My Post Pregnancy Weight Loss

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Disclosure:  This is a post I did another site I own.  I am deleting the site little by little but wanted to share this post with my readers from BNB.  

After the birth of my 4th child the "baby weight" decided it didn't want to shed as easily.  My first two children were born when I was in my early 20's and quite frankly I didn't have to have to do anything to get back into shape.  I was fitting back into my size 0 jeans and looking fabulous within a few weeks.  Makes me sick thinking about it now!  I had my 3rd and 4th children while in my early and mid 30's.  By this time my metabolism had slowed down quite a bit and although I was still in shape  and wearing only a size 3 it definitely didn't come without me paying close attention to what I put in my body and exercising a few times per week.


Flash forward to the last year. My jeans were going passed my thighs and my shirts fit me like snug belly shirts.  I was so ashamed to even change in front of my husband. I went from being 105 lbs pre-pregnancy to weighing 117 lbs post pregnancy.  This was the most I have ever weighed without being pregnant!!  My daughter, Riley, was born in July 2011 and in January of 2012 I really had to come to terms with the fact that this "baby weight" was
1) no longer just baby weight  and
2) not coming off as easily as it did in the past

I made a commitment to myself to turn things around.  I didn't want to jump on silly fad diet because I knew that wouldn't last very long.  I decided to take baby steps toward changing my lifestyle.  It sounds so generic but trust me, it works!
The first thing I did was I downloaded a few apps on my phone to help me out.  These apps were seriously my personal trainers.  They were kept me aware of my habits and encouraged me to stay focused and make better choices.
My favorite apps were:
My Net Diary (LOVE IT)
Body Shot Weight and BMI (talk about an in-your-face reality check)
Daily Body Workout

The next thing I did was bought I bought a juicer.  I love the Vitamix but you can use whatever you have as long as it's powerful enough to blend through certain veggies.  I drank 2 Green Smoothies a day... One when I first woke up and another as a dinner supplement.   My favorite recipe was
2 cups of Kale
1 cup Spinach
1 tbsp Organic non-fat Greek Yogurt
3 tbsp Flax Seed
3 tbsp Chia Seeds
1/2 Banana
1.5 cups Almond Milk or Almond Coconut Milk

I made a conscious choice to swap my crappy food for healthier alternatives.  For example:
Plain Bagels---> Whole Grain English Muffins
Pancakes ---> Mini egg white muffins
Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal Packets ---> Steal Cut Oatmeal
Beef Burgers---> Boca Veggie Burgers or Turkey Burgers on Whole Grain Muffin
Cookies---> Fresh Fruit or Veggies
Fast Food---> Healthy Choice Steamers
Soda/Juice--->Water
Alcoholic Beverages--->Water

Cut back on fried foods, increased my fiber intake, completely cut out fast food and tried my best to stay away from white starches.
I worked out to Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred 3-4x per week and ran around after my little monsters.
Weights!!  I can't stress how important weight training is.  I worked out with 3-5 lb dumbbells during my videos and 10 lbs dumbbells every night before bed for 10 minutes.  that's it!!
In 3 months I lost 15 lbs.  That's 13% of my body weight and not always easy for women my size to lose so fast...  And it really was effortless!
*Breastfeeding really helped a lot!!

My message is here is just this... don't jump on some crazy diet or drink some silly beverage as a meal replacement till you're ready to pass out because it will not work long term!  Make changes in your life that will have real results and that will not only make you look better but feel better also.  I haven't felt this great in years.  Sure, I enjoy a run through the drive-thru every once in awhile when I'm on the run, but I'm not doing it often and I'm not choosing the wrong things.  Rule #1 is NO EXCUSES!  If you start making excuses for one thing then you will make them all the time.  You have to remember that you won't be cheating anyone but yourself!!  And stop putting it off...seriously!!!!