Wellness Warriors: Last update

Yesterday I received an abrupt message that Wellness Warriors is over with.  It was a little bit odd, but that is OK.  I'm mostly bummed because all of the blog entries I wrote for that are gone. :-(  As a final farewell, I thought I'd recap about some of the things I've learned. :-)

1)  Eat breakfast.  Harvard says so. ;-)  No really - studies have been done that show a direct link in the ability to loose weight and eating breakfast.

2)  Count your calories.  It is easy to round in your head.  Looking at labels and figuring it all out is a real eye opener.  Looking up dishes at restaurants is necessary (and sometimes surprising).  Knowing what you are eating is going to help you figure out what you need to do differently.  It will also help you develop habits that will last a life time (reducing weight yo-yoing!)

3)  Keep a food journal sometimes.  Do it at least once in the beginning.  Then if you have a week where you don't loose weight, keep it again.  Seeing what you eat and writing it down helps.

4)  Eat at the majority of your calories by lunch.  (Lunch is typically my largest meal!)

5)  Exercise.  This isn't just about a jean size.  This is about being healthy.  Find something you love and go do it.  Exercise 5 days a week at least to start.  This helps you build the habit.

6)  Weigh yourself regularly.  I'm the worlds worse - but if you aren't making progress you won't know unless you measure yourself somehow.  It can be by size or weight - whatever you are most comfortable with.

7) Find some sort of accountability.  It is priceless.  Since Wellness Warriors is gone (well - we can keep in touch but I do anticipate it dissipating), I'll need to find something else.  Perhaps this blog?  We'll see!  I haven't decided.

Hmmm - I was going to think up 3 more to make it an even 10, but I ran out of suggestions.  :-P  That pretty well sums up everything.  So I guess 7 is all you get!

I have 30 more pounds to loose so clearly I'm not done with my weight loss quest.  And while Wellness Warriors was fun, I don't think I learned anything particularly new (that I hadn't already read in the book "Never Say Diet" by Chantel Hobbs). So you can bet that I'll keep on keeping on.  One thing I think Wellness Warriors did force me to do is to get back on track sooner than I would have otherwise.  If I hadn't been chosen, I'd have waited until Ruth was a year old and I was done pumping.  I learned you can always find time for exercise.  I thought I was too busy...and found out I was wrong.

And with that said - here is a recap of changes I made in the last few months:
- Exercise regularly
- Started running (and have gone from no running to running 2 miles)
- Lost 13 lbs
- Have gotten my mother exercising more and my sister-in-law working on a couch-to-5K program.
- Run two races.

Hmmm - little changes in the eating realm! :-P  In all fairness, I made a ton of changes in that area while pregnant with Ruth.  And for the most part, I've stuck with all the habits I developed during that time.

I'm so excited. :-)  I'm excited about the tangible results I have seen since I've been working on this. I'm excited that I'm not done yet.  And for the first time in a really long time, I feel like I might actually meet my goal one day!