Lifestyle GAIN; not Weight LOSS

Motherhood brought countless highs, and unfortunately SO many lows when it came to my body. I made every excuse from being too tired, to not wanting to put my baby in the gym daycare.
Yes, I am a stay at home mom -- I call it a "stay in the van mom" because we are never actually home which makes it difficult to have a workout routine. I couldn't commit to something that was so sporadic. (TYPE A PERSONALITY HERE) It's easy to workout during "nap time" but sometimes nap time doesn't happen, sometimes that's my lunch break and so on and so forth so it was easier to just not.

I'm 5'7'' and at my heaviest I was 152. I'm not exactly a couch potato and I always get *those* looks when I talk about my excess weight because 152 looks so much thinner on someone that's 5'7" compared to someone that's 5". I don't like to use the term "being fat" because the struggle with weight is so much more than "being" anything. If I was "being" anything I was being an awesome mom and I let my body pay the price. And I was okay with that, for a while.
I continued to purchase larger clothes and pushed my pre-pregnancy ones further to the back of the closet. I held onto them hoping that one day they'd eventually fit again.
Eventually I stopped caring about all the accessorizing and appearance worries that accompany being a woman. I don't think I've ever really been high maintenance to begin with BUT I didn't care about much. I cared only about clothes that wouldn't hug my waist because of the excess muffin top.
Ricky and I have been married 7 years.
Over those 7 years I gained about 25 pounds. 2/3 of them coming from post Charley era.
About a year ago I was still sporadic with my workouts and I hit a plateau. No matter what I did or did not eat and how much I did or did not exercise my weight stayed around 147. This is the most discouraging part of weight loss and why I never saw results. Every time I restarted I kept telling myself just stop stopping but somehow a vacation would come around, a sickness, and sometimes just life and here I was starting over.... again.

For the last 2 years I have mostly purchased organic foods and ate what I believed to be more of a balanced diet than most. However, I felt like I needed carbs with every meal or else I didn't feel full. I wasn't ever super heavy on desserts. But Coca Cola. Oh how I LOVED Coke. I loved it so much that knowing how terrible it was for me I still consumed it, and I even enjoyed every sip.

So 5 weeks ago I started over again.
I was mad enough with myself that I just could not get this working out thing to work for me.
I'm a do-er. I'm a not a give-up-er. I am a commiter.
Prior to Charley I went to the gym quite a bit - especially when Ricky was deployed.
I danced and played various sports for most of my adolescent life so I knew some where deep down I had an "athlete" version of myself.
It just really needed some commitment. I did have a brief break up with the scale and I really had to have a clear, focused mind.

I started being conscious about what I ate and how I fueled my body.
I broke up with Coke.
I made it a habit to eat breakfast - a healthy one at that.
I controlled my portions.
I began to eat smaller, more frequent meals.

These are the habits I had to change for me. If you also struggle at the table and in the kitchen a rule of thumb to follow would be to stay on the outskirts of the grocery store. Anything that you eat from the center aisle at the store is usually processed and will give you higher calories and less nutrients.
For example: 1 cup of strawberries is only 49 calories & 12 carbs + a ton of vitamins and minerals. A cup of strawberries is a great snack and there's enough to give you that full feeling once you break up with heavy carb foods.
On the flip side 11 (ELEVEN) Dorito's chips give you 140 calories no vitamins/minerals and 16 carbs...and that's if you stop eating at 11 chips.


So the first couple days I was pretty bitchy because my mind kept telling me that I was hungry. I knew I wasn't because I had been eating good food, frequently.
I fought with my mind and sipped on my water. Angry.
Knowing I had to fight if I wanted complete control and annoyed that my mind was trying to make me fail.

2 weeks into my routine was the ultimate test.
I went on vacation for my 25th birthday.
I came home from vacation 2 pounds heavier and I made good food choices on vacation and continued on my workout routine. I wasn't upset about the 2 pounds because the memories on vacation were worth more than 2 pound gain.

My workout routine looks like this:
Monday: Legs/Cardio
Tuesday: Low Intensity
Wednesday: Arms & Abs
Thursday: Low Intensity
Friday: Full Body
Saturday: Low Intensity
Sunday: Low Intensity and/or stretching

My dogs are thoroughly happy with my low intensity workout.
Low intensity means they get at least a 30 minute walk... so everyone wins!

I also discovered a minor setback with my back.
I have to take things slow for a little while so that I can fully recover.
I was upset. I was frustrated & I was in annoying, aching pain.
I was experiencing tingling/numbness up my back more than 75% of the time no matter what position I was in.
I made an appointment with a chiropractor. He sent me for X-rays and I returned the following day.
I was expecting to see my spine in alignment with only small little thing that needed a single adjustment and then I'd be good.
I knew from my research with the body & my 8 days experience on a spinal cord injury (jury duty) that numbness/tingling meant I struck a nerve (literally).
So.

I have degenerative disk disease, a compressed disc right before my tailbone L-5 (thus the tingling), mild scoliosis and an anterior pelvic tilt. I don't really like the fact of claiming to have a "disease" so I'll just refer to it as a compressed disc.

I was in tears when this sunk in.
I was in tears because I had just found & was regaining my strength.
I had dusted off the athletic version of myself and quitting now meant restarting again & I promised myself no more quitting.
I have made modifications to my workouts, I have focused on heating my back, decompressing my back with a series of yoga poses (down dog, child's pose), low impact (bicycling over running), and of course: supplementation & essential oils.

I completed the full 12 weeks of my work out program - modified.
During the 12 weeks I took 2 vacations & did not go "full throttle" at the gym as I didn't want to aggravate my back.

I lost:
12.5 inches
8.2 pounds
1.1% BMI
2.8% Body Fat 

& finally it's not so much about what you look like it's more about what you feel like but it's always a good feeling when they sync up together.

SECRET: 

There isn't one. 

I changed my lifestyle.

I do take supplements. Ask me which ones

I do use essential oils in my workout routine.

I take pre-workout.

I drink protein shakes.

I didn't take any weight loss "pills"

I didn't "wrap"

I'm a hard work & dedication type of girl.

My favorite helpers:
I really love my POLAR FT4
My Slimming Waist Belt 
Various Essential Oils
Metabolic Blend appetite control bars
C4 Pre-workout
Muscle Pharm Combat Protein