Blogging to get fit?

Well, I'm pretty sure sitting in front of a screen blogging isn't going to get me fit, but I did find that posting to Facebook last year was somewhat motivational for my P90X success. I'm not going to go so far as to say there was any accountability by posting on Facebook because (not that I blame anyone) no one ever asked me how things were going with it when I didn't post anything. People have their own lives and I never asked or expected anyone to hold me accountable to my own goals anyway. I did enjoy encouraging others and answering questions and other people were very encouraging to me.

Last year when my husband and I decided to start P90X, I asked him if we could wait until the New Year to go with the flow of everyone else making resolutions and cutting back instead of having to say no to everything all during the holiday months. Besides, I'd just had a baby at the end of September and he wasn't even sleeping regularly yet, so it just seemed a little unrealistic to be able to start a new exercise and nutrition plan with the new baby (the third child) and having newly moved into our house. This also gave me extra time to gather my motivation and the mental strength necessary, which is was a HUGE factor in my success.

I managed to lose 32 lbs last year and kept it off for most of the year (though 7 lbs have crept back on and I've gotten a little soft). I was very good about sticking to the diet and exercise plan for the first 90 days. I was pretty good at getting regular exercise and eating reasonably for the next 6 months and the last 3 months have been a crap-shoot. I've indulged all Christmas break, enjoying all manner of holiday treats. I have tried not to over-indulge, but it is difficult. I've tried to mentally keep track of how I feel eating when I eat poorly so I can contrast it to when we start eating properly again. I feel kind of gross.

When we started the program last year, we wanted it to be long-term, but we knew long-term didn't mean forever eating mammoth salads and stir-fries and one carbohydrate per day, every day forever. I still wanted Christmas! We figured we would cycle through the year, doing P90X for the first three months and maintaining moderate activity and healthy eating for the rest of the year. We did well with P90X for the first 90 days; hubby's back started bothering him, so he took it easy for a while and I was keeping up with about 3-4 work outs per week for most of the spring and a reasonable diet. Since I returned to work in September, it has been difficult to work out and I have gotten sloppy with my diet, especially with the holidays and holiday treats.

What will be different about this time around for me is that (1.) I am not nursing a baby anymore! I'm sure that covered over a few sins in my diet, so I won't have that buffer anymore and I will have to be extra careful about what I am munching. (2.) I am working out of the home now, which means I have a little less time to get housework and projects done. (3.) Hubby wants to work out in the morning while the older 2 children are at school and the baby naps, so it will require my own motivation to get my exercise instead of relying on the routine and partnership of my husband. (4.) Hubby will be preparing lunches, which will be a nice break for me. (5.) We are also hoping to get 10-Minute Trainer so that if we feel like we don't have the time for a P90X workout, we won't have an excuse to skip exercising altogether.

So, we will start P90X again, with a modified diet (we can't afford the P90X nutrition plan: too much food, too expensive), but I was able to successfully cook stuff that worked for us last year, so I'm not too worried.

Breakfasts with toggle between: egg scrambles, protein shakes & oatmeal (though I might experiment with Paleo and skip the grains).
Lunches will be my husband's responsibility since he is home in the mornings, so I can eat as soon as I get home from work. I am hoping for stir-fries, salads, soups & "sandwiches" (lettuce wraps for me).
Dinners will be "meat & (sweet) potatoes" style with a salad, which means a main protein (2 servings) with hot veggie (starch for hubby & kids) & fresh salad.
Snacks will be: fruit, celery with peanut butter, nuts, cheese strings, homemade protein granola bars, protein recovery drinks and whatever other healthy things I come up with.
I figure if I keep the menu simple it will be easier to stick with.

I am hoping we can handle a cheat meal once a week because we all really love my homemade pizza, which just consists of homemade thin crust, homemade tomato sauce and cheese. And I think I would also enjoy having 2 small muffins on Sunday mornings again.

I'll try to pop in tomorrow and update you all(?) on how it's going, how I'm feeling and maybe you'll even get some starter pictures (ugh).