My FIRST weigh in after the baby...plus a photo walk

So before I kick this blog post off, let me first go through the photos that will show HOW I got to this point and WHY I feel as nervous as I do. Ready? Here we go.

 

In January 2012, this is how I looked.....minus a few more pounds because this picture was taken in November.

 

This was me in March after my daughter was conceived.  Still smaller....and totally unaware that I was pregnant lol

 

 

Now because I was still considered "obese" my doctor was worried about my weight during my pregnancy. I blogged about this on my pregnancy blog. She did not want me to gain a lot of weight and therefore I really had to watch what I ate and etc. The first couple of months went great...in MY opinion. I rarely gained anything other than belly. Here I am 5 months pregnant

So I get to my final trimester and last month and turn into a beast. I cant stop eating. I mean I'm hungry ALL of the time! It was crazy. I went to the doctor's office once and learned that I had gained 9 lbs....in ONE week! I nearly cried. Here I was gaining a mere ONE pound a month and in 7 little days I gained 9 months of weight. I was devastated. My doctor insisted that everything was fine but all I kept thinking was that I was going to have to work really hard to lose it once the baby was born. By my last month of pregnancy I was looking like this.

The final day that I went into the hospital I had gained 25 pounds total, hit the 200 lb mark plus some  and was looking like this

Chilllddd I was so happy to get that baby out of me. I fought tooth and nail with my doctor for that induction. Had I not only God knows how big I would have gotten. I just could not control myself when it came to the food. So anyhoo I give birth to a 7 lb 3 oz baby and I pump (breast milk) to aid in losing my belly as fast as I can. I come home and even though I am a 1000 times smaller, I just don't feel right. I was self conscious and the people around me were not making it any better.  It seemed like every other day someone was telling me how BIG I was .... like I didn't just GIVE BIRTH....ya know HAVE A BABY! How did they expect me to look? Like Beyoncé? I think not. So while I should have been enjoying my time off and my new bundle, instead I was overly anxious about getting back in the gym and getting the weight off. I was overly anxious about exercising even though my body was telling me in several languages to sit my black behind down. So I said ALL of that to show you just how nervous I was when I walked up in that doctor's office for my 6 week checkup and official weigh in. Chile I was so nervous that my hands were shaking.  I was thinking the nurse was going to say 10054882 gazillion pounds but instead she said 190.

Lady repeat that for me and all of the audience members who are sitting in the back row and wearing hearing aids. 190!!!! Girlll I almost lost it in that doctor's office. I was biting my lip and blinking away tears. Gawd is good hunty. That's a mere 6 lbs away from the weight that I was in those first two pictures waaayyyyyyyy at the top of this post. 6 lbs? I could surely do that. I could do that with my eyes closed. I could do that with my eyes closed and standing on one leg. I GOT this! She then measured my waist and I came in at 37 inches. I gave God a hallelujah praise dance then. When I first started this blog I was well over 40 inches. I was at risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, you name it and I was at risk for it. I eventually got down to a 34 inch waist and now this lady .... this lady is telling me that after being pregnant and birthing a child that I was a mere 3 inches away from what I use to be. Let me tell you again...GOD IS GOOD hunty! That was just the boost that I needed to get on my merry way and began Operation Get Fine and Be Divine!

Now lets get to work!

I'm BACK!

Hi sweetie pies! It's been a minute. As a matter of fact it's been an entire year but I"M BACK! My last post was in January 2012 and so much happened from now to then that kept me from blogging on this particular blog. First and foremost I became pregnant and mommy to a beautiful little girl. The pregnancy went hand in hand with this blog because it affected me physically, emotionally and spiritually. I cant wait to blog about my journey and my desire to continue to be

Stay tuned :)

A day of temptation!

Today was the first day of the Clean Eating Bootcamp and it was funny because today was full of temptation for me. Everyone has a kryptonite. A kid's kryptonite is often candy. A woman's kryptonite is often shopping. A man's kryptonite is often a beautiful woman. You get my point. MY kryptonite is FOOD! I love it...I do...and I fully embrace that yes this is my weakness.

I was full of cravings today. From fish & grits to brownies & ice cream....if I craved it, I ate it. I didn't have any will power so my food journal consists of potato wedges, homemade macaroni & cheese and orange juice. All things that are no-nos when you're trying to lose weight. *rolls eyes* It wasn't the best of days but as I end it I find solace in knowing that I was only 63 calories over my goal intake. That's not bad right?


That being said I'm glad that the only rule that I'm focusing on with this bootcamp so far is drinking water. I was able to do that successfully. I took down 48 ounces which is equivalent to 6 cups. Pretty good. They recommend 8 cups so I was two cups off. Not bad. Hopefully by the time the second rule comes out I will be back at my job. I tend to do better with eating and exercising when I'm not lounging around the house in pajamas all day.

Day 2 of the bootcamp is tomorrow and I'm scheduled to go out of town. Yikes! We shall see how this goes.

BootCamp.....Rule #1

There are several publications that I enjoy reading. Some make me vomit because I simply cannot handle the information that is given but others are quite informative. Recently my favorite site, A Black Girl's Guide to Weight Loss,  decided to bring in the new year with a bootcamp. I misunderstood her AFTER I had decided I would do it. I was excited until I read its a HEALTHY EATING boot camp. I thought it would only be about exercise. Lord help me. lol I have a group of people of Facebook who have said they are going to do it with me. May God be with all of us lol. That being said....here's rule number 1. Good luck ladies :)


That being said, here’s the first rule for the boot camp: before you go to drink any juice or soft drink, vow to drink two cups – that’s 16 ounces – of water first. If, after 16oz. of water, you still want the sugary drink, then go for it. But you must always drink the two cups of water, first.

Got it? Who’s in?

(Excerpted from What Time Is It? Clean Eating Boot Camp Time! | A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss)

7 lbs later

It seems like ages ago I was bragging about leaving the 80's behind and welcoming the 70's. It wasn't ages but it was two months ago and now I find myself back in my 80's and waving at the 70's. I've had a lot to happen in the past two months. Let's see. I turned 30! Woo hoo! I'm officially in the 30 and above club and I love it. The week leading up to and following me turning 30 consisted of alcohol, alcohol and well.....more alcohol. I really celebrated and well we all know that fitness, weight loss and alcohol do not go together.

My birthday happens to be a few days before Thanksgiving. I went all out for Thanksgiving. We had a FEAST and everything was delicious. Every cook put their foot down and well anything related to fitness or eating right went right out of the window. It's the holidays....you're suppose to eat good right? *shrugs* Well I did and I just vowed that I would get it together after the holidays.

Well Thanksgiving is followed by Christmas and between holiday parties at my job, going out of town on vacation and Christmas dinner..... well lets just say I won't be making any more excuses. I'm pretty sure you see how this all went down. Just know that today when I weighed in, I was 7 lbs heavier :(  It hurt my heart to have to type in 184 on myfitnesspal but I know that I will take it off.  The most important thing to me is that I enjoyed myself, I had a fantastic holiday break, I'm HAPPY and I'm even more focused on taking it all off.

So I'm back on my grind. The holidays are over and I'm ready to give it all that I have. My son received a Kinect for Christmas and me and my girlfriends worked out on it today. 60 minutes, 563 calories burned, and TONS of fun. I see I'm going to enjoy this :) I also start the Black Girl's Guide to Weight Loss' Bootcamp tomorrow. I will be posting it on here. I'm excited. I've never done a boot camp before. It sounds fun but we shall see.

I've had a lot of people to contact me about weight loss, my blog and my journey. I had no idea so many people were interested :) So now I AM BACK! Lets get it!

1Luv
KL

I'm back with Shaun

Me and Shaun T are like Nettie and Celie ...... we may take a break but ultimately we find each other again. Me and him us never part lol. My last workout with Shaun was August 28th. Thats when I had my unfortunate knee injury. Other than walking around and "working" I have not worked out since. At first it was pretty cool but last week I noticed that while walking my students back up the stairs I was breathing heavy. No BUENO! I quickly got back on my exercise program. I started out by walking. After getting 2 miles under my belt with NO heavy breathing I decided to go back to Sean.

I cant lie. I didnt want to. When I've been away from Sean for a long period of time, going back scares me. I didnt know how my body was going to react. Chilllldddd I did 45 minutes NONSTOP. I was going just as hard as Sean was and I LOVED IT! My abs hurt sooo much. Everything hurts and right about now all I want is a hot shower and a nice comfy bed...bump a dinner. I really hope that I'm able to roll with Shaun again in the morning. We shall see *fingers crossed*

Bye 80's ....... HELLO 70's

So I've been bummed out all week because I hurt my knee and was unable to work out. I've been eating like crazy ..... fyi the fajita rollup at Applebees is delicious ..... and wasnt really expecting anything major when I hit the scale. Boy was I wrong. I woke up this morning and stepped on the scale. The scale said 178.2 lbs. I instantly thought my scale was broken. There was no way in hell that I was in the 170's. So I stepped off and stepped on again .... again the scale said 178.2. I kicked the scale and went to find my tape measure. I measured my waist and found that I am now at a 34 inch waist. I screamed so loud. I'm sure my neighbors wondered what in the hell was wrong with me.

I've done it! I reached the 70s. I'm 3 lbs away from my goal. I'm 3 lbs away from losing 20 lbs! I'm 2 inches away from having a 32 inch waist! I'm so proud of me. What I'm proud of the most is that I did it the RIGHT way. I didnt diet. I didnt pay any outrageous gym fees. I didnt contribute to the billion dollar industry that is the weight-loss industry. That industry fails people every year. I worked hard but I also ate foods that I enjoyed eating. I didnt starve myself and I didnt deprive myself of rice, pasta or restaurants.

I'm really thankful for myfitnesspal. I should be a paid spokeswoman or something lol. Many people ask me how I am losing the weight. I guess they want some miraculous answer but my answer is always simple ... myfitnesspal. I eat 1200 calories a day and I am very conscience about how many calories I am eating, etc. I also like the fact that so many people on there cheer me on. Losing weight can be a struggle. A good support system is needed and that is what I have. By the way, if you sign up ... befriend me :) @ScorpioDiva81 ;)

Anyhoo my initial goal was to be 175 lbs. Now that I am 3 lbs away from meeting that goal I am anxious to set another one. I always said that I did not want to be skinny-skinny but now that I'm losing the weight I feel great. My second goal is 165. Hello 70's ...... 60's I'm coming for you :)