How I lost the baby weight!

How I lost the baby weight.

I think that when most women get pregnant one of their biggest fears other than the health of the baby is how their body is going to change and how much weight they are going to gain.

If you have been on a weight loss journey before the pregnancy I feel that the feelings and fears are far worse. When I had my first two pregnancies I gained 65 and 70 pounds and no one told me different with my first pregnancy. People just let me be with my first pregnancy and I honestly, I PROMISE YOU I HONESTLY THOUGHT that I would go back to 105 pounds after the first baby. I was pregnant by myself meaning I was the first of my friends to get pregnant so I was riding this one solo. My mother told me that I was all water weight and I had no reason not to believe her she to me, was an expert. She was right but not completely. I was left with 30 pounds after I lost the water, baby, etc. My second pregnancy went back down to 135 within 6 months of beating my butt at the gym doing the Body For Life program and eating a ton of chicken and broccoli. I actually hate chicken and broccoli now that I am more educated on healthy choices.

With my third pregnancy, I was well educated on health and fitness and had my healthiest pregnancy. I gained 45 pounds and had to work for 10 pounds of weight loss. I was scared that I was going to go back to my old ways and that I was going to get to 135 again and stay there. My body set point must be 135 because when I lost the weight that is where it stopped and I had to start fighting my body to get the weight off.  I can tell you that it was a journey and it was frustrating but worth getting back into my pre-pregnancy jeans. I am now at my pre-pregnancy weight 127 but I would like to get back to my 120 pounds that I was before I went on this binge at a wedding I went to the year I got pregnant with Molly. I never bothered to lose the weight because I knew I was going to get pregnant and that I did 2 months later.

How did I lose the weight??? 

I ate real food. I am not one to label myself to anything but I ate mostly Paleo. The only times I strayed was for my weekly pizza happy meal habit with occasional breadsticks.

So what did my meals consist of?

Chicken wings, chicken thighs, steaks of all kinds, seafood, homemade broth, all kinds of vegetables, sweet potatoes, potato, rice occasionally, pork of all cuts but mostly tenderloin it’s the most juicy cut and an occasional chicken breast thrown in there but I am not kidding when I tell you I hate chicken breasts. I did also eat chips and candy but in moderation and NOT every day. I also threw in some popcorn there. **I would have rather lost weight eating the things that I enjoy than depriving myself for however long and being miserable** That my friends is the secret to weight loss slow and steady = stress free long lasting weight loss

I did Beachbody workout programs. I did do Crossfit as well but only for about a month. I was getting exertion migraines and had to stop. I did Body Beast right after but, my arms started to get REALLY big (I am a super petite person and my arms were nearing 11 inches while the rest of my body was shrinking LOL) and I didn’t like that so I started the 21 Day Fix Extreme recently and I am loving the portion control and workouts and for the first time doing the 21 Day Fix I am not hungry! I feel that I am fine tuning the last bit of my weight loss.

I allowed myself time.

There were moments when I got really frustrated. Here are a few memorable ones! 

I couldn’t do all the moves to my workouts because of my Diastsis Recti.

My running sucked, I started back at a 12 minute mile from running a 9 minute mile.

I couldn’t lift 20 pound weights anymore.

I was doing Body Beast and my inches and weight were stuck for three weeks. With the exception of my ever growing arms I was stuck at a plateau.

**I didn’t realize what pregnancy did to a fit body because my last 2 pregnancies were lazy**

After you have a baby you must remember that inside things are happening and your body is healing. As much as we would all like it to happen losing the baby weight is not as easy as some super celebrities make it out to be. I wanted to have all the weight off by Christmas but I found that to be too soon for a goal time even though I was close, I was putting too much pressure on myself and changed it to a year after the baby was born. I did that because realistically that’s how long it takes for the body to recover from pregnancy. Now here I am at 8 month post fitting into my pre-pregnancy jeans but also knowing that I am not finished yet. I need to create the buffer I had of 120-125 to better suit my body.

This is pretty much how I succeeded. I took my time I was patient for the most part with plenty of impatient days and when I least expected it………last night, my pre-pregnancy clothes fit. No matter what journey you are on patience is the key and keep remembering why you are doing this which I hope is optimal health.

I realize this was a long post but I certainly hope that you read through it and if you need help please ask. I would love to help you out in any way that I can as long as you have the motivation to push through.

1/2 way through Body Beast Results

So here I am at the halfway point of Body Beast and I had to give my measurements to my coach and take my pictures. I can say that I am really excited about sharing them because 6 weeks of progress has been AMAZING! I have been eating as healthy as I can I didn't drink and ditched the candy for Jan and the compound effect is literally in effect. 

I started Body Beast because of the ease of the workouts I mean you can't be getting some muscles with 50 min or less workouts and most of them being less that 40 minutes in length. I have time to spend with my children and I am not trying to fit in an hour. I have that time but I have other things that I would like to do as well. Anyway I started Body Beast at 134 and I am now 129. I have lost about 8 inches in total mostly in my hips and thighs (I am also recovering from pregnancy as I am 7 months post.) There has not been a change in my arms other than they are getting more defined. I am going to show you all a side view of my belly because seriously I don't like the front of my stomach it's just ew. HA HA HA I have come to terms with it for me but not for the world to see. 

I am thankful that despite me not always trusting the process I stuck with the program and as much as I wanted to do cardio to "help" with the weight loss and faster progress with me I didn't do it. I decided to trust this process completely and to see where it has taken me and here are the results. I couldn't be more excited and I feel AWESOME THIS is MINE after birthing 3 children. It takes dedication and it takes persistence but YOU CAN DO IT TOO!

 

Body Beast Week 4-5

I have not written much.....life has been hectic to say the least and like many of you I am thankful for the rest during the holidays but I am SO glad that it is over! I can concentrate on getting balance again. Well.......more balance than before. My daughter is 7 months old today and balance has not really been in the forefront in our home and the holidays threw us for a loop as well. BALANCE is that too much to ask for? Sometimes I think that it is.

Week 4 and 5 of Body Beast were pretty much me figuring out where I was with the weights and feeling comfortably uncomfortable there. Week 5 was a tough week for me mentally because I saw a ton of change in week 3 and I feel like I don't see any progress and I got frustrated but still push through even though I didn't give my all to a few of the workouts. I did them, I lifted heavy, but because my mind was off in "this shit isn't working land" I didn't feel that great about week 5. I think I remember going through the same thing when I was doing P90X. Realistically I just hit the 30 day mark so seeing changes that early is huge. I still have 7 weeks to go so there is still a ton of room for change.

As far as my diet goes it has been 80/20 even though I feel like I was 50/50. CONFESSION: I had pizza 2 times in one week. Probably why I have been beating myself up for the past couple of days. My excuse for eating pizza for those days......I wanted it and I was tired of cooking 2 meals per meal a day. My kids eat one way and my husband and I eat another to say I was TIRED of cooking was an understatement. I was also battling one heck of a cold. I was worn the heck out. I don't feel guilty about eating it that shhhhh was good! but.....I know it may have hindered my results. I am not naive :)

So that is pretty much it. I took pictures for my challenge group but I am not willing to share those. Once I take some that are decent I will post my day 1 and current so you all can see progress because heck isn't that what you read this stuff for? I know I do. I want to know and see the changes that a particular program is about. To date i have not had any other results on the scale or on the tape measure other than feeling  strong and having a mostly positive outlook on my body and being healthy overall. :)

Insanity.......

SO! I remember posting a few days ago that I gained weight and inches in my upper things. I have a pear shaped body and most of my fat goes in the rear end hips and thighs. Tummy is the second place that all of that crap goes.

I noticed it happening because my shorts were fitting CRAZY tight around my legs. Once upon a time ago I hated the thought of wearing shorts and for that reason alone I got so excited when shorts didn't hug my thighs :) I don't want to buy new clothes, I want to wear the ones that I already have because I spent REALLY good money on my clothes and buying a bigger size than I normally wear for me is being okay with getting bigger and if I go there than I am just going to keep letting these little things compound right?

I just want to make it clear that I don't really care about how much I weigh, I sincerely care about my clothes fitting me and not having to buy a bigger size. Now don't get me wrong I am not a one size fits size. I have to buy a medium sometimes to get a better fit and that is okay with me I just don't want to be the bigger size ALL the time. I understand vanity sizing and all that marketing bologna but I can't stress enough I don't want to get bigger because I was already THERE.

I knew that Body Beast and the way that I was eating was not enough for me or maybe I was truly bulking and that's okay but my thighs got bigger and that is not something I want to compromise LOL. If you are a girl reading this I hope you understand lol.

This is where I started. THIS is where my journey began and THIS is NOT me. My weight doesn't define me but my confidence does and THIS girl is not confident. THIS girl had issues with her body, with her mind and she was scorned and in pain. This picture shows a girl who at that very moment decided to make a change in her life. SHE was going to be healthy and she was going to look like she once had before because she always said that kids will not stop her from having what she wanted.

Little did I know that I would be here today standing tall and confident and in love with who I am as a person inside and out. I am healthy and I LOVE that what I feel on the inside is showing on the outside. I am taking care of myself in more ways than one. This was me then and I want to stay where I am now and grow into a more loving and wiser person than I am today I want to keep moving forward and not looking back.

My thighs not fitting into those shorts while it may seem vain and insecure or whatever negative thoughts one would think it truly showed me that I was reverting into a life that I don't want to see again. It may have been my thighs but I was eating poorly, drinking a lot more than a glass or two of wine and it was not going to church. I was sliding backwards in all areas of my life and my body was telling me otherwise. So I started changing things.

I wake up early and pray to God and thank Him for all He has done. I workout and I am now currently doing Insanity and I am in LOVE with it! I also eat better I am writing down what I eat to keep accountable and I am doing my Bible Study and Bible reading everyday.

It is a great Bible study if you are interested in it. There is SO much I want to blog about in the coming days and I am glad that I am off work so that I can share with you all! I can't wait!!!

Good times!

I feel that since my "epic" 21 day reset I don't really have much to talk about but I guess maybe I will just be random.

I have been doing Body Beast, I am on week 5 I am taking my time with it if I skip a day I just do the workout the next day. I have never missed more than 1 workout per week so I am a few days behind but I am okay with that. I am working with my body not the calendar.

I haven't measured or taken any pictures. I am not in it for a transformation so to speak but I do have my after Reset pictures that I will use as my Day 1 since I started it then and will just take after pictures so I can get my sweet T-Shirt in the mail for completing the challenge :) I am all about those free t-shirts!

My diet has been havoc since completing the Reset, I have drank more than I would like to admit, I have eaten like a pregnant woman, and I am slowly getting back into the swing of how things used to be. I felt like that kid that moved out of their parents super strict house and was set FREE! LOL It was clearly too strict of a regimen for me.

I have also picked up running a few days a week which I enjoy. Body Beast is awesome but I am all about keeping my heart healthy too, so I put in a few miles mostly on the weekends and that seriously brings my stress levels WAY down! I also started this Squataggeddon Challenge in my office where we started with 50 squats and will end up doing 300 by the end of the month which is pretty cool. I only do Body Beast and the Squats every day when I am feeling like I have a lot of energy to burn I run and sometimes I do this work out called Buti!

Buti is SO fun and if you are wanting to feel feminine than this is the workout that you need! I know that I am a Beachbody Coach but this is one workout that Beachbody needs in their library lol. I like to do other things than Beachbody stuff and I want to show that here. I am not a robot for them or anything, I really enjoy their workouts and helping people achieve the best them possible but sometimes I need to walk away from the workouts to experience other things in addition to missing them. Anyway back to Buti!

It was created by this awesome chicky Bizzie Gold! She used to be a fitness competitor and did Crossfit and was a Yoga lover. After she had her daughter she decided to put her own spin on a workout and Buti was born. It is a pretty greta mix of dancing, plyometric circuits, and some yoga stretches in between. The workout is tough will lean you out and make you sweat! There are free downloads on Vimeo and you can stream it off of YouTube, There are three on there that you can use so that's 5 total that you can bust a move too. I love it and here is a sample......


That's pretty much what's going on in my life fitness wise. Tomorrow I will post some pictures of our trip to the zoo.

Mother's Day

Today was such a great Mother's Day for me. I didn't go anywhere, I didn't do anything and I just sat at home with my son and my husband and I did some FaceTime with my B who is in Florida. I could not have asked for a better day! I took the time to reflect on the important things like my family :) I thought about what it meant to be a Mother to my children and possible future children. While I don't have it figured out yet I am feeling a shift that is happening in my life that is going to get me closer to B. 


God will have the last say but either way getting out of debt and be financially responsible with our retirement is a win/win no matter how we look at it. So let's just say that we have plans and have been getting out of debt it is our first priority that's for sure! I certainly hope that me getting closer to him is in God's plan for me and my family :) Anyway here is a look at my day! 

My husband made me breakfast, I had Shakeology with eggs and a waffle. I opened my cards from Cristian and my hubby and of course our Doggy Kona.

He wrote I LOVE YOU!!!!!! With the help of Daddy but EEEK!

Some afternoon relaxation!!!! Teavana sweet tea!

Then I made lunch I had a Turkey Cuban Sandwich which was off the CHAIN. I relaxed on the couch with my sweet tea and HGTV magazine and loaded up on some DIY channel and HGTV TV of course!!!! Then I cooked some shrimp tacos that I have been craving for awhile now!!!! I made them super healthy and I LOVE THEM! I even managed to get my Body Beast Legs workout on!!!! I had a great day that was full of family and me time which is a great balance for me!!!!! I'll post my Shrimp Taco recipe here in the next few days!!!! Now off to enjoy the rest of Mother's Day! To all the Mommies out there I hope you had a wonderful relaxing day!!!!!!!

Life

It has been some time since I have been on here and I feel like I have so much to say! 

I guess I will start with my workout! LOL I am on Body Beast Day 2 and I am already feeling the sore from my triceps and the workout this morning which was legs. I hear it is brutal I guess more to come on that update huh? I have been eating pretty well but I feel so fluffy and I think it is because of the influx of carbs that I have been eating the past few days. It has been all pasta based dished for the past three days and I seriously think it is time to change it up! 

I am doing eMeals (no I am not endorsing) and all of the meals for the plan weren't that great and were in fact all pasta or turkey burger type dishes.....I am kicking myself for that one now but I didn't alternate like I should have I suppose. It also may be because I have been messing around with the Glowing Green Smoothie that Kimberly Snyder has out there that I have been trying but maybe that's what it's from ha ha. I don't know. Back to Body Beast though I really like the program! I have been getting up at 5 AM to get the workout done and out of the way and I can say that it has been a blessing to get it done and over with and not have to worry about anything else through out the day. You would think by looking at the workout sheets that the program isn't going to be brutal but that's just a lie because man it is brutal when you are done lol. It is a great workout and I seriously would not be intimidated by it at all if you are a woman and wanting to get into shape. 

I will show you progress pictures through out the program so that you can see that you won't BULK up or anything like that if you are a woman looking into a quick weight lifting workout. I lvoe it because it is between 35 and 45 minutes which is ideal for me as I don't really have that much time through out the day to get the workout done unless it's during my lunch time but I would have to use the gym for that and I am not all that comfortable with the workouts yet to do them off memory or just by the name. 

Well that is all for now. I hope that you all have had a wonderful day!!!!
 

It's kind of how I feel about my belly right now lol

 

 

Salad Tips

Body Beast

So Body Beast came in the mail on Saturday while we were on the road. I am not officially starting until March 4th but I wanted to get started on reading and figuring out how were were going to eat. Since this is a body building program eating is essential to any workout but if you are trying to gain mass it appears that you will be eating more than working out it seems LOL. Yesterday I calculated my body fat percentage at 22 percent but I don't really know if that is accurate or not because of the fact that it seems like a lot but I want to check with my calipers when I get home. My calorie adjustment it 2800 calories, I guess that seems like a whole lot to me because I eat between 1600 and 2000 per day depending on what I eat so it seems like I am going to be gaining some serious weight but I will trust the process and see how it goes. 

So we got home yesterday evening and it was so nice to be home. As much as I like being in the Coast Guard there is nothing like the feeling that I get when I come home. I know where everything is, I can just relax and my Mom does everything so it is just nice to be able to enjoy my children. I came in the house yesterday and my son B was like Mom look! I got you something for Valentines Day! and THIS is what I came home to. 

I love them and I couldn't be happier that he chose ME to be his Valentine :) I love my little man so much he is the sweetest guy ever. He makes me so proud every day! 

Later today we are going to do our family photo session this afternoon, lets hope that my boys cooperate :) Well off I go to enjoy more family time, I hope that you have a wonderful Tuesday!