Two Years Postpartum

Two years after the birth of my fourth child, I realized my first two children, (ages 11 & 13), had the best of me. I was 41 years old and I felt OLD. I had little energy to get down and play like I did with my older children. I still had 20 lbs. of weight I just couldn't kick off as easily as I had done with my first two and I was kinda grumpy.

I had been exercising occasionally, but after Thanksgiving I decided I needed to really make some changes in my exercising and my eating habits. So, I started the 21 Day Fix program from Beachbody. My goal was to lose 15 lbs by Christmas... ya, that was probably a bit unreasonable with the holidays. However, I did manage to lose 7 lbs. and I was, overall, pretty good about sticking with the program. I worked out 6 days a week and I kept track of what I was eating and sticking with the recommended eating plan.

Then, Christmas vacation for children started and it all went down hill. I gained back the weight because I didn't stick to exercising every day and I didn't follow the recommended eating plan. After the New Year I started the program again. My next goal was by Valentine's Day to lose another 10 lbs. I figured; I was eating healthier, exercising daily, so it wouldn't be very hard to shed the weight. By this time I had ordered a second round of the Shakeology that the 21 Day Fix program included. I realized however I was drinking too much milk weekly, because I had not been calculating the Low Fat milk I added to the Shakeology. I cut the milk altogether and just used water. I did another 21 days and lost only 3 lbs. By this time I did notice I was making progress, even if the scale didn't show improvement, a pair of my jeans did fit much better. I was making changes. I had more energy to play with my younger children, I had a better attitude, and I just felt better overall.



This journey to lose 20 lbs. has been difficult and downright frustrating at times. I decided to add the P90X program to the 21 day fix. I had used P90X occasionally over the past few years and had started seeing results, but then life happened and I had quit. I did one workout in the morning and one workout in the afternoon a few times a week. Yet, after another two weeks I saw nothing change on the scale.

I searched through all the programs I had available on demand through Beachbody and discovered Rev Abs. I saw there was a 14 day 'jump start' eating plan. So, I decided to give that a try since I ran out of the Shakeology and needed some breakfast ideas. The first three days of getting off of Shakeology and doing the 14 day meal plan I noticed a significant difference in my waist and I lost 2 more pounds. For a week I struggled with the eating plan, but I still exercised daily with P90X and Rev Abs a few times. I just maintained, I didn't lose, I didn't gain.

Here I am the 20th of February and have started the 14 day eating plan AGAIN. I am doing the Rev Abs workout in the morning. I am doing Asylum part 1 in the afternoon and on Monday, & some Fridays and Saturdays I will be doing some of the 21 Day Fix workouts. My 11 year old daughter needs a workout to strengthen her core for gymnastics; the 21 Day Fix program is low-key and is a workout my daughter likes. I chose Asylum, because my 14 year old son will be joining me in the workouts 3-4 days a week and he liked what he saw in the program and how it will help him perform better in sports.

I'm not going to lie, staying on track with the eating program is hard. I hope as I keep a record of my progress and share my meals, snacks, and workouts it will help me to stay motivated and focused. I have a goal. "If the plan doesn't work, change the plan but never the goal." The plans I have tried in the past have given me little results to reach my goal, so here I try again with another plan. The important thing to remember is: