Thursday, July 26, 2012

My weight loss journey as a mommy of 2!

Today I'm writing this post as it marks the exact 3 month mark since I made a major life change! (I had been running a couple weeks before this but it was just frustrating me and not showing results)  I'm hoping that maybe I can be an inspiration to all you other moms out there, or even for those of you who don't have kids but need come encouraging to get going on the whole fitness thing!

This is me 3 short months ago:



I have always been the person who struggles with her weight, I think it comes with the territory when you were always called the "fat kid" and were even pushed out of your group of friends in school for being the fat one of the group.  But on the positive you get to learn real fast who your real friends are.  I did eventually lose weight in highschool and came to terms with who I am.  I started liking myself and actually dating.  That was all in the past and now I'm a mommy of 2.  After my son was born the weight seemed to immediately disappear and I actually ended up being lighter after him then I was when I became pregnant with him, and all without even trying.  I expected the same thing to happen after my daughter was born 20 months later, but that was far from what happened.  I gained 30 lbs during my pregnancy with my daughter and after she was born only 8 of it disappeared.  Ugh!  I decided to be happy with where I was and I told myself that it was ok as I had 2 kids, it was my excuse.  Things didnt change as my daughter turned 1 and I actually hit my highest weight I'd been..... 165, which at only 5'7" is in the overweight catagory.  I also became a size 14-16 pants and an XL shirt.  I started becoming very unhappy and hated who I saw in the mirror everyday, I knew something had to change!  I used to be confident in my skin at one point and I wanted to be there again! 
One night I was awake late and was watching infomercials (I mean come on what else is on at 2am?!?).  I kept seeing all these commercials for weight loss programs and all the awesome bodies I wished I had, but none of them seemed worth trying, and then the Insanity infomercial came on.  I watched and when they said that it "puts a whole years worth of workouts into 60 days" I was sold.  I talked my hubby into trying it with me saying "its only 60 days, if we hate it we dont have to continue it after that".  Little did I know I was about to change my entire life!

We started our journey and the first week killed me everyday!  I was crying I hurt so bad, but I continued.  I continued through a knee injury that I acquired, I continued even if the only time I had that day to do it was at 1 am.  Week 1: done!  Whew! time to weigh myself!  0 lbs lost!  Are you kidding me?!?  I worked that hard for 0 lbs?!?  Here's me after 1 week:


This is where I made a major eating change as well.  I started counting calories, sticking to my calorie goal, and eating healthier foods.  Ok, now it will be better!  Week 2: done!  Again, 0 lbs!!!  Ok i'm frustrated!  I broke down crying!  My husband comforted me (he's lost 10 lbs by now), and did some research.  What we found is very important to anyone starting a high intensity workout who has not worked out before:  THE FIRST COUPLE WEEKS YOU MAY GAIN WEIGHT! that's right GAIN!!! UGH!!  the reason? your body goes into a freak-out mode and holds onto every last drop of water it can to protect your muscles.  Makes sense, so in theory it should all be water weight at this point holding on in there.  Here's me after 2 weeks:



Ok, I'll continue!
Week 3: done!  Now for the dreaded scale........ 5 lbs!  yes!!! 5 lbs gone!!  Its working, its really working!  I was on a mission now.  My original goal: get down to 150 lbs (this is in the healthy range for my height and I was going to be happy there).  That goal came and went and I needed a new goal...... ok, new goal : reach 145.  Again I continued with the Insanity workout.
Finished Insanity just 2 days before we were scheduled to run our very first 5K ever!  I figured I would be dying, I didn't run before (other than a couple weeks before starting insanity and I died during those runs) and I had just been doing insanity and not running, so my training was off I felt.  When we went to the 5K (the color run - if you want an extremely fun 5K to run - look it up!  Oh my gosh, it was amazing and I'm so glad I chose that one!) I was apprehensive but we ran it and we finished it in 32 minutes!!!  amazing!!  I was so excited!  Lets take a break for a minute and look at the pictures from the run!













Here's me at the starting line, all nice and clean!













Above: Here's my face after the race!  Not so clean anymore!  :)
Below: My after race photo!  It was a blast!!

The hubby's after race look!  I love that I have such a supportive husband through all this!


Now that the fun was over and so was Insanity (we now have gone through all 60 days), I was left weighing in at 145 lbs (my second goal).  But now I was addicted to working out and getting fit!  I continued on by running and biking and misc workouts.  Almost 3 months into my major life change this is what happened.......



That isn't the end though, I've continued and I've been currently working on the Jillian Michaels' Ripped in 30! 
Here's me from today: (sorry for the poor picture quality)
I'm currently weighing in at 134 lbs and a size 5 pants!!  Keep in mind too that this is the body of a mom who had 2 kids 20 months apart!


So to all you moms out there who think that they can't do it, or that use their kids as an excuse...... I'm living proof that you can do it!!!  I have made a change in my entire family's eating habits, and I have so much more energy for my kids!  I feel better, I'm happier, and I'm teaching my kids good habits! I couldn't have given myself or my kids a better gift!  I'm going to be around a long time for my kids now that I'm healthier!  (And just as an FYI, I also did this without giving up my favorite foods....chocolate is still my favorite treat!  I've just learned to portion things better and fit in the bad with the good and switch things when I can, for example I have switched to frozen yogurt rather than ice cream, and in my baked goods I've switched from oils and eggs to applesauce and egg whites, these things make a huge difference in calories and fat!).  I'll be posting healthier recipes in upcoming posts.... stay tuned!  :) 

I hope this has helped encourage you all to get going on the healthy lifestyle!  In today's world obese is the norm, but you can change that, for yourself, for your family, for your friends.....Its worth it, YOU are worth it!  And if anyone needs someone to talk to for encouragement or to vent to about frustrations that come along with the road ahead, then hit me up!  I'm more than happy to help!!!