Before and After pictures....

This picture was taken back in the Summer,

This picture was taken today.

 

I still have a ways to go to be at my ultimate goal, but I'm not gonna lie. I feel pretty good about the progress I've made and the self-discipline I've kept. 

I'm down 27 pounds, and have been able to maintain what I've lost through the Holidays!  (Hooray!)  

 It's not been easy.  I've stuck to my calorie goals and kept exercising even when I wanted to be lazy and eat orange sticks. I did have more sweets than I would have liked, but I'm going off treats until Valentine's Day, just for extra help.

 

It's funny to me that maintaining a healthy body weight can be so easy for some, and so hard for others. But, I guess we all have our different struggles in life. Just glad that MYstruggle motivates me to be healthy!  

Here's to 2013!! Let's see what we can do girls!

21 pounds GONE!

I'm seriously in love with MYFITNESSPAL.COM!  It's amazing. Who knew that counting calories really works?? haha.  I love that it takes into consideration MY BMR so that I can see what's the healthiest way for me, personally, to lose the weight. It's great. I eat between 12-1300 calories a day, and am allowed a little more with exercise if I choose, or I can just use that extra calories burned from exercise to lose the weight faster.  Anyway- I'm down 21 pounds and I'm feeling good. I have a good 20 pounds to go if I want to be at my ULTIMATE goal, but I'm only about 8 pounds away from where I was at my very lowest as an adult, so I'm getting there.  Wish me luck through the Holidays! I lived through Thanksgiving and pie, but I need extra help with Orange sticks and English toffee!

14 pounds down...

I think I'm the only one left here, but I'm working hard, so I'm going to brag about it today.  I am far from where I was, and where I want to be, but I am getting there. I am using MYFITNESSPAL.COM and I love it! It tracks my exercise, tells me how many calories I burn, and it tracks what I eat so I know how many calories are going in also. I'm trying to stick to 12-1300 calories a day, and I usually burn about 500 calories during my workouts. I exercise 6 days a week, and I have lost 14 pounds so far. I'm still working hard, but the calorie thing is working for me. It helps me see that even when I "think" I'm eating healthy- I still need to be aware of how many calories are going in. Eating has always been my struggle, so this is helping. Also- if I eat good all day, I can usually fit in something sweet if I have enough calories to do it.  This helps too. Everyone needs a little something sweet now and then.  Hope you girls are all doing okay. I'd love an update if you get a minute!

6 weeks into my challenge

So I am now 6 weeks into my 8-week challenge and it's going great! I'm running about 3 miles now (Pushing a double jogger...uphill half the time...) and I feel like I'm really finally getting back into shape. I've lost 8 pounds in 6 weeks, so I can't complain. Slowly and steadily this baby weight is coming off. When I finish nursing, I hope it will all come off! I found a website that is called myfitnesspal.com and it is awesome. I set up my personal information and goals on it. Then, it tells me how many calories a day I should be eating to lose x-amount of weight per week. (Whatever the amount you want to lose per week...) and then you put in all the food you eat everyday and the exercises you do. It counts the calories for you (even breaking it up into proteins, carbs and fats) and it is extremely detailed! It has almost every brand of cereal and sour cream and everything else you can imagine. It's so easy for me to do! And it keeps me on track throughout the day because I know that I have to be accountable for what I eat.  If anybody is interested, check it out. It's free and it's awesome.

3-weeks into my challenge....

So it has been 3 weeks since I started my 8-week challenge. I'm doing good in some areas, and need to adjust a little in others.  Here's my update.

I've lost about 4 pounds.  Not bad, huh?  I've been drinking TONS, eating less, and besides one day when I went crazy and had a few of the most amazing cupcakes I've ever tasted, I've stuck to my "once a week treat".  I have not even cheated when it came to not eating after 8pm, which I was concerned about, so that is good. But...I could probably still improve on eating whole wheat more. I do good for breakfast and lunch, but sometimes dinner I will have white flour. I've been good at using whole grain pastas and brown rice, but I sure love me some good white-flour dinner rolls/tortillas, etc.  I'm working on it. I've been pretty strict to keep track on my computer of everything I eat/drink. I think this has helped a ton. I can see how I did one day, and improve the next. It's good to see it written out.

As for the exercising, I've been doing better than planned. I've been able to find time to do a little more than 30 minutes everyday, and I really have been sore somewhere every single day! I'm going to step it up a notch again this week and work a little harder on my endurance, (to build it up).  I feel like I'm getting back into shape. Slowly. But it's coming.

As for my mental health...I do still need to get more rest, but I have been reading an awesome book about Joseph Smith in my spare time that has helped me keep perspective in my life. Hopefully, my next update will show even more improvements! 

Cami's 8-Week Challenge

I have definitely been struggling this time (post-baby wise) with my body. I don't know if it's the nursing, or what (I haven't nursed any of my other kids this long, since my milk has always dried up before now) but it's driving me up a wall!!! I hear all these women say they didn't have to do anything but nurse their babies to loose their baby weight! Yeah.  Not me. I'm pretty sure my chest size will NOT be going down to anything near normal until I'm done. I feel exhausted all the time, and I feel hungrier than I have ever been in my life! So...on a positive note, I do love the nursing. And I'm going to keep doing it for as long as I can up to a year or so. But- I'll definitely still have to adjust. I've been curving my appetite lately, and exercising 6 times a week again. I put together an 8-week challenge for myself that I started today. I'm going to stick with it, and see where that gets me in a few months. I'll keep you all posted. And if nothing changes on the scale, I know I'll feel better for at least making an effort and being more healthy. Really- that's all that matters, isn't it?  This is a copy of my challenge, incase you wanted to see it. Please keep posting and help me stay motivated!

Cami’s 8 -Week Challenge…. July 13^th- September 7th

NUTRITION:

*64 ounces of Water (or more) a day

*1 Treat per week if any. (Sunday-Saturday) ONLY ONE!

* More (Smaller) meals, more often. (Breakfast, snack, Lunch, snack, Dinner, snack.)

*HEALTHY snacks. More Protein! Snack on Fruits, veggies, greek yogurt, raw almonds, protein shakes, cottage cheese, hard-boiled eggs, etc.

*Go Brown! Cut out the white stuff. (Sugar, White flour, white rice, pasta, etc.) Eat only Wheat and whole grain carbs.

*Nothing to eat after 8pm.

KEEP A FOOD JOURNAL OF EVERYTHING THAT GOES IN YOUR MOUTH!!!

Exercise:

*AT LEAST 30 minutes 6 times a week.

*Rest on Sundays!

*Swim Laps 2x per week. Hit Elliptical hard 2x per week. Mix Cardio with weights and toning 2x per week. Mix in ab-ripper, wild-card workouts, 30-day shred videos, and running.

IF AT LEAST ONE MUSCLE GROUP IS NOT SORE EVERY DAY, YOU NEED TO WORK HARDER!

MENTAL:

*Read more good books. (Scriptures, Church books, etc.)

*At least 8 hours of sleep per night.

DON’T GET DISCOURAGED OR DOWN ON YOURSELF. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. BE HEALTHY AND TRY HARDER TOMORROW.

New Information

WOW!!!  Life has been crazy!! 

I was working out and eating extremely healthy but I ended up gaining 15 pounds in two months and could not figure out why.  I finally made an appointment with my OB/Gyn doctor.  I gave him my two week food journal that I felt I needed to keep and I was brutually honest with what I was eating, drinking and exercise wise.  He was shocked that I was gaining weight, all in the midsection of my body.  He scheduled a insulin test and the results are that I am Hypoglycemic. 

AH!  You thought I was going to say pregnant.  Nope my sugar levels are low and when I eat or drink something to sweet or starchy it causes my blood sugar level to spike and then crash really fast and hard.  So I am back on track and doing really good. I have lost just a few pounds so far, but I am feeling a lot better and not so tired all the time.

I am doing TurboFire.  It is a hard but fun workout and once I master the moves I think I will really start to see some major changes.  I needed a break from P90X, which I still find myself wanting to go back to every morning, but I am pushing play on TurboFire.

Hope everyone is doing great and I hope to be better about posting.  It has been too long!!

Rolyndia

Morgan is here...let the fun begin

Well, my sweet little angel is here. I'm so happy, but now begins the fun of getting "BACK" into shape.

 Morgan Alicia was born February 6, 2012 and weighed 8 lb 2 oz. 

 She is about 5 weeks old now, and I'm trying to start exercising again.  I am nursing and I feel more hungry than I did when I was pregnant, so eating is definitely going to be my struggle (like usual.)

I understand I need to eat more calories, but I've not been doing a great job of eating healthy calories. I'm cutting sugar out almost entirely (starting right now...) and hopefully that will help.

As for the exercising goes... I'm healing a little slower this time, and haven't wanted to overdo it too much, so I've mostly been keeping it pretty basic. We did buy a new Eliptical though, (A schwinn 420...which I've loved so far) so that will be nice. We got it put together last Saturday, and I am so glad to be able to do it from my own house.  (4 kids is rough with scheduling extra things like exercise!)  I haven't really weighed myself and don't really want to. I'm just going to focus on eating better and exercising and we'll see how it goes.  I know I did end up gaining about 25 lbs this pregnancy, which I was happy with. Let's just hope that it doesn't take me the same amount of time (9months) to get it back off!  Wish me luck girls.  Hope to hear from you all soon!

Pretty much immobile.

So, I'm pretty much immobile right now.  I had to stop exercising a few weeks ago (which I've never had to do with my other pregnancies) because I would get really bad contractions the whole day when I did.  And now, I'm about 35 weeks, and feeling crappy.  About a week ago I started to contract each and everytime I stood up. To get a drink, to go to the bathroom, to walk to the kids' room.....if I was up, I was having contractions. Good thing is, they would stop when I sat down, but how often does a mother of 3 little kids get to sit down?!  Anyway- when we got home from visiting Utah after the holidays, my doctor sent me up to Labor and Delivery to be monitored and checked, and luckily I'm not dialating yet, but still having contractions when I'm up. Basically, this means I can be up as much as I can handle since the baby is safe and good, but I'm pretty miserable when I am.  This sucks girls. I HATE not moving!!!  I'm a busy mama with lots of things to do, but I guess I'll have to wait a few more weeks to get going on some of my projects, and just take it easy for now.  So for now, I'm at 35 weeks, and I've gained a total of 23 pounds.  I was hoping to gain around 25 this time total, so if the baby comes early, I may be okay......but if not, I may be over my goal. Oh well. Christmas is NOT the time to lose weight!  I love the sugar!  Anyway- I hope all you girls are doing well, and hitting it hard now that the New Year is here. I can't wait to get back into my exercise/eating routine once I meet this sweet little girl in a few weeks.  I'll keep you all posted!