tracker in March.  I regret buying this model over the Charge HR, since I was super happy with that tracker when I had it. 

Overall verdict on Fitbit Alta HR: Save your money and buy a better product.  If you want the most accurate device for recording various different types of workouts and resulting calories burned get a heart rate monitor with chest strap.  I've had my Polar RCX3 for years and I still love it.

Anyone else feel this disappointed with the Alta HR?  I'm ready for a new tracker.  What is your favorite fitness tracker and why?

Barre3

I love barre type exercises.  I would go to classes but a) they're expensive and b) I'm lazy.  I like having workouts I can do in the comfort of my home when I feel inclined.  Plus it is such a waste of time to commute 30 minute to one hour round trip to go to a class.  Plus I have to pay for parking and often deal with too many students in one class.

I had heard about barre subscription services, but couldn't find one that was affordable and offered variety until now.  I stumbled across Barre3 and I can't wait to try it out.  There are different subscription services, but the cheapest one comes out to $19 / month with access to tons of different online barre classes.  I was sold on that price, but I always love the best deal so I ended up purchasing the 3 Month Basic barre3 Online Kit, which includes an inflatable ball and access to 3 months of online workouts.  With shipping that comes out to $16.41 / month.

If you're interested in barre workouts I would definitely consider this deal since it comes with the inflatable ball.  Generally the equipment you need for barre is a inflatable ball, pair of 1-3 pounds hand weights, and a band for stretching.  But hell, you could use wine bottles or cans in place of hand weights and a towel to help you stretch.

Don't forget to use code "STAFF16" while its available for 35% off your purchase.