Yesterday I had that feeling of "omigod I am a loser, I need to do something," so I did. I made some phone calls I needed to make, started my scrapbook (finally!), cleaned, stuff like that. We even took Jillian out and about - the post office, Walmart, lunch (don't worry she didn't leave the car, Hubs stayed with her ... one of these days we will actually take her out of the car, but not till she gets her immunizations). It was good!
In the evening I got out and did Day One of Week 3 of Couch to 5K. This week calls for a 5 minute walking warm up, 90 seconds of running, 90 seconds of walking, 3 minutes of running, 3 minutes of walking (repeat the 90/90, 3/3 thing twice) and then a 5 minute walking cool down. I told you the other day that the 3 minutes of running kind of made me nervous. But then I saw that I only had to do the walking/running intervals twice, so that made me feel better, made it more doable.
Well, it wasn’t that bad. I’m alive. But I’m not gonna lie, 3 minutes of running felt like an eternity. This just goes to show how out of running shape I really am. And it doesn’t help that I’m still carrying around an extra 27 pounds from baby Jillian, so that makes a real big difference as well.
I happened to catch a glimpse of my shadow as I was running, er more like hobbling, down the street and yikes, it was ugly. You always have these visions of what you look like when you run. This is what I think I look like:
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| Don't we all wish we looked like Jen? |
Yeah, I don’t. Not even remotely close. But whatever.
Anyway, as I was doing my running intervals, doubt started to creep in. I kept thinking, “geez if I can barely run 3 minutes, how am I ever going to run 3 MILES?” and “how am I ever going to get back to running long distances?” Right now 3 miles is the only goal in sight, hence the Couch to 5K. But I’m starting to wonder how the heck I am ever going to get back to running 5, 6, 10 or 13.1 miles again - it just seems so hard and far away. I know this will get easier the more I get out there and run. It will also get easier as I begin to lose the baby weight.
See, I gained 47 pounds of baby weight. Pretty amazing how that crept on, but I didn’t deprive myself in any way (at all!), and I kept a healthy balance with all of the working out I did (I was on the elliptical 3 days before giving birth). I’ve already lost 20 pounds not even trying, now I’m ready to step it up by watching what I eat and stepping up the exercising.
Honestly, I cannot wait to start this process because I don’t feel like myself (not to mention I can’t fit into any of my real clothes - only maternity ones … and I’m SO tired of my maternity clothes I could spit). I look at this as a challenge and a way to somewhat reinvent myself. I’m confident I can lose the weight, but it’s going to take work and discipline and time. Like, I’m going to HAVE to do lunges and squats - two things I HATE more than anything in this world - because my thighs rub together like something fierce. I seem to have gained a lot of my baby weight there (what’s up with that?). Like I said, it’s ugly.
So there ya go - 27 pounds to lose. That’s the goal, the magic number. I know it’s not going to happen overnight and I need to make sure I fully understand that. In my little mind I think “oh I’m running, the weight will fall off.” Um, no it won’t. I’ve gotta work at this. I’m a firm believer in the whole “it took 9 months to put it on, it’ll take 9 months to take if off” - but if it comes off sooner, that would be nice too. But I can’t be mad or upset if it doesn’t. Gotta keep that in check.
OK, enough internal pep talk here on the blog. Now you know my goals, so now I’m going to use this blog to help keep me accountable. Keep me honest here guys, will ya?
Questions for you …
- If you have had a baby, how long did it take you to lose the baby weight? Or did you?
- What did you do to lose the baby weight?
As you know I have 2 kids. With each one I gained a total of 25-27 pounds, so after they were born, I only had 10-12 pounds to lose. The kids were 8#1oz and 7#15oz respectively, so they were not small! Putting everything back where it was before kids, was the hard part. Things still are the same! Oh well.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your questions: It took me 6-8 weeks after each kid to get back to pre-pregnancy weight. Like you, I took the opportunity to get out of the house when I could. I actually spent a lot of time walking with the kiddos in the stroller or in the snuggly pack. I actually waited until the doc released me at 6 weeks to get back into the gym and try to run.
At any rate, I maintain around 6-10 lighter now than before I had kids. Why? How?? Because of what I did to lose the weight.
While I was pregnant I made 2 promises to myself: 1) I was going to eat healthy; 2) I was not going to be a statistic and be a fat mom. I know that 2nd one sounds harsh, but those were my promises to me.
I started eating healthy while pregnant and kept it up afterward. I reminded myself that I was going to be my kids role model for eating habits and if I ate chips, candy, pizza and other crap food all the time, so would my child. So, I threw out all the garbage food and replaced it with healthier alternatives.
This is NOT to say that I am the poster child for healthy eating. Not by a long shot but small modifications became permanent ones.
When the kiddos got older, I always kept (and still do) string cheese, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, yogurt, etc. at eye level for them in the refrigerator. This way when they opened the refrigerator they only saw healthy stuff in front of them and then chose one of them. It still works!!!
Well, there you go! Have some patience with yourself. Make small changes. Take Jillian out for long walks in the stroller or in the snuggly pack. Drink lots of water and replace a few unhealthy things with healthy things. If your hubby is like mine and can eat whatever he wants without gaining any weight this will be a bit of a challenge since they will be the ones to bring the junk food back in the house!