Confessions of my baby weight

I’ve admitted before that after having my second child, I have been unable to get down to my pre-baby weight. People told me that it is almost impossible to get down to your pre-baby weight after the second child, but I didn’t believe them. I was in the best shape of my life and down to my lowest weight after I had my first child so I figured the same would happen with my second. I guess I forgot that I would have another human to care for that may take a bit more of my time and energy 🙂

So here I am with a 20 month old and I’m starting to think the old “baby weight” tale isn’t working much anymore. I am trying to come to terms if this is just my new body or not. Don’t get me wrong, there isn’t anything “wrong” with it, it is just a little different shaped than I was pre-baby #2. I am still within a healthy BMI and weight range but there is a piece of me that saw what I can do so I have this urge to get back to that fitness level and weight again.

Despite being a healthy weight and maintaining if for about 9 years now, I still struggle with my weight. Not struggling like I have been overweight, just that it is still an internal struggle to consistently eat healthy and exercise. I am sharing this because if you are trying to lose weight, know that it definitely gets easier to eat healthier and exercise, but it will never be “easy” to always eat healthy and exercise. For example, I make healthy lunches for Ryan and I to eat each week to set ourselves up for success but I still struggle to say “no” to the free pizza that may be at our office (and some days I totally cave). I always say that there is always an overweight girl inside of me that is just trying to come out. I still love desserts, carbs and cheese. I just know my vices and I try to not have them around much or eat them in healthy ways.

So with all that said, I am going to really work to be more consistent the next few weeks and see what happens. My reason for wanting to do this are a bit different than what they were previously. I want to get down in weight and in better shape because my kids aren’t getting any smaller and they still like to be held when they want to be comforted and flipped upside down when we are having dance parties in our living room.

And as I work towards my yoga teaching certification, I want to be able to show my students more of the difficult poses and get into headstand or handstand a bit easier.

To reach those goals, here are few things I am committing to:

• I am going stick to about 1,500 calories per day that includes lots of veggies and fewer carbs.
• I am not going to consume alcohol during the work week.
• I am going to start walking consistently doing morning walks again now that it isn’t -20 degrees in the morning.
• I am going to start doing a weight lifting routine at least 3x per week in hopes that I can get into headstand and handstand easier in my yoga practice.

I am going to refer to this as my “short term lifestyle” because it isn’t really a “diet.” The only “diet” part of it is limited calories to 1,500. Everything else is something that I am working towards as being more consistent for my lifestyle. As a start of this new “short term lifestyle,” I am working to set myself up for success by meal prepping veggies heavy meals on Sunday for the week. I even made a 3 bean salad (I am still trying to be part time vegetarian) for lunches that I created for us to eat during the week.

Here is the what I threw together or as some may call it, a recipe:

Three Bean Salad: 6 servings (about 1 cup) for 287 calories per serving according to my calculations from MyFitnessPal.

• 1 can of garbanzo beans
• 1 can of kidney beans
• 12 oz green beans
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup red onion
• 1 green pepper
• 3 oz goat cheese
• 1/4 cup parsley

Dressing:

• 1 tablespoon fresh dill
• 3 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 TSP lemon zest
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 TSP salt
• 1/4 TSP pepper
• 3 TBSP white wine vinegar

Instructions:

Rinse the garbanzo and kidney beans. Steam (or blanch) green beans (I bought the steam in a bag green beans because it’s convenient). Quarter the cherry tomatoes. Chop the onions, green peppers and parsley. Combine all ingredients into a bowl. You can always add in other veggies you have around as well including celery, zucchini or cucumbers (I threw in 2 celery stalks as well since I had them in my veggies drawer).

For the dressing, chop the dill and garlic clove. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.

Pour dressing over the veggies and stir to combine.

To round out my lunch, I am also having 2 Wasa crackers (70 calories) + clementine (35 calories) for a total of 392 calories for my lunch.

For dinners this week, we are having BBQ lentils with roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli slaw, and also grilled pork tenderloin and grilled veggie kabobs with avocado dipping sauce (similar to this recipe but with pork instead of steak). I always make enough to eat dinners for two nights so we only have to cook twice during the week.

For exercise, I am planning on doing yoga on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. I am also planning on daily morning walks and to do evening weight lifting routines at home.

I am putting this all out there to hold myself accountable. Where I know I am still a healthy weight and my world won’t end if I don’t lose my last 5 lbs and get back into better fitness shape, I still want to try because I want to be in better shape to hold my children and get into a headstand. What Ryan and I always say when we do “diets” or “short term lifestyle changes” are that we may push ourselves to where we know it isn’t realistic to be consistent all the time, but we usually end up in a slightly better place. So here’s to getting into a slightly better place.