Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in: 7 weeks postpartum

 
The first time I did these weigh-ins, I really focused on my goals. I thought about my next week's weigh-in nearly every day. This time around, sleep deprivation and the care of a little one have drastically affected my focus. However, I still managed to exercise even if I didn't look back at these goals until this morning...oops! I also dropped a lb. (However, I did see a much lower weight on the scale this week, the weight I saw this morning was more consistent with the gradual weightloss I expect)

Also, I have set a definite final goal as far as timeline goes. If I lose 1 lb per week, every week, I should meet my goal in 15 weeks or so. If I add 8 weeks for Ethan's current age and then do a little mental math...hmm, 15 + 8...23... divide that by 4 or so...I should meet my goal when Ethan is 6 months old ! Seems too coincidental that this would fall around the same time, so I am making my final goal the same day that Ethan turns 6 months old, that will be September, October, November, December, January, February, March...yes March 20th, 2014.

125 lbs by March 20th or bust!

I really do need the support and accountability of writing this all down here. As you'll read below, that alone is a milestone for me, coming here each week to put this all down.

1. Reiterate my goal and where I stand in reference to this goal. (BMI info from this website)

Starting weight: 140 (6 weeks postpartum)        
Last Week's Weight: 140

Current Weight: 139 (-1 lbs total, 14 lbs to goal!!!)   
Goal Weight : 125       

Starting BMI: 24.8
Last Week's BMI: 24.8

Current BMI: 24.6 (In the normal range of 18.5-24.9)
Goal BMI: 22.1 for goal weight

2. Discuss what I am going to do to achieve my goals.

Progress on last week's activities:

1. Determine how much water I am consuming each day on average:  

In General, I am not consuming enough. I have a water bottle that I like that holds 24 oz. Without making any effort to increase how much I consume, I realized I would only drink about 2 full bottles a day. That is only 48 oz. I do also allow myself one soda a day which I don't factor into my total liquid intake. The Mayo Clinic's website recommends 8 glasses a day, assuming they mean 8 oz glasses, that would be 64 oz. I'm simply not drinking enough liquids.

2. Find a way to do yoga at home, either buy a video or look online/youtube:  

Without a gym membership, I am limited to doing yoga in my living room as I refuse to pay a per class rate. I can hook my ipad up to my TV in my living room, but as I have the original Ipad 1, I can only play video from certain programs on the TV. This means that I either have to buy a video on itunes to play it or get a DVD to play. I did neither of these things this week, but did at least hook up the ipad to the adapter to see what would work...baby steps I tell you.

3. Create a walking schedule where I can push E in the stroller: 

I have been walking with E with a friend, but not regularly and we only went one time this week. We went on a 1.25 mile path in town and I had a blister from new shoes from the previous week, I could not possibly have gone any further that day. Then on the other 2 days we were scheduled to go, her sons were each sick and not up for it.

4. Hike in the mountains before it gets too cold: 

I just realized that E is not technically big enough by weight for the moby wrap or mai tai wraps that I have for him. I have used them around the house and when grocery shopping, but a worried about him in them when I am doing something more strenuous. The weight minimum recommended is 8 lbs. I decided to wait until we hit that mark to take him for a hike. I'd rather be safe then wish I had afterwards. I could plan to go without him but I'm not ready for him to have a bottle while I'm gone, unless it was for something truly necessary.

5. Look into/start a couch to 5 k program: 

I downloaded 2 running programs on my phone and one called runkeeper has a beginner's running training program. They don't call it a couch to 5 k, but it has you running a 5 k after 8 weeks of training. I did my first training on Sunday and my second one on Tuesday. It has me do some sort of running every other day. It seems truly do-able to me. I will be running a 5 k with the program on January 3rd. However, there is a 5k fun run locally on December 7th. I'm thinking of registering, but don't want to overdo it to try to be done sooner.

In summary: I put way less effort into this than I had hoped. I will try to do better this next week and will only be modifying my goals slightly.

Activities for this coming week:

1. Consume at least the recommended water intake for a breastfeeding mom, 64 oz

2. Purchase some sort of yoga video or program that I can realistically see myself doing

3. Walk at least 2x with E in the stroller

4. Hike in the mountains with or without E

5. Continue 5k training program, no skipping days!!!

3. Post anything else I feel like sharing.

I think it was in my running program that I read recently a quote that went something along the lines of "people who set goals are more likely to achieve their goals". When I first read it, I thought there was some sort of grammatical error, or that someone was trying to be funny or at least ironic...Well duh, how do you achieve a goal that you didn't set in the first place! Then as I sat on the thought and came back to it later in the week, I realized that to me it actually means that people who set milestones to achieve along the way are more likely to achieve a major goal. That will be my motto throughout the next 4 months. Set milestones, work towards these milestones and I will be able to achieve this major goal.

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in: 6 weeks postpartum

 

My last weigh-in was June 2012. That was before IVF, before 3 more rounds of IUI and pre-pregnancy. However, that is not to say that I haven't stepped on the scale nearly every day since! I am not weight obsessed, but achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is a major goal of mine.

I was always a healthy weight until college when my weight started to creep up. My highest weight (outside of pregnancy) was about 150 lbs and was just before I started doing the WWW's in December 2011 (man...I didn't realize that was nearly 2 years ago!!), approximately 25 lbs over my ideal weight. My lowest weight during my previous WWW's was 132. But during several rounds of ART, all the hormones took over and my weight crept back up. I was around 138 just before IVF and our 10 day trip to Las Vegas to do IVF. When I returned home from Vegas after 10 days of eating out for every meal, I weighed in between 140 and 142. That was just before I got my BFP. My highest pregnancy weight was recorded in triage at 170 lbs just before Ethan was born. That means that I gained about 30 lbs with pregnancy.

At 6 weeks postpartum, I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight of 140. I have done almost nothing to try to shift the weight during these 6 weeks postpartum. I have been eating reasonably healthy, but not great. I have been walking the dogs a few times a week but not for the purpose of exercise for me. I have gone on a few longer walks/hikes with a friend with E in the stroller. I also rode my bike once (before I realized that my vagina was not ready for it!). I was never really great about going to the gym when I had a membership, so I let my membership lapse and didn't renew it after finding out I was pregnant back in February. I do not intend to renew a gym membership, so I will have to be more proactive about finding things I like to do at home/outside for exercise. I should also mention that in addition to all the health benefits for Ethan, as well as keeping endometriosis at bay, I am breastfeeding for the rather selfish reason of weight loss.

1. Reiterate my goal and where I stand in reference to this goal. (BMI info from this website)


Starting weight: 140 (6 weeks postpartum)        
Last Week's Weight: NA

Current Weight: 140 (-0 lbs total, 15 lbs to goal!!!)   
Goal Weight : 125       

Starting BMI: 24.8
Last Week's BMI: NA

Current BMI: 24.8 (In the normal range of 18.5-24.9)
Goal BMI: 22.1 for goal weight

2. Discuss what I am going to do to achieve my goals.

Progress on last week's activities:

NA

Activities for this coming week:

1. Determine how much water I am consuming each day on average

2. Find a way to do yoga at home, either buy a video or look online/youtube

3. Create a walking schedule where I can push E in the stroller

4. Hike in the mountains before it gets too cold

5. Look into/start a couch to 5 k program.

3. Post anything else I feel like sharing.

Finally, I know it seems absolutely bat-shit crazy to even be thinking about this right now, but at some point in the not to distant future, we would like to start try to give Ethan a little brother or sister. Starting at a healthy weight if we are given a (please, oh please let this happen) surprise natural pregnancy or even if we decide to use our remaining embryo for a FET, could help me avoid gestational diabetes a second time around (or not, who knows, but it couldn't hurt).

I updated my bump pictures in the link at the top of the site, but have included one here too for comparison. The first is at my lowest weight during the last WWW at about 132, the middle is at 32 weeks pregnant at around 168, the last is from today at 140 lbs. Similar weight...much different shape now all around: stomach, arms, legs and butt!