Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Week #1 weigh in (4lbs down..Wahoo!)

Wow...((wow))...wow! After completing my first week of weight watchers, I am very pleased to report that I have lost 4 lbs. Can you believe it? 4lbs!..really? It's hard to fathom. For months and months I have been busting my butt off and struggling to see a change on the scale, but nothing happened, my scale didn't budge. But it took just 1 week with Weight Watchers to get things moving. It's also amazing to see the new changes in my body already, after loosing just 4lbs. I am at a lost for words. My love handles have already totally disappeared. This is so freaking exciting, and I am so freaking pumped to continue with it. I am so looking forward to next weeks weigh in. I just gotta stay on track, eat right, and not lose focus on the PRIZE!!!!!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Here We Go Once again...

Baby #2 was on it's way, and there was no knowing how much I was going to gain this time, so I just went with the flow. Well as it turns out, I wound up gaining a total of 85 lbs. Ok, so 15lbs lighter than last time...not bad...not bad....ya right! I've just about had it up to my ears with this dumb "let's see if we can gain a baby whale" game. I mean honestly, 85lbs? You've got to be kidding me.

So the birth of baby #2 came and past, and just like before, I couldn't get rid of the last 50 lbs. So once again I hauled butt to the gym everyday for 2 hours, and did the whole sha-bang all over again until I was back at my pre-pregnancy weight 6 months later. This time I wasn't too concerned with losing beyond my pre-pregnancy weight, because my husband and I had discussed having a third child.

Time flew by and before I knew it, I was pregnant with baby #3. This was almost like a celebration for me, because I knew once this pregnancy was over, I could focus on losing all the weight I wanted without fearing gaining it all back through pregnancies. So once again, I gained a whopping 75lbs, just as expected, and was only stuck with 40 of it this time around. After baby #3, I felt completely unmotivated, and did not want to go to the gym. Not just because I had no desire to, but also because I now had three little ones tagging along. The thought of this was extremely overwhelming. I was horrified of the thought of having to get them all ready just to go to the gym, so I purchased a treadmill, and began working out at home.

It's been two and a half years later, and I am pleased to report that I have lost the last 40 lbs, and It took 18 months after giving birth to do it. Wow!... would have been a lot faster if I had just gone on a diet! Anyways..I am happy to have lost all my pregnancy weight, but disappointed to say that much haven't change with my weight in the past 6 months. I still have 30 lbs to loose, which is the 30lbs that I wanted to loose before I started having children. I had been working out frequently at home, but it wasn't enough, nothing was changing! I didn't look any different, my clothes weren't fitting any better, and the numbers on the scale definitely weren't getting any smaller. I knew there was a problem, and it had to do with my eating. In fact it has always been a big problem of mine. I just wasn't ready to admit it, and definitely wasn't ready to change my eating habits, or give up my favourite foods either. But 3 weeks ago, something happened, It was like someone flicked on a light switch in my head. I felt incredibly motivated to make a change, and do something I have never done before. I needed to finally tackle my eating, and develop more self control around food. So I decided to join Weight Watchers. After lugging excess baby weight around for over two years, I had no excuse. I had a burning desire to lose it now more than ever before.

My 100 lbs Weight Gain and Loss!

When I was pregnant with my first child, I was at my heaviest weight of 250lbs. I gained 100lbs to be exact from that pregnancy, and at around 5 months I discovered that I had gestational diabetes, which was a major contributor to my rapid weight gain. At 5 months I had already put on a Whopping 40lbs, and was told that my baby was going to be large. Oh super...as if I wasn't facing enough problems already!

My pregnancy progressed, and my beautiful bundle of joy was born 2 weeks early by c-section, and weighing 9lbs 12 ounces. Yep...you heard that right...9lbs 12 ounces. Thank God for c-sections, because I don't think I could have or even wanted to push her out. Yikes!

After having my baby, I lost 50lbs over the next 6 months, but the remaining weight sat on me for an entire year after that, before I decided to do something about it. It was about time, and nursing could only do so much. I mean, I seriously believed that nursing was going get rid of my pregnancy weight. I don't know...maybe it did a little, but it wasn't getting rid of my last 50lbs. Thats for sure! So I rejoined my local gym for the second time when my daughter was 16 months old, and decided to give it my all.

I attended the gym for 2 hours daily, sometimes twice a day, which is equivalent to a total of 4 hours. I did what I was familiar with, aerobic classes, strength training classes, cycling, and so forth. I even made sure to hit the treadmill for 45 minutes to 1 hour everyday. Walk 10, run 5, and on lazy days just walk on an incline...the steepest incline on the treadmill. It was not easy. In fact, I found it more difficult get into a routine this particular time around than I did the first time. But I was able push myself and became motivated by the "skinnies" around me, in hopes that I too will be skinny like them one day.

Hard works does pays off! The day finally arrived where I lost all of my pregnancy weight and then some. I was finally at 155lbs, and before my pregnancy I weighed 160. Yahoo! I did it, I lost all my pregnancy weight! I couldn't believe that I did it. But I wasn't done yet, because I still wanted to lose another 25lbs, which would bring me down to 130lbs. This is the new goal I had set for myself. But it wasn't happening. I had hit a brick wall that I just couldn't get over. I was still working out everyday, but the scale wasn't budging. I wasn't losing any weight, and I think I knew why. Once again, I didn't change my eating habits. I was still eating what ever I wanted, and definitely more than I should be eating in one serving.

Weeks went by, and I kept doing my same routine, and nothing happened. My hair was still black, and I still weighed 155lbs. I was happy with my accomplishments thus far, losing 100lbs and all, but I knew my problem with weight gain was far from over. I wanted to have more children, and sooner than later, I was pregnant with my 2nd. Here I go again.

My First Attempt to Shed The Unwanted Pounds

Hi everyone, my name is Sahara, and welcome to my weight loss blog. This weight loss journey of mine has been a long one. It goes as far back as my high-school years, when I was once wearing a size 13. I don't exactly know how much I weighed back then because I never weighed myself, but all I can remember is that I didn't feel comfortable in my own skin, and my clothes didn't fit the way I wanted them to.

So I decided that I was going to do something about it, and join my local gym, where I took aerobic classes, did a ton of cardio, and weightlifting. Within a few weeks I saw a big difference within my body and I had lost quite a bit of weight. I probably would have seen even bigger changes if I had changed my eating habits, but unfortunately, this was something that I still struggled with, and never changed or incorporated in my weight loss routine.

Though I struggled with my eating habits, I still remained pretty committed to working out, until I met my boyfriend, who is now my husband. I was **IN LOVE**! I began to spend all my free time with my new love bug, and didn't find any time for myself, specifically the gym. His complimenting me all the time also made me feel somewhat comfortable, and content with where I was at, though I hadn't reached my weight loss goal yet. I hadn't exactly pick a goal weight that I wanted to be, but all I know is that I wasn't yet there. I was living life to the point where I ditched my goal and neglected a problem that would later haunt me.

I was in love and enjoying life. Going out to the movies, hanging out with my babe, partying with friends, and eating and drinking all the wrong foods, and too much of it! I must have ate pizza about 5 nights a week, and some other kind of fast food on the other two remaining nights. Not to mention lunchtime. I don't remember eating at home much, but that's because I didn't. Anyways, this cycle continued for a while, and then I notice something. I had put on a few pounds, and that my new lifestyle just undid my hard work. Once again, I was starting to feel uncomfortable with myself and I didn't like it, and to make matters worse, I discovered I was "pregnant" as well........Ya..this calls for a moment of silence...and a long one too!