The Happy Hausfrau: Day Three

In today's news, I have officially started an exercise regimen. I hesitate to type "weight loss" regimen, but it's that too. More than anything I want to be healthy. Losing a substantial amount of weight is going to be a big part of that. In the last five years I have gained over ONE HUNDRED pounds! That's absurd! And really, really bad for me. Looking back at pictures from high school and the short time I spent at college, it breaks my heart thinking of how little self confidence I had. I was freakin' gorgeous! What I considered grossly overweight then is something I would kill for now! Actually, it's only about fifteen pounds shy of what I now consider my ideal weight.

I started Monday morning with Tony Horton's 10 Minute Trainer. I actually bought this two years ago with the intention of using it to get in shape before our wedding, buuuuut that didn't happen. So now I'm starting it simply in a quest to be healthier. Hopefully since there's no date or event I'm striving towards I'll be able to stick to this. The name 10 Minute Trainer is pretty misleading. Yes, each routine is only ten minutes (if you don't count the warm up/cool down part). BUT for the program to work like they advertise, they recommend doing three routines a day and following a diet. It's still way less intense than Mr. Horton's other programs (P90X, anyone? Or would you rather live?), but it's definitely more involved than they insinuate. Which is fine, I'm just lazy.

To begin with I had been getting up half an hour earlier to do one routine before getting ready for work, then doing the other one or two routines (depending on the day) when I got home in the evening. The last few days I have been so exhausted that I just haven't been able to haul myself out of bed in the mornings, so I've been doing all routines in the evening. Also, I'm not strong enough yet nor do I have enough stamina to do everything 100%. Case and point, push ups are a no go for me. Too, the program came with a resistance band that is necessary for several moves, especially in the Total Body and Lower Body routines. Yeah, well, I lost that sometime when we moved. So I need to get another one. Right now I'd say I'm able to do about 75 - 80% of what the program recommends.

I haven't been dieting at all. Our anniversary is this weekend, so I know I wouldn't stick to any sort of diet. My plan is to go Monday or so and stock up on some "diet friendly" foods. By which I mean stuff that isn't frozen or canned and is made of less than 30% preservatives. The program recommends a "2 Day Jump Start" that involves Shakeology shakes and a lot of salad. I don't have $ 130 to drop on protein shake mix (not kidding, that's the cost of a one month supply) and despite my best efforts I cannot eat salad. It's just gross to me. So instead I'm going to go the Boondock Bootycamp route and hit up the Walmart for some Slim Fast powder and a few apples and cucumbers. Praise the Lord Jiff makes a delicious all natural peanut butter now, so I don't have to buy the nasty kind. I love food way too much to trust myself to adhere to any diet plan, so really I'm just trying to eat better things in moderation. I realize this means I won't have the results advertised on the program, but that's okay. I'd rather this take longer and be something I can reasonably and happily keep doing for years than go on a super strict diet that will get results but that makes life less enjoyable. The whole point of this is so I can enjoy life to the fullest extent possible. That, to me, does not say meticulously planning every single bite of food I put in my mouth and shunning cake for the rest of forever.

I'm going to post my "Before" pictures now. Actually, I guess they're just pictures, because I still look like this. But it's only been five days. I'll try and post new pictures every week to show what (if any) progress I've made. THESE ARE NOT FLATTERING. You've been warned.