It was just this past week that I really started getting serious, really serious about losing my pregnancy weight. For a couple of weeks, maybe a month I have cut my calorie intake and saw at one point a 5 lbs. weight loss in a week, to only learn that I gained it back over a weekend. Nobody I’ve asked can figure out why it happened, maybe too much sodium intake, no idea. At any rate, it was at that point that I decided I needed to get serious about this weight loss or I was going to keep this weight on for the rest of my life.
3 days old
But let me back it up a bit. Almost 16 months ago, January 31, 2008 I found out I was pregnant for the third time with our first child. I had two miscarriages before this pregnancy and so though I was elated to be pregnant, there was still some anxiety as to whether I would actually get to experience pregnancy this time. 8 months later, at 35 weeks (due to preeclampsia) I gave birth to Sawyer James, 5 lbs. 3oz. and 19 in. long. He was and is still perfect. I was able to breastfeed him for the first 5 months of his life. I was told around that time that due to my preeclampsia my body was just not going to produce anymore milk and I was going to have to give it up. I had such mixed emotions about not breastfeeding anymore, I didn’t want to lost out on that time nursing my son because it was so precious to me, but I knew that this may mean a chance to start losing the weight that I thought would have come off from breastfeeding. As you are probably already guessing, I am not one of those new mom’s who lost my weight within the next few months because I was breastfeeding my child. When I got pregnant with Sawyer I weighed in at my doctor’s office around 135 lbs. (Height 5’41/2″) It was more than I had wanted to weight when I got pregnant with my first baby, but it was what it was. Since I had to be induced and didn’t get to my next doctor’s appointment my best guess at how much I weighed when I delivered is somewhere around 170 lbs. I thought I was doing okay weight wise because I had only gained about 35 lbs, and my doctor told me to stay in the 25-35 lbs range and it should come right off. Well, with my preeclampsia I am not completely sure that was true.
So now my son is almost 7 months (March 6) and I am, as of a weigh-in yesterday, 145.8. I am determined to do whatever it takes to lose this weight and get fit again. Now you may be thinking, well, you only have 10 more lbs to go to be at your pre-pregnancy weight. True. However, I’d like to be fit and trim as well, so my goal is 125. I know when I am at that weight I tend to feel best about myself, I am working out and eating healthy to stay there, and I like the way I feel in my clothes. That’s really what this is all about isn’t it…feeling good about who you are in what you have to wear. So I have twenty pounds to lose and I am hoping to do it by May if possible.
So here is my plan and what I hope to blog about each day. I realized and embraced the reality that the only time I have to work out is in the morning before I feed my son, feed my dogs, and get myself off to work. So this past week I have been getting up at 5:00am and using Exercise TV as my means to exercise. For those of you who do not know what Exercise TV is, if you have cable on-demand you may want to check out the channels to find out if it is available to you. (In my local area, the channel is 426) Since we are currently on one income, I didn’t have money to work out at a gym and the thought of doing the same exercises over and over again from a DVD just didn’t seem appealing, I like variety. Exercise TV offers a wide variety of options and tells you exactly how long each workout is going to take. And, for the most part, it is exact. I say for the most part, because earlier this week I chose a workout and it said 22 minutes but the countdown clock said 42 and I didn’t quite have the time to finish a 42 minute workout. At any rate, my plan for the next 30 days, if not longer, is to workout each day taking one day off to rest. I will blog about the workout that I chose, share how I am feeling, what the exercise felt like to go through, maybe comment on the trainer, and share my food intake, etc.
Thus far I have seen some great benefits to working out. Since about my first trimester I have had sciatic nerve issues. I thought it would go away after I had the baby but it didn’t which is why I have been putting off working out for so long and why I stopped working out during my pregnancy. However, I have done cardio strength workouts, yoga, Pilates, and ab exercises and I have to say, except for the day that I did yoga, which increased the pain, I have had little to no pain since. I think the stretching and poses done during a yoga exercise, aggravated it a bit, but also helped to heal it. I also feel much better about myself already, I can feel some of my muscles again, especially in my abdomen and I am starting to feel stronger. I feel better about what I am putting in my body. I had found some recipes on food network this past Sunday and made a few of them throughout the week. I found them to be healthy, though some were lacking in flavor so I’ll have to tweak them for next time around.
Starting today, you’ll begin to read what I do throughout my day, what food I eat (how I liked it or didn’t like it), my mind-set, how my body feels, etc. I hope that this blog will speak to women who felt the same way I did about their pregnancy weight, but hopefully my actions will encourage them to do what it takes to take it off. The reality is only I can choose to take off this weight, no one can do it for me and thinking that it’s going to come off on its own or that it will come off later, will not get me anywhere. The time is now and so I am ceasing the moment and embracing a mantra a close friend once said to me, “I eat to live, not live to eat.” I get one body and it’s my responsibility while I am here on this earth to keep it healthy.
Lego My Prego Weight 