Follow Up - Back On My Fitness Pal

I set a reminder on my phone to check back in with you all about my fitness/nutrition goals this week. If you remember my post about 4 weeks ago was about getting back on track and trying to use My Fitness Pal again and change up my fitness a little bit. If you want to read that first post - CLICK HERE and it will catch you up to speed.

If you recall these were my goals ...

My 3 Weight Loss Goals 

1. Do sit ups/planks before going to bed (spend 5 minutes doing a little core strengthening before crawling into bed). I want to do this during the week (Monday through Friday). 
2. Track what food I put in my mouth using My Fitness Pal. I want to track my intakes every day for the next month. I want to see trends in how I am eating during the week and the weekend and see where I can make some changes. 
3. Start some new strength training. I have some credit to go to a yoga class. I want to start my attending a yoga class at this new studio and try to go 2 times in the next month. I also would like to lift some weights at the gym. Goal is work out at the gym and lift weights 4 times in the next month (that could be once a week over the next 4 weeks).

I wanted to do a check in about 4 weeks later and see how things were going. I think that is one of the big things that people often fail to do ... follow up and check back in on their goals. It is easy to forget about them if you don't set a reminder.

So how did things go over the last 4 weeks. (I am giving myself 1-5 rating on how I did with these goals, 1=didn't happen, 2=did it occasionally, 3=did it half the time, 4=did it most of the time, 5=did it all of the time).

Evaluating My Goals

1. Do sit ups/plants before going to bed = 3
2. Tack what food I put in my mouth using My Fitness Pal = 4
3. Start some new strength training = 1

As you can see I did ok with my sit ups and with using the My Fitness Pal app. I didn't make it to a new yoga class at all and I didn't go to the gym to strength train. I wanted to outline some obstacles that got in my way as well. That is important and often another thing that happens, people just give up and don't stop to recognize things that kept them from accomplishing their goals. I don't want you to see these as excuses, but instead things that kept me some successfully accomplishing my goals.

Obstacles

1. Work was crazy busy. We launched a new program in our formula room that affected how baby feedings were ordered and that went live May 29th. So for the two weeks after that Go Live date, things were nuts. Long hours, weird schedules and no time to fit in working out or trying out a new class.
2. Vacation. We went on a family trip over the Memorial Day weekend (Friday through Monday) and I choose not to stress about using My Fitness Pal. I enjoyed some yummy food and didn't track my intake/exercise.

Now you may have noticed that none of my weight loss goals had to deal with actual weight loss. I did weigh myself back on May 14th and I was 140lbs and I weighed myself again on June 8th and I weighed 136.4lbs. So that is just shy of a 4lb weight loss over the past 25 days. That is an average of 1lb/ week. So even though I didn't accomplish all of my goals like I would have hoped, I did make some changes and I do feel better about what I have accomplished.

So now it is time to rethink through those goals and come up with new goals for the next 4 weeks.

My 3 Weight Loss Goals (Updated)

1. Keep ... Do sit ups/planks before going to bed (spend 5 minutes doing a little core strengthening before crawling into bed). I want to do this during the week (Monday through Friday). 
2. Keep ... Track what food I put in my mouth using My Fitness Pal. I want to track my intakes every day for the next month. I want to see trends in how I am eating during the week and the weekend and see where I can make some changes. 
3. Keep ... Start some new strength training. I have some credit to go to a yoga class. I want to start my attending a yoga class at this new studio and try to go 2 times in the next month. I also would like to lift some weights at the gym. Goal is work out at the gym and lift weights 4 times in the next month (that could be once a week over the next 4 weeks).

I am going to keep the same goals and work really hard to actually try to accomplish my #3 goal ... trying a new form of strength training. I want to get to a class and try really hard to do that so that I find another way to stay active that isn't just running.

Hopefully this has been helpful to see how setting goals for yourself and following up with those goals can help you accomplish what you have set for yourself. It is possible, it just takes some patience and willingness to stick with your goals!

Back On My Fitness Pal

It is time to get back on My Fitness Pal. I used My Fitness Pal throughout my pregnancy with William, because I didn't want to gain too much weight. It helped to hold me accountable to what I put in my mouth. I also used it regularly before getting pregnant to help lose weight that I had gained after graduating college and sitting at my job. Well it is time to get back on that band wagon of tracking what I put in my mouth to help prevent future weight gain. 

I wanted to share this with you all, because I think it is important to talk about what makes you feel good for your own weight. Often we have some idea of what our ideal, personal body image looks like. Some times that is realistic an some times it is idealistic, but I think we all have a goal for ourselves. We also have a feeling at a certain weight where we feel comfortable. I had just mentioned to Chas last week that I just felt "fat." I know that I am not that big compared to others, but I just notice that it is harder to run fast, I want to do more sit ups to help with strengthening my core and I just need to work on toning up. Sure enough when I stepped on the scale I say that number that I knew would be my current weight, but I had been denying. 

I had lost the baby weight from being pregnant with William. I got up to 150-155lbs when pregnant with him, which was perfect. That is right where I needed to be. Then with breast feeding and taking care of a baby I got down to 130lbs. My normal body weight is 135-140lbs. The weight where I feel the most comfortable is 135lbs. So when I stepped on the scale this week and it read 140lbs I knew I had to make some changes. I know 5lbs doesn't seem like much, but my pants are tighter when I weigh 140lbs compared with 135lbs. So for my own self-esteem and feeling comfortable in my clothes I prefer to be closer to that 135lb mark. I think we all have that weight that feel more comfortable at. It might be our goal weight, but it is a weight that we are content with. That is what I hope you take away from this discussion, figuring out where you feel most content with yourself. 

I don't mean to throw out these numbers and have you judge if you think 140lbs is too skinny or too fat. That is not the point of this post. This is the share with you that we all have that goal for ourselves. Well my upper limit is 140lbs. So I have some work to do. I have been running and working on training for a half marathon. I do think that some of that weight gain has been leg muscle strength, but some has been more flab in the abdominal region. After having a baby, getting that abdominal strength back is so important and hard to do. So my goal is to track what I am choosing to put in my mouth, try to do more strength training, continue to run and hopefully start some yoga classes. 

I have shared in previous posts that it is important to set specific goals so you can measure if you have accomplished them. That is what I am going to do, put together 3 goals and then try to follow up in a month and see how it went meeting those goals. 

My 3 Weight Loss Goals 

1. Do sit ups/planks before going to bed (spend 5 minutes doing a little core strengthening before crawling into bed). I want to do this during the week (Monday through Friday). 
2. Track what food I put in my mouth using My Fitness Pal. I want to track my intakes every day for the next month. I want to see trends in how I am eating during the week and the weekend and see where I can make some changes. 
3. Start some new strength training. I have some credit to go to a yoga class. I want to start my attending a yoga class at this new studio and try to go 2 times in the next month. I also would like to lift some weights at the gym. Goal is work out at the gym and lift weights 4 times in the next month (that could be once a week over the next 4 weeks).

There you have it ... those are my goals for the next month and hopefully I will be able to accomplish those goals. I think they are realistic and totally achievable. I will check back in the next month with a follow up to how this weight loss trek is going. 

Childhood and Adolescent Weight Management Certificate Program

I had the opportunity to attend the Childhood and Adolescent Weight Management Certificate Program in Indianapolis last week. It had been a goal of mine for the last couple of years to attend that program when it was closer to where I live. They offer the 3 day program twice a year and they rotate the sights all over the country. This spring it was in Indianapolis! I just had to go, because it would have been cheaper and less travel compared to going to another state for this training. 

Now you might be wondering what this training is about. It is focused on combating the obesity epidemic in youth and the goal is for RDs to be able to learn more about this issue and be better equipped to work with patients to help them become healthier. To complete the certificate program you have to complete required readings, complete a pre-test (score minimum of 80%), attend the 2 1/2 day program and then complete a post-test (scoring a minimum of 80%). At the end of all this you get to claim this certified training on your resume and gain useful knowledge in this specialty area. 

So even if you aren't an RD, I did learn some interesting information that you might find interesting. 

• Children ages 2-19 - 32% of them are obese and 21% of children ages 6-10 years are living in food insecure homes.
• It is projected that by the year 2072 - 80% of everyone in the United States will be obese (BMI >30kg/m2). 
• 60% of children 10-14 years old have a TV in their bedroom. Research has shown that kids gain 1 extra pound per year when they have a TV in their bedroom compared with children who didn't have a TV in their bedroom. 
• Children are often the main target for intense and aggressive food marketing and advertising efforts. Often this is NOT for healthy, food options.

I know some of those statistics are depressing, but I think it helps to realize how big of a problem this is for children and this isn't a problem that goes away in adulthood. This weight gain trend often continues as the child gets older and continues to be a problem throughout the child's entire life. 

There are lots of things that we (as a community) can do to help our youth be healthier now and for the future. 

• Make an effort with your children to limit screen time, get outside a move more and purchase healthy food for your home. 
• Try to eat out less and make being healthy an entire family commitment. 
• Support health/wellness initiatives in the local school systems. 
• As a parent or caregiver, demonstrate healthy behaviors for your children. 

I wanted to share this video from the FNV Campaign (Food and Veggies) that is a partnership from the Healthier America and Let's Move Campaigns to help encourage healthier food marketing to Americans. I just wanted to leave you on that note and encourage you to make healthy choices for yourself and your children.