The reason I started on my fitness journey is because I was unhappy. I was unhappy with myself and it affected how I treated my husband, myself, and others around me. When I got pregnant with my first born boy, Lukas, I was 21 years old and at a normal weight range for my height. I began at a weight of 140 lbs. and I’m 5’5′ in height. At the end of my pregnancy I weight 200 lbs. I ate whatever I wanted during my pregnancy. I didn’t exercise. I had no knowledge or health advice on being pregnant, I also didn’t look for any either. My doctor said that the weight gain looked normal and I was just making sure I was taking my prenatals and making the check ups appointments. I had a painful first pregnancy, because later I found out, it was because I didn’t eat healthy or exercise. So what did I do after I had my son?
First, a little bit of a background from me, I had always struggled with my self image growing up, my self esteem wasn’t too high, I was always self conscious of my weight, even though I looked normal. I struggled shopping with my mother and taking her criticism on how clothes fit on me. I always had larger thighs and a bigger butt, fitting in jeans was a task for me. Even though I looked fine! I played soccer and swimming my whole life growing up and that’s where I get my athletic abilities from and my muscle growth from.
So, after I had Lukas and after the 6 weeks of healing, I was ready to do whatever it took to get my body weight to a normal weight for my height. I started making meal replacement smoothies twice a day and 1 meal a day. All healthy food, no sugar, less bread, more greens! I breastfed my son for 6 months and that helped a lot with the weight loss. As I started working out my milk supply went lower as the intensity of my workouts went higher. I struggled to find a balance to keep my energy for my baby, myself, and my husband. I started a program from YouTube called Bikini Body Mommy Challenge 1.0. Since then there has been challenges up to 6.0 and I have done all of them. The workouts were 20 minutes a day consisting of cardio days and weight days, and HIIT workouts. I also added a ab workout routine everyday.
When my son was 6 months old, I got pregnant again with my daughter, Lillian. I had lost 40 lbs. just before I got pregnant and I gained all that back and some more. This pregnancy I did light exercise and yoga and ate extremely healthy. At the end of my second pregnancy I weighted 220 lbs. I breastfed my daughter for 1 year and that helped so much with the weight loss. I researched more on what to eat for my milk supply and how much water to drink, I could keep up my milk supply and work out, I found a balance! Oatmeal was my best friend then. After I healed, I started my workouts as normal. I worked out at home for the first 2 years consistently. Running outside everyday with both children and doing my weight lifting, yoga, and HIIT routines were working great!
I never missed a day of working out and what helped me was keeping a fitness journal. I recorded every workout I did, how many sets I did, and how much weight I used, and I also kept a journal of what I ate. This kept me on track and can help you keep yourself on track. Motivating yourself is the hardest thing to do, a fitness journal was my motivator. My husband was in support of me working out and getting healthier, but he didn’t eat healthier and he didn’t work out. When he was eating a huge bowl of ice cream next to me, I was eating yogurt and fresh fruit. The willpower and desire to change has to be inside you, and you have to be willing to do be consistent.
I will show you my workout plans, my meal plans, my before and after progress photos, recipes, and help motivate you to get where you want to be. Ultimately, you have to learn to love yourself. You could lose all the weight you wanted and still not be happy with yourself. Eventually, no matter how much you weigh, you have to be happy with yourself and live happily. Love yourself to love others. As long as you keep trying, it means you haven’t given up. I’m here to motivate and inspire you! I hope that my fitness journey and my advice can help you get where you want to be. Love always ❤️
leefitlife.com 