Reach Your Weight-Loss Goals - Part 1
About 6 months after my third son was born I was feeling tired, sluggish and discouraged. I knew that I lacked energy for a couple of reasons - getting up with my infant at night was one of them - but the main reason, I felt, was that I was still carrying around 20 or so extra pounds from my pregnancy. I had already tried slashing calories, which only left me feeling deprived and more fatigued, which would then lead to extra indulgences in foods I didn't need! And the cycle would, of course, repeat.
And I, for one, am no stranger to unhealthy cycles with food. It is a slippery slope I have walked many times before. However, becoming a mom changed something for me. It changed my relationship with food and my body. I began to see that my body was a powerful tool and vessel for the creation of new life. Food became something that I savored when I had the chance to actually sit down and enjoy it! I began to see it as something my body needed, but didn’t need THAT much of. Basically I had begun to see food as something I ate in order to live - I did not live in order to eat!
But this paradigm shift did not change the fact that I was still carrying around that extra weight! No matter how empowering it had been to carry and give birth to three sons, I was uncomfortable in my own skin and I wanted a change.
But I knew I would have to do something drastic to make it happen!
How does a busy, working mother of three find the time to nurture her body through good nutrition and regular exercise? THAT was the million-dollar question. First I decided to tackle the “regular exercise”.
In the past I had joined Curves, a workout facility for women. I loved it because it was a simple 30-minute workout that I did 3-5 times per week and it toned and sculpted my body and gave me quick results. At this point in my life, however, joining a gym and exercising outside the home, was almost impossible, there was not an easy way for me to be able to consistently leave my kids in order to workout. I needed a plan and a strategy that could meet me where I was but that I could also stick to.
I began to seek out various methods for achieving my weight-loss goals through a fitness workout I could do at home. First I bought an exercise band so that could copy the types of resistance exercises that I had been doing at Curves before I got pregnant. But for me, it wasn’t the same and I couldn’t really get into it. I needed more direction and guidance so I checked out a couple workout videos from my local library (this is a great way to “test-drive” workout videos and weight-loss books before shelling out the money to buy them).
The first video that I began to do regularly combined a cardiovascular workout with weight training. The moves were fun and easy to follow and, although my body was definitely challenged, after a few workouts I was able to get through the full 30 minutes of the workout. The video is called “Shape Your Abs”.
I knew from my experience at Curves that building muscle was the only way to change my body. Building long, lean muscles sculpted my body, helped me to burn fat, and to burn more calories, not only while exercising but also while my body was at rest. Building muscle, I knew from experience, was the quickest way to drop pant sizes and get rid of flab. And, I knew that a 30-minute workout of good, targeted muscle training could do more for me in less time than an hour on a treadmill.
I bought some 2 and 5 pound neoprene hand weights from Target to use with the videos. And I jumped right in to my workout!
I liked the “Shape Your Abs” video so much that I returned it to the library and bought it. In addition I purchased the “Shape Bikini Body Camp” videos and started incorporating them in to my daily workouts as well. This set of videos (which comes with a resistance band) gave me a 5-day a week routine of more of the same types of short, yet effective workouts. Each segment made the maximum use of my time and I appreciated that. When you’re a busy mom you need your workout video to make the most of the time you’re spending! As long as I was continuing to protect my daily-designated 30-minute workout time, it was easy to just pop in the video and start my workout.
I did the best I could for what terrible shape my body was in. But, it didn’t take long for me to see results (without even changing my eating habits yet!). I felt encouraged to keep working out. My clothing started to fit better, I had more energy and endurance and I felt like I was finally on my way to becoming a lean, strong mom.
After a couple months other people started to notice that my figure had changed. It was nice to receive some compliments but I knew I had not arrived at my goal. I still faced the challenges of keeping my regular workout time but there are a few simple things I did to ensure that it was easy for me to keep investing the time into caring for myself through regular fitness. I am excited to share some of the things that have worked for me because I think that they could help other, real moms like me who have struggled to lose weight, become stronger and more energetic and overall feel better about themselves as women and as moms.
And I, for one, am no stranger to unhealthy cycles with food. It is a slippery slope I have walked many times before. However, becoming a mom changed something for me. It changed my relationship with food and my body. I began to see that my body was a powerful tool and vessel for the creation of new life. Food became something that I savored when I had the chance to actually sit down and enjoy it! I began to see it as something my body needed, but didn’t need THAT much of. Basically I had begun to see food as something I ate in order to live - I did not live in order to eat!
But this paradigm shift did not change the fact that I was still carrying around that extra weight! No matter how empowering it had been to carry and give birth to three sons, I was uncomfortable in my own skin and I wanted a change.
But I knew I would have to do something drastic to make it happen!
How does a busy, working mother of three find the time to nurture her body through good nutrition and regular exercise? THAT was the million-dollar question. First I decided to tackle the “regular exercise”.
In the past I had joined Curves, a workout facility for women. I loved it because it was a simple 30-minute workout that I did 3-5 times per week and it toned and sculpted my body and gave me quick results. At this point in my life, however, joining a gym and exercising outside the home, was almost impossible, there was not an easy way for me to be able to consistently leave my kids in order to workout. I needed a plan and a strategy that could meet me where I was but that I could also stick to.
I began to seek out various methods for achieving my weight-loss goals through a fitness workout I could do at home. First I bought an exercise band so that could copy the types of resistance exercises that I had been doing at Curves before I got pregnant. But for me, it wasn’t the same and I couldn’t really get into it. I needed more direction and guidance so I checked out a couple workout videos from my local library (this is a great way to “test-drive” workout videos and weight-loss books before shelling out the money to buy them).
The first video that I began to do regularly combined a cardiovascular workout with weight training. The moves were fun and easy to follow and, although my body was definitely challenged, after a few workouts I was able to get through the full 30 minutes of the workout. The video is called “Shape Your Abs”.
I knew from my experience at Curves that building muscle was the only way to change my body. Building long, lean muscles sculpted my body, helped me to burn fat, and to burn more calories, not only while exercising but also while my body was at rest. Building muscle, I knew from experience, was the quickest way to drop pant sizes and get rid of flab. And, I knew that a 30-minute workout of good, targeted muscle training could do more for me in less time than an hour on a treadmill.
I bought some 2 and 5 pound neoprene hand weights from Target to use with the videos. And I jumped right in to my workout!
I liked the “Shape Your Abs” video so much that I returned it to the library and bought it. In addition I purchased the “Shape Bikini Body Camp” videos and started incorporating them in to my daily workouts as well. This set of videos (which comes with a resistance band) gave me a 5-day a week routine of more of the same types of short, yet effective workouts. Each segment made the maximum use of my time and I appreciated that. When you’re a busy mom you need your workout video to make the most of the time you’re spending! As long as I was continuing to protect my daily-designated 30-minute workout time, it was easy to just pop in the video and start my workout.
I did the best I could for what terrible shape my body was in. But, it didn’t take long for me to see results (without even changing my eating habits yet!). I felt encouraged to keep working out. My clothing started to fit better, I had more energy and endurance and I felt like I was finally on my way to becoming a lean, strong mom.
After a couple months other people started to notice that my figure had changed. It was nice to receive some compliments but I knew I had not arrived at my goal. I still faced the challenges of keeping my regular workout time but there are a few simple things I did to ensure that it was easy for me to keep investing the time into caring for myself through regular fitness. I am excited to share some of the things that have worked for me because I think that they could help other, real moms like me who have struggled to lose weight, become stronger and more energetic and overall feel better about themselves as women and as moms.
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