All about the Numbers

So, as I have been saying, I am trying to be transparent. Also, I was going to address the issues that made me sad last week. Today, we are going to talk about my body! Aren't you excited!! I am going to be transparent in a way that is really hard for me, I am going to give you actual numbers! Oh, let me give you a little history first. I believe my genetics are not necessarily stacked against me, but they are also not really doing my any favors. About half my family struggles with their weight, in some way or another (actually, I think there are very few people in general that do not struggle with some aspect of their body image). I am not one of those people who can eat anything and still be really skinny. But, I have been blessed with genetics that allow me to control my weight fairly easily if I want to. My parents also blessed me with the perseverance and hard work ethics to put my mind on something and accomplish it! It took me a long time to get to this kind of comfort level with my body. I have so many friends who are really tiny, and I mean tiny (most of them from college are under 5 feet tall or right at it) and are definitely single digit sizes! I used to compare myself to them all of the time, but I am not them, and that is okay. I don't need to be comfortable with their body, I need to be comfortable with mine! The cool thing is, they never made me feel like I was the odd man out (it was all in my crazy head), they love me for who I am! Thanks girls!

So, here it goes.

Before I got pregnant with SD, I was in pretty good shape. I was doing lots of weight lifting classes and running a good amount. I have never been a "small" person, but I have never considered myself fat or overweight. I am 5 ft. 8 in. and have wide hips. I actually have come to a place where I like my body and understand that being a size 6 is unrealistic. Like I have posted before, I think clothing sizes don't really matter anyway. So, back to my point. I don't know exactly how much I weighed before I got pregnant with SD, I am guessing it was in the high 140s or low 150s. I looked back in my pregnancy journal and found a weight of 156, which was around 13 weeks or so. With SD, I gained over 60 pounds, I stopped counting after I hit 200. Yep, I hit 200, and I was a big old pregnant lady, with a ton of water weight.

After I had SD, I did a pretty good job of working out, but never really killed myself because I knew I wanted to get pregnant again soon. I was running a lot and getting up in my mileage, but I was not toning anything. I had gotten back to my size 10s fitting really comfortably (in NY & Co sizes anyway, and that is what most of my clothes are). My weight was 162 at the doctor when I got pregnant with Linus. I am very comfortable being a loose size 10 (in NY & Co clothes) and really don't need a single digit size to make myself feel okay. So, once again I was pregnant and gaining weight. Thankfully this time I did not gain as much on the scale, but I also didn't work out as much, so I think some of the lack of weight gain was deceptive and was actually muscle weight loss, which I didn't want. So, I gained 40 or so pounds and hit 200 once again.

Today, 8 weeks after Linus was born, I am back down to 170 and have been steadily losing about a pound or two a week. I am in a size 12 jeans, pretty comfortably, but I don't like the flab that hangs out on the top. My goal is really to be around 150 pounds, I think that is a very suitable weight for someone my height and frame size. More than the number though, I want to be fit. I want to feel comfortable with my body. I want to have muscle tone and be able to run for long distances periodically. My biggest goal is to have tight abs. I don't need a six pack, although that would be nice, but I want to be strong. My tummy has always been my trouble spot, so it is going to be some work, especially since that is where I gain ALL of my weight, including pregnancy weight.

So, here is my plan. I am running, at least 4 times a week. I am training to do the San Antonio Half Marathon with my cousin and my best friend in November. I have started my training and am doing pretty well. My goal is to finish it, no certain time, not necessarily running the whole time either. I started off running a couple of weeks ago, by walking 4 minutes and running 1. I am now at week 2 of running 3 walking 2 for 2.5 miles. Next week, I will move to 4 running and 1 walking and then keep adding a minute of running each week/couple of weeks until I am up to 7 and 1 which is what I plan on doing for the half. I am also trying to do some weights and abs at least a couple times a week. My abs are pretty much shot after two babies via C-section, so I have a long road ahead of me there. As far as eating and weighing, etc. I am being very flexible on that. I am eating good things and trying to follow this book so that Linus gets what he needs in my breast milk. It means eating 2600 calories a day of certain foods. I am also only weighing myself once a week, on Mondays. This past Monday, I weighed in at 170, I will try to post my progress each week so you can help encourage and hold me accountable!! I will definitely need it!

So, there it is. So far this week, I ran on Monday and Wednesday, did abs on Monday and Wednesday, and did Yoga on Tuesday. Today, I will probably do Pilates or something. I plan on running Friday and Saturday as well. Sunday I take off, because it is too hard to run before church, we have a hard time getting there on time without me running! The cool thing is that we have been running as a family. BG goes with me and we take the double jogger with both kids. I think it is setting a really good example for the kids and I like that it is something that we do as a family!! This is one of the huge perks of BG working for himself and my job being very flexible! We are blessed!