Looking for Inspiration!

KatyAverill · October 2015

I'm currently 9 months pregnant with my first baby and due any day now, so I know that it will be a while before I can start to seriously exercise again. However, I'm excited about getting back into it and am looking for some inspirational success stories!

Some background information about me:
I was active throughout high school (varsity volleyball & basketball captain) and didn't have any weight issues. I'm 5'8" and was about 140 throughout high school. After graduating, I was diagnosed with PCOS and was no longer active. I gained a lot of weight and got up to 215.

Then during my last couple of years of college, after I started dating my husband, I began running using the C25K app. I fell in love with running and ended up getting down to about 160 pounds. I have run two half marathons, a handful of 5ks, one beach obstacle race, and a 10k. My longest run ever was 14 miles. I was running about four days per week-2 shorter (3-6 mile) runs (one of which was intervals) and one long run on the weekends.

A year and a half ago, I started working full-time as an elementary school teacher. I worked throughout high school and college but I had a hard time with work-life balance as a teacher. I committed myself to creating after school tutoring programs and volunteering too much and did not make any time for myself. I stopped running, ended up gaining weight and ballooned back up to 209.

During the time when I was teaching, my husband and I started to try to have our first baby. It took us 10 months and some fertility treatments before I became pregnant in Feb of 2015. Throughout the first few months of my pregnancy, I struggled with all day morning sickness and had no energy after work, so I didn't work out. After I got into the second trimester I began to walk for a mile with my husband a few times per week and also did some swimming with him on the weekends. However, I have still gained quite a bit of weight-I currently weigh 246...my highest weight ever. So I've gained a total of 37 pounds during this pregnancy (8 pounds of that is baby according to my last ultrasound! She's a big girl!).

I'm looking forward to getting back into running and exercising after I'm cleared to start again! I would love to see your before and after pictures and hear what changes you made-especially if you're a mom or lost weight via running!