Down 66 lbs... w/ Progress Pics & Stats (New Mom)

sar123bear

Here's my journey so far.... I made my first goal of 185 on 4/13/11... I've got about 45 more to go!

(Dates / Weights since end of pregnancy)

12/13/11: 250.0 (day I went to the hospital to deliver my daughter) :noway:

12/19: 224.0 (-26)

12/26: 211.4 (-12.6)

01/13: 206.2 (-5.2)

01/17: 205.8 (-.4)

01/21: 204.4 (-1.4)

01/22: 202.6 (-1.8)

01/30: 207.2 (+4.6) (yikes... better start eating better / change my ways!) :grumble:

02/02: 207.6 (+.4) (gallbladder surgery day) :sick:

02/06: 206.8 (-.8)

02/10: 199.2 (-7.6 lbs!) :noway:

02/17: 199.2 (-0)

02/18 : 198.8

02/20 : 198.6

02/24 : 197.6 (-1.6)

02/26 : 196.6

02/27 : 196.0

02/28 : 195.6 Total for February: 12 lbs :bigsmile:

03/02 : 194.8 (-2.8)

03/07 : 193.8

03/09 : 193.4 (-1.4)

03/10 : 192.8

03/11 : 192.0

03/12 : 191.2

03/16 : 190.0 (-3.4)

03/17 : 189.4

03/23 : 189.2 (-.8)

03/24 : 188.8

03/25 : 187.8

03/26 : 187.6

03/30 : 187.4 (-1.8) (My Birthday) Total this month: 8.2 :bigsmile:

04/01 : 187.2

04/06 : 187.0 (-.4) *since 2/6: 19.8, Overall: 12/13: 63! still lost w/ birthday!

04/10 : 185.6

04/13 : 184.8 (- 2.2) - Goal #1 met!! I've actually increased my calories even more lately... interesting. :happy:

04/17 : 184.6

04/18 : 184.2 - keeping it at even higher calories still... I was afraid to bump it up even further at first, but I've been sure to try and get all of my calories in, even if it's 11pm at night. AND I'M STILL LOSING! Unbelievable, but I'm starting to believe even more!

TangledUp_InBlue

Nice job! You look great!

sar123bear

Thanks!

Anita1271

Good job!! You look great!

turbochris

looking good, great job!

vsay215

Not bad for 5 months after birth. Keep it up.

moepwr

Congrats You look great!!

yeromyhero

You look mahvelous!! Way to go, woman!

chantellove

Super awesome job

Can someone explain to me why increasing your calories helps you to keep losing weight?? What is the trick there?! It's very confusing to me...

Prettyasmi

congrats!! well done girl

kolkol

your doing great!

2gettinfit

You look awesome, i am post baby about 11 months and I still have a ton to loose. I am afraid to up my calories, keep us posted on how you are doing and maybe I'll up my cals if you are still doing okay. I'm not even coming close to what I am supposed to do daily.

N4monsters

You look GREAT!!!! You're doing awesome!!! Thank you for sharing all your findings!! They DO work!!

Spinach_Leaf

I'm getting ready to have gallbladder surgery and was wondering how long you were down and out for? I started going to the gym the first of January and have since become a gym rat... and I'm nervous about not being able to work out. My surgeon told me I'd be out for at least a month... Please tell me thats not true

sar123bear

Thank you all!! I was hesitant to go "all the way" with the eating more idea, but I'm soooooooo glad I stuck with it and gave it a try with even further upping my calories. I really can't believe how easy it's been for me. This is the "over-eater's" dream "diet" because you're never hungry. I'm always trying hard to eat enough daily and eat every 3 hours. I now have balanced meals as much as I can (carb / protein / veggie or fruit and healthy fat at every meal) which seems to have turned my life around as well.

Can someone explain to me why increasing your calories helps you to keep losing weight?? What is the trick there?! It's very confusing to me...

Plainly put, you've gotta trick your body into thinking it's not on a diet (slow and steady loss) in order to keep the pace going and avoid plateaus. If your caloric deficit is too great either by eating too little, or exercising too much, or a combination of both, or even eating too few of meals and then binging you're going to tell your body to shift it's metabolism into a lower gear to more or less retain your energy stores. After all, your body's job is to keep you alive and if it thinks it's going to starve, it will catch on.

Pretty much everyone will lose weight on a very low calorie diet (1200 or less) at first, but it seems like after a good amount of weight comes off, say 5-10-20-30 lbs or so, then things come to a screeching halt. Why does this happen? Because your body adapts... it's smart. Remember, it's job is to keep you alive! The average female needs about 2000 calories to survive, and the average male 2500... a 500 calorie deficit from those figures is plenty, either by exercising daily or by eating less, or a combination of the two. Sometimes the difference between losing weight and not is as simple as a couple hundred calories... at least that's what I've noticed... 1500 calories is not too far from1200, is it???

I see this as a very sustainable lifestyle change and I don't have any desire to go back to the "old me" ever again. I can still have my semi cheat day occasionally, but I keep those calories under my current maintenance goal (about 500 cals extra allowance) so I can enjoy myself but remain in control and not kill my efforts.

Without getting too technical, my suggestion to everyone out there struggling would be to give yourself a break... set your goal to 1 lb loss or even .5 lb loss... whatever gets you off of the 1200 calorie nightmare merry-go-round, and examine your exercise deficit too... a "double deficit" can harm your metabolism just as much.. be sure you're getting enough extra fuel for the workouts you're doing- Remember, the idea is to trick the body into letting go of everything it's trying so desperately to hold onto. :happy:

If you want to know more, I have a blog on my page with several links to readings on here that have really opened my eyes.

Happy losing everyone!!
:bigsmile:

sar123bear

I'm getting ready to have gallbladder surgery and was wondering how long you were down and out for? I started going to the gym the first of January and have since become a gym rat... and I'm nervous about not being able to work out. My surgeon told me I'd be out for at least a month... Please tell me thats not true

So sorry you're having to go through this too. :frown:

I would say I started feeling more mobile after about a week, but 2 weeks is what they told me for restricting activity. It's very easy to have complications if you don't take it easy, so give your body a chance to heal. Trust me, it can be very bad if you don't take care of yourself and you'd be out of commission for a lot longer than a month. Regardless, don't dismiss your doctor's suggestion- I don't know why they're saying a month vs my doctor telling me 2 weeks. Keep things light if you do opt to begin activity at the gym before the month is up!

Also, you may wish to google post - gallbladder surgery food suggestions to keep your liver healthy.

Hope that helps! Best wishes for a quick recovery!

cm1985

This is exactly what i needed, My husband and i have been wanting to have another baby. But since i am so motivated with losing weight I have postponed it, because i am not sure if I will be able to lose again. Thank you so much for posting this, i just dont want to be heavy anymore.

sar123bear

This is exactly what i needed, My husband and i have been wanting to have another baby. But since i am so motivated with losing weight I have postponed it, because i am not sure if I will be able to lose again. Thank you so much for posting this, i just dont want to be heavy anymore.

Absolutely! I understand exactly where you're coming from.

sar123bear

Another success I just discovered - I measured my body fat % (not BMI) a while back at 41.1%... Now, I'm at 38%! This means I'm no longer in the OBESE category. I'm so happy!!

kymillion

holy wow you are doing great ! when I had my first child ( daughter ) I shot up from a size 1-2 and 115 to 196 pounds and a size 12.. it took me what seemed like for ever to lose it, had another baby (son) 14 months later & then whittled back down to a size 3 ( by the time he was 4 ) got pregnant again (another BOY! ).. (lol ) shot up to 190's went down to about 145 .. and was then pregnant with my fourth child ( !!!another boy.. !!! ) This one though I shot up to 222 pounds I am 5'5 1/2" and I thought wow.. theres no getting back from here.. crazy thing is I lost 60 pounds in the first 2 months.. and another 40 within the next 3 months .. o.O...

and then guess what? when he turned 4 God blessed me with yet another BOY.. lol went from 122 ish to 195..hoovered around 140 for the next two years and now I have had my 6 th child... (yes another boy ) and I weighed in at 202 at birth and he's almost 2 and I am in the 160's ... it seems like I may have really pushed it too far this time..I hope to lose it .. ugh.. I dont want to be a size 2 anymore I never felt healthy but I dont want to look at photos and cringe .. a good healthy weight is my goal.. and your story is very inspiring.

SoBodyMazing

Great Job!!

zukkiz

You look fantastic!!! Great job!!

Keep on eating!! It is working for me too!!

hailie08

ok so my weight loss journey started longer after having my child then yours did. My biggest fear of losing weight has been losing my boobs bc they were non existent before pregnancy. You've seem to lost the majority of your weight in your stomach. Tips?

quianabenson

Good job! You look really good.

sar123bear

ok so my weight loss journey started longer after having my child then yours did. My biggest fear of losing weight has been losing my boobs bc they were non existent before pregnancy. You've seem to lost the majority of your weight in your stomach. Tips?

Well, there may be a false read on that because I'm breastfeeding currently I am normally a DD, but currently am a DDD / F / G :noway: depending on the bra and the day.

I know when I got down to 145 before, I was a full C, so I know this "blessing" (or curse, depending on how you look at it- fitting into tops has always been hard for me) won't last forever. I'll be interested to see what happens after I stop nursing.

I guess there's no big secret that I can think of... I'm just seeing weight come off of the areas that I most recently put it on (not counting the chest area). Hopefully that trend will continue!

I wish you the best of luck!!

sar123bear

holy wow you are doing great ! when I had my first child ( daughter ) I shot up from a size 1-2 and 115 to 196 pounds and a size 12.. it took me what seemed like for ever to lose it, had another baby (son) 14 months later & then whittled back down to a size 3 ( by the time he was 4 ) got pregnant again (another BOY! ).. (lol ) shot up to 190's went down to about 145 .. and was then pregnant with my fourth child ( !!!another boy.. !!! ) This one though I shot up to 222 pounds I am 5'5 1/2" and I thought wow.. theres no getting back from here.. crazy thing is I lost 60 pounds in the first 2 months.. and another 40 within the next 3 months .. o.O...

and then guess what? when he turned 4 God blessed me with yet another BOY.. lol went from 122 ish to 195..hoovered around 140 for the next two years and now I have had my 6 th child... (yes another boy ) and I weighed in at 202 at birth and he's almost 2 and I am in the 160's ... it seems like I may have really pushed it too far this time..I hope to lose it .. ugh.. I dont want to be a size 2 anymore I never felt healthy but I dont want to look at photos and cringe .. a good healthy weight is my goal.. and your story is very inspiring.

Isn't it amazing how our bodies can change soooooo much?? I must say congrats to you on your wonderful blessings and on your success at losing all times! No doubt you can do it again if you set your mind to it. You're inspiring as well!! :happy:

sar123bear

Thank you all for your comments / encouragement! :-D