My weight loss journey...recovering from 2 miscarriages and pregnancy.

[FarfromHome]

I'm hoping to use this space to stay motivated and keep track of my progress and how my eating and exercising are going. I think it will be helpful for me to keep a daily food log so I'll try to keep up with that here as well

*My Story*

I've struggled with my weight since being married but finally got to a place I was proud of during the summer of 2010 while I finished college and DH was deployed to Afghanistan. He got me a personal trainer as a gift before he left and I worked my butt off and got down to the low 170s. I looked and felt really great! ( although I would have loved to continue to loose a bit after that too!). Shortly after he returned home, we found out we were expecting our first baby and were over the moon. I felt really good that I would be starting my pregnancy at a healthy weight and was very relaxed and optimistic. We lost our baby on Mother's day 2011 I'll be honest and come right out and say that I took comfort in food. I had quickly put on probably 10 lbs and the last thing on my mind was diet and fitness. Surprisingly, about a month after my miscarriage we found out we were expecting again. My OB said to expect the best and that there was no reason to think we'd have another miscarriage. Once again we were over the moon and so ready to welcome a little one into our family.

Everything was going well but I was nervous to do any "real" exercise because of my previous miscarriage. I was also working full time with a very stressful position and wasn't too concerned about the amount of calories I was eating...although I did watch my fat and salt/ fast food intake. We saw the baby's heartbeat at 6 weeks and thought everything was tracking well with the pregnancy. Shortly after 8 weeks I got the same ominous dark brown discharge I had experienced with my first miscarriage and knew there was a problem. It was hard because I had just seen the baby on the ultrasound a few days prior and she looked perfect, but in my heart I knew something was wrong when I got the discharge. My Dr. saw me right away and sure enough, no heartbeat.

My husband had been on a training mission and was emergency evacuated home...it was a hard time. My Dr. wanted to perform surgery to remove a ovarian cyst that he had seen on the ultrasound and also wanted to do a D+C. I had a horrific natural miscarriage the first time and agreed to the surgery. A week later, I had the D+C as well as a laporoscopy to remove the cyst and what ended up being a fibroid in my uterus and some endometriosis. Once again, after the surgery, diet and fitness was the last thing on my mind. As I recovered I know we ate a lot of fast food and DH ran to get me lots of "treats" while I was stuck in bed recovering. I probably had put on another 5-6 lbs at this point. After the surgery we found that we had been expecting a little girl who had passed away from triple X syndrome or Trisomy X. There was nothing we could have done and were cleared to being TTC in 3 months time once I recovered from surgery. We named our daughter Joya

Finally, in October 2011, I became pregnant again. My husband deployed again a few weeks later in November. I was pregnant, working full time( still with the same stressful position), and alone while was husband was half a world away. I ate pretty much whatever I had time to make and didn't make my stomach churn. We found out we were expecting another little girl in February and my husband was back home the last day of March 2012. We welcomed our daughter Selah on July 19th, 2012. I had gained about 45 lbs during pregnancy with her and gave birth at about 228 lbs(!!).

It didn't really bother me too much though, I was just so thankful she was here and healthy. The weight started falling off after I gave birth and started to nurse, but I seem to have flat-lined now and need to get some motivation to get my butt in gear to get back to my "pre-pregnancies" weight ( and hopefully beyond). I'm really starting to struggle with my self-esteem now too so I know this is something I need to do for my whole family.

to be continued...

 

[FarfromHome]

*Stats*
Age:25
Previous Weight: 228 lbs
Current weight: 200 lbs

*Short Term Goals*
-Start couch to 5k program
-power walk on couch to 5k training " off days"
-find a good gym and get signed up
-go to hot yoga 2-4x per month.
-cut out "liquid calories" ( ie:soda/juice)
-strive to make healthy dinners and lunches
-meet daily requirements for fruit and veggie intake every day.
Also, drink loads more water.
-lose 1 lb per week
-take daily multivitamin

**Long term weight loss goal - first 30 lbs and hopefully,eventually, 50 lbs.

I'm still nursing so I don't want to "diet"(for now) but want to make healthy lifestyle changes and focus on nutrtion and exercise. Now, for some pictures. I'll take a "before" picture of where I'm starting out at now when I get a chance tomorrow. But here I am on our wedding day ( before I ever became pregnant), after both miscarriages when we went to release some balloons in honor of our babies, and a day before my due date with Selah.

 

[ILoveShoes]

Hiya
I think your goals sound fantastic, and really healthy!
Good luck with your journey xx

 

[Tickles]

Good luck!
You seem to have all the right ideas. And now all you have to do is put them into practice.
Im a similar weight to you around 190 i believe and really need get my bum in gear. I try and try then have a hard day so give up. I so wanna be slimmer and healthier for my LO and also for myself. But its only me standing in my way. Summer is coming too and i dont want to be hot and bothered running after my boy. Hey ho...i gotta get my head in the right place.
Good luck to you! Anything is possible, you just have to work for it.

Xx

 

[FarfromHome]

Thanks for the replies ILoveShoes and Tickles! I'm a little discouraged, and didn't mean to disappear, but I got a bad cold out of the blue I've had a fever and just generally been feeling pretty crummy so haven't really gotten started with any hardcore excercise and have just been eating what sounds good to my tummy. Nonetheless, I've still been making an effort to adjust things where I can. I've switched from the yummy coffee creamer ( I drink 1-2 cups per day) thats calorie heavy to fat free half and half and then I add a dash of agave nectar or Truvia. I feel good about cutting out all that processed sugar I was drinking every day

Yesterday, DH and I took LO and our dog for a walk ( even though I was feeling pretty crappy I forced myself to go!) and today we went on a looooong walk with LO to the beach and all the way up and down the pier. I'm looking forward to feeling better so we can go jogging as a family.

I'll be back on track soon, I'm headed to the OBGYN on Monday morning for a checkup so I'll be anxious to see what I weigh on an accurate scale. I think the scale at our house is not working well.

 

[FarfromHome]

Wow! What a crazy week it's been. I think this week was mostly a huge FAIL but I still tried to and make healthier choices and get out and exercise when I could. My LO got sick right as I was feeling better and my husband had a busy and stressful week at work... so we ended up having a lot of "quick" not so healthy meals and eating out. I was craving hot dogs so we ended up having those twice this week ( dinner, lunch) , pizza, ate out at Chipotle last night and today we were at SeaWorld so we had breakfast and lunch out ( mostly really bad choices!).

I started my meal journal this week but that quickly went out the window when LO got sick. I'm hoping I can do better this week. I still want to take some "before" shots of myself to use as motivation so hopefully I can see a difference as I continue to work. I'm truely hoping this week isnt as tough as last and I can be more disciplined with my goals.

Accomplishments: The good news is that I still definitely made more of an effort this week and tried to pay close to attention to my portion sizes and food choices. I left cheese or dressing off things I would normally put it on, and stopped eating when I was full. I also tried to carefully decide if I was *actually* hungry or just wanted to eat out of boredom. I kept all cookies/candy/sweets out of the house this week and didn't buy any at the store which helped a ton I think I DEFINITELY don't have the self control to keep junk in the house ( evidenced by the bag of chips I bought to go with our hot dogs that was GONE 24 hrs later...). I got out of the house and went for walks with LO and worked out 2x this week. Not great, I know, but at least it's a start. I did a Jillian Michaels DVD for one work out and ran a mile/did abs for work out number two. When I weighed myself I was down two pounds according to our scale, but I'm not 100% sure that's accurate.

Disappointments: Not drinking enough water, drinking too much juice, not working out more, eating out too much, choosing hot dogs and chips as a dinner and keeping the chips in the house after ( should have thrown them out after we ate! Not to be wasteful but I can't be trusted!) Not making healthier food choices when eating out. Also, not making healthier "late night" choices when I'm hungry before bed.

Here's to a better week next week!