I am on a Diet

And this is what I had to deal with today:

This is like the first thing I saw when I woke up this morning, sitting right there on the kitchen counter. Really hubs?? Thank a lot. At least Fridays are my crazy early mornings, so I was out the door by 6:30, not leaving enough time for me to even think about taking a piece for the road. I'm convinced that my husband will have most, if not all, of this candy eaten by the time Halloween actually rolls around.......and while this fact would normally irritate me, I'm actually kind of thankful for it this year! The sooner he eats it, the less time I have to spend avoiding it!

See, I don't do well with diets OR exercise. Not a good combo when I needed to shed a minimum of 30 pounds (a combination of baby weight and newlywed weight). So my journey began about a month ago. I had read somewhere that since it takes about 9 months to pack on the pounds during pregnancy, you should give yourself 9 months to take it all off. Well, everytime I unsuccessfully tried to lose the extra jiggle around my middle, I would make myself feel better by re-reading this quote. Then one day it hit me: Elliott is 7 months old, and I still weigh the same as I did the day we came home from the hospital!!! 

I started to work out and watch what I eat, and for some reason, my efforts are really working this time!! I've been using livestrong.com to track my daily caloric intake and my exercise. They have me around 1200 calories per day based on my current weight, height, activity level, and how much I want to lose. I love that they do the hard work for me, and all I have to do is plug in my numbers everyday. I will often use the livestrong app on my iPhone of iPad to look up how many calories I have left for the day or how much of my daily calories a particular meal will cost me. I've even been able to eat out at my favorite restaurants guilt-free, just by planning ahead and making some adjustments to my meal choices (bye bye Red Robin's Caeser Chicken Wrap with french fries and ranch, tear).

I've also been working out, which always was, and still is, such a struggle for me! I have a set from The Firm, it includes 5 dvd's and some light weights, and that's all I need to work out! I've really been enjoying it because I can change up my routine by popping in a different video (they have dance-cardio ones, weight training workouts, and combo dvd's) and I can do it all at home (barefoot, mind you) while Elliott naps. The kit also came with a calendar for the first month to help space out and order the workouts. It's been pretty easy to follow, and I sooo enjoy getting to mark off each day after I finish!

I'm moving into month two, and I'm really happy with the results of my hard work so far! I've lost 12 pounds and I can fit into *some* of my pre-pregnancy clothes. My goal would be to fit into my Seven jeans, and to weigh somewhere around 120-130 pounds (which means I still have about 20-30 more to lose, you do the math).   

Now, if only I can make it through Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine's Day, I think I'll be set :)

~Amanda