I gained 45 pounds by the end of my pregnancy. Which is ALOT considering the first trimester I lost 16 pounds. I didn't look as huge as I felt, but when you are 5'5 and a size 0-2 with all that weight poking in front of you, you feel like a whale. There's not a whole lot of room to "expand". I knew it wouldn't all disappear the moment I had Jo... I was just happy to be able to see and reach my own toes again! So anyway, I worked myself up (over the course of 9 months) to a whopping 170. When you are used to 125, that's ALOT. When I stepped on the scale after I felt like I had lost the "baby" weight, it said 145. Erm...yikes! 20 pounds to go?! Surely not! But yes, I had 20 pounds to go. And of that 20 pounds I have officially lost 25 :D Go me! Here's how:
I started doing the Couch to 5k program in November. By the end of 10 weeks I think I was somewhere between 130-135. Not bad. But not the kickass highschool body I wanted either. So I kept running/walking on my own little la-ti-da schedule. I didn't really get serious about it until the middle of March when we booked my tickets to go to my family's annual Hilton Head Island vacation. I marched into Kohls thinking "130 is pretty close to my original 125...I probably gained 5 pounds just in my chest anyway...a bikini should look pretty good"...WRONG!!! But I bought the bikini anyway as motivation. Best move I've made. I took a picture every Monday from that point on so that if I ever felt like I didn't want to work out, I could pull that picture out and realize I didn't look hot in a bikini. That got me moving!
Anyway, back to workouts. Mid march I started the Ninety-Nine. It's serious business. 99 Jumping Jacks, 99 Crunches, 99 Second Wall-Sit, 99 Leg Lifts, and 9 Push-Ups. Next you replace every 9 with an 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. Follow with an 11 minute Run. By the end of the workout (Which takes about an hour to an hour and a half), you've done 484 Jumping Jacks, Crunches, Seconds of Wall-Sits (or 8 minutes worth, for those that are curious), & Leg Lifts, ... 44 Push-Ups, and of course your 11 minute run. Exhausting. Painful. But it works! I did the Ninety-Nine every other day for 3 weeks. Plus an occasional walk. But no diet change (I don't eat THAT bad and I didn't feel like I could cut back without risking Jo's health).
I decided to amp it up a little and try Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred". Holy Moly. It WORKS. But you have to DO IT. I got results the first three days. Ridiculous. I started on a Sunday. I did 10 days of Level One (yes, EVERY day. I rested on Sundays), 10 days of Level 2, then 10 days of Level 3. When I completed that I continued to do Level 3 but added Level 1 to the end of it for 10 days, then added Level 2 to the end of it for 10 days. I did start counting calories 3 weeks ago (when I quit nursing Jo), but I discovered that my calorie intake is just fine. I hover around 1200/day. I did cut-out cokes and sweets, but when I had a sweet craving I would drink a diet coke to get me through it. That worked.
So here's the grand finale: the before vs. after shot. Keep in mind this is from 10 weeks ago until now. I'm 120 pounds as of this morning:
All this to say No, I'm not perfect. I won't be the hottest thing on the beach this summer. I've got a little more work to do. But I am VERY proud of what I have accomplished. 25 pounds was HARD to lose, but I've done it! I can wear my tiger stripes (stretch marks) proud this summer while I am rocking that bikini. Cuz I worked my butt off, literally, to get where I am today. :D
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