I haven't forgotten....

We've been pretty busy around here, actually.

I joined a gym-sponsored weight loss program at the beginning of April. (Yep, no excuse for nearly blog-less March). Unlike Weight Watchers and other programs, this one is fitness-based while still focusing on dietary intake. So each week, they award plastic bracelets for both weight loss and for workout "points" (5 points per min of cardio, 1 point per 100lbs of strength training). So far, I've gotten a pair of bracelets for Alia to drag around the house each week. They are adding to the mess, but I'm proud of them.

I decided to join, because I wasn't losing weight after Hannah the same way that I did after Alia. I wasn't going to wear maternity clothing for another whole summer, and I wasn't going to purchase new clothing ---and my "fat" pants started getting holes in the knees.
Couple all that with the idea that if I got some momentum on the weight-loss/exercise front, I might as well try to commit to losing that last 15 or so pounds that I have been wanting to lose since college. So that put me in a 35 pound loss target. :)
I'm down about 10 pounds since we started the whole thing. YAY!
I am *almost* fitting into some of the looser pants from my pre-pregnancy days. I figure I have another 3 weeks or so of my yoga pants with the hole at the bottom, that I really bought as maternity pants with the intent that they might be workout pants later.

All of this means that our morning routine looks something like this:
Wake up, shower, don gym clothes.
Convince Squonk to walk the dog, as I down my coffee while nursing Hannah. (Kudos to Squonk for getting up earlier to walk the dog)
Hit the gym, find parking if I'm lucky. Spend about 90 minutes there.
Come home, feed Hannah, eat lunch and get everyone (including me!) down for a much needed nap.
Wake up, feed Hannah, walk the dog, start dinner.
Squonk comes home.
We eat dinner (Hannah typically gets hungry here, so I wolf it down and feed her while Squonk tries to coerce Alia into eating something.
Squonk does the dishes.
We alternate putting Alia to bed. Usually a number of times, since she gets out of bed and does things like putting on her fairy wings or rainboots and then getting back in bed to sleep. Why are rainboots required for sleeping? I'm not sure...

As busy as it is, it's turning out pretty well.
One thing about the whole weight-loss deal: It's not a diet. It's a lifestyle change. If those extra pounds are going to come off, I'm going to have to maintain a lot of the changes I'm making now, over the long term.

I am, however, determined that I'm not going to be a gym-rat - one of those people who hangs out at the gym permanently. I need to find some sort of sport or activity that I both like, and which isn't strictly gym based. Hmmmm.