Secret Weight Loss Plan

I wrote this on August 2nd, about 5 days before I started feeling really bad and found out I was pregnant. So, I've slacked up alot lately...no running, etc. But, I'm feeling much, much better now, much to Joel's delight. I feel like I'm already in my nesting period this morning as opposed to the lifeless exhausted, nauseated blob of myself the past couple of weeks.

Anyhoo, so here is what I wrote about what I was doing at the time. Now that I am feeling better, I intend to go back to this...at least some of it. I really would like to try to stray away from the 45-50 lb. weight gain that I usually experience with a pregnancy. It is encouraging to me though that I do actually lose it between the pregnancies...however short that in-between period may be. :)

Alright, now for the post...

There’s nothing secret about it actually, but first a little Michawn weight history…not that you actually care, but I wanted to record it for myself and when I read things like this that other people have written, I enjoy details. So here goes…

After high school I always fluctuated between 120 and 130. I finally, after college, leveled out at 130 and pretty much stayed there.

When I got married, I actually started eating 3 meals a day for the first time in my life (1. Not my mother’s fault, I just always hated breakfast, 2. Who eats 3 meals a day in college?, 3. After college I worked nights, so my eating schedule was all whacked). It was a combination of that and probably just finally getting to the point in my life that I couldn’t eat whatever I wanted and not see some results of that behavior, but I began to fluctuate higher. I decided to do something about it when I hit my max. of 140. I started eating differently. Even though I had always exercised regularly, I also kicked that up a notch…began exercising more often and also more intensely (for instance, when running I started running 3 miles instead of 1). I got back down to the 130 mark.

I continued to fluctuate a bit, but stayed right around 130. My first weigh-in when pregnant with Grady was 134.

I gained 55 pounds with Grady. Yep, that put me at 189. Good thing I'm a decent height (5'8")...otherwise, it would've been really scary.

Four months after I had Grady, I was back down to 147 (just watching what I ate and running). That is when I found out I was expecting Hadley.

I gained about 45 pounds with Hadley, which put me around 192.

I did Weight Watchers (since I was still nursing and needed some guidelines) and lost back down to 138 after Hadley. I hit that weight right before the holidays. After the holidays I had gained a few pounds back. Then I found out I was expecting Asa (when Hadley was 11 months old) and I weighed in at 145 at my first pregnancy weigh-in.

I think my last weigh-in when pregnant with Asa showed me at 194. So, that means I gained about 49 pounds. Lovely. :)

After Asa (and with all my births) I immediately was about 20 pounds lighter. I leveled off at about 173. Then between Asa’s birth in October and February, I lost down to 168 without really trying, but just stayed there.

The month of February we fasted meats and sweets. I lost 13 pounds, which put me down to 155.

Then the travelling started…and the eating special foods and at special places that I wouldn’t get to have/do for the next 3 years. Believe me, I don’t regret this. I gained back up to about 163 though.

Right after we got here to Brasil, I decided that I was going to go without sweets again and really watch what I eat. That worked great for a week, but it just wasn’t practical at the time. We were still out shopping every day for the house which meant that we were grabbing a bite out. I knew as soon as I got settled into a house though that I wanted to get busy trying to lose the rest of the Asa weight. So, that's what I did. I started this July 15th.

Here it is…the way to ensure some fast weight loss:
1. Sweets – don’t have any…this includes sweetened cereals, juices, sodas, etc.
2. Slacking – don’t do that; I’ve exercised every day…I usually run about 2 miles a day, sometimes more; now you don't have to run 2 miles, or even run at all; a good brisk walk (30 minute 2 mile walk) is what is most recommended as good, efficient exercise.
3. Seven – I don’t eat after 7 o’clock. We usually try to have supper at 6 anyway, so even if I’m a little late and we don’t eat until 6:30, we’re still done by 7.
4. Seconds - Don't eat any; and it's also important to make sure you only have a serving fit for one person on your plate in the first place; exercising really helps me with this (1. tends to really curb my appetite, 2. I am more motivated to not pig out when I do all that work of exercise).
5. Water – I drink at least 64 oz. a day; also helps a ton with my appetite...when I'm not doing this and I truly feel hunger, it is lots of times because I haven't drank enough water.
6. Whole foods – This is just the way I think is best to eat, but esp. when I’m trying to lose some weight (after baby), it’s just better…no packaged foods, nothing with hydrogenated oil or high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients (this rules out many, many things).

So, I had lost down to 154.5 pounds when I found out I was preggers. So, only about 9 1/2 pounds over what I was when I became pregnant with Asa. Not horrible. I only had about 15 more pounds to go til I was happy, although about 20 would've made me really happy. :) But, well...we'll just postpone that until after April now I guess. :)

And just because visuals are so good...


Before kiddos. I know...I really regretted this perm the minute I left the salon. This was sometime in the fall of 2002 I think.


With my friends, Judy and Esther, on a visit back to Longview. Fun stuff. Again, always around 130 pounds. I think this was in the summer of 2002.







Now, if this doesn't get your attention, I don't know what will. Ha ha. Totally scary picture, huh? This was taken when I was in labor with Asa. Lovely angle. :)













A family picture taken for CTEN (our sending agency) when Asa was a couple of weeks old.
Taken 2 or 3 weeks ago. I had just reached 155 that morning. :)