Bikini Body

Some people may know that after having my second child, I am on a mission to have a bikini body! I am not sure at what weight I will be at that point or how much working out it will take. I will have to keep trying on that suit until I feel good in it. So at this point, all I know I want to reach my goal weight by Christmas! The total is a 40 pound weight loss. Occasionally, I am going post here about my progress.

I often question what got me to where I am at with my weight. I do know that prior to the birth of baby Eldon in January, I had two consecutive unsuccessful pregnancies. I think after not having a baby for 15 years, my body didn't know how to be pregnant, but it learned! :o) After three pregnancies in 2 years, I was up to 167 pounds. In addition to that, I had quit smoking several years ago, and it didn't help that I had a job sitting in a cube for 8 hours a day pretty much chained to my desk. All the weight that accumulated was not flattering on my 5'3" frame. Eight weeks ago I told my husband I was fed up with being Mrs. Stay-Puft and WE had to do something (he gained weight with me during my pregnancies and was just over 200 pounds at 5'9"). I am still nursing my baby son and needed to find a way to lose weight without compromising my milk supply. After a lot of research I found that Weight Watchers has a plan that accounts for lactation. I told my husband about it and explained how the program worked. We liked that it was based on portion control and that we didn't have to buy food from them, but we would buy whatever kind of foods we wanted in our regular grocery store. Then we made the biggest first step for us ... We had to swallow our pride and decide that we were not too cool to attend meetings. At 40 pounds overweight and feeling like a giant blob, I decided I was not too cool for anything.

The meetings keep you accountable and that really does work for us. Plus we get little ribbons and stickers when we reach goals. At last weigh in, I had lost 17 pounds and my husband is down a little over 20. We had lost 10% of our body weight and were rewarded little brass keychains. This is only after 2 months! And I have 4 months to go. We are very happy with the program thus far. It is a lifestyle change that we can easily live with. I still eat ice cream every night or have popcorn with M&Ms mixed in while watching a movie.

At first, it was hard. I won't make you think it was completely easy. I think the first two weeks I thought I was starving and trying to figure out what we could eat in a day was a challenge. I was told it got easier and it most certainly did. Now I feel like I have to eat all day just so I don't lose weight too fast and stop making milk. We also know what we can eat each meal to stay within our daily POINTS. Menu planning has become easy and we know what we can have when we go out to eat. Our teenager even eats whatever we eat, but in larger portions because he is growing and working out a lot. He doesn't complain, at all, and likes that we eat at home a lot more.

Keep in mind that I get more calories than most women as long as I am nursing ... which only helps me stay on track with my other goal of nursing for a full 12 months. As baby Eldon is getting more and more wiggly while nursing and teeth are coming in, I need all the motivation I can get for sticking that out. Nursing is not completely convenient or always enjoyable.

17 pounds lost and I don't miss them. I have to agree that "No food tastes as good as being thin feels."