Back from Hiatus

Well, it's been a long time since I've written a post here.  Almost exactly nine months to be exact.  The reason it's been so long is that I found out about a week after we returned from Germany that we were expecting our second child.  I was a little bummed that I was starting out that pregnancy a whole five pounds heavier than where I had started with Brady.  I was determined not to gain as much as I had with him (52lbs) so that it didn't take as long to take it back off (16 months).

I was 168lbs when I started the pregnancy and my goal was to try and stay under 200lbs, but at the very least gain no more than the upper range of the recommended weight gain, which is 35lbs (which would put me at 203lbs).  I lost my appetite during the first trimester (no nausea or morning sickness), so the weight gain was easy to control at that point.  This is how it broke down by trimester and I'll show the comparison with Brady :

1st trimester    : gained 3.5lbs (Brady was 3.2lb gain)
2nd trimester   : gained 11.75lbs (Brady was 25.2lb gain)
3rd trimester    : gained 17.2lbs (Brady was 23.6lb gain)

Totals :  Brady 52lbs gained
               Izzie B 32.4lbs gained

If you couldn't guess, this time I had a little girl, named Izzie B (her nickname) on March 2.  I was fortunate that she came a week early as that meant I was pregnant for two full weeks less than I was with Brady who came a week late.  In addition to gaining almost exactly 20lbs less than with Brady, my belly was significantly smaller.  She was born only about a half pound less than Brady, weighing in at 7lbs 14oz at birth.  She will be exactly one week old tomorrow.

With Brady, I was down 30lbs in the first three months after he was born, so I am really hoping for similar results.  I am currently breastfeeding more than I was with him, so that means I'm burning more calories.  Although I gained 20lbs less, I ended at 15lbs less than my end weight with Brady due to the 5lb starting difference.  So, I have less to lose to get to pre-pregnancy weight, but I have to lose an additional 20lbs to get where I was before Europe (148.2lbs).  So in a way, it evens out to the same.

I want to set a few goals for myself right out of the gate to get my mind in a weight loss place again.  Since I expect to lost 30lbs by 3 months (June 2), I want to be at Brady's pre-pregnancy weight of 163lbs (35lbs down) by our beach vacation on July 20 (4.5 months).  I have a ticker at the top of the page to show my progress and I have it currently set to be at pre-pregnancy weight by the beach, but will adjust when (not if, but when) I get below pre-pregnancy weight before then.

My big goal (and I am hesitant to set it because if you set a goal that isn't attainable and you don't reach it, you get discouraged) is to be back at my lowest by this Christmas, which will be almost 10 months postpartum.  That would mean 52lbs in 10 months instead of 16 months last time.  I would have to average about 5lbs per month.

With all that said, it's been six days since Izzie B was born and I've weighed myself twice since then.  At three days postpartum I was at 188.2lbs (down 12.2lbs) and today at six days postpartum, I was at 185.8lbs (down 14.6lbs).  It will of course slow down as the initial weight loss is the baby and other items that come out at delivery.  I'm excited to get back into things and feel the rush of weight loss again!

Autumn Temptations

Although we haven't officially closed out "summer" and won't feel a temperature change here until late October at the earliest, autumn temptations are starting to appear. Yesterday, I was at Sonic for my diet cherry limeade fix and they are now offering a pumpkin pie shake. I bravely put off the red velvet shake until it was gone, but pumpkin pie is another story. And of course, they already have Halloween candy in stores, like it's not 8 weeks away!

Autumn has to be one of the hardest times for me to lose weight. I am a sucker for warm apple cider, anything with pumpkin or pumpkin pie pieces, and I LOVE candy corn. This is the one time a year I let myself have candy corn. In addition to all those things, I make a killer Halloween treat that contains peanut butter, honey, marshmallows, candy corn, and a cereal base (recipe will be posted closer to the holiday). I only make it once a year because peanut butter is my Kryptonite. I don't even let it come into my house because of what happened when I was pregnant. Let's just say I ate an entire jar of peanut butter in the last month before Brady was born and it probably accounted for my last 10lbs.

I know I can't see these temptations everywhere and resist them all, so it's all about strategic placement. I will only let myself have one of these items right after a weigh-in so that I have the rest of the week to make up for it.