To pre-pregnancy weight!!

Yesterday I jumped on the scale as soon as I woke up (like I usually do). It said 152!!

I feel like it has taken me an eternity to get here. This morning, with clothes on and after breakfast, I weighed 152!!  It feels good to make progress. I text Caleb to share the good news. He replied, "its all that gym time :)" I haven't gone to the gym in a few weeks now. Funny boy. But really I have been exercising. Mostly long walks with Linc.

Today Im going to get back in the swing of things. That half marathon is getting closer and closer.

I'm doing great with my eating goals, I am exercising regularly, and I feel good. I need to step up the running though.

A few reasons you're not losing weight 

1. You don't understand the calorie in/ calorie out concept:
   Despite what the media may tell you, weight loss is actually very simple. Whether you are losing weight because you're trying to or not, it comes down to one simple thing. The calories you burn in a day HAVE to be MORE than the calories you consume.
   (Calories in) - (Calories out) = NEGATIVE NUMBER
   
   (Calories out are the calories you use in a day. This is more than what you burn exercising. These are the calories used to maintain normal body functions like digesting and healing. The calories burned in these regular body functions are called the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). To simplify the BMR, it is the calories you'd burn if you just sat on a couch all day.)
   
   It doesn't matter if you run 10 miles a day. If you eat more calories than your body burns in a day, you're going to gain weight. If you eat the same amount of calories that you burn, you will maintain weight. If you burn more calories than you consume in a day you will LOSE WEIGHT.
   
   So, are you gaining, losing, or maintaining?
2.  You think you're burning more calories than you consume:
   A woman "guesstimates" that she eats 750 calories less than she really consumes in a day. That is a lot of calories. A pound is 3500 calories. After 5 days of an extra 750 calories, you're a pound heavier!
   
   Get an app on your ipad or iphone. Keep an accurate log of how much you're eating and how much you're exercising. Make sure you leave NOTHING out! Tracking my calories helped me to get a better idea of what foods I needed to cut out. Some days I'd be 500 calories over what I wanted to be. I would look throughout the day and think, If I had used yogurt instead of peanut butter for my apple, drank water instead of (milk, almond milk, juice), and had one less cookie - I would have met my goal!
3. You need to get moving:
   Its near impossible to get a sedentary person to lose a considerable amount of weight unless their on chemo. Seriously, If you spend most of your day sitting figure out a way to get moving more. You burn more calories as you move. Take a walk around the office, block, take the stairs, stand while you talk on the phone. Whatever you want to do, just do it!
4. You don't stick with it long enough! From my exercise physiology book, "After two months on a diet, the caloric equivalent of weight loss exceeds twice that in the first week. This points out the importance of maintaining a caloric deficit for an extended duration."
   
   Don't let discouragement creep in. Try to gain better perspective. Be patient. Give your goals time to transform you!