Monday, July 9, 2012

I'm Losing It!

So, no one reads this, but I thought I should start blogging again anyway. Aria is now 5.5 months old! She’s getting SO big. She rolls everywhere, but doesn’t crawl yet. I am so incredibly in love with her, I can’t begin to explain.
Being a mom is the most amazing thing in the world, and I’m looking forward to having many more children to love. Unfortunately, I can’t do that as I am. By the end of my pregnancy with Aria I was preeclamptic and had gained over 70 pounds (now some of that was water-weight, but still horrible). On top of that I was already 50 pounds overweight when I got pregnant, so I was only supposed to gain 20.
After I had Aria I made a promise to myself and to my husband to get healthy before I had another baby. 10 days after we came home with Aria I had lost 10 lbs of water weight, and then the work began. I lost another 25 lbs by six weeks, when I started weight watchers. I have been on weight watchers for 19 weeks (since March) but for at least 5 of those I did not follow the rules. The past five weeks I have been extremely dedicated to weight watchers and an exercise routine. I am doing a running routine on the elliptical my husband bought me for mother’s day (used on Craig’s list for a great price) every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. As a result I have lost an additional 19 pounds since starting Weight Watchers.
That puts me nearly 45 pounds down at this point, with 66 pounds to go. Just typing these numbers is embarrassing, but I think I need to put my accomplishments and goals somewhere public. I can’t promise I will post every day, actually I can promise I won’t. But I will try to check in twice a week. Every Saturday, which is my weigh in day, and then once in the middle of the week. I will also post pictures periodically. Today I am including my before picture. This was from when my daughter was 2 weeks old.  I will have my husband take a current picture of me this weekend, so everyone (the whole 1 of you who may read this…hi mom) can see the progress made so far. And, don’t worry I will be fully clothed in all pictures.

I must forewarn you, there will be many references to what God is doing during this journey. Much of this dedication is due to the realization that I was taking God’s gift of my body for granted. After running the first time (it’s a progressive interval running program that trains for a 5K) I realized I was killing myself. I was running to praise music, and as I was doing my cool down the song “I Am Free” came one. The chorus says “I am free to run,” and I began to sob. I was huffing and puffing, and the longest continuous run that day was only 60 seconds. I felt like my heart would explode. I realized that I was taking away a freedom that God gave me. I was taking away the freedom to play with my children, the freedom to ride bikes as a family, the freedom of health. Now, I only have three weeks left of the running program, and today I am running 2 nine minute intervals. And, my heart no longer feels like it will explode after running.
Oh, and just so you know, this is not going to be a magic, overnight transformation. I don’t plan on reaching my goal before next May. If I do that will be great, but no pressure. I am doing this for a long term change, not a microwave result. This is a sustainable change, and a learning progress. And, while I’m doing this I will be completing my last year of college! So, next May will be a very exciting time for me!! YAY!
In case you are interested in either resource I am using for this weight loss journey, check out www.weightwatchers.com (I am doing the program completely online, though they do have meetings if you’re interested in them). Also check out http://easeinto5k.bluefinapps.com/. I am starting week 6 of 8 of this program. Blue Fin Apps also has a 10K app that I will go into as soon as I finish this program. I believe one version of the 10K program starts includes the 5K program and the  bridge to 10K program I will continue with.

No comments:

Post a Comment