Workin' On My Fitness...Mommy Style!

By Kasie
Introduced by Amy

Kasie moved into my neighborhood when we were in high school.  She was shy at first, but as I got to know her, I realized how cool and nice she was!  We went to church together; our sunday school class always got in trouble for talking, we just had a lot of fun!  

Kasie is the oldest in a big family; that's probably why she is such a great mom.  I'm super excited for her to tell her "getting in shape" story...I was stoked for her when she told about her progress on facebook, and knew we had to hear the whole saga!  And, ladies, just so you know, before you read her post and freak out when you see her "after" size, keep in mind that she is naturally very petite so this is a healthy size for her frame.  I don't want you to think she's some 5'8" girl who got down to such a small size...cause that would be craziness!  Ha..

Anyway, it isn't easy to change lifestyle habits to be healthier, so I'm proud of her for all she's accomplished!  You Rock, Kasie!

My fellow SOM Ladies, I hope you are just as inspired as I am!  And now, I'm gonna go eat some cucumbers...

-Amy

Before...after two kiddios.

Let me just start off by saying I strongly dislike working out.  Always have and probably always will. But after having two kids and seeing how much my body changed I knew I needed to somehow make exercising fit into my life and make it enjoyable for me. Did I know how to do this? NO!!! 

In January 2012 I made it my resolution to get into shape but I didn’t know where to start. I tried walking on the treadmill at night after I put my little men to bed but quickly learned that wasn’t going to work. It lasted probably 3 days and I lost the motivation to even try.  

Fast forward to April 2012; No set workout routine in place and still feeling pretty crummy about my appearance and my TOTAL lack of self-control in the food department and eating whatever I wanted. One day a good friend posted on Facebook that she wanted to start a weight loss challenge group. I was intrigued… a little friendly competition might just be the nudge I needed to get my booty into gear and back in shape. 

When I was pregnant with my second...I was HUGE.

The Specifics: The whole challenge was based off points we could earn each week. We had a nice score chart to help us keep track. Points were earned for the following: 

·       Weight loss/Weekly weigh in

·       Cardio minutes

·       Strength exercises

·       8 cups of water

·       7+ hours of sleep

·       Staying within calorie range

·       Weekly Challenge

In order to start each gal had to find her healthy calorie range for weight loss. We used this website http://freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm to help us calculate our individual ranges based off our age, height, weight, etc. My range was between 1100 and 1323 calories a day. If I wanted to lose weight I needed to stay within this range… and this ladies was the hardest part! I’m not going to lie… keeping track of calories stinks and in doing so I saw how bad my eating habits really were. I know I was well, VERY WELL, beyond that range in my everyday eating. I should also mention I have a major sweet tooth and need some sort of chocolatey goodness each day; this was going to be tough! But I knew I needed to change my eating habits and get a good exercise routine in place so that I felt better about myself.

Week 1: The worst week of my life! It was hard from day one! Getting up that morning and realizing I couldn’t just eat what I wanted for breakfast was rough! Having to look at all the labels for calories and serving sizes before beginning to fix any meal was rough!  It was all going to be ROUGH! I honestly didn’t know if I was going to last with this whole eating-within-my-calorie-range thing. Why oh why couldn’t I have the body I did back in high school… one that was naturally fit with little to no effort and I was able to eat anything and everything I wanted!?!? And why can’t post-partum bodies just shrink back to the good ole’ pre-pregnancy size right after child birth? 

That was only part of it… I needed to figure out a way I was going to fit in my cardio and strength training exercises WHILE taking care of two little munchkins during the day… because remember the whole treadmill thing at night wasn’t going to happen. Well the weather happened to be getting warmer and I had a double stroller so taking a walk outside seemed to be the solution. Now what time of the day should I try to take this walk? Between morning naps, bottle feedings for the baby, meal times for my toddler, afternoon naps and various other things going on day- to-day this wasn’t going to be simple. When would I be able to get ready for the day? Would my kids behave while we went for these walks? 

We started off small and went for a short 1 mile walk the first couple of day then increased it to 2 miles the next few days and the kids actually did very well! We first went in the afternoon after both kids had their naps and that worked okay but I didn’t like being sweaty and having to get re-ready or wait till that late in the afternoon to begin getting ready. So we tried the morning right after breakfast and it happened to be perfect! My littlest one took his morning nap on our walk and my toddler enjoyed part of his breakfast on the go. This became our routine. But I didn’t feel like 2 miles was enough so one day we just up and went for a 4 mile walk and that’s when I felt like I had my FIRST really great walk!

This became our routine for the next 8 weeks and so on once the challenge ended. Running is not my thing; never has been never will be. I always thought running was the only way to really burn calories until I started seeing my results. I think pushing a double stroller with a 20lb baby and 30lb toddler helped. That first week with walking 2 miles a day, drinking my water, sleeping , counting my calories and so forth… I lost 5lbs!! I was ECSTATIC!! I couldn’t believe how good I felt in just that first week and I was excited for the following weeks to come!

Each week I saw consistent weight loss and people around me saw it too! At the end of 10 weeks I had lost 17lbs! I dropped from a size 7 in pants to a size 0!  Holy moly I felt good! 3 weeks later my friend and I did a 6 week challenge with a new group and my goal was to maintain my new weight. That was a little easier because my calorie range increased from 1500-1700 calories a day and my walking routine was in place. 
 

Maintaining has been a challenge… I’m not going to lie. There are times I just want to eat like everyone else and days where I don’t want to walk. I completely forgot about either of those during the month of December! I was a major slacker! But with this New Year my resolution is to maintain my weight and continue to take care of myself. Maintaining for me is eating within my calorie range, walking with my kids, making sure I get plenty of sleep (which is hard at times because I’m a night owl), but also allowing myself a free day each week where I can enjoy any and every thing I want! You have to reward yourself! My reward is FroYo and on occasion a new piece of clothing!

After!

Once I became a mom I thought I would never have my pre-pregnancy figure back… EVER! I was fine with that because my boys are worth it, but I needed the reminder that while I was taking care of my boys I needed to make sure I was taking care of myself. It seemed there was never enough time to do that… but believe me ladies… there is time! I’m grateful that I was able to participate in a group challenge to get me going. 

I can say I feel one thousand times better now that I make sure I’m taken care of too! Inside and out!