Wedding Weight

Hey girlies!

I am (almost) caught up at work, which is allowing me to have some guilt-free blogging time, and I only see it getting better. Relief! LOL.

My seniors are away on their senior trip this week, which has opened up my schedule BIG-TIME! (I am only teaching 2-3 periods a day this week!) and has helped me catch up. It is a good feeling.

So, this was a good week for me to work on the wedding weight. (Fewer kids to snap at when I am cranky and hungry).

Yup, the post-wedding-weight-gain. Almost as predictable as the Freshman 15.

I didn't really lose weight for the wedding - too busy and stressed to put too much energy into that direction. But typically, I have a 4-5 pound range that I like to stay within. If I start climbing above that, I know I am getting in trouble.

For the wedding, I was at bottom of that 5 pound range.

Well, two months (today, actually :) ) I am at the top. And I realized I better start doing something before it creeps out of control.

A girl I work with told me that she was doing this Three Day Diet. She lost 6 lbs the first week. I know, I know, with those fad diets, you lose and gain it all back. But, the benefit I saw in it was that it was so strict that it would at least start disciplining me to eat less.

So, you do this diet for three days, and then you eat sensibly for the other four. I am not sure if you are supposed to go back to the diet for three days the next week, but she has done that. Anyway, she is in it 2 and a 1/2 weeks, and her total weight loss is 8. Not bad.

I probably should do a post about how we as women are so consumed with our weight in our culture and how we shouldn't put so much emphasis on it. While true, I don't know if I have fully evolved to that level, lol. And honestly, without sounding like I am covering up, I honestly do think managing a healthy weight is really important for health issues, longevity and quality of life.

I just saw a write-up on the diet at the link posted - Web MD. Supposedly, it is the precise combination of food that boosts the metabolism. Already, that might be problematic for me. I had to make some substitutions - pretty equivalent, I'd say - but some of the food items I just knew I couldn't choke down.

Well, no surprise, but it didn't get rave reviews. It said the usual on why it is not a good idea - too rigid, you'll gain the weight back when you switch, can't substitute for a healthy lifestyle, etc. All true. I know.

I guess for me, I am just looking for the jump start - the discipline, the structure - and yes, even the quick results, just to motivate me a little to start changing my eating patterns.

I can clearly identify the causes of the weight gain...when James cooks, it is MAN-food, not girly-food. But it is SOOOO good. I've at least gotten him to scale back my portions, but sometimes it is just so yummy, I eat more than I should.

Second, I haven't been to the gym as much. I am still not in the swing of a routine yet...lots of running around, setting up house, arranging summer work, etc....the gym hasn't been priority.

But I am hoping that the diet will at least make me more cognizant of what I am shoving in my mouth (I am a BIG snacker - and it all adds up).

And, I am hoping to make exercise more of a priority with the nice weather. We bought me a good mountain bike (James loves to do that) - so I am hoping that we'll be able to do that and incorporate walks like we used to. We actually are going upstate for Memorial Day weekend to doing some biking and hiking...so - yay, us!

All said and done, fitness was an important value I had before I got married, so early on, I am trying hard to not let that one go....

Thoughts????