Losing It

My belly that is, and slowly my mind...but I think that's unrelated.

I don't know if I shared the news here, but before I went on vacation [emphasis on the BEFORE, I probably ate more sugar on vacation than I have all year...] I weighed myself at our family doctor and I lost ten pounds for the month of May :] FINALLY some progress!
And let me tell you, it was hard.

But, I wanted to share some of the actions I've been taking to make these changes possible and hopefully they keep on coming!

1. I got help from someone who I knew wouldn't put me on some diet pill, tell me to stop breastfeeding, and tell me to eat 500 calories a day. Dr. Jim Bob is not only my former employer, but my go to health guy and family friend. Him and his wife Cindy know so many things about what God has made our bodies to do, naturally, and I always feel safe with their advice. So, during one of my bi-monthly adjustments at LFWC we talked about my struggles losing weight. We found out that I am estrogen dominant, which was making it that much harder for my body to let go of the fat that was in my body. So with his help, I started makin more changes.

2. I cut out the simple carbs that were turning into sugar in my body. No more white rice, all brown. And even though we were eating whole wheat bread/bagels/pita I made it a rule to only eat it once a day-either at lunch or supper. So instead of having toast or a bagel in the morning with my eggs [it was really just to fill me up and give me an excuse to eat butter and honey] I have a small amount of oatmeal or goat's milk yogurt. It fills me up and satisfies my sweet tooth. And if I don't have either of those, I steam up some apples and a dab of butter :] The carbs I do eat are prepared by me about 95% of the time and soaked overnight. I also stopped baking as much, but did allow a cookie every now and then so I wouldn't go on a crazy purge.

3. I have awesome support from my husband and friends. I think this is the biggest thing you could have!

So, as I get back into the swing of things, post vaca mind and all, I'm going to add regular work outs again. Not as fast, not as often, but definitely thorough and regular.

WISH ME LUCK!
Mae

Confession and a Surprise.

Well, guess I should come clean.
I haven't worked out in two weeks. Blegh.

For some reason I can't do the whole "cook 21 meals a week, soak grains, do all the clean up that goes with that, walk the dog, nurse the baby, keep up with my small business" AND work out for the sexy 20 year old body I'm supposed to have. GO freakin figure.

So, I'm starting over.
Stats
Size: 14 is too big, 12 gives me muffin top [pick your jaw up off the floor now...:| ]
Weight: 181 [HOW I GAINED weight? I don't even know...]
Waist: [at it's smallest part] 34 inches
Muffin: 42 mutha lovin inches...blugh.
Chest: [in nursing tank] 40 inches

If we move to Rockport, I will be at the beach a lot. If I thought I was self conscious in high school...shiver...Let's see if I can get this eating AND exercising thing down. Starting tomorrow morning...I think my whole family would appreciate me loosing the weight. Then maybe we could work on some siblings for Lily ;]

SO, BYE BYE Monster Rolls. You will NOT be missed.





















Now that is out of the way...sorta.
I have some EXCITING news. But...I think I'm gonna wait, now that I think about it. HA!

Hope you're having an awesome weekend
Mae

FOTC Friday and Recipe Vote

Since I spent so much time on my soy post, today's is gonna be short, sweet, and to the point.

Flight of the Conchords "If that's what you're in to"
[NOT appropriate for the kiddies- but hilarious, as usual]



Hahaha, ok now that's out of the way :] This week's recipe vote!

Breads :]
1. White Amish Bread [perfect for the amish butter I got this week, YUM!]
2. Black Olive Foccacia
3. Green Irish Soda Bread [...ok, it's not really green, but there was a theme going with the colors, lol]


The workouts are starting to get tangible, and I can feel the difference in my body, but I'm gaining weight? Ugh... Anywho, I have a consultation with my chiropractor on Monday to see what I can do about my diet...though I'm not sure I'm doing anything wrong. Frustrating.

Tomorrow's post will be all about Lily's booty...well, diapers anyway ;]

OX, Mae

Sacrifice

Little blog, sorry for neglecting you...again. I have been making flowers for spring. And by updating I'm actually putting them off, so there. You're my dirty little secret tonight.
Ok, so a few weeks ago I read a blog post from one of my internet friends. It was talking about how determined she was to not fall into the mindset of "I'm a mom, I'm gonna look frumpy".
For a few days her words of rebellion and determination rang in my head, NON-stop. I kept thinking "heck yes I'm gonna get my body back, and better than it was before! Straight up, no excuses.
My friends who had their babies [some TWICE as big as mine!] and lost their "baby weight" within the first few weeks really discouraged me. Lily has grown faster than almost any baby I know, from MY milk so that should be taking the weight off... Everyone told me this would probably happen too "Yup, he just sucked the weight RIGHT off of me." And while nothing of the sort has happened, I was yet again discouraged.
Then there was the "It takes 9 months to gain it all, it'll take at least that to lose it". Guess what? I'm almost 8 months into this, and after initially loosing 20 pounds, I've actually gained weight. EVEN AFTER doing a cleanse. We RARELY eat out, and I make 3 homemade meals a day.

???

So then God decides to remind me of something I wrote months ago. I said "We say we will sacrifice anything for our babies, but when it comes down to it- we are selfish" At the time I was talking about breastfeeding in public [actually stopping in the car on the way home from the store] I was so fed up with moms saying "I can't do ____ anymore because of her" or "Ever since he came along, _______ hasn't been an option" And it's always so damn self pitying!

But there I was this morning, looking at myself in the mirror. My belly hangs over my hips. The stretch marks go from the top of my hips to right above my belly button. My boobs, the only thing on my body that I was happy with, look like nothing more than...well jugs. Jugs of milk. [I'm actually crying right now!?!?!?!? UGH!] I thought "Man, I had problems taking maternity pictures before, I won't be able to take any belly shots with the next baby..." and "I wonder if people can see my stretch marks through *this* shirt" [Mine are really deep and there are a lot of materials I can't wear anymore]

So after getting over myself, I remembered what I had wrote "Didn't you say you would sacrifice anything to have this baby?" I did. I said I would do anything to grow a healthy embryo into a healthy baby, birth a healthy newborn, and continue to grow a healthy toddler. Why didn't I understand sacrifice of my body was part of that? Sure, having a baby constantly on me came up, but not having the body I wanted never did. I have to eat the way I do to produce healthy milk. I can't work out rigorously like I would like [and that would be effective] to work the weight off because, well as far as time goes, I'm a single mom.

Today I want to pray over all of the moms out there who are fighting the fight to be happy with their "new" body. I pray that you do everything you can to be healthy and to keep your baby healthy. I pray that this sick culture will have no pressure over you and keep it's distance from your life. I pray that you can find happiness in your body.

Sorry for the rant.

I plan on resuming regular blogging beginning next week after my shop is updated.

mae <3