Baby Weight

How I am already six weeks into being a mom of two, I have no idea! Needless to say, it's flying! Before Nolan arrived, I thought a lot about the baby weight I had put on and what I was going to do about taking it off. With Kenley, I really struggled. I just did not take care of myself for the first year of her life. I was so focused on her and did not take the time or put in the effort to take care of myself - in the gym or in the kitchen. It took a toll, a big toll. Not only did I end up the heaviest I've ever been but I felt like crap. I had no energy, wasn't sleeping, my clothes didn't fit and my self esteem was damn near close to rock bottom. So needless to say, I want desperately to avoid all of that this time around. 

Because of the changes I made and effort I put in once I'd hit that turning point {right after Kenley's 1st Birthday} I weighed 10 pounds less when I got pregnant with Nolan than I did when I got pregnant with Kenley. With Kenley I gained a total of 34 pounds during my pregnancy and with Nolan I gained a total of 40. So even though I gained more weight this second time, I still weighed less at the end of this one than I did at the end of my first. 

I decided before I had Nolan, that I wanted to document my journey of getting back in shape and losing the baby weight. I think posting about it and setting goals will help me stay motivated but also I love so much the support that this blogging community offers. So many of you have been through this already and if even you aren't a mama so many of you have a passion for health and fitness and your ideas, wisdom, and support have been so great in the past and I hope will continue to be as I embark on losing the baby weight 2.0. And hey, maybe I will even help or inspire some other mamas along the way! 

Now that I have had my 6 week postpartum visit and have been cleared to workout, I am hoping to set up monthly progress reports/recaps {time willing} to share what I've been doing, what has been working or not working and where I am in the process. I also want to set a few goals each month that I can check in on with these posts as well! Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be so excited to have permission to workout! 

So let's jump right in! 

My long term goal, is to get into a healthy routine and habit that is maintainable! I want to be an active and healthy family, I want to have energy to care for my kids and I want time to myself to take care of ME. I want to feel good inside and out for myself, my husband and my kids. I do have a number on the scale I would love to hit which was 6 pounds away before I got pregnant + the 40 pounds I gained with Nolan means I am setting my official weight loss goal at 46 pounds.

I'm setting a couple of goals to get myself started and then will check in again in a couple weeks when I hit that two month mark! 

JUMPSTART GOALS

□ Utilize my FitBit - Since about week 34 of my pregnancy my FitBit was off. Honestly, wearing it just depressed me. I was so very tired and steps just were not happening. Seeing how few steps I took did not motivate me, it just bummed me out. So I opted to just go without it at the end. Now that I have it charged back it up I need to use it to motivate me to get those steps in and drink enough water!

□ Set up fitness analysis at the gym - Our gym offers a complimentary analysis and workout with a trainer and I need to take advantage of this to get a plan of attack in place.

□ Log calories using MyFitnessPal - It's time to get diligent about counting calories. Because I am breastfeeding it will take a little trial and error to find a number that works to maintain my supply and gives me enough energy but still results in a loss each week.

□ Start C25K again - I am signed up to run my first post-baby 5k on July 17th, I'm a little nervous to start running again as I imagine I am wildly out of shape so starting with C25K which helped me to get into running in the first place seems like a smart way to get back into a groove.

Alright, there it is and here I go!

Wish me luck!