Here's the Skinny :)

Hi folks, well I have to say that I'm still running and you know it DOES get better? I think for me I want to see immediate results. I want to see a change in my body. Whether it is in how I feel or how I look. I want to feel pain in my legs and buttocks!! I think that's why I enjoy sweating when I workout. It's evidence to me that something is happening, I'm working hard. So let me give you the low down on what's taking place. I've started counting my calories. One day I thought, I should just see how many calories I eat in a day. I was eating over 2000 calories a day EASY! I love snacking, I love precooked microwavable foods and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Totino's little pizza's. (yes I eat the whole thing by myself) Well no wonder why I was getting fat! I was still eating as if I was 21 and if you didn't know this about me, I am NOT 21. Then I started thinking about how skinny I would get when I was nursing my kids. You burn 500 calories in one day from nursing. So I decided that in addition to running I needed to cut down my calories. (you thought I was going to say that I'm gonna start nursing my kids again huh? LOL) NO, I'm trying to stay at 1400 calories a day. Can I just say that this is not an easy thing to do? Especially if you have a sweet tooth. Anyhow, 1. Running 2. Counting Calories 3. Jump roping. Yes, I have added this to my workout. There are times in the day when I can't get out because there is no one to watch the kids. I pull out my jump rope and jump for 10 min. This is equivalent to running a mile in 8 min. (As I'm jumping I always wonder how I did this for so long when I was little? ) If I start to get too tired and my feet trip up, I put the rope down but continue to jump. Sometimes I switch it up by jumping into a squat and then jump jump jump and into a squat again. I'm determined to change my body. I'm not happy with it. So many people say that we need to just accept our body the way it is and I agree. Love how you look, BUT you should strive to be healthy and no healthy doesn't always mean skinny. I took before pictures and when I reach my goal I will post the after pictures :)

Once again

Ok, did I mention before that exercise is not my thing? :sigh: Well if you're wondering why I haven't been blogging about my progress it is because there hasn't been any. I fell of the band wagon. BUT I am getting back on :applause please:! Yes, and I am facing  one of my biggest fears. Running. You may wonder why this is such a fear of mine. All I can say is that it is hard, I am afraid of hard work. Sweat. Pain. Running consists of all that stuff. My husband is the one that encouraged me to start. He said "we can zumba for 45 min or run for 10 min" So even though I despise running, I chose to do it rather than the other. But believe me when I say I was NOT happy about doing it. For one, it was cold out and it was night time and welll... and I just did not want to do it.  Let me describe to you how this went down. We go outside and dearest Hubby of mine says lets stretch. We do a few stretches (ones that I haven't done since playing basketball in High School) and then we walked to the end of our driveway and started running. After 60 seconds my lungs started to hurt, or maybe I should say freeze. It was cold outside and it hurt every time I inhaled. My ears started to ache, my nose started to run and I wanted to stop. But we were only a few yards from where we started and well I just have too much pride to give in so I kept running. My husband decides to try and help me out by singing an army marching song. You know "Left, left, left, right left" and then some silly rhyme that goes along with it. He says it helps keep your feet in rhythm which helps you keep going. All it did for me was get on my nerves because I wanted to laugh but I was hating him so much for encouraging me to run. So we run, and get to the end of the road area and turn around. I wanted to stop and start walking. My legs hurt, my hips hurt and oh my goodness my lungs were going to collapse. (Do you feel sorry for me yet or just think i'm pathetic? I know. Pathetic) Anyhow. I don't stop. Again my Pride wouldn't let me give in. My husband kept encouraging me "you're doing great, keep it up" and each time I wanted to just say "shut up you liar, I'm dying here."  We're on our final stretch, he wants us to sprint the last bit to the mailbox, so I try until I realize that the first set of mailboxes were our neighbors and not ours, and I slowed just a bit until we got to ours. (which was literally a couple of feet but felt like yards). I made it. It didn't kill me, not that second at least.  We walk it off a bit and then I went inside the house. It was so hot that I started stripping my clothes off. I had my hoodie tied so as I began pulling my sweater off it got stuck around my head and I was in a serious wrestling match. Finally I won and threw that thing on the ground. My ears drums started hurt so bad. My lungs were just burning. I felt like I was going to throw up. How is it that I can Dance Dance Dance in 5.5 inch heels and not feel this same way? I just don't get it. Anyhow, I survived. I hated it but I survived and guess what? I did it again the next night. It was warmer out and my husband had his music playing on his phone instead of him singing his marching song. It was a bit easier but I still felt shaky and sick afterwards, but the third time I ran wasn't as bad. I had my Mp3 Player blasting in my ears, it was warm out, my lungs didn't ache and I didn't feel sick. I still don't enjoy running. But I do have a goal in mind and I really want to reach that goal. And who knows, maybe one day even after I reach my goal, I'll keep running and I'll do it because I LIKE it :)

Wow, So it's been a while right?

OK. Confession Time. "I Esther Delgado have not worked out for 2.5 weeks. I have not been drinking my water like I am suppose to and I have not been making healthy choices when it comes to eating." HOWEVER I have been watching my portion size servings. :) The reason for this great failure is that I have been packing and moving into a home and now am unpacking, building furniture and settling into our home :) We have been so busy. We haven't hooked up our Kinect and that really is my only source of exercise *zumba*.  But thankfully I haven't really gained any weight back and I DO plan on starting up again. I also am thinking about getting an exercise bike or treadmill. I fear the treadmill. I don't love running at all. So I would hate to buy something and then never use it. I know I'll use the bike because we had one, even that took me a while to face. Why am I so afraid of these things? Is it because in my mind it is something that really really works out your body and I'm just to lazy to work that hard? I don't know. Doing Zumba is no easy workout. What would happen if I made it a habit of running, will it really make a difference? Am I making it to be scarier than it really is? I guess I won't know until I actually try it huh? When I do, I promise you'll be the first to know!

1 month

One month ago I began exercising and dieting. My goal was to lose one pant size. However I don't think I quite reached that goal. I am a skinny size eight and a chubby 6 as I have heard stated before LOL I would love to be a comfortable 4. But just because I didn't make it into my favorite pair of jeans doesn't mean progress wasn't made. When I started off I took my measurements. Here they are:
Waist -28                         Now:   28
Belly - 36                                     34
Butt - 41                                       40
Thighs-39                                     39
So although it isn't a drastic change, there is still change. I really feel like I can still improve my eating habits and I want to do some different types of exercising. Yoga, biking and possibly running (that's my last resort :) along with my zumba workout. On the flip side I can't tell you how encouraging it is to have my husband workout with me. I laugh watching him do the zumba moves, but we keep each other going. I also have a harder time seeing a change, then I would get discouraged and he would constantly tell me how he can see the difference.
A support system is vital because there will be days when you want to quite or slack off (which leads to quiting). I also think it is important to have realistic expectations. I will always have wider hips and a bubble butt. (not a bad thing) I will never have toothpick thighs and I may always have a "baby pouch" and that's okay. I can have  toner thighs and butt, firmer abs and no muffin top :) I can reach a size 4 but more importantly be tone and healthy ! That is my goal.

A vicious "cycle"

I am convinced that dieting and exercising may be more difficult for a woman. Here is my reason: I have been exercising for two weeks now. I have been drinking 3-4 bottles of water almost everyday. I have cut my portion size nearly in half and increased the quality of food I eat. It is now the beginning of week 3 and I noticed that I am so much more tired than I usual. My food cravings (junk food) has gotten stronger and my stomach feels bloated even if I suck it in! Can any of you ladies out there relate? Even further, can you diagnose the problem? Anyone? Anyone? Yes Lady in the back of the room stuffing chocolate cake in her mouth? (She answers) "P.M.S"!!!! Bingo, you got it. Hormones are out of whack and therefore your body is out of whack. I find my motivation to exercise non-existent. The strength to resist junk food at low capacity. All I want to do is crawl under my blankets, grab a bag of chips smothered in Nacho cheese and turn on the TV. Do men go through these changes? Do they hit these walls? And am I going to feel like this month after month or does it ever get better inspite of the hormonal change cursed on us because of Eve?
I don't have that answer yet and neither does the lady in the back scarfing down chocolate cake. What I do know is that my body has been in control of me for way too long. I give into its desire for Jet's pizza and bread sticks way to easily. The fatigue makes me want to do what it says and just sleep or do nothing. So I have to fight back. I can't give in. I can't say "I'll just work out double time tomorrow" because we all know that that's not going to happen. I may not have my heart in it but if I keep pressing on then this to shall pass :)

One week. Any difference?

The hardest thing about working out is not seeing immediate results. You see it immediately when you gain it, but not when you are working hard to lose it. I think this is why so many people quit. It is discouraging when you are working so hard at something and you see nothing. But isn't that just an illusion? I mean, I have worked out for one week. I have curbed my eating diet, and I have cut my soda to about 1 a day. I have also increased my water in take dramatically. To be honest I don't see much of a change. I'll reach for a pair of jeans and it still takes me 4 hops and a squat to squeeze into them. (girls you know exactly what I'm referring to!) HOWEVER!!! I honestly feel a difference. I know the water is flushing out my system, the exercising is making my muscles ache (or should I say "my fat ache" because there isn't much muscle just yet). And mentally, I think about exercising, I think about what I am eating and I feel icky when I eat something that isn't so healthy. My body likes what I am doing. My mind likes what I am doing. My eye's on the other hand  does not like what it sees. I often think, " I wish I could just get all the extra stuff cut off and  have my old body back and then I would REALLY take care of it." But then I wake up and face reality. It's going to take work. Easy is not always the best. I'm doing things the healthier way. (don't get me wrong, I always pray and ask God for a little Divine intervention as well) LOL I think when I reach my goal, I will be so happy to feel and SEE  what I have accomplished through hard work. It's going to be worth it. I have faith that this stuff works :)
NOW I am going to post my measurements :
Waist 28 inches
Belly 36 inches
Butt 41 inches
thighs 39 inches (that's the total circumference of both legs together, not individually ;)
I'll measure again in about a month.

What the Heck was that?

I was suppose to wake up early to work out this morning. Well my husband and I were going to but my daughter kept waking up throughout the night. (she has an ear infection) So sadly, it didn't happen. We took her to the Dr.s and then after that we came home and we "planned" to work out real quick before Miguel had to go to work, but we ordered pizza instead. Not just any pizza, but Jet's pizza. Deep dish, Garlic buttered crust, covered in cheese and pepperoni. We also got  side of cheesy bread sticks. I ate one piece of pizza and two pieces of oh so delicious bread sticks. Half way through I started wondering about how many calories I was eating and how much harder will I have to work out to burn it off? What was wrong with me???? I've been exercising, isn't that good enough? NOPE. Now my conscious is nagging me. I have never in my life felt guilt for eating greasy, and fatty foods. Maybe it's because I've never weighed this much before. Maybe it's because I'm dead serious about wanting to get skinny. Or maybe it's really being scared to death of working out and not seeing any results because I love pizza way too much! (okay, breathe Esther. Soon the spinning will stop) All I know is that this is all new for me. I never had to diet before. I never had to care about what food I ate. but those days are long gone. I need to forget about those days and do something about today.  I need to keep pushing forward. Okay.... the spinning has slowed down. OH one more thing! After eating that yummy pizza, I ate a Krispy Kreme glazed donut.... :sigh: Dear God Help Me!!