Friday, June 5, 2015

Follow Through Friday - A Postpartum Comparison and Carb Cycling


Wow, I can’t believe it’s been another 3 weeks since I last updated (btw, I posted the May 15th post earlier this week and back dated it to May 15th since I realized I had actually written the post and just forgot to publish it, whoops!)… I mentally write these posts in my mind and then never get around to typing them up. But believe me, my progress is ALWAYS on my mind. Maybe a little too much.

So let’s back track a little bit (warning, long post!)…

I kind of had that NSV that I was talking about way back when.. I didn’t drink at all on that Saturday and didn’t eat too terribly bad but I knew it wasn’t going to be good enough to hit my DietBets, and it wasn’t. I tried not to be disappointed in myself, because I definitely stuck to my no drinking and no completely stuffing my face intent, but it still sucked to not hit my goal. I did end up hitting one of the two Dietbets like two days later, but it was too late for the winnings.

I didn’t hit my mid-month DietBet goals (which were interim rounds of my 6 month Transformer games, so not a HUGE deal as the big payout is at the end of month/round 6), but did hit my end of month goal. I won $46.79 ($16.79 profit for that one). For June, I have 3 weigh ins again: Round 6 of my 2nd transformer on 6/17 (Goal: 157.9), Round 3 of my 3rd transformer on 6/18 (Goal: 154), and another 28 Day Kickstarter on 6/26 (Goal: 156.5). I’m well on track to hit all of those! Despite having an incredibly busy month with plans every single weekend, including an all-day kayaking/drinking trip over Memorial Day weekend, I was able to lose and am officially at my lowest weight since before I was pregnant with EMS. (as in, I never got this low after having EM before getting pregnant with AB).

I felt like I was doing so much better with my weight loss this time around (compared to after I had EM) so I decided to graph it. (Yes, I’m a huge nerd, I like to graph and analyze everything). Since I’ve been logging my weight in My Fitness Pal since like 2011, I had my weight logged for most days since I had EM and decided to compare months postpartum (PP) of EM vs. AB. A few things to keep I try to keep in mind, I started out heavier with AB (161) vs EM (153) but weighed less when I delivered AB (200) vs. EM (208) which is pretty reflective on my 1st month PP weigh in.

This is what the chart currently looks like, which I’m comparing through 15 months PP since that is when I got pregnant with AB. I’m a little over 8 months PP and I’m pretty pleased with my results so far. It’s hard to get excited about 1 lb. here and 1 lb. there, but when you actually look at the progress over time, it makes you feel a lot better about the hard work you’ve put in. Don’t get me wrong, I wish I was closer to my ultimate goal, but I’ve made lots of (bad) choices that have stalled my weight loss. Now to keep the momentum on that same downward curve…
 
 On to the Exercise portion of this update: My knee had been hurting me on and off for a few weeks (maybe longer) and seemed to be getting worse and after it bothering me so bad I actually had to take something for it (Motrin 800) I decided it was probably best to get it checked out. So once I made that decision (May 19th), the soonest I could get into the doctor was May 26th and I decided to take it easy and not run until I got it checked out. I also clearly used that as an excuse to not exercise at all because well, I didn’t. Even though I wasn’t exercising, I definitely still focused on my diet, which is represented in my weight loss. Turns out there isn’t anything “really” wrong with my knee. I have Patellofemoral pain syndrome aka Runner’s Knee, which pretty much just means my knee cap slightly moves on the side of my femur bone and can cause inflammation and pain. The doctor recommended some physical therapy to learn some good stretches, taking it easy when it bothers me, and ice if it swells. He said it’s more common once women become child bearing age (or have had children) because our hips spread more causing our kneecaps to not be aligned as they once were. I’m glad it’s nothing serious but as I get older and the more issues that arise is so discouraging. Even though I’m overweight still, I’m probably the healthiest I have ever been (even though I weighed less previously, I didn’t do it in a healthy way) and the most active I have ever been, so it sucks to be “falling apart”. I was also diagnosed with a Taylor Bunion but have gotten new shoes to help accommodate that and so far so good. I had to have a bunionectomy n my other foot so hoping to avoid another surgery on this one. I’ve already had four on this foot due to being born with a club foot. It’s actually a wonder I can run pain free (most of the time) at all considering how fused together this foot is. Anyways, I’m feeling good again, just need to get back into the groove. It’s SO easy to be lazy at night and after 2.5 weeks off, it’s SO hard to get back on track.  I plan to run to day care to pick up the girls and then walk them home in their stroller this afternoon (I did this a few weeks ago too!) and have a 5k race tomorrow so that’ll be a good start to this week coming!


Now the Food: After reading about it on and off for a few months now, I decided to finally give Carb Cycling a try. Everyone knows I love watching Extreme Weight Loss with Chris and Heidi Powell (Chris Powell is my celebrity crush, he’s so hot and motivating!) and their contestants use Carb Cycling. It seems pretty “easy” if you meal prep, otherwise I think it would be too hard to follow. So I bought the book (and EM totally pointed to Chris’s picture on it and said Daddy, on multiple occasions, which makes my crush on him even funnier haha) and decided to start on Sunday. The book offers four different cycles to choose from and I of course chose the most aggressive one for quicker results, the Turbo Cycle. The Turbo Cycle is two low carb days (approx. 1200 calories) followed by one high carb day (approx. 1500 calories), repeat that for the next 3 days and then on the 7th day, you have a reward day. I made a shopping List based on a few recipes and took a few hours out of Sunday to meal prep for the week. I made these egg white and veggie “muffins” and some buffalo turkey burgers. I also portioned out all my breakfast and lunches, including snacks, labels all my Tupperware and baggies and had enough food for Sunday-Thursday prepared (not counting dinner). If only food stayed “good” longer than 5 days then I would have made more.. I guess I could freeze stuff next time. For Dinner I ate my proportioned frozen Mahi from Costco (it’s lightly marinated and super yummy) with a vegetable. I wouldn’t say I’m following the book exactly as I tend to only eat 4 meals vs. the recommended 5 but I’m eating the same amount of food, just some meals are bigger than they would be if they were spread across 5. The first two low-carb days were tough, I definitely didn’t feel like I had the energy that I’m used to and didn’t work out (see above where I hadn’t gotten back into it after my 2.5 weeks off). The caloric intake is about the same as what I’ve been doing but I typically was eating more carbs so I think that affected me. My high carb day was better, energy wise, and I was happy to be able to eat the fresh watermelon and cantaloupe I had bought! I also forced myself to start working out again and went for a run. The next two low carb days were the same as the first two (I did cheat an have pizza one day but still stayed within my calories) and I forced myself to work out for one of them (It was national running day, so I HAD to run!). Overall it was a good 1st week and I’m happy with the results on the scale! Now the challenge will be this weekend when I’m out of town for Saturday and Sunday and won’t have time to meal prep until Monday after work. I’m off work today so going to try to meal prep as much as I can before I leave tomorrow and maybe just freeze the items for next week. Remember that no plans during June that I mentioned a few posts ago? Well that is no longer the case, all of the weekends have filled up!

Anyways, that is where I stand as of today and the last three weeks in numbers:

Weight: 157.6
Exercise:
3.10 miles in 30:03 (9:42 pace)  ß new Post Baby 5k PR
3.14 miles in 35:09 (11:13 pace)
1.22 mile walk

Week Ending 5/29:
Weight: 158.8
Exercise:
1.27 mile walk

Week Ending 6/5:
Weight: 155.4 lbs
Exercise:
3.88 miles in 55:00 (14:11 pace) – mostly walking after the 1st 15 mins
2.00 miles in 20:44 (10:22 pace)
0.84 mile walk

Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 21.2 lbs



No comments:

Post a Comment

I would love to hear from you, please leave a comment if you are stopping in for a looksy!