The Plan

Hey everyone! Ok so I said in an earlier post that I'm going to loose the baby weight by December 1st. I figure that's a reasonable amount of time to loose 40 pounds.

So what's my weight loss plan? Well.... I don't really have a set out plan. Normally I would never recommend NOT having a plan but let me explain.

I'm a mother of 3 children ages 3 and under. My youngest is 2 months and always needs to be picked up and doesn't nap for very long, then I have a 2 year old (who is such a handful these days) and a 3 and a half year old who starts school in a few weeks and I've been trying to get her ready. I just can't commit myself to an intense workout schedule because I honestly don't have the time. After I had my second baby, he would sleep in until 9 am (and so would my oldest). I would get up at 8am, workout, and get in the shower all before they woke up. Unfortunately my kids wake up a lot earlier now. The baby is usually up at 5 am and fusses and nurses on and off until 7:30-8:00 am. My other 2 kids are usually up at 7:30 or 8:00 am. The only way I would be able to workout before they got up would be to start at 4:00 am, something I'm just not willing to do. My husband is also maxed out with work and other responsibilities so he's not available to watch the kids while I workout either. For now, my workout goal is to run 3 times a week, after the kids go to bed around 9 pm.

My diet plan is pretty vague too. I'm breastfeeding and I have to be careful not to cut out too much. I would normally set out a strict diet plan and stick to it, but again, with the craziness of my life and the fact that I'm breastfeeding makes it pretty hard to stay on a diet. I'm cutting out junk food so that means no cookies, brownies, chips, chocolate, ice cream, hot dogs, pizza, etc. I'm eating smaller portions and eating more fruit and vegetables. I think eating smaller portions is key in my weight loss... oh and drinking a lot of water.

So there you have it, my "plan". I know it would be more exciting to read that I'm only eating egg whites or that I'm lifting a million pounds during my workouts.... maybe in a few years.

I'll give you all an update in a week or so and let you know if I'm loosing any weight. If not, I'll have to step it up somehow.

Me Ka Aloha (with love)
- Elisabeth

Time to Lose the Baby Weight

On June 3rd the cutest baby boy was welcomed into the world. We love him so much and we are so happy to watch him learn and grow. My only complaint with all of this is the extra (and I really mean EXTRA) weight I've gained. I've had record breaking weight gain with this last pregnancy by a staggering 20 pounds. So that means my usual 55-60 pound weight gain was 75-80 pounds this time!! It's been over 2 months since I've had my baby and my fingers are still too chubby to fit my wedding ring so it's time to do something drastic.

I'm going on a major diet and exercise plan. I'll discuss what I'm doing later, because the baby is crying and I have to rescue him from the evil play pen.

Me Ka Aloha
- Elisabethb

BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES and Losing my Race Virginity

I must be a crazy person for agreeing to do this, but as promised, here are my before and after pictures. The first picture was taken about 2 months after Joseph was born. I started doing the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and lost about 10-15 pounds in the first month or so. Then I became a total slacker during Christmas and then my baby got sick, then I got sick, and yada yada yada, 4+ months had gone by and I hadn't worked out at all. I slowly got back into it a while ago and also started running. Thing were going great and then I got sick for over THREE weeks!!! Man! That really set me back, especially since I had to train for the Moon in June. Any how, I still lost a bunch of weight though not as much as I wanted. I would still like to lose another 10 pounds, hopefully by the end of summer. Ok so are you ready for this? I know I'm not!

BEFORE
AFTER

Haa haa ok so not the kind of before and after you were looking for right? Seriously, my before pictures of my flabby body are EMBARRASSING! I was 168 pounds of pure FAT, no muscle or anything, just loose flabby flab. Ok, so there are a bunch of people out there that can make 168 pounds look pretty good because they have muscle and the weight is distributed evenly and stuff, but MY 168 pounds wasn't so pretty. Now I weigh 145 pounds and I think there's some muscle there. I weigh less than I did before I had Joseph and I still have a few more pounds to lose before reaching my goal weight. Maybe when I lose my last 10 pounds I'll post REAL before and after pictures. Something to look forward to, right?

Ok, on to other things...
So you're probably all wondering how the Moon in June went. It was so much fun!! It took place down the road from the store I used to work at and I've always wanted to do it. There were around 800 people running the 5 km and a bunch of my friends were running too. My friend Adam busted out his 80's short shorts, which was HILARIOUS by the way and my friend Joel wore a black spandex suit which covered this entire body, head to toe. I'm not kidding, this outfit covered even his entire face. I wish I had a picture of him but I'm sure it'll show up in the newspaper or something. Ok so my friends and I all gathered at the very front of the starting line, next to a few runners I know that usually win every race. My heart was pounding because I was so darn nervous. This was after all, my very first race! I wanted to be able to run the entire thing and do it in a reasonable amount of time, I mean really, I didn't want to be the one strolling in last place. I just didn't know what to expect and all the people around me just made me nervous and excited all at the same time. When the race started a bunch or runners raced on ahead of me. I just kept on running at the pace I was used to running (which isn't very fast at all) My heart was racing faster than I was running and I knew that if I didn't settle down, I was going to have a really hard time finishing. I felt like absolute crap during the first half of the race, which doesn't surprise me. I always feel the worst during the first half of any run. Any way, as I was running around the 2 Km mark, some punk kid with a skate board decided to dart in front of a bunch of the runners to mess them up. He thought he was being funny. He darted in front of me and as I tried to dodge him, he darted in front of me again! It totally threw me off a good 10 seconds or so. Well after that deterrent things were great. There were people standing on the sidewalks giving high fives and cheering everyone on, and I totally gave some cute kids on a bike a high five as I passed. As I raced a bunch of faster runners passed me including some kids that must have been like 10 years old or something. I wasn't sure if I should be impressed by they're speed or depressed by my lack of speed. Well, I ran and ran and ran and never stopped and as I reached the finish line, the guy on the loud speaker said "just about 20 more steps. YOU CAN DO IT!" and I DID! I did it! I finished my very first race, running the entire time. I guess you could say I lost my race virginity haa haa! When I crossed the finish line Dave and the kids were there with the video camera, cheering me on and Joseph had had enough of all the loud clapping and shouting. Joseph was absolutely mad and crying like crazy. As I crossed the finish line, Dave handed Joseph to me right away. The job of a mother is non-stop! Well, I may have not won the race, or even won in my age category, but I did it AND I walked away with a free case of Gatorade :) My next goal is to finish the race with a better time, maybe 3-4 minutes faster. I think I might run a 5 km race in October at the Zoo because my older brother and his family might do it too. I'll keep you all posted.

Me Ka Aloha
- Elisabeth

THINspiration !!!!

This might be old news for some of you, but this is news to me. I don't keep up with celebrity gossip, because I find it a waste of time HOWEVER... I just opened an email from the Oprah Show and read the article about Nadya Suleman (Octomom). She's that single mother of 6, who, less than a year and a half ago, gave birth to octuplets!! That's right EIGHT children at once, AND she already had 6 at home!! Ok so, if that's not shocking enough, wait until you see her weight loss WITHOUT surgery or a personal trainer!!Like seriously?! THAT IS AMAZING!! I've only had two kids and I'm not even close to looking this good. She did this photo shoot one year after her 8 babies were born. She's 5 feet 7 inches (same height as me) and now weighs 125 pounds. She went from 270 to 125! Joseph will be 1 year old in less than a month and a half, so I have to get cracking! Ok so now, I have no excuses, if she can do it, I can do it!

Me Ka Aloha

- Elisabeth