My dear friend The Kegel Queen left a question on Project Weight Loss: Week 8 that required me to do a bit of leg work to answer.  I realized that some of you might have wondered something similar before too, and so I decided to turn it into a blog post.  Then I realized that I kind of liked answering questions Dear Abby Style, and maybe I want to answer more questions like this.

And so Dear Ali was born, kicking and screaming and trying to tell you what to do.  Basically, I’m going to give advice and you can take it or leave it, Nosy-Stranger-Eavesdropping-On-Your-Conversation Style.

Project Weight Loss: Week 8

November 16th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Weight Loss - (16 Comments)

Zak and I were in college when we met and started dating.   He taught me how to play racquetball early in our relationship, and it came to be something we did together quite regularly at (my) school where we had easy access to racquetball courts.

Whenever we played, he always won.  I never felt bad about this, he’s bigger, stronger, a more experienced player – he kicked my ass quite regularly and I just rolled with it.  I mean HELLO, I’m hanging out with my uber cute boyfriend with whom I’m totally smitten, who the hell cares if I win or that racquetball is a little dorky?

Project Weight Loss: Week 6

November 2nd, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Weight Loss - (5 Comments)

Week 6 of Project Weight Loss will go down in the Mama’s Weeds history books as

The Week That Life Got in the Way.

Birthdays, birthday celebrations, friends visiting from out of town, hurricanes, Halloween, plus the all usual the family and baby stuff. Let’s just say it’s been a full week.

Last week I got a glimpse of the 130’s when I weighed 139.6, (WOOT!) but that’s all it was. A glimpse.

Project Weight Loss: Week 3

October 12th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Weight Loss - (20 Comments)

Project Weight Loss rolls on!  Today marks the end of Week 3.

If you recall, last week I hooted and hollered when I saw I was down to 144.8 from 146.0 the week before.

This week instead of shouting “Hooray!” I said “Really?!” because when the scale said 143.8 this morning, I had a hard time believing it.

All week I hung out at 145 and even saw 146 flashing back at me one day despite staying within my weight loss calorie allowance just about every day of the week. I was especially bummed to see 146 and threw myself a Poor Me Pity Party while I stood on the scale, wondering why am I doing any of this?

This is Butternut Squash #3 in my kitchen this fall.  My skin is turning more orange by the minute.  Stinking beta carotene.

That’s actually not what I wanted to tell you.

Halved Butternut Squash

No, what I wanted to tell you is that when butternut squash is peeled, cubed and roasted in coconut oil, it reminds me a heck of a lot of a roasted sweet potato.

But that’s not the good part.

Compared to a sweet potato, butternut squash has nearly 100 fewer calories, half as many carbs and 9 fewer grams of sugar per 1 cup serving.

Project Weight Loss: Week 2

October 5th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Weight Loss - (18 Comments)

Well, it’s the end of Week 2 of my little Project Weight Loss here.  Last week at the end of Week 1 I weighed in at 146.0.

Today?

144.8

(Did you hear me shouting HOORAY at 6:30 AM, EDT today!?)

I was VERY happy to see 144 on the scale this morning, especially considering I haven’t seen those numbers in that order since I was three months pregnant. I didn’t even care that it had a “.8” behind it. In fact, I wouldn’t have cared if it said 144.99999!

Project Weight Loss: Week 1

September 28th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Weight Loss - (8 Comments)

One week ago today was my “It’s Time to Get Serious About Weight Loss” start date.

My Body Weight Time Line from 2011 and 2012

In the early summer of 2011, I weighed 133 on my home scale and was very content with that.

October of 2011 I found out I was pregnant. I had not stepped on the scale in since August of 2011 so I don’t know exactly what my pre-pregnancy weight was. I’m sure I weighed more than 133 by the end of the summer when I was training for the Steamtown Marathon simply because I felt hungrier than usual due to all the miles I was running and was therefore eating more than usual. I know I gained some weight during this time.

I have decided that it’s time to get serious about my postpartum weight loss. I’m going to blog about it because I love to write about losing weight and I love to see people get excited about losing weight too. I once heard someone say, “you talk about what you think about”, and weight loss is what I’m thinking about right now. My hope is that what works for me might give those of you looking to lose weight some ideas about what might (or might not!) work for you too.

Weight Loss Before and After Photos

September 17th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in - (5 Comments)

My weight loss success story started at the end 2007 with these pictures. The photo of me in sitting on the floor in the yellow shirt is the one that pushed me over the edge and made me realize it was finally time to get serious about weight loss.

Before the Weight Loss

Fall and Winter 2007, weighing about 160 – 165 pounds (click to enlarge.)

Weight Loss Before Picture 165 pounds Before Weight Loss Photo Fall 2007 Before Losing Weight Winter 2007 Before Weight Loss Christmas 2007

During the Weight Loss

Spring and early Summer 2008 – about 150 – 145 lbs

During Weight Photo Spring 2008 Weight Loss During Father Day 2008

After the Weight Loss

Summer, Fall and Winter of 2008 – 128 pounds

This is the third post in a three part series about measuring the various aspects related to weight loss to more effectively achieve weight loss success.

This series began with the line “what gets measured gets managed“.

Part 1 was about counting calories.

Part 2 was about keeping track of your work out stats.

Part 3 is going to be about measuring your weight in order to manage it.

I am of the personal opinion that if you want to get serious about losing weight, calorie counting is the best approach for real results.