60 Day results

I can not believe I haven’t shared these yet! You saw the before pictures but they are also here with the afters.  The pants are the same but in a smaller size.

I see some decent results and also had bunches of fun working out. I did mostly TurboFire by the schedule, adding some Turbo Kick round practice and walks and then couch to 5K in the last week or so. Plus Shakeology, which I completely think gave me the energy to workout and be a new mom, along with being a healthy meal replacement. I feel so much more physically like myself, even if I’m still above my pre-pregnancy weight. Exercise makes me happy!

So now I am doing Les Mills Pump, which has mostly Pump workouts but also has walking on the schedule. So I have been walking, running and Turbo Kicking. I can’t wait to see my next round of results. I love the Pump workouts I have done so far and working out with a barbell at home is giving me a great workout without needing to go to the gym. Excellent stuff.

I am going to stop listing my workouts here. I started it for my accountability when I was struggling, and I have been able to be fairly consistent lately. If you miss it, speak up!

Hoping to Bounce Back

A bit over a week into my workouts and I’m amazed.  Amazed at how tough of a time I’m having.  I knew it would be different, but I guess I figured I would have kept at least some strength and flexibility with working out through my pregnancy.  I’m sure part of it is me being critical, but it’s hard.

I am physically bigger.  This makes just moving my body more difficult (but burns more calories!) and also means that sometimes I get in my own way.  I also have changed shape in many ways over the last year.  I sometimes still expect my pregnant belly to be there, still think my thighs and hips are smaller and still think I know what to do to be in balance.  But my belly is an entirely new shape, I have pounds distributed in new places and I don’t know how to balance this body easily.

I have a weaker core.  I haven’t worked my core directly since last March as even early on it made me nauseous.  This changes everything from actually doing abdominal work such as planks to jumps and other plyometrics or strength moves like push ups.

Today, I did two workouts that really showed this – TurboFire Core20 and Stretch40.  The stretch workout was like a yoga class and so much was harder than expected.  I have this on schedule once a week for the next 7 weeks and I will look back at this post, hopefully with improved strength and flexibility.

I know that I will not be the same, but that I will lose the weight and gain the strength.  I have done this before under different circumstances – first coming from being overweight all along and doing it all for the first time and now going from several hot yoga classes, being able to lift heavy and move with both grace and strength in my cardio to, well, not.   However I also have a good reason for this different body!  So that is a plus on the mental side.

I am coming at it as a happy challenge.  I look forward to the new changes and the fun workouts.  I will work to get my body back to the healthy person my brain remembers so I can be a healthy mother to my child.

Workout Friday – TurboFire Fire45EZ and Stretch10
Workout Saturday – TurboKick Round 50
Workout today – TurboFire Core20 and Stretch40

Putting it out there…

This is what I look like as of 12/31/2012, between 6 and 7 weeks postpartum. I am 30 lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight and hoping to lose it slowly. I need to take measurements but I usually only have time when Zoe is sleeping. And I forget to get my measuring tape out of the depths of my closet before then. I don’t want to wake her! I promise to do them today! Maybe in the next few minutes…if I go now!

Workout to be done later!

 

My story

At least part of it, and my story hasn’t ended yet.  I am a work in progress, and hope to never reach an end!

I was overweight/obese for a good portion of my life.  My highest weight was before I had a scale, but no matter the number I was also unhappy with just about everything.  I started to workout consistently in December of 2000, joining a gym near my work.  I started going in the mornings when it was slow and would workout on some cardio equipment and hit the same weight machines (the ones I could figure out how to use on my own)  a few times a week.  It was alright, but not exciting or a very good plan.

Before:

Soon, I started taking classes.  Kickboxing, yoga, sculpting…I’d try almost anything.  I started seeing results, made some friends, and was having a blast!  Kickboxing and yoga were my favorites then.  I’d start lifting more weights in a few years.  I gained confidence through my workouts and was able to make some other changes to increase my happiness!

Eventually in 2004, the gym and I had to go our separate ways.  I was studying for actuarial exams and it was tough to go to the gym near work.  Bring on the Beachbody!  A friend of mine had been doing Turbo Jam and loved it.  I bought it quickly and was also hooked!  I soon had both the base package and the Fat Burning Elite package.  It was around this time that I also started eating healthier.  What a difference!  I had lost about 30lbs in a bit over 3 years but was now losing around 5 lbs a month until I got to a much healthier weight, but about 15 lbs above goal.  I was also around the same weight when I found out I was pregnant…work in progress always!

I was my lowest weight in 2008 for our wedding.  By then I was lifting weights several times a week, having seen a personal trainer and using New Rules of Lifting for Women.  Weights are great!!  I maintained about 5lbs above that until we moved into our house in 2009.  We had a few weeks without a place to live, which meant without a place to prepare food and without a schedule.  When we moved in, it was still tough to prepare food as our kitchen was in shambles.  Within about 3 months, I put on about 20 lbs!  Back to getting it off again!  I went back to Beachbody, working on TurboFire and then ChaLEAN Extreme (love those weights).  I also started doing hot yoga more often, another love. Now, in 2012, I start a new weight chapter!

October, 2011, a few months pre-pregnancy:

In case you think I’m Chalene Johnson obsessed (well, I may be), I’ve also tried Hip Hop Abs, Yoga Booty Ballet and P90X but I haven’t done those programs fully.  I’m looking forward to new challenges and adding to my story!  Here’s to what comes next!