Ready... Set...

So, seeing you girls post here again has me all anxious to see what my body does post-partum too. All I need now is to get there! Actually, it's not just your posts that have me anxious: I was loosing in the month prior to getting pregnant, and had a great thing going. I'd dealt with some emotional things that were holding me back and leading me to sabotage myself, I had a *great* workout routine (sadly, it's too intense to do in a pregnancy, since it hinges on high heart rates & the Dr. said no more than 150bpm), and was doing well with my food choices, and dealing with some of the estrogen dominance. There was exciting stuff going on! (And a baby is exciting too- just exciting different.) There's some exciting things still: I've gained very little in this pregnancy, even though I took forever to figure out a workable exercise routine. I actually think that a lot of it is dealing with the self-sabotage: I am maintaining healthy food choices much more often, and that is hugely healthy for both the baby and me. So I'm excited to join the two of you in the whole post-partum weight loss thing in a few weeks!

Happy Friday

I have made it to my goal! As of this morning I am down 11 pounds! :D I think I get to go shopping. Kind of have to anyway - Dave has a work Christmas party coming up and it is fancy enough I need a cocktail dress! I'm a little nervous. Nursing has made the girls bigger again and last night I tried on my dress from Kate's wedding and it was nice and loose in the belly and too small up top. I hope I can find a good looking dress without breaking the bank. If I'm lucky, I can find one that is inexpensive enough I can get a new pair of shoes! I have been wishing for red shoes...

Working up the Motivation

Awesome Emma!! Your posts are really very inspiring. I need to get better about consciously making wise choices about weight loss. I mean, I *am* back in my real, non-maternity pants, but that's more from lack of eating (while being occupied with feeding little Townshend) than from wise food choices and working out.

It's been a rougher transition into motherhood than I really expected.. Lack of sleep and the learning curve of breastfeeding has me feeling like my days (and nights) are a cycle of me moving from my bed to the rocking chair and back again. However, he's been sleeping in his bassinet more often (which means I sleep in my bed vs the rocking chair) so I've been feeling more rested myself. This week we took a walk with the stroller 3 times.. so that's something!

My dr said to take it easy 'til 6wks, but we're coming up on that pretty soon. Until then, my goal is to go for walks with the stroller at least 3 times a week, and with all the vertical rocking I do to keep Townshend from snoozing through his feedings, I'm sure my arms will be more toned before too long.

"Hello!"

So as I am going along in my weekly meetings with the scale, I always get excited when one of the numbers goes down. Particularly if it is the middle, or even better!, the first number. Today my middle number went down! "HELLO to a new middle number!" Oh, if only you could have seen my happy dance! But then again no... I weigh with nothing on. Awkwaaard....
So I am down a total of 7 pounds today. Is anyone else playing along with me? Rits, I know you can't yet, but anyone else? I'm wishing for buddies today. Good luck to you all!

New Record

Dave was recently called to Deacons' Assistant at church and basically is helping with the Duty to God award and so is going to be attending Wednesday night activities. This week was the first time he went, and they happened to be doing a physical fitness test. So he ran a mile. For the first time in years. And still had a time *way* better than my personal best. Well I couldn't just sit there and do nothing about that... so this morning I went down to the gym, hopped on the treadmill and started running. Darn that competitive streak in me.
I actually almost jumped off after about 3 minutes because, for whatever reason, today it was torturous to be on the treadmill. But I soon discovered that if I cranked the volume on my mp3 player so loud that I couldn't hear my feet hitting the ground it was much more tolerable. And thank goodness I didn't jump off because I got a new personal best for my mile! 12:27. Still more than 2 1/2 minutes slower than Dave's, but better than anything I have ever done before by about 20 seconds and I was proud.
Update on my goal to lose 10 lbs before my doctor appointment: I didn't make it. But it was a lofty goal anyway. I did manage to be 4 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight though. I'll take it. And keep working. :)

4 Weeks Post-Baby... 2 Weeks To Go

Another official weigh in for me today. Down 5 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, which means I have 2 weeks to lose 5 pounds to meet my goal. Totally doable. :D I've also decided that I need to find my sewing measuring tape so I can take measurements and make goals that way as well because the fact that I am nursing makes it difficult to get a fair comparison on the scale. First thing in the morning - preferably this means getting up at 6:30 - after I have peed and fed Zach entirely on both sides so I'm not measuring milk weight is the best way for me to measure, but hard to achieve consistently.
I also braved the treadmill last night for 24 minutes, 3 of which I was able to do a full run and the rest was a brisk walk. I was supposed to be there for 30 minutes, but at 24 minutes I decided that my hip flexors hurt bad enough that I was being stupid and should not continue. But it was all good. I am feeling like, even though I'm not able to do any thing close to how I used to be able to, I am doing really well considering where I'm at right now.
Dave and I have started doing pushups together every night as well. He is buff enough to do traditional pushups, but I have to do the girly pushups on my knees. But with each of us doing our own flavor, we can both do about 50 pushups. It's nice to have found something that we can do together and push and support each other.

Let The Post-Baby Exercise Begin!

Today is officially one week after Zach was born. That's a crazy thought. My doctor told me not to exercise/lift anything over 10 pounds until today and I can see why... Since the whole not lifting thing was pretty much impossible *think a 30 pound 2 year old who wants my attention and is literally begging me to carry her around the house* I of course overdid it a few days and yup. The dr was right. By the end of the day my hips hurt so bad I wanted to cry.
But today I am feeling really good - good enough to attempt some exercise in addition to occasionally carrying Chelsea. I managed to chug out 30 sit ups with Zach on my chest and do some light swimming for about half an hour.
I got brave and stepped on the scale on Tuesday and *holy cow!!!* I am only 1 pound short of being back at my pre-pregnancy weight! I was so excited I decided to be brave again and pull out my old pants and was able to get them on and wear them for about an hour. After that hour I had to sit and nurse for a while and the pants are still tight enough that was not entirely comfy. But on the days I get feeling like I can't take another day hitching up a stretchy panel that immediately moves right back to where it was, I have 2 pairs of pants that have a button and fly that I can wear!
So in 5 more weeks I have to go for my 6 week check up with my OB and my goal is to lose another 11 pounds by that day and be 10 pounds lighter than the day I first stepped in his office.