Cutting Out & Working Out: Getting Rid of Pregnancy Weight

Today marks 8 weeks postpartum with Jennavieve.  I gave myself a full seven weeks to recover from having a baby and get into a good groove with breastfeeding before starting to tackle the removal of excess pregnancy weight.  After four babies and one miscarriage in the last five years, my body has undergone weight gain and weight loss a lot, but never with a focus on toning my muscles and truly working hard at getting back in shape.  After my miscarriage in 2011, I did run for a few months which was wonderful.  I ended that stint of exercise by running/walking a 10-miler while 9 weeks pregnant with Mason.

September, 2011, was the last time I exercised.

Now, two years later, I'm tackling this once again. There's no better accountability, I suppose, than writing and publishing my journey for others to read.  I thought about waiting until I'd actually lost the weight, that would've been a bit easier to share publicly.  By sharing my progress, I hope that it will encourage others and help to keep me disciplined.

Confession:  I gained 58 pounds during this last pregnancy.   This is not something I'm proud of, by any means!  I had a hard time being disciplined to eat well, and I never once exercised while pregnant.  Mine is not the example to follow.

Seven weeks postpartum:  I lost 30 pounds without really doing anything.  It helped that Jennavieve was a 10-pound baby, but I'm only halfway to where I would like to be.

Cutting Out:
We've removed excess sweets and snacks from our home.  This was difficult to do, but necessary for me if I want to avoid temptation.  I also know myself well enough to realize that cutting out sugar entirely would only cause me to binge when it was available.  So, I keep frozen yogurt in the freezer and in the evenings, if I want a little sugar, I eat a few spoonfuls.

I've also been cutting back a bit on my portions.  I am breastfeeding, so dieting is out of the question.  By eating less at meal times and choosing healthy snacks I should be able to maintain an adequate milk supply and still shed the extra pounds.

Working Out:
Bradley is developing workouts for me that we do together several days a week.  We've converted half of our garage into a workout station {come back tomorrow for a DIY project that we did in this space} so that we can workout and still hear the kids should they need us.

Our workouts consist of repetitious sets targeting legs, abs, arms, and everything else, I think--at least that what my muscles are telling me!

I've also started to walk/run.  My goal is to be able to run several miles a few days a week.  Easing into this, though, is how I've heard that it needs to be done in order to keep up my milk supply.  I try to stagger jogging and walking, keeping a fast walking pace, for about 2 miles right now.  Once I'm able to jog that without stopping, I plan to slowly increase my pace and distance.

You will not see any pictures here of my 'before', but maybe down the road I'll feel comfortable enough to publish that :).  It's better with an 'after' comparison, anyway.

The cutting out and working out is not just about losing weight for me.  It's also an exercise in discipline and self-control.  I long to be self-controlled in all areas of my life; eating/exercise has always been the biggest area of struggle for me.  I want my children to have a healthy Mama who takes care of her body.

How have you gotten rid of pregnancy weight, or just weight in general?  Do you have any tips for me?