My Fit Journey, Part 1: Making a Reasonable & Dedicated Choice

I mentioned in a previous post that after having my 3^rd child, in almost exactly 3 years, I no longer recognized my body.  That’s a pretty common feeling, I think, among moms.  Even if you don’t gain a ton of weight, your body goes through massive changes while doing amazing work and sometimes its shocking to see what you’re working with once the babies are all out.  That said, I like to be clear that my weight gain was not purely from my childbearing years.  I fancy myself a bit of a foodie & hostess. In our D.I.N.K. years (Dual Income, No Kids) we enjoyed vacationing, fine dining, and regular drinks & fun with friends followed by late night burritos and cheese fries. That’s the truth. So I feel like it’s important to note that its not just the mommy-hood that changed my body – but it certainly played a role too.

This photoshoot after my son was born was so bittersweet for me. In love with my family, but hard to see myself in the photos. Now I look at this photo as a catalyst for change.

So here I am, barely in my 30s, done having kids, and I’m feeling like now is my chance to try to feel better about my body. On the one hand, I respected my body so much for carrying my babies, but I didn’t really like looking at it.  Photos were BRUTAL.  And there seemed to be a lot of those now considering my obsession with my babies. I adopted the classic mom move: #staybehindthecamera

My nutrition wasn’t horrendous but it wasn’t great. While, of course, I knew veggies:good –-> Cheetos:bad, I made no conscious decisions regarding balance or portions.  And my physical activity was pretty limited to chasing toddlers.  In a totally frustrated state, I thought to myself “I’m done having kids, and no longer moonlighting at Burrito House, but I’m in this body that leaves me feeling gross and not like my best-self.”  It was time for change and I was really willing to dive in.

Even pre-kids I wasn't exactly living off green-smoothies and kale.

My sister-in-law had just gotten into some nutrition and fitness stuff and was telling me about it during a visit for my son’s baptism.  I was skeptical.  Another fad.  But I was also interested.  I had already done many different weight management programs at various points of my life and wasn’t sold on going to weekly weight watchers meetings with 3 children in tow. What she was working with promised a daily 30 minute workout at home, combined with a nutrition plan that was totally spelled out. Seemed do-able.

Having recently become a stay-at-home mom, the other thing I didn’t want to do was haphazardly get into some expensive plan or gym that didn’t end up panning out and was a waste of our single-income dollars. So whatever I decided to do, I knew it was important to be reasonable about it and also dedicate myself.  I was ready to check out the 21 day fix that my SIL told me about and do my best to make it work for me and my busy life.

I went back and forth and did lots of research on the Shakeology portion of the nutrition plan.  In the end, it seemed worth it to me to go “all in” at least on a trial basis.  I’m thankful that I did, because in the end, it was a huge plus in my life. The meal-replacement shakes streamline some meal prep for me, gave me tons of energy within the first week, and helped me kick the KitKats for good…

 

A little over 1 month into my fitness journey, I was already feeling like a different person - willingly taking photos to document my progress.

And that, my Blog-o-sphere-friends, is where I started.  And I didn’t get where I was going overnight or even in the first 21 days. But I got there. I learned so much along the way.  But I’ll tell you more about all that followed in my next couple of posts. Oh yeah! #leavethemwantingmore ;-)