Weeks #7 and #8

Preparing for yet another big move and uprooting our lives again has made me TERRIBLE at keeping up to date on here! But I am going to do my best to keep up even with the chaos of life swirling around me. :) These past two weeks have been full of looking back and seeing how far I have come and finally having it shock me! We are nearing the 60 day mark in our 90 day journey!! And since the weeks and days don't exactly match up, our weigh-in will be this coming Thursday, March 7th (the day before we move, AHHH!) So I will post my results that evening so I don't forget to do it later on!
Week #7: I was SLUGGISH. There was no other word for it. I was losing my 'UMPH' and my motivation even though I was completely aware of the progress I had been making. Sometimes you just LOSE IT, and you don't know exactly where you lost it or why you can't seem to find it again. But you DO have to find your motivation again! No excuse is good enough to cover your arse in giving up on your fitness goals and your overall health. You have to keep going. And that is exactly what I did. Every day I dragged myself out of bed, NOT looking forward to all the 'jumping around' I knew I was in for, slipped into my workout clothes and one way or another I pressed play on my video and did my workout.
For a fun experiment I took pictures of myself in the exact outfit I was wearing the day we arrived in Hawaii and compared the differences! With exactly three months between the pictures, even I was excited for how far I have come, and trust me I am my own worst critic.

So much can happen in 3 months (If you MAKE it happen!)

And to help myself see more of the difference, I also compared pictures of my face (about 6 months difference) from when my munchkin was born to week seven of this challenge.

As she has gotten bigger, I have made it my mission to get smaller!

During week seven and week eight I have been going out adventuring with my hubby to get in all of the fun we can before the move. I have kept to my eating and exercising and then our exploring has turned out to be keeping me active as well! As an at-home-mom I forget sometimes that getting out of the house can lead to different kinds of active/exercise type fun! Whenever you get the chance to be active, take that chance!! It is not every day (for most of us) that we get to hike/bike/swim/paddle/play sports anymore, so I recommend NEVER SAYING NO to a day outdoors. Getting your daily workout in IS important, but it can also be an additional "workout" to go play outside! Kayaking was a huge workout for my legs, and I hardly noticed that it was WORK when I was out there having fun on the water.

Do activities where you have to have as much energy as a child! It's a workout!

Week #8: I have been making it my mission to keep track of how much water I drink everyday! It's not easy to keep track of the ounces when you regularly drink out of paper cups. What I did was fill up my usual size cup until just under the "spilling point" (where I always fill it to) and then I poured it into a measuring cup! This way I will always know how many ounces I am taking in with each paper cup of water I drink! I also have the convenience of always taking Kirkland (Costco brand) water bottles with me when we are out of the house and since those have the ounces printed on the label, life is so much easier!

16.9 ounces of scrumptious water - Thank You Costco!

With the 60 day weigh-in and measuring day coming up I want to be getting all the fluids I need to not let my body retain any excess weight! It may sound silly, but I really want my results to WOW me! My only problem these past couple weeks has been that I have been eating my two snacks a couple hours apart and not having time (or hunger) for lunch! I stay full with my easy snacks and then it is usually already too close to our dinner by the time I am thinking "oh hey, I forgot about lunch!"and so I have my second snack and leave it at that. I WILL get back on track and eat my lunch everyday once the packing and cleaning and chaos finally wears down. :)
OOH! And for another progress photo, I compared myself from the morning of August 17th (hours before my scheduled c-section) to my work-in-progress swimsuit body at 7-8 weeks into my Beachbody challenge (approx. 6 months later). It is not something I ever figured on showing the world, but I have come too far to not be utterly PROUD of myself for my transformation. And I am no longer ashamed of how bloated and big I was that August morning, because it was one of the happiest days of my life and it didn't matter one bit how I looked that day. :)

6 month and 55 pound difference, and still a working progress!

I had gained DOUBLE my recommended pregnancy weight gain, and still, six months later I have come to being only ten pounds away from my goal weight! And THAT is something to be proud of. :)
I will have to build all my muscle back up after the baby weight has fully disappeared, but I am so close I can almost FEEL being back to the normal self I used to be!
If I can do it, I know ANY mom can. I had all the setbacks I could possibly think of, but with a nearly one-tracked mind determined to get my old body back, I have almost accomplished it in 6 months! Three of those months, I was not allowed to do more than walk due to setbacks in my healing process, and once I was given the OK by my doctor I eased into working out again and going on longer walks. At 3 and a half months I slowly eased out of my pregnancy eating habits and back into eating for the body I wanted to have. At four months post pregnancy I joined this wonderful Beachbody 90 day fitness and health challenge, and it has been one of THE BEST things I ever could have done for myself at this vulnerable point in my life.

You don't need all the machines at the gym to get into shape! You just need Beachbody fitness DVD's and some weights/bands/yoga mat and a little bit of MOTIVATION!

Having other people going through their own, and some similar, weight loss journeys at the same time and all of us joining together to lift each other up and motivate everyone in the group has been a life saver for me! It may be scary at first to share your story with strangers, but I would recommend joining an online Beachbody fitness challenge to ANYONE & EVERYONE who has fitness or weight loss goals that they want to reach. Being happy in your own skin is important, and being at the fitness level you desire is a good way to do just that!
Until next time!! :)