Before and After Labor

Here is my before and after labor. This is mostly for my records but figured that since you have all been on this journey with me you might want to see this as well. Plus I was always curious to see what a belly truly does look like after birth so I am showing off mine as an example.

Key notes:

-I only gained 31 lbs
-Simon was 7lb 13 oz so between him and everything else that goes on I lost about 10 lbs automatically
-I have been exclusively breastfeeding since he was born

As we left for the hospital:

After (May 22, three days after birth):

Three days after birth with Simon:

Can you believe that big thing was in my belly? He was actually head down for the majority of the pregnancy I just didn't think it would be smart to hold him head down :). Also, I do have stretch marks...no more bikini's for me!

As of right now, my belly is basically gone. I definitely need to work on my abs when I am physically able to but I am back in my pre-pregnancy jeans. And not my "half way through my weight loss" jeans..the jeans I was wearing right before I got pregnant. I had to go to a doctors appointment on May 29 and at that point I was only 11 lbs away from my pre pregnancy weight. Not bad!

Before Pregnancy

Once pregnant I plan to do monthly photo's of my belly getting bigger. Similar to what I did with the house but with me as the focus. I think it will be fun and a great way to document the pregnancy. I am also going to try and describe what it feels like. As a Type A personality I do research and while I could find out what happens to the baby each month finding out what it actually feels like to be pregnant was hard. I know you get morning sickness but does it feel like a stomach virus or more like the flu? What does it feel like when a baby kicks or moves? I have asked those that have kids and its been either so long ago that they don't remember those details or they couldn't describe it. I hope to be able to describe it.

Lots of other bloggers do the monthly photos of pregnant belly's but one thing I notice is they never do a before pregnancy. I often cant tell from the 1st month if there is a change or not because I don't know what their normal is. They say there is a change but as an outsider....sometimes I can't tell. So I decided I should do a "before pregnancy" shot so that we will know if there is a change or not :) Brian doesn't like this project as he will have to take pictures of me.

Front View

Side view

When I am actually pregnant I am going to switch pants. For this experiment I want to limit the variables as much as possible and I have other yoga pants which I will be able to wear longer then the ones above.

Also I should take the opportunity here to state why I do not agree with the BMI as a gauge of weight loss/health. Currently I am 5'5" and about 148lbs FINALLY I am within the normal range of BMI. However, I am not doing as much weight lifting so I have lost muscle mass. When I was doing more weight classes my BMI was considered obese....barely but still. I really didn't look much different then I do in the above photos, I just have less toning now. Muscle ways more then fat so when I start back with the weights I will gain weight because of the muscle. I have never ever ever been obese. Calling me obese at any point in my weight journey is just wrong and I hate how it must make people feel who are obese. If I am considered obese when I look like the above, how do you "classify" them? How do they keep the motivation to lose those lbs if they will still be labeled obese when they get down to my size? I am not a nutritionist or anyone who has any degree in this but there has to be a better system to gauge these things that will take into account not just height and weight but also how much muscle you have. There may be a better system, if so people in the health industry should use that to gauge whether someone is at the appropriate weight for their health, not the bmi. Yes we have a lot of obese people in America but I am not one of them.

Weight Update: November Part 2

I meant to do an update about this sooner but the life got away from me. I did show you how I fit into my normal clothes but here are pictures of me in my bathing suit which is way too big. It doesn't look big in the photo's but definitely would not go swimming in it.

The class schedule has changed drastically. Not enough people are going to the night classes (we are lucky if we get three people) so they were all cancelled pretty much. So for the most of part I have been doing the treadmill every night and last week I started doing it for an hour where I end up walking 4.2 miles or so. This week I decided that I was a big girl and could do weights on my own. So Mondays is arms and upper body where I do 50 curls, 50 bench presses, 50 triceps pushes, 50 shoulder raises, 50 arm flies and 50 rotators cuff pulls. Basically I do 50 of whatever Arm/back exercises I can think of. I am able to use 15lbs for all of them but when I do the exercise where you lift your arms straight out to the side, there I have to use 5 lb weights. Wednesday is abs so I use a stand to do 50 regular sit ups, 50 oblique sit ups on each side and 50 back lifts using a 15 lb weight. For the "machine", I am leaning with pads on my thighs/hips parallel to the pads and I bend down and up 50 times for the back, for the oblique sit ups I am perpendicular to the ad and am bending to the right and then left 50 times and for regular sit ups my rear end is on the pad and I bend backwards and then up wards 50 times. I also do another ab machine 50 times. Fridays are my lower body so I did the inner leg machine 50 times, out leg machine 50 times, quad machine 50 times and hamstring machine 50 times all with 60lb weight resistance. I also do calves with 15lb weights. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my days on the treadmill for an hour. Next week is Thanksgiving week so this will get changed to take that into account.

My lunch classes are basically the same though we have added Pilates and I am really liking that for my abs. Monday is still Step, Tuesday is weights focused on either upper or lower and cardio and stretching, Wednesday is Pilates, Thursday is still Zumba, and Friday is still kick boxing.

So far I like my new schedule. I miss the night classes but I do not expect them to come back until January or so. I hope my new work our routine continues to show results. I did weigh myself and I am now 153lbs so I have lost another 2lbs even though I have increased/gone back to weights.

So without further delay, here are the pictures. Again the strained smiles are because I am trying to balance.

I think the camera is adding on about 10 lbs. You can't really see the definition and tone that I have achieved and I feel like I just look a lot thinner in person. Oh well

Weight Update: November

Is it really November already? These pictures are with regular clothes on rather then my gym clothes. I will try to get pictures done with gym clothes but we shall see how successful I am with that.

Still at 155lbs. One of my favorite fitness teachers left this month and she did mostly weights so I am hesitant about the next couple of months. I really like the tone I have built up and hate to lose it. I know I wont do weights at home or out of a class setting. I am also the only one doing the night classes for the most part and those are also mostly weight classes and so that teacher is going to have to cancel those as well. I will be doing tons of cardio but I am debating on seeing how personal training works but I don't know. I am thinking about when I do cardio on my own on the treadmill I definitely have to pick up the speed but also do it for an hour rather then 30 minutes. I did it for an hour on Friday and felt really good.

So this is what I look like in regular clothes. Again I am on my tipey toes for the side and behind shots.

Those pants start to fall once worn for a while....ha!

Today was a great day!

Today was an amazing day!

I got inspired to step on a scale after another woman and it appears I lost 6 lbs so not only am I below 160 I am below 155! I am now 154 if the scale is correct. Not sure why I weighed 160 a couple days ago and will weigh myself again in a week or so but I am very excited!

Then I found out that I was able to do overtime this Saturday AND next Saturday! I know most people wouldn't be excited about doing overtime but the extra money will help with house projects and it is a sign of how far I have come within my training at the new job.

Then I was given some very precious gifts. One of our fitness trainers is moving to Florida for a change of pace and I will miss her. However, as she is moving she was getting rid of a lot of stuff and had brought some things to class offering it to us if we wanted and if we didn't she was going to donate it to Goodwill. I looked at the list and fell in love with 99% of it and I was able to get all of it because no one else wanted it! I got 2 things which are going to be Carley's and Xavier's Christmas presents, a cabbage patch doll because it will go with my other one at home and would be cool to keep around and the rest was Christmas presents.

Remember my post about wanting to decorate for the holidays? Well Christmas is done except for the table cloth/napkins. I got about 7 pieces that make up a Christmas Village set which I think will be fun to put on a table. Some battery operated candles to put in windows and a Christmas themed Afghan and pillow. I also got the best thing ever! Christmas dishes! It is a set of 12 with glasses that aren't part of the set but go beautifully! These were her Grandmothers  and I am going to email her thanks for everything and let her know that I am going to use them with care and if she changes her mind and wants them back I will get them to her. If not, great for me but I don't want her to regret a decision. 

Here are some pictures:

Salad Plate

Bowl

Dinner Plate (12 Days of Christmas...12th plate)

Cup (this is the 3rd day of Christmas)

The back of the cup which has the verse related to what day the cup represents

I didn't unpack everything since it is packed really well but the dishes consist of a table setting for 12. The dishes are also dishwasher, microwave and convection oven safe! Can't get easier then that! SO excited for Christmas this year!

Brian wasnt too happy, we are ourselves moving and have to go through our own junk and here I come in with this but how could I say no? SO exciting and saved us SO much money!

Weight Update: September

This is very late....ooops!

Not much has changed since August in terms of the number but I did lose inches. I attribute most of that for being out of commission for most of September and the first half of October due to my attempt to give blood. I did think, at one point, that I had lost another 2 lbs but that was just muscle weight that I lost so I am still stuck at 160.

Classes were switched up this month. On Mondays we have Strengthen and Stretch (which has a really good premise but I am just not into yoga) during lunch and Armed and Dangerous (weights focusing on arms) in the afternoons. Tuesdays have Step class during lunch and Zumba is back for the evening class. Wednesday is Triple threat (weights focusing on all body parts) in the afternoons and then I do treadmill in the afternoons. Thursday is Zumba at lunch and power sculpt in the evening (weights/activities focusing on the lower half mostly). Friday is Strike during lunch and I do treadmill in the evening.

I am excited for this Thursday's afternoons class we are doing a demo for a new class they are thinking of adding. It is called Boot Camp and we will lift tires, plays with large ropes and other activities one might except within a military Boot Camp. This class would cost extra so I do not know if I will be able to participate in the class but I am looking forward to the demo.

On to pictures. (please note: the pants are a medium. I cannot tell you the last time I was a medium)

Forgive my face, class was tough tonight and I am on my tippie toes to get the shot

And yes I still have my bottom, Mom doesnt call me J-Lo for no reason

I took a moment while these pictures were uploading and one of the main, noticeable, areas where I have gotten smaller is my chest. That is probably why I feel like I do not have an hour glass figure anymore. Still have my hips (those will never go away) and my waist is still tiny (and even tinier) but my upper half is so much smaller that it doesn't appear to be that much bigger then my waist. :-\ I also have more tone in my arms/back/legs then what you can see on camera.

September's Fitness Schedule

The fitness center's class schedule changes with time to keep things fresh. It has changed a lot starting in September and I am really liking the changes.

The new schedule:

Monday: 12:05-12:35 Circuit Circus with a different teacher
              12:35-12:45 Absolutely with a different teacher
              5:15-6:00 Rock Bottom

Tuesday: 12:05-12:35 Sassy Step with a different teacher
              12:35-12:45 Stretch..I have been skipping this but will try it with the new teacher
              5:15-6:00 Power Sculpt

Wednesday: 12:05-12:45 Triple Threat (used to be on Friday lunch hours)
                   5:15-6:00 Zumba (used to be on Tuesday nights )

Thursday: 12:05-12:45 Zumba
                5:15-5:35 Treadmill

Friday: 12:05 to 12:35 Strike (used to be on Wednesday lunch hours)
           12:35-12:45 Absolutely
           5:15-5:35 Treadmill

Rock Bottom is a new class that focus's on toning the lower half of the body. As this Monday was Labor Day I haven't had that class but I am excited to try it. Power Sculpt is a class that uses various "explosive" movements like jumping to increase strength and tone throughout the body. I had that class and it was a lot of fun. There were certain exercises that were tough and some that didn't seem tough at the time but I was definitely feeling it the next day. The teacher who taught Sassy Step is now teaching Circuit Circus and the teacher who taught Circuit Circus is teaching Sassy Step. I am excited about the change. Different teachers do different exercises even in the same class. Plus with the original teacher of Sassy Step, I was getting bored with the Step class. I had stopped thinking it was doing anything for me and probably would have stopped taking it. I am hoping the new teacher changes things up a bit to make it a bit tougher.

I am currently at the the size I would like even though the number is not cooperating so I am not necessarily trying to lose weight like I was before. I am now trying to tone everything up some more. I am sure I will get smaller in getting toning but my focus has changed.      

My company gives a discount for living a healthy lifestyle. In order to participate you have to fill out a survey about yourself and then it rates you on how healthy you are based on your answers. I got a 94% and agree with everything except where the weight is concerned. My BMI is still above what it should be. It isn't telling me I am morbidly obese like Curves did but they recommend I lose 20 lbs or so. They think based on my height I should be between 111 and 150lbs. I would have to drop 11lbs to just get below 150 and I am not sure how good that would look. I guess I am not really mad at the assessment but at everyone's use and reliance on the BMI (Body Mass Index). It does not take into account how much muscle you have. All it does is take your height and weight and come up with a percentage. I am 160lbs but most of it is muscle and muscle weighs more then fat much to my frustration as I would love the number go down. I don't have a lot of fat left on me...at least not enough for the BMI or for me to lose 20lbs. I don't even know how I would lose the 11-20 lbs to be in the range everyone wants me in based on my BMI. I don't like BMI's

Weight Update: August

We have a wellness program at work and we got tested this month so I am going to use those numbers. I did forget to measure myself with a tape measure but I think the results are very noticeable so I am not too worried about it.

Weight: 160
BMI: 27 (this still has me overweight which is nonsense)
Blood Pressure-Systolic: 116 (normal)
Blood Pressure-Diastolic: 77 (normal)
Total Cholesterol: 177 (good)
HDL Cholesterol-good cholesterol: 44 (Borderline)
LDL Cholesterol-bad cholesterol: n/a numbers were too low
Triglycerides: n/a numbers were too low
Blood Glucose: 85 (normal when I am fasting which I was)

July's results:

August's results (decided to keep the black pants, they show change the easiest):

It is official:

I would like Victoria Secret gift cards for Christmas as all my bra's and underwear are too big. My exercise pants are too big as well.

Eating while working out...

Is very important to losing weight and getting in shape or even just maintaining your current weight. Everyone knows that the more calories you burn and the less calories you consume the more weight you will lose. This is of course a very slippery slope.

I tend to accidentally have an issue with this. I am obviously working out and burning calories and I am also trying to eat less so I can lose weight. However, there are days I feel like I haven't eaten enough. If you don't give your body fuel it will go into starvation mode and you won't lose weight. If you don't give your body enough fuel it will not create the muscle tone/change that you want it to. My issue comes with the later. I am eating...just some days not enough it seems. I don't want to cut down my activity as I am having fun so the only answer is to eat more.

That is easier said then done. One reason this is hard is because I am so used to eating small amounts multiple times a day that I can't eat a lot at one time. Another reason is that I hate feeling like I am constantly eating. It doesn't matter what I am eating, I hate feeling like I spent all day eating even if it was only carrots. My schedule also makes it harder since I can't eat at my desk and can only really get up from my desk on my designated breaks.

I don't like to eat unless I am hungry. However, I am a big girl so I force myself to something before I leave work. My preferred breakfast is an English Muffin with Jam but right now it is a piece of bread with peanut butter since I ran out of English Muffins. I don't eat anything during my first/second break so I think I might add something there although that will end up being very close to my breakfast time so I won't be hungry or even thinking about food. Also not sure what I would add since I only have a 10 minute break and I would have to get to the break room on the other side of the building to eat whatever it is I brought. Since I work out during lunch I eat a Nutri Grain bar after the gym. I am running out of Nutri Grain bars so I am going have to use a Zone bar which might actually help. That typically holds me until 3-3:15 with my 2nd/3rd break where I eat lunch. My lunch is typically left overs from the night before. After work I go work out and get home where I start dinner and eat that.

Some days it isn't about how many times I eat but more of how many calories I consumed that day. I made Potato Corn chowder the other night so I brought that for "lunch" yesterday and today and I just don't think that has enough calories to hold me over. I need to up the calories without going to high and remaining healthy.

So my solution:

Breakfast: Bread or English muffin with Peanut Butter on it. Holds me over better then jam/jelly
First/Second Break: Hard boiled egg or something like that
Lunch: Nutri Grain bar
Second/Third Break: left overs from the night before
Dinner: Regular dinner

Any ideas on what I could eat on my first or second break other then a hard boiled egg?

(I only really get 2 breaks a day each being 15 minutes long. When I am in training they do two 10 minute breaks in the morning assuming we will only take 10 minutes in the afternoon but as our peer coaches take 15 minutes in the afternoon we end up with an extra 5 minutes as break time. The first break is usually between 9-9:30 where I would eat the extra snack. The second being at 11 which I don't want to eat in yet unless I feel like I need to. A) it is awful close to 9-9:30 and 12:45 when I get out of the gym and B) I don't like going to the gym with food in my stomach)

July's Fitness Results

Here is where I stopped going to the gym. These pictures are almost a year ago exactly (08.20.11) and no I did not plan this. At this point in time I was doing Curves 5 days a week and Gymnastics twice a week for an hour each session.

Before:

Not bad....

This July was a lot of fun. I officially lost 4lbs so I am 162lbs total....only 2lbs heavier then I was in the above pictures. I have not measured myself in terms of inches but I will try to for next month.

Now:

I will have to remember to take pictures in my work out shorts and sports bra next time. It is really hard to tell any differences between the two sets of photo's due to my different outfits.

I have *definitely* lost inches. Most seem to come from my upper body though my legs/behind have lost a fair amount as well. I am noticing a lot more leg/calf definition. My arms are becoming more defined just a different defined then they were when I was doing gymnastics. My stomach has flattened again and I am almost at the point where my legs don't touch when walking up at the very top which has never happened.

Hopefully next month when I am in a similar outfit the changes will be more apparent. I do feel like I am closer to the "before" pictures then the "now" pictures show.

My new workout schedule

Over the past two years I have started becoming more interested in being healthy. It started slowly at first (once I got as small as I could for Alyssa's wedding I kind of plateaued and it took me a while to get the motivation) but the ball definitely started rolling.

 Brian and I completely re-did what we ate and what we had lying around the house. If we don't buy it we can't eat it. I started going to Curves and did Gymnastics at the same time for about a year or so. I can't remember exactly but in that year I lost 20 inches and 18lbs and ended up at 160 lbs. I am a solid girl so I will never be 120 (if I do, someone please call an ambulance)  but I was doing pretty well at 160. A lot of it was muscle thanks to gymnastics. But all that work was hard and tiring. Between the hotel picking up and the late night gymnastics classes, I got burnt out and stopped knowing that I would at some point have to start doing something again. This was in December of this year.

Between December and about April I kept looking at local gyms but they were all so expensive!  I tried to do another shocking activity (I like to do activities that no one would expect from me hence the gymnastics) but there really wasn't one. Then I got hired at the current company where they have a gym basically free of use to the employees and $20 a month for spouses. The fitness center is great! They have 4 treadmills, 1 stair climber, 3 bikes, 3 treadmills, free weights, a machine that allows you to do several exercises using weights (Brian and I can't think of the technical name) and a glider (supposed to be just as affective as an elliptical and treadmill but even easier on the joints). They also have a room for classes that you can use yourself if there isn't a class in the room. I am very pleased with it and Brian is thinking about joining. I was very excited about this opportunity because I knew that I could partake in it and keep up with it!

I have done very well keeping up the good eating habits since December. I am absolutely not as toned as I once was but my stomach remained flat which I don't think has ever happened. I have also only gained 6 lbs which I think is amazing. I don't have that far to go to get back to where I was 6 months ago.

Here is my schedule for July:

Monday: 12:35-12:45 ABSolutely (a quick class on my lunch break focusing on abs of course :)
              5:00-5:30 Elliptical (my cardio for the day)
Tuesday: 12:35-12:45 S.T.R.E.T.C.H (a class for stretching so I can stay limber)
              5:15-6:00 Zumba (SO excited for this one)
Wednesday: 12:05-12:35 Strike (no idea what this class is about but I thought I would try it)
                    5:00-5:30 Elliptical (mmm cardio)
Thursday: 12:05-12:35 Elliptical (cardio is good)
                5:15-5:45 Ablab (Another Ab class)
Friday:  5:00-5:45 Elliptical (one thing as it is a Friday and my reward)

Each month the classes change which will help keep things new and fresh. I plan to do as many classes as I can. I am fine doing them in my lunch break as long as I can still eat lunch. I will do the elliptical when I am not doing a class like this but the days could change depending on the new class schedule.

I started today and I feel great! I was able to do the ab class fully which surprised me. I have always had issues with my abs and could never do the class 100% correctly. It helped that it was only 10 minutes but still. I think it was a great place to start. I was also able to do the elliptical for 30 minutes non stop on level 2 in the random mountain (resistance increases, decreases, increases, decreases in random pattern) setting which surprised me as well. The last time I did the elliptical I was dying after 20 minutes. Today I was able to breath without dying through the whole thing! I was tired at the end but I wasn't as out of shape as I thought I would be. I am definitely at a better starting point then I was 2 years ago. I am pleased that I was able to keep my body in shape/size as well as I have since December.

I will try to post monthly photo's to track any progress in size/shape. It really helped me last time to be able to look back and see where I came from. So excited to continue this project!

And wow...look at that...a post not centered on the wedding :)