Fitness & Health

One of my 2 major goals for these months as a stay-at-home mom was to get back into shape and back to my "fighting weight" (the other goal was simply to relish my time with Miriam). Here's a timeline of my fitness & weight (without telling you the actual numbers!) over the past year and a half or so...

Jan. 2010-- Found out I was pregnant with Miriam! :) However, I was at my heaviest weight ever-- a whopping 15 lbs more than I weighed at our wedding (which was a weight where I felt I looked good and trim but could very easily maintain). My BMI was 25.5-- technically overweight, as a BMI of 25.0 or greater is actually overweight.

Jan 2010 to September 2010-- Continued to work out regularly at least a few times/week up until about 7 months pregnant, when it simply got too tiring to hit the gym after a 9 hour day at work. I started prenatal yoga, which I *LOVED*, in May and continued that up until I was 38 weeks!

September 8, 2010-- Gave birth to our beautiful little girl. Total weight gain= a healthy 28 lbs (my doctor had recommended gaining anywhere between 25 and 32 lbs).

2 week post-partum visit-- Had lost 20 lbs

6 week post-partum visit-- Had lost another 8 lbs and was exactly at the weight I was when I discovered I was pregnant.

And from October through the middle of February, that weight remained very static. I fit back into 2 pairs of my "pre-pregnancy" jeans (although they were honestly probably stretched out because I wore both of them until I was 5 months pregnant or so), but none of my slacks/trousers fit.

I started to focus on losing weight & getting fit in about mid-February. A horrible case of the "plague" caused me to lose 6 lbs in 5 days, but obviously I knew I would gain at least some of that back because a good amount of that weight loss was probably due to dehydration. But it did motivate me to get the scale reading a happier weight. So I started making lifestyle changes to my diet on February 21st. I have been using the new Weight Watchers Points Plus program, but I will not call it a diet. Because this time, it is really going to be a LIFESTYLE change. I am really ready this time, for 2 reasons. (1) I am vain and I am truly sick of being "fluffy" and (2) I want to set a good example for Miriam, instill good eating & exercise habits, and prevent her from the struggle & self esteem issues related to my weight that I've faced since I was about 25 or so.

In addition to the healthier eating (BTW, the new WW Points Plus program is way better and encourages MUCH healthier eating vs the old Points program), I missed being physically fit and active. I started walking Prescott & Miriam at a brisk pace for at least 30 minutes as often as possible, weather permitting. And in mid-March, I started attending a dance fitness class at a dance studio in Milwaukee, which was an awesome birthday gift from my parents. The class was not exactly what I expected, but it is a really good total body workout. It incorporates ballet barre exercise (great for creating those lean dancer legs and also for abs), Pilates, a smattering of yoga, and a little bit of cardio. It also has challenged my brain a bit in thinking back to my dance class days in middle school to remember what terms like "attitude," "releve" and "tendue" mean! That's made a big difference, but I still didn't feel as fit and strong as I would like, so Jason & I started doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred workout DVD on Sunday. It is only 22 minutes long, but man! You work H-A-R-D for those 22 minutes, my goodness! No rest for the wicked! It is basically interval training with strength training, cardio, and targeted abs exercises. Very fast-paced, no rest breaks. I have been pushing myself as hard as I can! Jason and I are out of breath and sore after finishing, but it feels good. It's sort of crazy that I'm looking forward to it tonight! Everyone I know who has done it has lost inches off waists, hips, and arms, so I took my pre-Shred measurements for comparison... will let you all know what kind of results I have! :) It's great to have J working out with me too. Jason is naturally very thin, which is great, but I'm glad to see him getting more fit and cardiovascularly in shape again too. I want us both to live very long, healthy, and active lives together. :)

So all that said, here's my current status: My weight is down 10 lbs since we moved to Wisconsin and my BMI is back safely in the normal/healthy range at 23.4. My old jeans are too big, and my old slacks/trousers fit without being the slightest bit snug (they were tight & I was straining to button them in the fall/winter of 09 before I got pregnant with Miri). My goal is to lose 4 more lbs to be back at that wedding weight (which should put me at a BMI of 22.7) AND to have my tummy looking good enough to be back in my bikini at the pool this summer!

Now I've gone public & posted about it.... you all need to keep me accountable! :)