Shapin' Up and Slimmin' Down!

I almost forgot to post this!

Ready...???

I LOST 1.4 pounds this week!!! The week of Thanksgiving...I lost weight! I told myself I didn't care if it was -0.1, I would be happy with any loss the week of Thanksgiving, and I've had my biggest number thus far. So far, I've had 2 Thanksgiving celebrations, and one more tomorrow. I've been SOOO careful to not overeat, and I don't feel deprived by doing that. I made sure my biggest serving of food was meat, and then I got whatever sides that I wanted, and a big salad (or whatever the vegetable dish was). I will say, I splurged much more with dessert, and ate a bigger-than-what-I-should-eat serving, but hey, it is Thanksgiving. :)

I have so many posts coming up...one to tell of our fun Thanksgiving celebrations, one will be with picture updates and measurements on my weight loss journey, one will probably be of a special Christmas countdown Pinterest-inspired project I put together for Michel, and one will be our Christmas decorations, so check back often...I'll be busy, busy, busy this week!

Shapin' Up and Slimmin' Down

I lost another pound this week!

Total: -2 lbs

Not gonna lie...still hoping for a bigger number, but I'll take what I can get.

Major accomplishment: I'm comfortably wearing my engagement ring again!! I've been able to wear my wedding band for awhile now (it's a half size bigger than my engagement ring), but I haven't worn my engagement ring since I was about 34ish weeks pregnant. It's nice to have some bling on my finger again! :)

Let's hope I don't put these hard-earned 2 pounds back on during Thanksgiving! I'm going to try my best to practice self-control...

Shapin' Up and Slimmin' Down

After finishing my two-week "detox", I've lost a grand total of....1 POUND!! I'm not gonna lie, I was hoping for like 3-5 pounds, but it's still a loss, so I'm going to be happy about it. I will say that I do feel like my body's slimming up a little and my jeans are getting a TAD looser!

Today starts my more strict diet, so hopefully that helps me lose some weight quicker. That one pound isn't helping me reach my goal of 10 pounds gone by Christmas any quicker :)

Hopefully today or tomorrow I'll post the meals that I'm eating for this week to help me stay on track and for anyone who wants to see what I"m doing. 

Guess Whooo Is 2 Months Old??

I think this is my favorite picture I've ever taken of her....just look how cute and happy she is!

The time is flying with our sweet little girl! She turned 2 months old on Sunday, but I purposely waited until today to blog because today was her 2-month well visit and I wanted to wait and see what her height and weight were. 

Side note: I think immunizations today were more traumatic on Mommy and Daddy. She cried like I have never seen her cry before - her face was beet red! But the nurse has obviously given babies shots before and she just stuck her with each needle one right after the other, so that she wouldn't have time to process how many she was getting. Audrey had 4 immunizations today - one was a liquid that she had to swallow, and 3 were shots. The nurse told us that with the liquid one babies either love them or hate them, and she very much loved it! She sucked it down quickly and kept on sucking on the syringe when it was well past empty!

Anyways, back to business. Audrey is still such a joy to be around! I love hanging out with her, talking to her, teaching her things, watching her discover that she has hands and that she can control those hands, and so much more! She smiles at us, and sometimes those smiles take up her whole face, she's constantly talking if she's awake, and rarely fusses. 

Length: 22 1/2 inches (50th %ile) - all of her length is in her torso...her poor little legs are so short - just like her Mommy's and Daddy's

Weight: 10.25 lbs (25th %ile)

Head circumference: 15 in (25th %ile)

Sleep: It's going great! We have a great schedule and routine going. She eats every 3 hours during the day, naps for about an hour and a half in between feedings, and has been consistently going 6-6 1/2 hours at night (I feed her at 11, and she generally is up between 5 and 5:30 to eat again, and I get her up to start our morning at 8 a.m.). I can't wait until she'll go from 8-8, or even 8-5/5:30 and eventually sleep the entire 12 hours!

Eating: She eats 2-4 oz. every 3 hours, and usually once per day or every other day she's still hungry after eating 4 oz, and will take in 5-6 oz.!

Clothes: She has some NB pjs that still fit her! They have to be the kind that snap up the front, though. Her head is too big to easily pull a NB onesie over her head. I tried it the other day - it gets stuck. All of the clothes that I put her in are 0-3m and fit perfectly (well...sometimes the legs of pants are a bit long, but it looks like she'll just have to get used to it!)

New achievements of the month:
- She has discovered her hands, and that she can wave/move her hands!
- She definitely developed a social smile! Sometimes we just get a little smile, but sometimes we get a great, big smile that lights up her entire face - it is precious!
- Tracking/eye contact - she's doing great at tracking objects moving, and at making eye contact - especially when she's talking to you
- Speaking of talking, Audrey discovered how awesome talking can be! If she's awake and not eating, she's talking up a storm - to me and her Daddy, her toys, the mobile over her swing...you name it, she'll talk to it
- She tries to mimic tongue movements. I stick my tongue out at her a lot while making silly noises, and she tries to copy it! She generally will stick her tongue out, too.
- I no longer have to put her to sleep, or even close to sleep, before putting her in bed. I generally walk with her for a couple of minutes, talk to her in a soft voice, tell her I love her and just put her down. Usually she is wide awake, and she'll squirm in bed, and talk to herself for a couple of minutes, but she's always asleep within 5-10 minutes of being in bed. It's kinda nice to be honest!

Things she likes:
1. Talking! 
2. Being held, but not always for the purpose of cuddling. Sometimes she wants to be held in a way that she can see your face so that she can talk to you.
3. Bath time - she LOVES getting a bath
4. The swing - she used to not like it that much, but now that she has more head control, she loves it! It's great for when I need to go to the bathroom, do some laundry, etc. I can put her in it knowing that she's happy and safely fastened in it.

Things she doesn't like:
1. Today's shots :(

Other randomness:
1. I was pooped on yesterday. I don't mean I was wiping her and got poop on me either. I mean, I was wiping her, and the infamous grunt started, and before I could move my hand poop started coming out, and got all over my hand! Oh well...I'm sure it won't be the last time :)
2. She's still the cutest, sweetest, happiest little baby ever and Michel and I are so blessed to have her in our lives! And she's blessed to be loved by so many people!

Shapin' Up and Slimming Down!

I almost forgot to post today! Plus, we were hanging out at my parents' house where my mom and I watched THREE Christmas movies (which is pretty much the definition of the best afternoon ever in my opinion), and by the time I got home, I had a screaming baby who was way past the point of being tired and she was hungry, so by the time I had some peace and quiet I totally forgot to blog!

This week's weight loss: -0 lbs (I stayed exactly the same...)

Exercise: 5 days this week - 5 days of cardio and 3 days were cardio and strength training

I have stuck to the plan 110%! While I was hoping to see the numbers on the scale drop, I can tell that my jeans are already fitting looser, so something is working. I have one more week of not taking anything out of my diet, but instead putting foods into my diet (and I'm starting to like oatmeal better), so we'll see what happens in the upcoming week.

These are a few of my favorite things

1. Giving Audrey a bath - it's her favorite thing in the entire world! I still bathe her in the sink because it's easier for me right now, but as soon as the water turns on she cranes her neck to see it, so now I position her on the counter so that she can see the water running the entire time, and she talks and makes all kinds of sweet baby noises. Also I run water directly on her head when I'm washing her hair and she LOVES it. I can't wait to get her in the pool next summer!

2. Watching Audrey interact with her daddy - these pictures don't capture the ginormous smile she had on her face while he was making silly faces and doing silly things to her (because, of course, as soon as I grabbed my phone to take pictures, she stopped smiling!)

3. Christmas - I'm SOOOO excited to celebrate Christmas this year with Audrey! I know she won't understand what's going on, but I'm still really excited! Plus, I get to dress her up all cute :)

Sad note: I put the Santa pants on her and they don't fit. They're a NB size, but they're a bit snug in the waist, but too long in the legs :( I might buy the 3m and hope her legs grow a lot in the next month.

This little girl just brings so much joy to my heart, and she's so much fun to have around!

Shapin' Up and Slimmin' Down

I have a confession to make: I love food! I love carbs and sweets (mainly chocolate!), especially. What's worse though: food loves me! Throughout my pregnancy, I gained about 32 pounds, so it was within the range of weight that my OB wanted me to gain, and I naively thought most of it would come off after I had the baby. I mean, why would it not? I stayed active until about week 38 of my pregnancy - even if I was just walking at a snail's pace, I was active. I ate fairly well throughout my pregnancy, and really just indulged my sweet tooth much more often than I do not pregnant. So after I gave birth, I instantly was down 10 pounds. I figured the rest would come off pretty easily...especially since I was breastfeeding. Well...when you only produce an ounce, at most, of breastmilk that's not burning many calories. Not to mention I ate pretty lousy the first few weeks of bringing Audrey home because it was more convenient, and anyone who has come home with a newborn knows that you don't try and eat healthy, you just try to eat! When breastfeeding came to a halt two weeks after Audrey was born, any calories that I was burning also came to a halt. Plus, I wasn't allowed to exercise until this past Tuesday (7 weeks after she was born). Needless to say, the weight just didn't come off like I had thought it would. I'm now 7 1/2 weeks postpartum and have only lost a total of 14 pounds since Audrey was born. I still have 18 pounds to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I was already up a few pounds from where I like to be because of the awesome Christmas celebrations we had just had (I found out that I was pregnant on New Year's Day). So anyways, I have decided to buckle down and do something to lose the weight. My goal is to lose 20-25 pounds. 

A friend of mine suggested this book called Why You're Fat and How to Get Thin Forever. She had used it to shrink down from a size 18 to a size 4! I looked into it, and bought it. I just finished reading it, and I'm excited about it! It's really not a "diet" because I can't do anything that says 'You can NEVER eat _____.' I know that I don't have the strength/willpower/desire to never eat chocolate, bread, chips, or whatever ever again. I have done Weight Watchers in the past, and have been very successful on it. Unfortunately, Michel and I just don't have the extra money to splurge on it, and though I still know the principles of it and could do it on my own, I also know that I need the accountability of going to the meetings and weighing in in front of others to be successful in losing weight. 

So today started the first two weeks of the plan. The first two weeks says to change nothing about how you already eat. All I have to do is add the following things into my daily diet: 1 c. oatmeal (not my favorite food ever, but I'll eat it if I put some fruit in with it), 2-3 c. vegetables, 2 servings of fresh fruit, 3 LITERS of water, one 8 oz. whey protein shake, 2 eggs prepared any way, and a cup of herbal tea. Again, I have to eat/drink all of that DAILY. Oh, and you're supposed to eat 5 times a day - breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and then a midmorning snack and midafternoon snack. After two weeks the plan is a bit more restrictive. It follows what is referred to as a 5+2 plan. You eat clean for 5 days and then you get 2 treat meals. She (the author) also lays out fabulously hard, muscle-building workout plans...that I can do in my living room! All of her workouts use either body weight or free weights, and I already have some at home. So I have no excuse not to work out. Audrey sleeps well enough that I can find a chunk of time during the day to workout. 

My long-term goal is to be down 25 pounds by this summer. My short-term goal is to be down 10 pounds by Christmas day. I'll be tracking my progress every Saturday, I took my measurements today and I'll update them on the 2nd of every month, and I'll be doing pictures as well (mainly to keep myself more accountable, but also eventually I want to show a "before" and "after" to see how far I've (hopefully) come. Wish me luck! When you see me around, ask how it's going to help keep me further accountable, and check in every Saturday to see progress! :)

All of my monthly pictures will be taken in the same outfit so as to best measure, and see, results. Here's my starting point:

Again, wish me luck! I have a long way to go!