Flab mom 2 Fit mom!

Hey everyone, I am Diana. I have struggled with about 25-30 lbs the last 10 years, and have finally made the decision to get fit for me, my son, and my family. Growing up, there weren't a lot of healthy lifestyles to learn from and I developed bad habbits early on. Too big of a portion size, little to no exercise, late night eating, eating really bad processed foods. But when I was in highschool, I was extremely active so it didn't seem to matter how much I ate, my metabolism and sports helped to keep the lbs off. After highschool I gained the average college 15, then I moved in with my now husband and gained another 20lbs of love weight, and then after that gained another 40 when I had my son! Between breastfeeding, eating healthy fiber protein and fat balanced diets and occasional work outs, I was able to get down to my previous pre baby weight. I had gone from 219 to 179.

Since I didn't really have a great role model growing up, I want my son to grow up with a great understanding of eating right, exercising, and a healthy sense of self. I am not aiming to be skinny, but I want to be as fit as possible for my own individual body.
I feel my best between 140-150 which is about another 25-35 lbs away, but slowly and surely I am getting there. Remember it takes a while to put it on, so it's going to take a while to take it off(average between 1-2lbs a week)

I have found what works best for me and our busy family lifestyle(between work, home, school, baby, and quality time) is a high protein diet. My mornings ususally start out with a whey protein isolate chocolate shake mixed with water. Lunch time is usually chicken, tuna, shrimp, or some sort of lean protein with a salad or brown rice, and dinner is another lean protein with tons of veggies, grits, brown rice, or cous cous. At points through out the day, I will start to feel hungry so I will keep a protein shake, bar, or piece of fruit with me. It helps to eat balanced meals and small healthy snakes through out the day, that way you aren't plateuing, but your metabolism stays consistent. If you are hungry, you are most likely doing it right because your body is burning calories at a more rapid rate.

Also, I try to get to the gym at least 5 days a week. I know this can be hard, but when I am there I get in at least 30 minutes of cardio, and if i can only make it 3-4 days a week, then I just make my cardio sessions longer between 45-60 minutes. Every other day I try to incorporate some sort of strength training. For me I am not trying to bulk up, but more or less to lean up. So to do that, I use between 10-15 lb weights for my arms, but more repetitions, generally between 15-20 reps, and 3 sets. For my leg days, I use heavier weights for my machine squats at around 85-95 lbs, and just body resistance for when I do my reverse lungs and free standing squats. While after doing this for about a month, I haven't lost a ton of weight, about 5 lbs, my husband is very supportive and says he can definitely tell I have lost inches and am toning up.

Bottom line is, I feel good! They say it takes about 27 days to make a habbit, but only 7 days to break one. Everyone is going to fall off the wagon sometimes. I did for about 3 years. But you owe it to yourself to get back on it. Even if you have a bad weekend(aka the holidays, a birthday, anniversary,etc.) Just pick back up where you left off.

I would love to hear about other moms stories and their weight loss journeys! I totally believe in positive reinforcement and encouragement!