Thanks to everyone that made comments and suggestions after my last post. And especially to those that offered encouragement. I’m lucky to have people to remind me of my successes when I’m feeling a little low!

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There are so many opinions about, and price ranges for, health and fitness gear and tools. Is expensive always better? Does any of the gear actually help us get more fit or fit faster? Do we need any of it? 

I thought that I would make a list of a few of the things I have fallen in love with, the things I use at the moment but am open to new options for, and some of the things that are on my wish list. 

I'd love to have input from you guys, both about the things on my lists and also what would be on your own 'must have' fitness gear lists. What have you tried that was a waste of time and money? What do you swear by?

(*Pictures are all generic ones pulled off of Google)

Things I Love

• Old Navy compression capris (I paid $24.94...they are currently on sale for $18.00!)
  
  
  

I didn’t buy these specifically because they were compression. Selection in the store the day that I was there was pretty bare bones and I needed some new workout bottoms. The patten looked like nothing special on the rack, but I LOVED them the minute I put them on. The way they looked in the change room was why I bought them, but they have quickly become my favorite pair of bottoms. I tried both a size large and a size medium, buying the medium. The large fit but over the past few months it seems like within a few weeks of buying a new pair, they are falling off of me at the gym, and I was tired of relegating almost new clothing to the ‘can’t wear pile’. The medium take a few second to get into, but once they are on, they feel awesome. They keep the jiggling to a minimum without making me feel claustrophobic and never fall down. It’s a little bit of a pain to get them pulled back up after a mid-workout bathroom break once you’ve started to sweat, but that’s a small price to pay as far as I’m concerned.

• Contigo water bottles (Mine came from Costco, somewhere in the 3 pack for $20 range)
  

I love these water bottles. I’m kind of a water bottle junkie and love trying new water bottles. I’ve tried the Bobble, aluminum ones, Nalgene ones, but this is my favorite by far. I love the autoseal covers, they are a perfect 24 oz size, and won’t cost you an arm and a leg. 

• Lug Cartwheel bag (Retails for $106.00)

I got this bag for free by using some Airmiles. I never would have paid full price for it before trying it out, and honestly, as much as I really like this bag, I don’t think I’d ever pay full price for it. I had never heard of the Lug brand, but the videos I found online for it looked like it would be a functional bag, and it wasn’t really costing me anything so I gave it a try. The biggest feature that I was looking forward to trying out was the outside sleeve for a yoga mat, but that isn’t why I like this bag. I actually don’t use the mat sleeve, but not because the design is bad. I use a 3 year old Lululemon mat that I bought second hand, and it’s a little bit thicker than standard mats. I don’t find that it fits well in the sleeve without squashing things on the interior, so I don’t use it. All of the pockets on the bag were a little intimidating at first, trying to figure out what I was going to put where (I’m a little OCD when it comes to things like that....things need to have a ‘home’ or it drives me crazy and I can never find anything) but now that everything has a spot, I love them. The key fob that attaches on the inside with a clasp is perfect for my gym after hours swipe pass, the vented compartment keeps my sneakers away from everything else (although it does eat away some of the space on the inside of the bag, but the sneakers were going to take up space no matter where I put them) and it’s just big enough to carry my gym clothes, or a change of clothes, depending on the situation. And the colors rock! Mine is the teal-blue color.

Because I like my Cartwheel so much, I’m actually contemplating another Lug bag for my work bag when I go back to work in the fall. We’ll see if I can cough up the cash for it though!

• Seconds Pro app (I forget how much this app was, but I think it was in the $1.99-$2.99 range)

This is my favorite of any interval timer app that I’ve ever used. It plays music from my itunes in the background and can be customized to pretty much any type of interval timer I was. I hate watching a clock when I’m doing intervals....it makes the intervals seem so much longer, so this lets me just listen to my music and then gives me 3 second countdowns between intervals. Love it.

• Luna Protein Bars (Retails around $3)

I bought these when they were on clearance, before I started using protein powder. I haven’t been buying them lately because I don’t need them as an extra protein source and they are a little pricey for me when not on clearance. They run about 180 calories per bar, which is about the lowest I’ve seen in a protein bar, and they aren’t tiny little one bite things. Nutz Over Caramel is a good one, Smore....not so much. 9g of protein per bar, so not a huge protein source but I liked them for before a workout to have something on my belly.

• Earth's Own Coconut Almond Milk (Retails for around $3.50 in the health food/organic section of Superstore of Sobeys)

I’ve looked for a long time for a dairy substitute that I liked. I had issues in the past with extreme belly pain that was eventually blamed on irritable bowel, and have wanted to try to decrease my dairy intake a little bit, but I love cow’s milk, and hate soy milk, and regular almond milk. But I love coconut almond milk! I love coconut and it sweetens it without being a sweetened almond milk. I actually don’t really like the taste of cow’s milk any more.

• MyFitnessPal (FREE!)

I have kind of fallen off of using MyFitnessPal to track my food lately, mostly because I tend to eat the same things and have gotten comfortable enough with their calorie content that I can keep a running tally in my head as the day goes by, but I credit a lot of my success to using MyFitnessPal. It kept me accountable with my calorie intake, gave me ranges for protein, carbs, fats and other nutrients, and kept track of my calories burned. Just like the machines at the gym, the calories burned is just an estimate, but it gives you the general idea. I don’t love it for tracking strength training exercises so I never included that part of my work outs. I love that I can have it as an app on my phone, but it also has a web version for people without smart phones. And it’s free!

• Food scale

Like most people, my perception of serving size was way out of whack. I weigh almost everything I eat so that I know I’m eating a proper serving size. I prefer the scale to measuring cups because I find it easier to measure things that don’t really fit in a measuring cup well. I’m sure you can spend all kinds of money on a kitchen scale, but mine was around the $25 range. I suggest having one that will measure in both grams and ounces, and one that has a zeroing function so you can negate the weight of plates or other foods added.

Things I Use, But Don't Love

• Jogi small towel (No picture...I can’t find one. But my towel is pink)

I sweat. A lot. If I don’t have a hand towel with me, I end up with sweat dripping down off of my nose and collecting in a puddle at my feet. I used a normal bathroom hand towel at first but wanted one that was a little more absorbent and dried more quickly. I got this Jogi one at Superstore for around $10 and it’s ok, but nothing to rave about. It dried quickly but I’d like it to be a little bit more absorbent. I’m still on the hunt for the perfect gym towel.

• Weight lifting gloves

I don’t even know the brand of my current weight lifting gloves. I bought them at Winner’s for $5 and I guess I got what I paid for because they started falling apart within a week or so. I want a comfortable pair that will last, without costing a fortune.

• Lululemon yoga mat

Like I said above, I got my yoga mat second hand. I paid $30 for it. I like the fact that it’s a little bit thicker than an average mat, but I don’t love the material. If I use it in a class other than yoga, when I have my sneakers on, it pulls at the foam and tears little bits out of it. I doubt I can have it both ways, having both the thicker mat and also made out of a more durable material, but I think for my next one I will opt for the tougher material. Any suggestions?

Wish List

• Polar FT40 heart rate monitor

I drool over these online on a daily basis, and they really aren’t that expensive, but there are just so many other things on the need to buy list ahead of a heart rate monitor that it has stayed on the wish list. I would really like to get a better understanding of just how hard I’m working at the gym and how many calories I’m actually burning. 

• Scale with body fat %

This is something (not this brand specifically) I’d like to try but don’t feel it would be worth my money to buy one. My weight on the scale isn’t moving very much now that I’m closer to my goal weight, but I’d love to know if my body fat % is still changing or not. 

So there is my list. What do you love? Have you tried these products and have a different opinion than mine?

Frustrated

I'm getting pretty frustrated with this plateau. It feels like I've been battling these last 10 pounds forever, and I'm feeling more than a little defeated.  

It would be one thing if I was eating crappy, or not getting to the gym and had a real reason to be so stuck, but neither of those are true. I know my diet isn't perfect, but it's mostly a healthy one and, I think more importantly, it's one that I can maintain without feeling deprived. 

 I've tried both decreasing and increasing my daily calories and neither has worked. 

I'm at the gym every day, sometimes doing two workouts or classes back to back, so I'm burning calories.

I'm starting a month of TRX classes in August to try something new. I think my body is becoming too accustomed to what I've been doing. But I honestly don't think TRX is going to change the scale much. 

I know that I said before that if I had to fight too hard to get to the 'healthy' BMI that I would just change my goal weight, but that feels like giving up to me right now. I feel like there is no reason why I shouldn't be able to get to that weight. 

I'm happy with my progress so far, don't get me wrong, I'm just not at the point that I'm satisfied with my body. It feels extra frustrating that I've gotten so close to goal but can't actually get there. 

I've started having dreams that all the weight I've lost starts piling back on despite my doing everything "right". This plateau needs to give soon. I'm just at a loss as to how to make that happen. 

How has everyone else dealt with plateaus? What finally worked to get you through them?

Progress Pictures

Lots of people have been asking to see current pictures of me. It's a good thing I'm not a 16 year old girl, because I can't take a flattering "selfie" to save my life. But I made an attempt this morning and they will have to be good enough.

First, lets start with some before's, shall we? I don't have a lot of before pictures. I'm the mom behind the camera most of the time, and I avoided being in front of it because I didn't like how I looked.

This is a picture of my driver's license. I need to go get a new one because I look different than I do in this picture.

                                                This one is from Halloween 2011.

We took this one just before Christmas 2012 as part of a present for my grandparents. Ignore the frame in our hands.

This is the first time I tried on my bridesmaid dress. I had already lost a few pounds, 10 maybe, by the time I tried it on. It zipped, but hung horribly and was really uncomfortable because it didn't fit.

Now for some "on the way" pictures. I haven't made it to goal weight (or maybe more importantly, body composition) yet so I'm not calling these after pictures. 

For comparison, here I am at the wedding, in the above dress. The dress still kind of didn't fit that day, but it was because it was too big. And couldn't be taken in any more....it had already been taken in about 7".

These next two are ones taken within the past few weeks at the cottage, both with Hudson.

And finally, here is my attempt at a picture this morning. 70 pounds lighter than I was in January.

And of course because I'm not the only person in this house changing, here are a few pictures of the boys lately.

Wyatt with the avocado pit we are growing. It took 2 months but it now has two roots and is actually sprouting. We need to get it out of the mason jar full of water and into some soil.

Bath time. They are both little fish!

High 5, Hudson!

Won't Derail Me

The spring/summer after Wyatt was born (2010) I started going for a half hour walk every evening. I walked back the lane through the potato fields behind our house. I started jogging a bit but was so out of shape that I couldn't do it for much more than a minute at a time. But I was losing a little bit of weight and my fitness was slowly improving. Then I got hurt. I tried to keep walking but it was too uncomfortable. I can't remember now if it was my hamstring or my Achilles, but it wasn't even an actual injury. Just a muscle strain or something from wearing old sneakers as trying to walk/run on rough surfaces. What should have been a temporary issue, stopped me permanently. I stopped walking every day and what weight I had lost all came back. 

Since January I've been waiting for something to come up and stop my progress. I had a few days early on that my knee was sore from moving the wrong way, but I babied it a bit and it was never a major issue. Still I’ve waited for what was going to derail me, because it didn't seem possible that I might actually not be obese all of my life. My ‘rest’ days away from the gym don’t feel like rest days....they feel like wasted days and are really hard for me to take.

During the end of May and for the most part of June I have kind of hit a weight loss plateau. I know that my body is still changing because my clothing fits differently but the scale has been stubborn. One week I gained (not much, 0.4 of a pound) and then the next I was down 5 pounds without really doing anything different. The week after that stayed about the same.

I had really hoped for a great start to June because I knew that the middle and end would be a test thanks to the wedding that I was in (the one in which I was wearing the bridesmaid dress that started this weight loss) and I wanted to really be able to enjoy myself. I’m still struggling with being okay with not being at the gym everyday, and while my diet is in no way shape or form perfect, I don’t do a whole lot of splurging in the calorie and junk department, and I thought that a few weeks of solid loss before all of the wedding festivities would let me relax a little. 

I didn’t have  great start to June though. Stagnant weight on the scale was followed by 3 days away from the gym because of mastitis. I was careful with my eating though and managed to maintain that week. Then the bachelorette party the weekend before the wedding was another hurdle. I’m not drinking alcohol since I’m still nursing and I didn’t really eat that badly, but the extra salt that my body isn’t used to put the scale up a few pounds, despite running my first road 5km race the morning of the bachelorette. I have gotten better recently at accepting that not every gain on the scale is an actual gain. I know that I didn’t consume enough extra calories to actually gain fat pounds back but the numbers sliding back up a little is still discouraging. 

The week between the bachelorette party and the wedding was another stagnant week on the scale and going into the wedding weekend I was pretty anxious. 

Not about the wedding, my two friends are perfect together and I am so happy for them. 

Not about my dress, the one that was too small in January had been taken in 3 times and couldn’t be taken in anymore. The size of the dress was 3 or 4 sizes too big....so my hard work paid off. 

I was anxious about having 4 days in a row of not getting to the gym. Anxious about eating pretty much exclusively in restaurants. And truthfully I was anxious that I wasn’t going to be able to enjoy the weekend for fear of gaining a few pounds. As much as I haven’t felt deprived through this weight loss, I have been working hard and my diet and exercise are pretty much always on my mind. If I couldn’t relax and get through one long weekend, how was I ever going to be able to get through the rest of my life without turning into a gym/diet nazi?

I packed my gym bag and took it to the hotel just incase I had a few extra minutes to get to the gym, but the clothes stayed in the bag. I didn’t get there Friday after decorating and I knew that was my last opportunity, so I made myself be ok with that. Not going to the gym wasn’t going to transform me back into the 246 pound Darby over a weekend and that if I did gain a pound or two back, that I would just take it off again. Relax.

So, I did. No gym. An ok breakfast the morning of the wedding, a decent lunch before the wedding thanks to the bride’s mom, but the bag of chocolate covered jube-jubes that we snacked on all day probably didn’t do anyone any favors. They were so good though!

We walked around downtown Charlottetown for an hour or so (in heels....I don’t wear heels) for pictures after the ceremony, so that was a little exercise. The reception was buffet but I only had one reasonable plate. My parents and my boys were there and by the time I ate, both of the boys were looking for some Mommy time to we went up to our room. I did return in time for dessert however, and I had some of each of the three offered. Strawberry shortcake, cheesecake and apple crisp. Then at the dance I had wedding cake. So, 4 desserts. In one day. And they were all delicious!

I had plans to rush back home to get to class at the gym Sunday morning, but the late hours and running around of getting ready for the weekend took its toll and I was exhausted. I woke when I had originally wanted to be getting out of town and we still had to pack, drop of the shirt that my husband had forgotten to put in the bag with the rest of his tux, then drop my husband off at home before I headed to the gym. I dressed in my gym clothes, but my the time we got to the car I knew that there would be no gym that day. So we went to my parent’s cottage to get the boys and headed to the wedding gift opening and ate some more crap. Deli trays and more wedding cake. In for a pinch, in for a pound I guess. 

When I woke up Monday morning I was pretty leery of getting on the scale, but much to my surprise I managed to lose 2 pounds over the weekend. Ha! Maybe 4 desserts is the key!

I would have been happy to stay the same, but the loss was fantastic. And it was more of a victory than just the 2 pounds on the scale. It was proof to myself that I won’t spontaneously combust if I don’t get to the gym everyday. I can eat crap once in awhile and not balloon up to my old weight. Moderation.

I can relax.

As much as I know maintaining once I get to my goal weight won’t necessarily be easy, it will be manageable. I can survive small set backs and it won’t derail me completely.

The Difference 60+ Pounds Makes

Here are some things I have learned, noticed, or realized as I've lost 60 pounds. I borrowed this idea from Katie over at Runs for Cookies, and a lot of mine are similar to hers. You should check out her blog....she lost something like 125 pounds!!!

-I sink.
I love to swim (in a pool...little sea creatures and open ocean are not my friend) and before, I could stay afloat with pretty much no effort. I had a hard time diving for the weights in the pool because I would just float back up. I noticed today when I had the boys at the pool that now, I sink.

-H can nap on my chest.
I could never lay down flat with my boys on by chest when they were tiny because my belly was so much higher than my chest that it put them at a slant. I always needed to have myself propped up to keep then at the proper angle. We had an hour long nap yesterday with H on my chest and I didn't need to be propped up. 

-I don't have deep veins.
It had always been a challenge to start IV's on me. The students at the college hated practicing on me because you couldn't see my veins, only feel them. I would always say " my veins are good if you can find them, they are just deep" like it was just how I was made. Now I know that they were only deep because they were covered in FAT. 

-No more high blood pressure. 
I always hovered in that area just under actual hypertension. Not anymore. Last time I took my blood pressure it was 118/46. 

-My resting heart rate dropped from low-mid 90's down to the low-mid 50's. 

-I can use any towel.
We have two really big bath towels and they used to be the only ones I could get to completely cover me after a shower. Now, any of our towels cover me just fine. 

-There is no need for air conditioning in January.
At work it would be routine for my partner and me to have the AC on all the time. While I'm not back to work so don't actually know, I'm pretty sure I won't need it as much. 

-I don't know how people with no body fat survive without freezing to death. I am now cold all of the time!

-The regular size blood pressure cuff is lots big. 

-My bones don't weigh that much.
When I've thought about trying to lose weight in the past I never wanted to pick an ambitious (one that would actually put me at a healthy weight) goal because I never thought I would ever be not overweight. I used to rationalize not weighing a healthy weight by saying, "I'll never weight 168lbs....my bones alone weigh that much!"
They don't.

-I can enjoy a bath.
I can now have a bath and not feel cold all of the time because most of me is sticking out of the water. My torso can now be completely covered by water. 

-I can sit in chairs comfortably.
Those metal chairs with the arms that you find in banquet halls use to be uncomfortable and my legs would push against the arms. Now I fit without touching the sides. 

-I can cross my legs like a girl.
I could never sit with my legs crossed at the knee...I always had to cross them like a man with one ankle on the other knee. 

-I can buy any folding lawn chair and not be nervous of it collapsing.
I like having a fabric folding lawn chair for sitting outside at work but I was always heavier than the max weight. I still bought them but always felt nervous sitting down. 

-I wasn't only able to start wearing my wedding rings again, I also had to get them sized. Down from a size 9 to a 7.5. 

-I don't have to look for the biggest size. I could never buy many items of clothes that I really liked because the biggest size wasn't big enough. I still automatically look toward the back of the rack for the biggest size, but then realize I don't need it anymore. 

-I now weigh less than my husband.

-I don't mind my husband knowing how much I weigh.
Obviously my husband knew I was overweight (and loved me and found me attractive anyway) but I still didn't like him knowing the actual number. 

-I don't hide from cameras.
I have been looking for a good "before" picture but haven't really found a good one because I hated having my picture taken. My face.book profile picture hasn't been of me since W was born. I was much happier to share pictures of him, then him and H, than of myself. 

-I'm not too big to borrow my dad's warmer clothes if we stay into the evening at their cottage and I get cold. 

-I was having my last fitting in my bridesmaid dress the other day and the groom's mom, who is doing the alterations, handed me a robe to wear while she adjusted something.
She held it up and my brain automatically thought "that isn't going to fit and won't cover me" but then I remembered that I'm not the same size anymore. The robe fit with lots of room to spare. 

-I can eat foods without mayo, butter or sour cream.
Before, I had to have foods a certain way. Tuna salad had to have mayo (and lots of it), potatoes and veggies had to have butter or margarine, tacos had to have sour cream. My taste buds were used to the fat that makes these things so yummy, and food tasted like crap without them. But my tastebuds have adjusted. I rarely eat any of those things and my food does not taste like crap. It tastes like the food is supposed to!

-I like looking like a girl. Before, I was more comfortable hiding in baggy clothes and had no desire to wear anything 'cute'. Now I hate how baggy clothes look (still not comfortable in anything to skin tight though) and like the idea of looking girly. 

-My BMI has gone from obese to overweight and I'm now 16 lbs from healthy! I never thought I would ever see that category. 

-I look down at my thighs when I'm on the spin bikes at the gym and think "Those can't be my legs!" 

-I need to eat all day long. I was never a breakfast eater, but now it's my most satisfying meal of the day. I eat at least every 3 hours. 

-I can lay on the couch with W. We were rapidly running out of room.

-Jumping jacks aren’t sent from the Devil (but volleyball wall taps are!)
When we started going to classes, I hated jumping jacks. After about 5 of them I had to stop because I was exhausted. Now I can easily do a minute of jumping jacks at a time.

-When W gets tired and grumpy and wants a little extra Mommy attention and wants me to carry him and H, I can. W weighs 50 lbs and H weighs 20 lbs plus his infant car seat. So, 75-80 lbs of kids, with ease.

-Going to the gym is not a chore. Getting to the gym is my escape. I know once I go back to work this might change, but I love how I feel after I’ve gotten in a good work out and hope that will be enough to get my butt there, even after a long shift at work.


What are some things you have noticed if you've lost weight? What little day to day things are you looking forward to that you can't do now?

Sums It All Up

Goal Weight

When I started trying to lose weight in January I didn’t really pick a goal weight, for a couple of reasons.

First was that any weight that would put me into a healthy range based on my BMI seemed so far away that I would never get there, and I didn’t want to pick a goal weight that I would strive for forever but never reach. I think that a big reason why I was so unhappy tracking my food the last time was because I felt like I was working my butt off but not really getting anywhere. My goal didn’t seem to be getting any closer and that just made it seem that much more daunting. I should have broken it down into smaller goals working towards a larger one.

Second was that I had nothing to compare to. Some people have a weight that they want to get back to, what they weighed in university, or when they got married, for example. I don’t have that because I’ve never weighed a healthy, happy weight as an adult, or ever teenager for that matter. I don’t know what I weighed in high school because I knew it was too much and didn’t want to get on a scale, but I’m sure it was at least 200 lbs from junior high on. I was never comfortable in clothing and was always self conscious, so much so that I’m not sure why I didn’t do something about it then.

So, I didn’t start out with a concrete goal weight. I started off with wanting to reach Onderland (having my weight not be in the 200’s). As I started losing relatively quickly and I was content with how I was accomplishing it, not miserable, I knew that I needed to have something to aim for after that. With no other frame of reference to pick a final goal, I went with BMI. I have always thought that my “healthy” range for my height was a little low, between 125-168 lbs. It seemed really low when I was looking at it from my starting weight! But I wanted to get into the ‘healthy” category so I chose the top of the range as my goal, keeping it in my mind that I might change that as I got closer. I wanted to get to 168 and see how my body felt. If I was content and felt healthy there, then I would stop. If I felt like I could maybe go down a few more pounds, then I would adjust my goal and keep going a little lower. If I had to starve myself and be miserable to get to that weight then I would adjust in the other direction and raise my goal weight. I  know that I will definitely never see the bottom of the healthy BMI range and that realistically 125 lbs would not be a healthy weight for me. I would look like a skeleton!

I hit my first goal at the end of April. No more 200’s for this girl! 168 still looked awfully far away but it also felt manageable. I knew that I could get there. 

I’m now sitting just 17 lbs from that final goal weight and I’m still not sure if 168 will stay the goal or not. I have noticed way more changes in my body, and how clothes fit, in the last 20 lbs than I had seen up to that point. If that stays true, then I think I might be ok with stopping there, but I don’t know. I now feel that it is a weight that I can reach with starving myself and being miserable, even if the loss starts slowing down. I see more muscle and definition in my body almost daily and know that because I don’t have as much fat to lose that it will be harder to see the scale move, but I’m certain I can do 17 more pounds! I would love to reach my final weight before I head back to work this fall so that I can settle back into life as a working mom and just have to maintain my weight, not still trying to lose, and I’m confident that I can. I’ve found that success feeds on success and seeing the number on the scale get smaller and smaller makes me want it that much more.