My Weight Loss Journey - Post Baby

As women, we all know how hard it is to keep our bodies in tip top shape, especially after having a baby. While a small percentage of new moms "bounce" back to their svelte figures, I am among the vast majority of those who hasn't had it that easy. 

I have always been fairly thin/petite my whole life. Exercise, weight loss, and workouts were always easy when it came to my figure - which is why I had never needed to really work hard for it or maintain it. Now that it's life after baby, it's been such a struggle to get my pre pregnancy body back. Being that I was sporting extra pounds after Honor, I was motivated to shed the weight as fast as possible. 

Two months before getting pregnant

Two Days before delivery

During my pregnancy I gained 42 lbs - going from 107 pre preggo, to 149 the night of delivery. After having Honor and breastfeeding and eating somewhat healthy, I went from 149 to 129 in a matter of weeks. I was beginning to feel like my old self again, and becoming less miserable about how I looked. But then I ended up getting mastitis in each breast (a week apart) and after that, my milk supply dramatically dropped to almost nothing. That then lead me to begin supplementing with formula and the weight I started to lose slowly, made it's way back up to 136. This is where I found myself to be stuck in a rut. So I reverted back to what I knew best because it has always worked for me in the past, and that was crash dieting, cutting calories, taking diet pills and living off of smoothies. But much to my surprise, none of that was working and giving me the "quick fix" results I was longing for. At this point I began working out like crazy. I would put Honor in the baby carrier and walked laps around our community lake in the middle of hot summer days to help burn more calories, as well as incorporating weight training and "healthier" eating habits. Here is where I went back down to 129 after 6 consecutive weeks of this low - medium intensity regime. 

I was doing great with staying on track but then once the weather began changing to cold-gloomy days, I started to take more and more "rest" days to where I eventually stopped my routine altogether. And then... Here I found myself yo-yoing back to that good ol 136 pound mark. 

At this point, I became extremely hard on myself and hating the way I looked, felt, the whole nine yards. 

After feeling sorry for myself and throwing a pitty-party, I decided that it was really time for a PERMANENT change to not only look like my dream Victoria secret model but to maintain it after I reach my goal to avoid that yo-yoing effect from happening all over again.

Now that I had changed my mindset from feeling sorry, to I want to make changes, I sought out to contact a former friend of mine from high school. I had been following her journey on fitness competitions that she recently started doing and saw how amazing she began to look. So naturally, I wanted to know all of her details on what to do, eat, etc etc. I wanted to take a different approach to my weight loss than just taking a short cut with diet pills and pretty much no food. 

So with her guidance on workouts and meal plans I recently began a new journey on losing this weight the RIGHT way. 

So far I haven't had a huge change weight wise, but I have started to notice a major difference on how I feel. Though the physical changes to my body will come with time and discipline, I can proudly say I don't feel bloated anymore and my arms, neck, and face feel smaller. There have been many times where I have wanted to quit it all because the number on the scale wasn't dropping fast enough, but that "smaller" feeling I had been experiencing is what has kept me going. At the end of the day, I just don't want to have to start from square one again. 

Here is my current progress picture as of: 3/28/14. My weight is currently at 131, but everything is beginning to tone up and get tighter. 

Since I am no where near my goal weight and desired look, this post is just simply about my progress so far. I have started to gain the mindset of wanting to be stronger, faster, and fitter which has helped take my focus off of how much weight am I losing or how much I wished I looked like a Victoria secret model. I have slowly began to accept my body for what it is, what it has endured and now I workout and eat healthier solely for my pleasure in feeling good. Although I would love to indulge in pizza, fast food, desserts, and anything else I want, that brief moment of deliciousness isn't worth the "lifetime" of living in my body.

 I have learned that as long as I keep that mindset, my physical appearance will fall into place and I will have my dream body one day. Let it consume your spirit and there won't ever be another day where you wished you looked like another woman with a svelte figure. 

You can very well be that inspirational and motivational person that others admire and look up to! You just need to value yourself enough to know that you have the willpower and self control to turn down unhealthy food choices. Once you're able to prove that to yourself, maintaining it will be a walk in the park 

Make your changes permanent, not temporary. 

*I am not using any supplements as of right now, however I am using a waist cincher by Squeem. So far I love that it is training my waist to become tighter, and helps keep things tight during my workouts. I will be ordering the extra small very soon since the small is becoming more of a comfortable fit.

Hope this helps in any way, shape or form. Or just simply motivates and inspires you. Loosing weight isn't easy, and is definitely a long process, but don't give up on yourself. Trust me, I know it has its trying times, but JUST KEEP GOING!