Healthier Living

My body is in a vicious cycle.  

When I got married I weighed in at my lowest of 155.  I exercised all the time but I didn't necessarily "eat" right.  In fact, I was sooo busy with working full time, school & dating my hubby that I didn't eat much at all and when I did it wasn't healthy by any means.  Craig introduced me to the wonderful idea of breakfast, lunch & dinner LOL  I quickly gained 15 pounds.  I got lazy and hardly ever exercised and if I did it was a mile jog maybe 2x a week.  I was still doing school now full time & working until around 11 almost every night and so the idea of being healthy was not in my mind.  I knew I needed to lose these wedding pounds but also knew I would be getting pregnant soon so was looking forward to having an excuse to "be fat" 

With Jaycee I remember weighing in around 175 and when I delivered I was 220! !!!  I had gained 45 pounds!  I tried a little bit to eat good but I couldn't resist the crap.  After she was born and at around 8 weeks old I weighed in at 201.  I did lose 19 with delivering & nursing but still had lots to go.  I started jogging a lot and then added in Biggest Loser work out videos to help tone as well as the cardio.  I got down to 193 and she was 1 year old.  I had the working out part down...but the eating was horrible!  We then moved across country which included a week of eating food on the road and quickly so came 5 pounds!  I was 198 again and Jaycee at this point was 16 months and I knew something needed to change.  I was working out 4 days a week and hard work outs but just wasn't losing weight.  That's when Craig and I went on the journey of eating better.  We cut out hamburger almost completely, lowfat/diet everything, counting calories, whole grain breads & pastas.  Needless to say from July-November I went from 198 to 175.  23 pounds!  We were looking so much better and feeling better to.  BUT THEN it was time to get pregnant again!  I got my IUD taken out in November and the whole "dieting" was getting exhausting.  I reached my pre-baby weight and didn't try for more.  The holidays came & I kept working out so I kept it off but I didn't try for more or to improve my eating habits.  In April I found out I was pregnant with Hadley.

I vowed I wouldn't gain as much and that I would be better.  The beginning was rough thinking I miscarried & told that and remember indulging in cake because it drowned my sorrows.  My weight gain in the beginning was actually really slow & good because I hardly ate because I felt like crap.  I walked, walked, walked!  Probably about 8 miles a week.  Then the 2nd trimester hit.  HOT SUMMER so I hated being out in the heat while walking so that stopped for a bit.  Along came ice cream sandwiches & not healthy stuff.  Then the 3rd trimester and I knew my weight gain would be the same.  At my last appointment the doctor even made a comment that I needed to stop my weight gain. I wish they would've put me on a diet but I was 39 weeks and done!  I did start the walking up again once the weather cooled and that made a huge difference I feel like with labor as I did go natural and was actually not bad at all.  At the end I was walking about 6 miles/week through contractions.  I weighed in at 230 at my last appointment-55 pound weight gain!!!  I knew this would be rough.

Hadi was born right before Christmas and my labor was actually pretty easy with the recovery.  I did eat bad things with the holidays and at 5 weeks I got on the scale.  215.  I had only lost 15 pounds since she was born but knew that batch of toffee I made sure didn't help.  I started working out.  Craig didn't like that since it'd only been 5 weeks but I felt ready to go.  I did try to count calories but with nursing I would get light headed and wasn't worth the fight.  Instead I decided to try really hard to eat better.  Hadi is almost 14 months and I'm proud to say I weigh in at 188.  I've lost 27 pounds in a year and I'm ready for more!

My goal is still 175 for my pre-baby but I'm going to try hard to get down to wedding weight at 155, which still is 20 pounds overweight according to my BMI.  Craig has been a huge support to eat the healthy things and miss the other things I used to buy.  Also I watched a documentary last night on Netflix about eating healthier because there's so much crap that we put into our bodies.  We've already made the switch to whole grain breads & pasta.  Next step is the whole grain wheat & brown jasmine rice.  BUT MOSTLY VEGGIES!!!  We are really bad at those.  We're pretty good at eating carrots & corn but we need more!  We're also good at fruits.  Also today is DAY ONE of no soda!  I probably drink 2 a week so this will be a struggle but it'll be worth it.  Also the top 3 things to help relieve stress (stress causes the body to go into a "famine" mode of storing fat) is more sleep, more exercise (I'm doing 5 days a week now but there's more room for improvement) and more laughter :)    I really know this is a good thing and that it'll help to raise more healthier children and to make us feel happier and better.  I recommend everyone watching that show to learn more.  So here's to 2013 and dropping weight, eating healthier & feeling better.  Also helps that we aren't in a huge hurry to get pregnant so no deadline although my 175 goal is April. 

Everyone can do this!  Let's help each other to feed our bodies what they need!