September Fitness Update

It's been awhile since I updated on my fitness progress. Sadly I haven't been able to work out quite as much as I wanted to this month. We just run out of time at the end of the day and on the rare occasion that everyone is taking a nap at once in the afternoon, I usually decide to take one as well. It seems like these boys are getting worse and not better as they get older as far as sleeping at night goes and little man has started waking up once or twice a night. It's very tiring!

So I came up with this quick and easy workout that I can do wherever we are even when everyone is awake still. I do it once or twice a day depending on how motivated I am. It's getting harder lately because little man thinks I am playing with him every time I try to do push ups or crunches and comes to jump on me! Once these boys start sleeping better at night and I'm not as tired, I'm hoping to be able to start doing more during their afternoon nap. For now I am focusing on doing this easy workout when I can and the elliptical when we have time in the evening. 

How about you? How did your fitness/workout plans go this past month? 

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30 Day Fitness Challenge

Want to know some awesome news? I decided to try on a few more of my regular jeans this week and they fit this time! How exciting is that?! I haven't really lost any weight in the last few weeks, it's been about the same, so I figured my pants still wouldn't fit right. That is why I was so surprised. This working out must actually be working a little bit. It's very slow, much slower than I would like, but eventually I will get to where I want to be! 

I decided to come up with a 30 day fitness challenge. I'm starting today and very excited about it! If anyone wants to join me, feel free to check it out. It's really fairly easy I think, and shouldn't be too hard for anyone to do. I'm sure it is way too easy for anyone who has been working out regularly. I think last time I talked about doing sit ups I wasn't able to do one, but thankfully I am now able to again. Now this isn't the only thing I'm doing for a workout, but just a fun challenge for myself to try to do. It helps me to have a goal to work towards and who doesn't like a challenge? (Maybe that's just me, I'm way too competitive.)

I have also been eating more fresh fruits and vegetables than I ever have before and trying to drink one full glass of water before each meal. I even decided that I like cucumbers, which previously I didn't really care for. So here is my 30 day fitness challenge for myself and anyone else who wants to join me. If you have any suggestions about it, please let me know. Remember if you are working out after a pregnancy and your abs are still separated, doing sit ups and crunches will only make them worse, so you probably won't want to do this challenge.

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7 Important Reasons to Drink Water

Remember my 21 day no junk food challenge? Sunday is already the last day, these last three weeks have flown by. I've stuck to the challenge, even though it was hard at times watching my husband eat his candy and chips and soda all the time! I have lost a couple more pounds, but it's been going a lot slower than it was at first. I have about 8 more pounds to go to get to pre-pregnancy weight.

I've also been working out everyday and am starting to notice a difference. My muscles are starting to slowly get back in shape. I'm still trying to find a good ab routine though. It's going to be awhile before I can do anything too crazy with my ab muscles. I tried doing a few sit-ups the other day and that was pretty painful. 

I drink water all the time, it is literally the only thing I've been drinking (besides one cup of coffee a day) for months now. Sometimes it gets old, but I think it's been helping to keep my more hydrated. Here are seven important reasons why all of us should be drinking more water, especially if you are trying to lose weight:

1. Drinking water before each meal has been shown to help promote weightloss because you will feel fuller and probably eat less food. 

2. Burning calories requires water. If you don't have enough water it will slow down the fat-burning process.

3. We need to drink plenty of water to flush out the toxins in our body. 

4. Dehydration makes you tired.

5. Our minds tend to confuse hunger and thirst. Often, when you feel hungry, you might just be thirsty. Try drinking a glass of water and waiting 15 minutes before you snack.

6. Drinking a glass of cold water right away in the morning can help increase your metablolism for the day.

7. Even mild dehydration will slow down your metabolism as much as 30%.

One very interesting fact that I learned was this: when you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated. It's important to drink water throughout the day to avoid this. There are so many other health benefits to drinking enough water every day and its free, there's no reason not to drink it!

 
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Fitness Update

This was supposed to be up yesterday, but I got too busy and ended up not posting anything. So now I'm writing this today instead. Five weeks postpartum this week and it seems that my weight is stuck with 10 pounds to lose. I haven't really lost anything all week, that's ok though because I've been doing really good about working out every day. The no junk food challenge is still going great as well! Today is day 13 out of the 21 days. Even after the 21 days are up, I still plan on sticking to it for the most part. There is really no reason to eat very much junk food or soda.

I have been doing an easy beginner workout for the last week and a half to get back into things. Today I started doing the elliptical as well and Monday evening I hope to start doing the couch to 5k running program. I am going very slow because my entire pregnancy I didn't work out at all, just tried to take it easy. Before this pregnancy I had about 4 months in between my previous pregnancy, two of them were spent in horrible pain and then I had a second abdominal surgery when my first baby was 2 months old, so I never got to get back to working out or anything back then either. 

So basically I've been pregnant for two years! It's so nice to not be anymore and I'm very excited to get back in shape again! 

Post Baby Slim Down: Getting Your Body Back

Post Baby Slim Down: 30 Days Progress

Our fitness room/library

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Post Baby Slim Down: 30 Days

Well it has been 30 days since I had the boys today! Seems like a lot longer than that for some reason. Probably because I've been so tired lately! It's also Day 5 of the 21 Day No Junk Food Challenge. The challenge is going great, it hasn't really been much of a challenge yet. I guess I don't eat as much junk food as I thought I did. 

Here's an update on how weight loss and getting back in shape is going:

My last weight before having the boys = 187

Pre-pregnancy weight = 140

Weight as of yesterday morning = 152 

I've been slowly starting to do a little bit as far as working out goes. We have been taking lots of walks as often as possible with all the boys. I've also been trying to remember to flex my abs as often as I can. I'm taking things easy though, since I had a c-section and I don't want to hurt myself by doing too much too soon. I have my check up next week though, so I'll see if my doctor says I can start doing more. 

I have been finally able to start wearing some of my normal jeans, which is awesome! Here's a look at my progress in the first 30 days. Also a front view where I look super happy, as you can see. Apparently I need to work on smiling for these pictures!

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The No Junk Food Challenge

I have decided to start a new challenge tomorrow! It's for 21 days, so it's not forever and to me that makes it easier to stick to. I've done the no junk food thing before, but recently I've been just eating whatever. I did really good my whole pregnancy with barely any soda, and the last couple of weeks I've been so tired I have had quite a bit of it. 

I have about 15 pounds left to go before getting back to pre-pregnancy weight, which isn't too bad. I think doing this challenge will really help get there, plus I've started taking walks every day and working out slowly. If you would like to see more tips I have for post partum weight loss, check out this post. 

So who wants to do the challenge with me!?

 

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