weight loss Archives - Page 9 of 11 - My Life: A Work in Progress

Fitness Friday: 6/28/13

28 June, 2013 15 Comments

Well, this is my first time writing a Fitness Friday post since March 1. It’s not that I haven’t been working at it, I just haven’t felt like posting until I made more progress. I guess I was tired of posting the same old, same old every week. I’m not sure if the original group of Fitness Friday bloggers I started working with last year are even still doing these posts or not. One of them is pregnant, I believe, so she’s probably not too concerned about weight loss!

I’m 5’10” tall. When I became serious about losing the weight I gained while pregnant, I joined another group of bloggers for Fitness Friday. I wrote my very first Fitness Friday post on Sep. 14, 2012, and I was 182lbs. If you know me in person or you’ve been watching the MyFitnessPal ticker at the side of my blog, then you know I have been losing weight.

On March 1 -the date of my last Fitness Friday post- I weighed in at 173lbs. Yesterday, June 27, I weighed in at 156lbs. It took me months to get down into the 160s, but once I did, the weight’s been coming off quickly. Oh, especially now that Baby J has weaned…I’ve dropped several pounds just this last week! You know that story moms say about your body holding onto the last 10lbs. if you’re nursing? Well, it was true for me!

This will probably be my last Fitness Friday post regarding weight loss. My first goal was to reach 165lbs., which I’ve surpassed. My ultimate goal is to reach a FIT and TONED 150lbs. I’m still working on that. :/ I would like to start a “Body after Baby” series and have moms who have celebrated fitness goals to guest post, but we’ll see if that happens or not!

Since this is the last post, obviously I need to show pictures! I’m posting before and after photos, and I’m wearing the same shirt. I wanted to wear the same jeans too, but I couldn’t figure out which jeans I was wearing in my before photos. I think they’re maternity jeans, but I went through my stack and couldn’t find any with that stitching on the back pockets. Oh well.

So here goes:

Before and After- Front Shot — Before and After: Front Shot

I have mixed feelings about my successes. Part of me is very happy. I can fit into most of my pre-pregnancy clothes. When I look at the pictures of myself a year ago, I can barely believe how big I was. At the time, I thought I was “heavy” and “curvy.” I didn’t realize how big I actually looked. After all, it took me nine months to put the weight on, so I was used to looking in the mirror and seeing myself heavy like that. I feel awkward saying the “F” word, but I was fat. There’s no way around it. Now I wonder if one of the reasons why my husband acted so weird when he first came home from deployment wasn’t just culture shock, etc., but was because he was shocked at how big I was (it was 2 weeks before our son was born). I look at my face in the “before” photos, and I realize how unattractive I was. Well, it’s all in the past, and I’m not going to let it happen again! And here’s where I’m not satisfied: I’m not fit enough. It’s not about being skinny. I don’t want to look like a model. I have no desire to be emaciated looking. I want to be toned. I want to have muscles. I want to be healthy. But it takes time and a lot of effort. And that’s the one area I really need to improve: EFFORT. I’m lazy when it comes to exercise. I don’t want to run. I don’t want to do squats or push ups. But if I don’t, I’m never going to be as fit as I want to be.

What are your fitness goals? How will you reach them?

life

Fitness Friday: Week 4

25 January, 2013 7 Comments

All right, so this is Week 4 for the Fitness Friday group, but it’s my Week 2. I’ve also joined a weight-loss challenge sponsored by The Babywearing Workout. You can read more about that by clicking HERE.

Current Weight: My goal for this week was to weigh in at 174 lbs., and I weighed in at 173 this morning!

Activity Performed: I didn’t meet my exercise goal this week. I’d planned to double my effort; instead, I really slacked off. I’ve just been fatigued and unmotivated all week. I did about 20 or so minutes of light aerobics and them some random calisthenics (pushups, crunches, etc.) throughout the week.

Diet: I’m still using MyFitnessPal, which I highly recommend to everyone. Even if you’re not trying to lose weight, it can be a real eye opener to see exactly how many calories you’re approximately consuming. Last Friday was my “cheat” day when my foodie friend from The Fresh Kitchen cooked an amazing belated birthday dinner for me and my hubby. It would have been fine if that was my only cheat day, but then I cooked vanilla chocolate banana bread on Saturday, and ate about half of it between then and Monday. I won’t say I went overboard this past weekend, because I didn’t eat a pint of ice cream or pig out on fast food or anything, but I did eat over my allotted calories. I did do better with my water intake.

Goals for next week:

I would LOVE to weigh in at 170 lbs.; however, I would be happy if I weigh in at 171 with a 2 lb. loss.
I’m going to keep it simple and plan to do 30-minutes of cardio at least 3 times, plus my random calisthenics.
I’ll keep up my calorie counting, making sure I keep a healthy balance.

Want to join us in Fitness Friday? If you have a blog, you can link up weekly at the blog We Have It All. If you don’t have a blog but would like to participate, feel free to comment below our Fitness Friday posts. I’d love to encourage you!

Review

Review: The Babywearing Workout

4 January, 2013 2 Comments

When I was pregnant with my son, I was hungry all the time (once the morning sickness passed, that is). I actually ate fairly healthy food, since greasy fast food made me ill…BUT I ate too many portions of the nutritious food, so in the end…I still gained too much weight. 🙁

I gained about 70 pounds (yikes!), but lost 35 within five days after delivering my son, so I obviously had a lot of water weight, etc. Since then, I’ve been slowly losing the rest. Around Thanksgiving I settled between 175-180 lbs., and I’ve been able to maintain that range through the holidays, in spite of the cookies, caramel brulee lattes, and dinner parties.

My first goal is to reach 165 lbs., my pre-pregnancy weight. After that, I’d like to concentrate on fitness. When I was in my best shape, I was 152 lbs., but I had little body fat and a lot of muscle (I’m 5′ 10″ tall). That’s where I’d like to be again, but I know that will require hours of running and weight training every week. That’s not so easy when you have a child, I learned quickly.

And then I heard about the Babywearing Workout…

When Kelli, the mom behind the Babywearing Workout contacted me, I was excited and motivated to kick the rest of this baby weight in the butt! The Babywearing Workout is a 30 minute program that you along with your baby can follow in your own home. I do it in our living room!

After Kelli had her daughter, she found herself constantly bouncing around with her daughter in a mei tai, trying to get her baby to sleep. Kelli decided to turn her bouncy movements into exercises to lose weight she gained while pregnant and before. She lost 70 pounds within 10 months!

Before and After: Kelli at 6 weeks and then 11 months postpartum

Kelli was inspired to share her experiences and her workout program with other new moms, so they too can reach weight loss success without diet pills, or paying for a personal trainer or gym membership! You can read more about Kelli’s story by clicking HERE.

Our experiences:

After doing the Babywearing Workout for a week, I lost two pounds. Considering it’s the holidays, and what I’ve been eating, that’s definitely a success! I don’t know if I truly had more energy, or if the workout was a placebo effect, but I felt better about myself, and that made me energized. I’ve been using a Moby wrap but will be purchasing a mei tai carrier for working out in the future, since it’s a little more structured and supportive for Baby J.

I usually post personal photos with my reviews, but I’m still shy about my body and current weight. What I will do is post more photos down the road, as I lose more weight. I’ll update you all as I continue to do the workout. Especially wonderful is that I’ll soon have extra motivation and support…

The Babywearing Workout’s New Year’s Resolution- Weight Loss Challenge:

Starting January 14, Kelli and other new moms like her and me will be participating in The Babywearing Workout’s New Year’s Resolution- Weight Loss Challenge for 10 weeks! Through a private Facebook group, we’ll be able to hold one another accountable, as well as share tips and recipes. There will even be awesome prizes, including two Onya Baby Cruiser Carriers!

To learn more and purchase your own copy of the Babywearing Workout (DVD and download available), visit the Babywearing Workout Web site. Use code: RESOLUTION at checkout for a 15% off discount!!

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Because Kelli is awesome, she’s offering several Babywearing Workout downloads as prizes for the Bellies to Babies giveaway that starts tomorrow, Jan. 5! Fans of the Babywearing Workout on Facebook will receive an extra entry, so head on over to Facebook and “like” Babywearing Workout today!

Note: I received a complimentary download of the Babywearing Workout to review and was not compensated for this post. I was not asked to write a positive review, and the opinions expressed above are my own and may differ from those of others.

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