Take THAT “9 months on, 9 months off!” I did it in 8!!!! LOLOLOL. It really doesn’t seem like that great of an accomplishment when I think of all the crap I ate and all the days I only sat on the couch. I could be a lot healthier and have lost the weight a lot sooner if I wasn’t so lazy. But I’m still proud!

Yeah I took these in my backyard and yeah some neighborhood kids saw and yeah it was awkward.

I stepped on the scale before heading to the hospital on Reese’s birthday just for kicks. Turns out the “kick” was more like a slap in the face. Wow. That number was high. I knew I gained a lot. I mean, I WAS carrying it around with me. But hitting that 40 lb gain threshold still shocked me. That number was high. Man, was that number high.

I so desperately did not want to be someone who never lost that weight. I knew that I wanted to be pregnant again and soon, which was complicated. I want to lose the weight and maybe even a little more! Just in time to get huge again with another baby!!! Yo-yo-ing isn’t healthy, but neither is hanging on to excess weight and just adding to it with each subsequent pregnancy. I knew my weight loss would have to be sustained, stable and lifestyle-oriented. No crash diets or boot camps for this girl. I needed to lose the weight and maintain the loss, and then gain less during my next pregnancy. (Which I’ve heard most women gain less with subsequent pregnancies. Please tell me I’m not wrong?)

At first I just messed around with workouts, trying to find what worked. It was a learning curve, because my body was literally changing every day. I’m glad I experimented and was patient with myself, because it was weird. Finally I started working out regularly with Zumba and soccer and weightlifting, doing a modified South Beach diet that worked for me and recently created/implemented my own workout routine. I’m learning more and more that set workout plans or diets like a Couch to 5k or Kayla Itsines or Whole 30 just aren’t going to work for me. I feel deprived and constricted. Instead I pieced together parts of a lot of different plans that I liked, and only things that would be challenging… but ultimately work for me. It’s better to have a “safe” or “easy” diet/workout plan that gets done rather than an intense one that DOESN’T.

The Good Things

• An intense appreciation and love for my body. It kicked a** during my pregnancy and I love it so much for that. And even though I was still gross and big, I felt more comfort and ownership of my own skin than ever before. I would look in the mirror and be like “Yeah! Looking good!” even when I wasn’t anywhere near my pre-pregnancy weight. I’d see pictures in my timehop from years ago when I was much, MUCH smaller than now and think “HOW IN THE WORLD DID I EVER THINK I WAS FAT?!!!” I’m learning a lot about my brain and my body and society’s conception of beauty and how it’s affected me. Let’s love our bodies more, ladies!
• Breastfeeding – the only weight loss plateau I had came about 2 weeks after I stopped breastfeeding and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. I don’t feel bad about when we stopped breastfeeding. It happened very naturally and easily and 5 months of breastfeeding is great! I am however going to try to breastfeed more and longer with my next baby, if possible.
• Healthy foods! I feel like I craved them more when I was breastfeeding and while my body was healing/bouncing back. I also was taking life slower so I was able to listen to my body more. I wanted healthy foods and ate them more often, which felt great!
• Bellefit girdle. I wish I would have worn it more, but the days I did I definitely felt skinnier and noticed a difference in my posture. I recommend getting some type of abdominal binder and wearing it as soon as you can, for as long as you can to improve your healing midsection.
• Ladies Walking Group – I started this before I was cleared to exercise because all I could do was walk. I have so many friends who are pregnant or have little stroller babies. It’s so much more motivating and uplifting to go walk with them! I’m still doing it. We have a Facebook group and if you want an invite then you just let me know.
• VASA Kid Care. I cannot say enough good about them. It’s only $5 a month! I can go every day (except Sunday) if I want for only $5 a month!!!!!! And they are SO NICE. They know Reese’s name and what she likes. One of my favorite Kid Care ladies recognized her at the grocery store and came over to say hi. They get so excited to see her and come meet me at the door to grab her. It’s adorable and makes me feel so great about leaving Reese with them for an hour while I go to Zumba or lift weights. I haven’t really had any PPD, and Reese is a really easy, really chill baby – but if you do have PPD or you do have a really rough baby then having someone watch them for an hour or two while you workout is really a slam dunk.
• Speaking of Zumba – Zumba. I love it. It’s cardio without feeling like cardio. I’m dripping with sweat at the end and I’ve almost hit my daily Fitbit goal and it’s only noon!
• Soccer – Off and on over the years I’ve played on a women’s indoor soccer team. It’s way fun and incredible exercise. I signed up to start playing for the season that began 8 weeks after Reese was born. I was cleared to exercise at 6 weeks and knew that I had a LOT to make up for in those 2 weeks before the season started. It was great motivation to get to the gym almost every day and pound out interval training on the treadmill. Then once the season started I played my guts out and continued to endurance/speed train a couple of days a week. It really kickstarted my weight loss and made it fun! The next season starts later this month and I’m excited to add cardio training back into my workout schedule.
• Brooke’s Wedding!!! My sister is getting married! I am so excited and we love her fiance and weddings are so fun! Plus taking a bunch of pictures and seeing everyone I know makes for good motivation to lose more weight.
• “Healthy” Fast Food – totally essential for me. I’m out going to the gym or grocery shopping or running errands and I’m starving. Sure I’d love a burger and fries. But I’ve taken some time to find slightly better fast food options, because cutting out fast food just won’t cut it. Some days you just need it! And it keeps me from eating crap at my house when I get home starving. Or that’s what I tell myself. My favorites are Zaxby’s Cobb salad, avocado chicken bowls at Del Taco and either the Health Nut or Island Greens smoothie at Tropical Smoothie Cafe.
• Self-tanner. It’s magic.
• Friend support! I have several friends that I text and snapchat about my workouts and diets which really really helps me stay motivated. My cousin Sally came with me to lift this week and Eliesa worked out with me on vacation in St. George last weekend. It makes it easier and more fun to get it done!

The Bad Things

• Even though I am at my pre-pregnancy weight my body doesn’t look the same. I’m somehow still two pant sizes above where I was (???) and a bra cup size up (which I have accepted as permanent LOL).
• Will this pooch ever go away? After several weeks of concentrated ab work I’m convinced that it won’t.
• I’m still lifting less than I was before pregnancy??? Doesn’t make sense to me since I’m hauling around a 21 lb baby every day. I guess that’s making me too tired to lift? IDK.
• Still haven’t worn real pants. Wait. Why am I putting this under Bad Things?
• Stretch Mark City. But they are fading so that’s good! And as stated above – self tanner helps.
• I don’t know if I can hit my goal of losing 10 more pounds by Brooke’s wedding. Each pound is harder to lose at this point, but at least it’s a good goal to work towards, right?
• A middle-aged Asian woman slapped my butt during Zumba last week and I am still not over it.

So here’s to our amazing bodies, and hoping mine can shave off a few more before the wedding. Lord beer me strength.