Getting Fit Before Baby

[swimmyj1]

Krissie - OMG CONGRATS!!!! i really hope this is a very sticky bean!!!

IRYM - its insane how fast weight comes off when you go low carb isn't it? I'm down 7lbs in a week after cutting out bread/pasta's. I'm still eating fruit though so im not completely carb free.

Fern - the baby weight is a really hard thing to lose!! i was up 30lbs still a month ago. heck i put on more weight after lizzy than when being pregnant with her. lol. but if you notice your cloths are fitting better that's a big improvement! you are probably gaining muscle from carting a baby around lol. Are you breast feeding? i know some women lose weight while doing that (i didn't but i lost it much faster after i've stopped)

Deafgal - welcome back!!! sometimes its hard to drink enough water.

AFM - my Dh's SA came back this time with only 2.4mil count, and only 23% are motile..... we are being sent back to the fertility clinic again the appointment is on the 28th. I wasn't thinking it was going to be that bad.... we don't really have the money for IVF so lizzy is probably going to be an only child. He also had a really high WBC count in the semen I don't really know what causes that

 

[krissie328]

Swimmy- that is so disappointing about dh semen analysis. I hope the clinic can offer you something within budget.

 

[swimmyj1]

i pulled up his results from 2 years ago. It looks like he had WBC's in that sample too but they also had wayyy more info on the last sample. this one it just says WBC's present ... no number or anything. Maybe i will have them redo it at the fertility clinic anyway. Me and my DH talked about it a lot today and he said he doesn't want IVF he would rather use a donor. He wouldn't see that child as any less than the one we have. but we are getting ahead of ourselves (like i always do lol)

 

[ireadyermind]

Krissie - Wow, congrats! There you were being all pessimistic about ever getting another BFP, and here is one already! FX'd for a sticky bean!

Deafgal - Of course we remember you! Welcome back! What do you think about the dietician? I've never been to one, but it's been recommended to me before. Do you like having the info they provide?

When it comes to getting enough water, perhaps you can try flavoring the water with fruit slices (lemon, mint leaves, or cucumber, perhaps?) to make it more appealing. I use sugar free crystal light powder in mine and it really helps.


Swimmy - Aw, man! Sorry to hear about DH's SA. The fertility folks don't have any way to help him increase the count, huh?

I usually don't lose weight quickly on a low carb diet, but it is the only diet that produces steady results at more than 0.25lbs a week. Other meal plans I've tried where calorie counting was the only goal wouldn't even have helped me maintain weight, let alone lose any. So frustrating! But with low carb, I can expect maybe a pound a week now that I'm not all bloated.

Did you know that for every 1g carbs you eat, your body holds 4g water to help digest it? That's why there's usually such a big loss the first week you start a low carb diet plan.



AFM -- Still doing the low carb thing, but my exercise "momentum" has slowed. One of the things I really don't like about a low carb diet is that I feel sleepy all the time, no matter how much protein I get during the day. But I've been managing to do at least 15 mins of exercise every day, so that's something.

Yesterday was spent packing up part of the kitchen. All the stuff we don't use often, like vases, shot glasses, mason jars, etc. as well as the lesser-used small appliances all got packed up. I had to climb up and down a short step ladder all day so I figured that oughta count as my leg day! lol

I need to get my exercising back up to 30mins/day or longer if I hope to make any real progress. It's one thing to lose a few pounds of water weight, but I want to fit into a smaller pants size!

 

[deafgal01]

I'm glad someone remembers me, iready.

I like going to her. In the beginning she's provided me with very useful information, and current information regarding food. We've discussed food fads - different types of diets people are going on and the whole cleansing thing that some people do occasionally. I actually learned those have no "healthy" benefits to me and that it's better to do gradual changes to my lifestyle to improve my health. She encouraged having more greens/vegetables on my plate than carbs and proteins, so in the beginning we worked on adding in more vegetables to the diet. I set the goals, and she writes them down so my goals change from month to month, sometimes I continue working on the goals because I haven't met it yet or whatever. When I was out in Colorado last summer, she provided me with recipe ideas for my breakfast smoothie to include fruits and yogurt. She also has tracked my weight (and offered to check my blood as well). So with her holding me accountable, I feel like I'm actually making more effort to do my best with being healthy - especially with my spouse's concern that I could eventually get diabetics like my dad.

She is more of a "support" than educational role now - as I've already been equipped with what I need to know anyways. Occasionally I do have questions come up - like recently I had my dr do a full blood lab work for my upcoming wellness/health appt and I sent her an email asking questions about what RBC and Hgb were and whether I could have changed/fixed with diet/exercise if that was possible because they were coming back high (while everything else was still within normal range). She was able to ease my worries about that quickly with information that I would prob have had to wait another week for and having that as a tool was really nice this time around. In the end, I decided not drinking enough fluids the day before/that week probably influenced these levels to go up a little higher than "acceptable" and that it's really nothing to worry about because if it was, the office would have called to talk about it sooner than my appt.

In all this time, I've maintained to keep doing ballroom dancing (private and group lessons at the local studio). I love it. That's the only thing I've been consistent with exercise wise. I do that maybe two times a week - sometimes three. 3 years of doing that now. Wow. It's my most expensive hobby but I love it.

Now that I'm done with grad school, we're turning our focus to handling our finances so we've been doing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University lately. Trying to tackle my huge school debt has been scary to look at but with that, I've been forced to look at it and really know how much I have in debt to my name. We'll prob be out of debt in about 4 years at this rate. I'm excited about that prospect because the sooner we get out of debt, the sooner we can save more money towards vacation and dance lessons and whatever we please.

So overall, we're working on getting towards healthier us (food wise and exercise/active lifestyle) plus getting our money in better shape so that we can be in control of it (instead of money controlling our lives). It really does make a huge difference mentally and emotionally when I don't feel so controlled by money and we plan things out instead of letting money control us.

 

[ireadyermind]

Deafgal - That sounds like it's been really beneficial, then! Getting all that information, someone to help keep you accountable, AND someone to offer support sounds really great.

And getting your finances in order is definitely a good thing, too! My mom always thought I was crazy for wanting to be in a better place, financially, before having kids. She kept saying, "That is unrealistic, no one's ever in the place they want to be when it comes to money!" But she's wrong there! If DH and I hadn't worked so hard to become financially stable, we never would have been able to afford IVF for example. Nor would we have a home in a SAFE part of the state to raise a child in, as opposed to the ghetto we lived in years ago.

Good work on getting all of that taken care of! Do you feel like you're close to reaching your goals there, or is there a ways to go yet?

 

[krissie328]

Thanks ladies! I'm super nervous but trying to stay optimistic.

Deafgal- I agree with irym. It's so awesome to get your finances in order. Dh and I are working on that now. I estimate about 3.5-4 years until we are done paying off our current major debt. I really look forward to the freedom that will allow us to travel and do some renovations to our home.

 

[krissie328]

Irym- I need to get back into walking. It's good for insulin sensitivity and hopefully not gaining too much. So far I've been starving so it's not looking too good....

 

[deafgal01]

I have a ways to go with my financial goals - obviously with a lot of school debt weighing us down. So possibly a few years there with that. But i'll feel so much more free once that debt's gone.

Maybe that'll even open up the "adoption" route possibility. I don't know at this point. I honestly don't know if I'll ever get my goal to become a mommy someday.

As for food/exercise, I will get there. If I utilize myfitnesspal the way I should and encourage my spouse to do the same (and friends who are on that app too), I do think we will eventually get to that point we want to be at with our health/weight. Ideally the chart says I should be 150ish. I disagree cuz that's not factoring in the big bones, so I'd be happy at 160. That's only 35 lbs away for me right now. So as long I track and all, I will eventually get to that point over the next couple months, and then the tricky part is maintaining that. I know this week (1-2 weeks) alone is already showing progress cuz I feel like my shorts aren't as tight as they were before I started tracking my meals/exercises.

 

[deafgal01]

krissie- where would you go if you could travel? I know Europe is on my list. I wouldn't mind going to Hawaii too.

 

[krissie328]

krissie- where would you go if you could travel? I know Europe is on my list. I wouldn't mind going to Hawaii too.

I definitely want to visit Italy and New Zealand. Those are my two dreams. I would also love to go on an Alaskan cruise and maybe someday a Caribbean adventure.

In the near future I want to go Yosimite.

 

[deafgal01]

I would totally do cruises again. I did one on the east Caribbean and that was so much fun!!!!!!! The ship I was on was so huge, I easily hit my steps goal everyday that I was on the cruise because I had to walk everywhere to get to my food or see things or do things.

 

[krissie328]

Yea I would love to do a cruise for our 15th anniversary in 3 years. We aren't quite sure yet though if we want to do that will DS and potentially this baby will be 2.

 

[deafgal01]

You might have to see what other ladies think of the daycare services on cruises. Then you could have "couple" time alone with your husband at some point during the cruise. I think it also depends on the cruise you take - if it's kids friendly type where there's tons of stuff for them to do. The one I took through Carnival I believe, has carousel and kids pools. I don't know what other kids attractions they had other than those because I don't have kids myself and didn't have to think about looking into that.

 

[krissie328]

I had no idea cruises had day care services or carousels. Wow gonna have to really check that out. That could really help with our decision.

 

[deafgal01]

Ah my ship was through Royal Caribbean. I thought it was Carnival. My bad. I went on Oasis of the Seas, but I think they have a newer ship that's bigger with water slides now. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do?shipCode=OA

 

[ireadyermind]

Krissie - Walking is definitely a good thing to keep up with now that you have your BFP. It's not as good an option for me personally due to a minor disability I have (old injury in my right foot which never healed right), but I do go walking when I'm able! It strengthens your legs, and as your legs contain some very large muscle groups, stronger leg muscles mean a faster resting metabolism. That could help keep pregnancy weight down.

Deafgal - What weight loss goal have you set for yourself? I know MyFitnessPal asks how many pounds you aim to lose a week and takes that into consideration when it gives you a calorie goal. What've you set yours to?

 

[deafgal01]

Mine is set at 160 for my weight loss goal and I have it set to 1 pound per week (gradual is often better for long term) considering i'm not very active like my best friend is. So for my calorie, it tells me I have "1,590" allowed per day, that's not counting in the exercise and other things.

I danced for like 75 minutes today. Wow!!!! It was actually 3 different sessions - 1 private lesson for about 45 minutes, 1 group lesson which is 45 minutes (but with the instructing/teaching portion, I figured it's actually more like 30 minutes), and followed by party dance time (which we stayed for about 20 minutes after the group lesson). Party is about an hour long, but we always leave around 9:20/9:30 as we need to get home to bed.

 

[swimmyj1]

Krissie - my friend has used the daycare on cruise ships a few times. Her oldest was 4 and youngest 1 1/2 when they went the first time. She said it was nice because then they would have dinner together a few nights just her and her DH.

I totally fell off the weight loss train this weekend. I ate wayyyy too much crap at my cousins grad party. I think before my biggest problem was I would just throw in the towel after a weekend of bad eating and give up eating healthy. This time I'm just gonna go back to healthy eating.

 

[deafgal01]

It happens every now and then, swim... Glad you're getting back to eating healthy now that the weekend's over.

I've been doing pretty good tracking everything. I've been drinking enough fluids most of the time. I need to drink a little more today but other than that, I've been staying on top of taking a sip of water every once in a while. The tricky part is we are going on vacation this week and that's going to be hard to stay on track with my calories limit/intake but I know we've discussed the possibility of sharing a few meals, not all of them but some of them to help manage limiting our food. Other than that, we can also be wise with what we choose - raw or cooked rather than fried vegetables, etc. Plus I'm not counting in the exercises we'll be getting this week - all the walking and stuff.