I Lost That 20 Pounds in 11 Weeks

Hi friends,  Just a quick note. I have lost 20 pounds; actually I'm right around the 21-22 pound loss range.

I lost it in 11 weeks way back by the the first ten days of May. I ended up taking a break from blogging because May got busy. Then, I have been off my diet for a few weeks because after May got busy it got stressful when my father went into the hospital. He was in for two weeks before having open heart surgery this last Wednesday. He's suppose to be getting off sedation today or tomorrow, but so far it looks like things are going well.

I can maybe talk more about him later, but I did want to mention that I am starting my diet again this coming Monday and that I would like to lose another 20 pounds in 10 weeks. Also, I know I need to get in some pictures so, maybe I will do that in the next few days.

Hope you are all doing well and staying healthy.

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

Not Twenty Yet, But 19 Pounds in 10 Weeks

Hello, friends!

Spring finally came to Wisconsin last week after a little snowstorm and two days of rain. Now, of course, it feels warm, but at least I'm 19 pounds lighter than I was 10 weeks ago. Now, I can enjoy the weather a little more.

No, I'm not at a 20 pound loss. Yet. Ha, but maybe this week it will happen. There are a few pairs of jeans that I'm able to wear that I haven't been able to wear in a long time. One pair, in fact, that I haven't worn in 18 months.

So, I am already looking ahead at the next 10 weeks. I'd like to drop another 20 pounds, but I'm not sure if that will happen. If I can get 10 to 15 pounds lost in 10 weeks that will be better than nothing right?

I'll be slowly chipping away at my goals.

Well, when this 20th pound does drop, I'll let you know. With maybe a picture or two.

Hope you all have a good week!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

18 1/2 Pounds in 9 Weeks

Hello friends! Thanks for the encouragement. I suspected that someone might want some before and after pictures. I do have some before pictures from last summer when I'm basically the same starting weight. I've spent several months losing a little and then gaining it back. This time my diet is working, and I feel relieved to be down 18 pounds. It's actually 18 1/2 pounds right now. I dropped a half pound last week. So, I'm on my tenth week this week. I hope another 1 1/2 pound drops, you know, for my blog's namesake.

If it takes longer, that's ok.

Now, I still have 30 more pounds to lose to get to where I want to be and I expect that it will take the whole summer to get that weight off. But that's ok, too, because I am feeling more energy from carrying around less weight which makes it more fun to get outside with the kids and "go places". I plan on biking everywhere with them, walking places. I plan to work up my weight lifting work-out routines to five days a week. I may also train for another half marathon in September. I've been very slow about increasing my exercises because I've, first of all, been very busy, but also it's more fun to work out when you weigh less. So, I've actually put off doing some work-outs because I wanted to lose some weight first.

Even though my diet has been more drastic than usual, I feel comfortable with it and enjoy the foods I'm eating. As my work-out routines intensify, I will have to add additional calories. But as it's become nicer outside in Wisconsin, I am glad to be almost 20 pounds less.

Well, hopefully, I'll be at a 20 pound loss by this Monday.

Hope you all have a good week!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

Lost 18 Pounds in 8 Weeks!!

Hello friends! Thanks for visiting. Just wanted to say that I'm grateful for both your concern and encouragement that I received after my last post on some of the lower calories that I was taking in. In looking over the past few weeks, I noticed that my calories had actually averaged more around 1,100 calories a day.

In response to the last commenter, our 11 months old receives plenty of breastmilk even with my reduced calories since she takes in the breastmilk more as supplementary food versus her three main meals a day.

Other than that, I just wanted to update you that I have increased my weight loss to 18 pounds in eight weeks. Hopefully I'll sneak in those last two pounds before the ten week mark and hit 20 pounds in ten weeks. I will be continuing my diet and going for another 20 pounds in another ten weeks. I'm not sure if I'll be able to continue this pace of two pounds a week weight loss, but I will be adding and changing a few things to try and make it happen.

Hope you all have a great week, and I will update again next week!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

Here's What I'm Doing...

Hello friends!

What the heck, I'll tell you what I'm doing to lose weight. I'm about done with six weeks of dieting and still at a 14 pound loss, but I anticipate some more weight dropping in a few days.

Well...I had observed that over the past several diet attempts even with avid weight training and running (cardio) I was only dropping an average of one pound a week. I was taking in between 1,400 to 1,700 calories a day. So, I figured that since one pound equals 3,500 calories, I should lose additionally that much if I cut my calories by 500 a day. Then, I would get the two pounds per week average I had been wanting to drop.  Also, I felt like I was taking in too many carbs, so I slashed those in half.

This is not my normal method of weight loss. I usually advocate consuming more calories. That being said, I felt that this was something I wanted to try to see if I could get something to happen. Also, at present I am not weight lifting, only running two miles, three to five times a week and doing abs. For this particular season in my life, I felt like not weight lifting until I'd lost a few pounds because 1.) I felt discouraged when I would see myself in thegym mirrors while carrying so much weight. Running didn't involve mirrors so much because I could run outside or on the treadmill in my sweats 2.) I didn't have much time or motivation to weight lift.

So, I'm eating about 900 calories a day, three to five meals a day. I try to eat two spinach salads a day. No wheat or sugar. Although I will put some sugar in a coffee or two. 

I also fast one day a week. I usually pick a day that's most convenient for me usually on the weekend. I try to pick days that might involve a lot of food. For example, I fasted on Easter and the week prior on a family birthday party when there was a lot of food. Instead of going backward from overeating on those days, I lose weight the next day. I don't have to worry about spending two or three days making up for one bad day. When you take eating out of the day, things feel more simplified for me. Before this diet, I'd never fasted before. I was scared of it a little I think. But once you get through the occasional hunger pangs, I feel fine. At first, I thought I might be weak from hunger, but that wasn't the case.

I also decided to change my perspective on eating and trying to let go of my desires for certain foods or let go of the idea that I was somehow languishing from not getting certain foods. I decided to replace this with the notion that I would enjoy eating less. What I had formally seen as negative aspects of dieting, I would view them as positive.

Maybe next time I will give a little more outline on exactly what I eat each day. I do suspect that when I start weight lifting, my calories will go up.

Talk later!

Thanks for your time!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

Lost 14 Pounds In Five Weeks

Hi ya' all! Thanks for the comments. Just wanted to let you know that I'm now at a 14 pound weight loss in five weeks and one day. So, this is by far the fastest the weight has come off in a l-o-n-g time. Pretty soon you're going to ask me what I'm doing because I am doing something different... It's a little drastic, but I'm pretty happy with it so far.

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but at this rate I could be at a 20 pound loss in eight weeks. Yes, I'm slightly shocked.

I'm feeling better with weighing less. I still have a lot of weight to lose to but at present I don't feel down about things taking awhile.

Talk later!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

Big Weight Loss and a Laundry Story

Hello friends! Just because I haven't blogged in a bit doesn't mean I haven't lost some weight. I'm finishing up the fifth week of my diet and have lost eleven pounds. I figured that since I've done so many stops and starts on my diet, I didn't want to blog about anything until I began a diet that stuck.

This attempt is by far the most successful. I will try to do an update again soon.

Oh, and just for kicks, I thought I'd mention that our washing machine recently broke down. So, we have been going to the local laundromat and monopolizing every washer and dryer. I kid you not, but two days ago we did 16 loads of laundry. Do you know how much bending over and picking things up and throwing things in dryers that you do with 16 loads? Then, the place closed at 10 p.m. and I could see my husband and I weren't going to get everything folded in time, so I called in my daughter for clothes-folding reinforcements. So, to re-cap we did 16 loads of laundry in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Crazy, I figured since I probably burned a few hundred calories doing that I could enjoy a glass of wine. So, I did.

Well, I hope you are all doing well.

Talk soon!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

Hello friends!

Well, Christmas and New Years is finally over, but then I got sick. And lost weight, because of...well...things that make you sick. So, I suppose this weight loss of a few pounds isn't really official. But, it has me down 8.4 pounds since I  began.

So, in good news, with the holidays behind me, I can focus on other things like home schooling and diet and exercise. Although, my diet took a dip, my exercise has been good. I've been running three to four times a week and weight lifting three times a week.

I absolutely love the runs! I feel so invigorated afterwards. I don't mind running even in the cold.

I may post again on Sunday!

Hope your weekend goes well!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama