11 Weeks PP

This week felt better. I lost 2 lbs and around Thursday, felt my strength and endurance increase exponentially. This is really a fascinating process. There will be weeks of working hard, sweating and exhausted, with no clear sign that anything is changing and then almost overnight I'll jump over that hump into the next level. I know I will have slow days and fast days, which is why it is important to never give up. I have been playing around with my plan a little and am including the pic I posted before of what I had intended to do this week vs. what I actually did. I'm finding that since I am doing multiple workouts a day, I desperately need to do Yoga 3x/week. So mornings will be committed to Stroller Strong Moms on Monday, Wednesday, Friday with Yoga on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Sunday will be a recovery day with NOTHING. Ab wheel reps are going great, I'm definitely feeling the difference there. I FINISHED the 30-Day Shred!! I'm excited about that and hope it strengthened me enough to tackle Insanity, starting on Monday, every evening except for Sundays (built-in recovery day, thankfully!) Insanity is the most difficult workout I have ever done (or rather, TRIED to do...I made it 11 days once...), so I am honestly feeling very apprehensive and threatened by it...I plan to work hard and keep up with it the best I can, and hope that the Yoga continues to have the wonderful healing/stretching quality that I need. I am currently alternating six Rainbeau Mars Yoga DVDs that I love, so I don't get bored. Not to mention that I am about to being Week 2 of Couch to 5K (out of 8 weeks) and signed up for my very first 5K, which will be on March 16!

Original plan on top vs. what I ended up doing.

The plan for this coming week!

Total weight gained: 46 lbs
Weight lost: 29 lbs
Weight left to lose: 17 lbs
Fat %: 26.4
Muscle %: 37.5

Breastfeeding and Exercise?

Since this IS a post-pregnancy blog, not just a fitness blog, my friend Paola recently brought up a pretty important point that I have yet to mention here: Breastfeeding. Why is this relevant? Well, you may or may not know that a mother who exclusively breastfeeds her infant can burn 500-800 calories a day by just doing that!! It's pretty amazing. So why not just do that? Well, in my experience as a second time mother, breastfeeding expedites the shrinking of the uterus immediately after birth. I'm talking PAINFUL (but necessary) contractions while you are feeding your baby for about the first week. But this helps ensure that you won't continue to look pregnant forever. Thank God for that!! It also makes you trapped-in-a-desert-for-weeks THIRSTY. So I drink a ridiculous amount of water all day long. In a way, it's like working out! So if you can just breastfeed, why work out at all? Breastfeeding does not tone your butt, legs, arms, tummy. It doesn't get rid of the belly fat you develop during pregnancy. I think that by breastfeeding and doing nothing else, you can lose all your pregnancy weight, but you will look untoned. Unless you have ridiculous genetics (I do not), you will not look bikini-ready by breastfeeding alone. Also, it's important to mention that it makes you HUNGRY! You are burning a ton of calories, your body will crave those calories back. I know plenty of women who actually GAIN weight while breastfeeding because they are so hungry and eat more than they should, thinking they have a get-out-of-jail-free card. Now comes another question: Won't exercise reduce my milk supply? I can only speak from my own personal experience, but no, it has not. I am working out like a freak right now, and my little girl is exclusively breastfed (on demand). At almost 11 weeks old, she is a whopping 13 lbs and in the 90th % for weight. However, I want to stress the importance of NOT DIETING! I am not counting my calories and I eat when I am hungry. It doesn't mean I eat cake all day (wouldn't that be nice?). It doesn't hurt anyone to eat healthier. But cutting down? No. I am continuing to eat enough and drink a ton of water while still exercising and toning/losing weight, and I am not having milk supply issues. I think it's all a fine balance and everyone's body is different, but I have found a way to make it work for me and for my baby. Now after I had Ashton, I DID have supply issues because the doctor left a freaking piece of the placenta in there, which didn't come out for 9 weeks and my body thought I was still a little pregnant, I guess? Also, birth control pills really reduced my supply. This time around, I'm in good shape placenta-wise and my husband got snipped, so everything is going so much better in the milk department. :)

Staying on the Wagon

There will always be times for anyone who tries to stick to a plan where one feels a strong urge to dive straight into the beautiful pool of hedonism and disregard everything else. It's human nature. I was lying in the bathtub full of bubbles, falling asleep and thinking about how I was going to somehow, without standing up or getting cold, miraculously zap myself straight into my bed. And then the nagging thought "you still need to do 30 ab wheel reps before you can go to bed!" popped into my head. How long does it take me to do 30 of those? About 2 minutes, maybe less. Yet, I found myself attempting to talk myself out of doing it and I had a lot of good reasons too. Like, I'm really sore today. One time skipping it won't make any difference. I'm tired. But then the little cartoon angel on my shoulder pulled out a hammer and hit me right between the eyes and I realized what I was doing. And then my own mind scared me and I was afraid I would sabotage myself from reaching my goals, especially when it's tough, like today, where I had to do yoga because I was too sore to go to class this morning. And I had to do a lot of modifications in my Shred workout. I just wasn't feeling strong and damn, that bubble bath hit the spot. So in my fear of self-sabotage, I realized I needed a back-up cartoon angel on my shoulder in case this one takes a nap. And that angel is chocolate. Yes, one of my favorite substances of all substances. Can you believe I need to bribe MYSELF? Freud would have had a great time with my brain. Anyway, I am only going to allow myself a small piece of chocolate after each workout I complete. I cannot think of a more brilliant plan, since it's common knowledge that without chocolate, I just don't want to exist. Plus, that will keep me from eating TOO much chocolate. I can only win here! I'm proud to say that I got out of the bath, did my 30 ab reps, and ate my piece of chocolate.

Yoga

Well, it turns out I will need Yoga too. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Yoga!!! I guess I don't associate it with quick weight loss, which is why I haven't made it a priority, but I occasionally need to step back into reality and understand that I can't just abuse my body repeatedly if I expect to continue working out vigorously until March 31! Like I said before, this is just as much for my mind and sanity as it is for my body, and to not be ABLE to work out due to injury would be pretty unfortunate. Especially since I will be doing Insanity in the evenings starting on Monday, I do need to allow myself to recover sometimes. I plan to dedicate Wednesday and Saturday mornings to yoga and do Stroller Strong Moms on Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri. Insanity schedules Sunday as a rest day, and I have decided to actually do that. As much as I hate to miss a day (it just makes me feel so much better to be moving!), 24 hours of total recovery can do amazing things for the body. I hate it, but I know it, and my body will thank me for it.
It's hard for me to get out and take a Yoga class with these kids, even though that would be ideal, so I am doing some Rainbeau Mars DVDs. She is, by far, my favorite. I have done several of her DVDs and love them. Yoga is so much more than a "workout", which is unfortunately how so many fitness trainers make it look. It is about breathing, detoxifying, reflecting, healing, stretching, strengthening, balance, feeling positive and grateful, and looking inward, and Rainbeau is wonderful in all these ways. I am including a video here of the lovely Rainbeau Mars performing a solo.

Rainbeau Mars Solo

"Brilliant Way to Lose Weight" ;)

I posted this on my Facebook wall too, but I think it's pretty awesome. Every town should have a set-up like this. Boom.

Click here

Writing it Out

I am always looking for fun ways to stay motivated. When you are trying to lose weight and see big changes, the workouts should ALL push you and make you sweat. It's easy to wake up and say "Do I really want to do something that uncomfortable? It's hard and I'm tired." And then you tell yourself that you will take the day off and start again the next day. And then you feel bad about it when you don't see improvements. For me, it's all about identifying my tendencies and personality quirks. I know that I am an 'all or nothing' perfectionist OCD type of person. So if I start a plan and then miss a day, instead of continuing the next day,it will drive me CRAZY that I missed a day and I will feel behind and either abandon the entire project altogether or feel the need to start over from the beginning. It really helps me to make a plan and actually SEE my progress. So I bought one of those nifty little white dry-erase boards (only one week at a time) with fun, different colored markers so I can plan out my exercise week. I am taking it one workout at a time and checking them off as I go. I'm currently scheduling ab wheels (AM and PM), Stroller Strong Moms (would love to go to every class- 6 days a week!), finishing up the Shred this week, and I just started Couch to 5K with a friend on Mon, Wed, and Fri. Sundays will be my "day off", which means I will do only ab wheels and yoga. It is a LOT but one workout at a time and it's not so bad. And I'm even writing down my current weight, fat% and muscle %, which I hope will all change as each week goes by. Staying strong!

10 Weeks PP

The theme of this post is "Tortoise and the Hare." I have been pretty good about keeping up with all my workouts, and am one measly pound down. I officially started the Stroller Strong Mom 2013 Fitness Challenge. They did my assessment and will do the same thing in 10 weeks to see how much I have improved. These are my January results:

Shuttle Sprint: 42 seconds
Step-ups: 115 in 2 minutes
Half mile run: 4 minutes
Push-Ups: 16 in 1 minute
Timed Plank: 2 minutes

I will link back to this then to see how much better I do in March. Should be interesting!
I had a glimmer of hope yesterday when I tried on a pair of size 4 jeans and was able to pull them up and button them! Two weeks ago I couldn't get them past my thighs, so even though the scale isn't showing it, something must be happening!
Speaking of the scale not showing it, that really annoys me. So I invested in a scale that also displays body fat % and body muscle %. It will be very interesting to see how THOSE numbers change in the next week.
In the meantime, I am excited to have only 7 more Shred workouts left before I start Insanity!!
I am not seeing much of a change in my pictures. Hopefully soon. Blah.


Total weight gained: 46 lbs
Weight lost: 27 lbs
Weight left to lose: 19 lbs
Fat %: 27.1
Muscle %: 37.3

9 Weeks PP

I feel much stronger and my clothes fit better. But I weigh EXACTLY the same. Wow, patience is something I don't do very well when it comes to myself. I'm still pretty disgusted by the way my body looks. I am keeping up with my plan though and I know I am working hard. I don't think a workout can be effective unless you feel like you want to stop the whole time. That's when progress happens. So I will keep blindly plugging along and hope to see some more obvious signs that something is working soon. In the meantime, today is Day 17 of the Shred and I start the official Be Fit Challenge 2013 with Stroller Strong Moms. So that's something to look forward to. After all, I don't think it can be possible to work hard every day and never see results, right?



Total weight gained: 46 lbs
Weight lost: 26 lbs
Weight left to lose: 20 lbs

Okay, So What's the Plan Here?

Now that my level of motivation has been established, what am I going to do to achieve my goals? I stated in earlier posts that I have no plans to diet, and that is still true. My non-pregnant self tends to under-eat as it is. If I have any weaknesses, it is probably to eat a donut or drink a Coke if it's offered to me, but if I don't buy those things EVER, then I will only eat them when they are offered to me and that doesn't worry me at all. Chocolate is VERY important to me, so if that means an extra month of working out to get to my goals, then it's totally worth it! So here is what I am doing:

Ab Wheel: This simple $10 device is incredible. I started using one when I was 17 and had amazing abs. I have worked my way up from barely being able to do 1 rep to being able to do 30! (10+10+10). I do it first thing in the morning and last thing before I go to bed. Only takes a couple minutes and I can feel an enormous difference in my strength and balance now.

Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred: I cannot say enough good things about this workout. I did it after I had Ashton and my body changed so fast. The pictures above are the muscle toning I have achieved from this workout in the first 14 days. The unattractive saggy, cellulite-y, extra-fatty parts seemed to be magically absorbed into the body. This workout is only 20 minutes a day for 30 days and every time I do it, I sweat, I max my heart rate, and I'm sore the next day. This is what I do in the evenings after I put Ashton to bed. Today will be Day 15.

Stroller Strong Moms: This is a group of motivated moms here in Columbus (also in Savannah) who understand how hard it is to have little kids and manage to work out consistently. They meet six mornings a week for an hour and have fantastic instructors to teach the classes. They are outside at a park and there is a lot of running with the babies in the strollers (usually around 2 miles per class) as well as strength-training with weights and resistance bands, squats, lunges, sprints, drills, etc. I usually feel like I'm going to throw up when I finish a class and I'm a sweaty, happy mess. I am trying to attend as many mornings a week as possible. I plan to participate in their Get Fit 2013 Challenge , which begins this Monday.

Insanity: When I finish the 30-Day Shred, I plan to do the Insanity workout in the evenings. I did 11 days of it after I had Ashton, and the results were the fastest I have ever seen from any workout. It is EXTREMELY difficult and intense. My goal is to actually do the entire 60-day workout. That would be pretty amazing. The reason I chose this workout over the equally-popular P90X is because Insanity requires no equipment outside of your own body. That makes things a lot easier for me. Plus, it's only 60 days long instead of 90. ;)

Running: I love to run, but it is not something I have been able to consistently schedule yet. Right now my 2-month old is too little for a jogging stroller and I don't want to spend money on an attaching infant seat to use for just a few months. I run in the class with my regular non-jogging stroller, which is NOT easy, but I don't like to use it in my hilly neighborhood. So I wait until Bill comes home and run without the kids. I am going to add runs where I can because I enjoy them so much.

So you may be wondering when I will consider myself "in shape" and ready to be done blogging about it! Well, after I finish Insanity, if I have lost all the weight and look amazing in a bikini (we'll see, I may post a pic...hard to imagine doing that now but you never know!) THEN I will be happy to close this blog and be proud and happy with my new body, which I plan to maintain forever with my ab wheel, Stroller Strong Moms class and running. :)
Edited to add: I just realized that Insanity has an extra "recovery week" in between the two months, so it will take me one week longer than I originally thought. So my new goal date is March 31!!!

The REAL Reasons I am so Damn Motivated

I wanted to write a little bit about motivation because it is so much more than making goals and following through. Really what matters the MOST is that it comes from deep within you. You cannot do it for anyone else and your reasons for doing it have to be so powerful that the thought of not doing it is unbearable. I really think everyone has different reasons for wanting to lose weight and get in shape, but I am going to talk about mine. These are the things that make NOT doing it unbearable.

1. Sanity. It is not randomly placed in the number 1 spot. It IS the most important reason for me. Exercise gives me a tremendous escape. What am I escaping from? I just moved to a new state and had my second child, making that two children under age two. I am a professional musician who went from working every week, often every day, to now once a month, if I'm lucky. I am basically a stay-at-home-mom, and I do NOT like being a stay-at-home-mom. I realize that sounds selfish, but it's just the truth. I love my children more than I will ever love anything else in this world and abhor the thought of hiring a baby-sitter, much less taking them to daycare or anywhere else. I want to see every thing that they do and I want to kiss and hug them all the time. But this role, this sitting at home doing the mundane diaper-changing, tantrum-calming thing isn't for me. I am not crafty at all, I don't sew, I don't like to cook (although thankfully I can), all the rooms in my house are NEVER clean at the same time, I do not enjoy the absolutely exhausting every day routine. I want to perform music and I want to travel, I want to read, I want to have adventures. So why the Hell did I have kids? This baby phase is rough. It's hard not to leave your house just because it's just too much work to get everyone ready. It's hard to always worry about them eating and not getting hurt and learning enough and feeling loved. But I can say wholeheartedly that they are the best thing that has ever happened to me because they show me humanity, grace, humility, and adventure beyond anything I could have ever experienced without them. That being said, as soon as they are old enough, I fully intend to start working more and traveling, having adventures, living the life I want WITH them in it. That will be beautiful. But for now, while I am feeling out of my element and desperate to grasp onto something that will bring me back to myself when I need it the most, I have exercise. It's my own time to push myself, to feel good, to get an adrenaline rush, to STOP worrying, and to get stronger. That was a LONG description, but this is the biggest reason for me.
2. Wardrobe. There is no way I am buying a new wardrobe in bigger sizes. NOT gonna happen.
3. Looking good. I would be lying if I didn't admit to the level of vanity involved here. I'm sorry, I want to look hot naked. So shoot me. I looked good before the baby, so damnit, I am going to look good after. I want to be able to wear anything and not think about some stupid fat roll. I want toned muscles in a bikini. I grew up doing ballet and will never forget the first audition I won at age 9 to be a bon-bon. They lined us all in a row with our numbers pinned to our leotards and a very stern, terrifying woman walked down the line and yelled out which ones of us didn't make the cut based on our looks alone. Not the right height, shape, whatever. I was lucky to make it past that as well as the dancing portion, but those thoughts about how I looked were planted at a young age. The Sesame Street idea that everyone is different and beautiful went straight out the window. As a professional musician, I have been cursed with being a perfectionist, so you can bet that I will not be doing anything half-assed here. I don't want to look like a body-builder, but I want to look good, and won't stop until I have achieved my goal.
4. Confidence. When I don't look good in my own eyes, I don't feel much like leaving my house. Every time I am out in public and I bend to pick something up or sit down or do anything at all, I am extremely aware of my flaws. Call me eccentric. But I'm tired of it and want it to stop. What a waste of brain space, right? I want to carry myself with poise and elegance, not insecurity.
5. Strength. When I work out, I can much more easily carry around my 30 lb toddler and swing him all over the place. I can keep up with him when he runs. It's a pretty wonderful feeling.
6. Energy. I swear to you, exercising is like getting another couple hours of sleep! When I come back from a run, I feel AMAZING. Tired, sweaty, detoxified, hungry, fresh. It's becoming an addiction!
7. Challenge. That feeling you get when you try so hard to do something. And you do it. You win.

8 Weeks PP

It was disappointing to weigh myself this morning and be UP one pound from last week after working so hard all week. An interesting side-effect of the exercising is that I no longer crave chocolate. Now THAT is bizarre. I have definitely been consuming less calories than I am burning off as well as drinking a ton of water, so the only conclusion I can logically draw from all of this is that I am building more muscle. I completed Day 10 of Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred this morning and feel significantly stronger than when I started. I think that one thing I can always use more of is cardio. I would like to run more, so I need to make that a priority. I think that is the only thing that will actually make the pounds on the scale go down.
After taking my progress pictures this morning and feeling physically ill at my appearance once again, I decided to harvest the pictures I took when I was losing the 65 lbs I gained after my pregnancy with Ashton. I didn't take my first picture until I was already 10 weeks post-partum, and I already look better than that now. I remember how hard I worked after that and you can clearly see that it paid off in the pictures that followed. By 6 months after his birth, I was able to fit into my size 2 jeans (pictured), but still had 9 lbs left to lose. I didn't notice muscle definition in my abs until 7.5 months. And I know the scale didn't reflect my pre-pregnant weight again until he was 9 months old and I had suffered from a nasty stomach bug. From that point on, I was in great shape until I got pregnant again about 3 months later! So my goal this week is a whole lot more cardio!! :)

Total weight gained: 46 lbs
Weight lost: 26 lbs
Weight left to lose: 20 lbs