This one is for the mamas!

55 pounds. It took 40 weeks and 4 days to gain, and 11 months and one week to lose. My baby boy turns one this month. As some of you know, I have five kids. I gained a lot of weight gestating those kids, and didn't have much luck losing that weight until I found MFP. Mostly because I blamed everything else except how much food I was eating. This is my second time taking the weight off. The first time I lost 70 pounds in two years. I said I'd come back after I lost the baby weight, so here I am. And I'm not done yet, but I figure I'll know when I see it. So here's what I did:

Height: 5'1"
Starting weight: 195lbs.
Current weight: 139.8lbs.

I bought a food scale and used it. I logged every food, measured every liquid, tracked every bite. I ate everything. I ate chocolate, junk food, fast food, ice cream. Just as long as it fit within my calorie goal for the day. The only macro I focused on was protein.

I lifted heavy in accordance with a progressive lifting program. I'm currently doing the Strong Curves advanced workout, but I've done Starting Strength and StrongLifts in the past. This had a profound impact on the amount of muscle I've managed to maintain while I lost fat. It takes a lot of muscle to carry around a body that was once over 200 pounds, and I would like to keep most of that muscle. Eventually, I would like to grow that muscle bigger and stronger.

Tracked my weight and calories in a trending app (Libra). This was important for making sure I was getting enough calories and not losing too quickly while breastfeeding. On average I eat 2000-2100 calories a day to lose a pound a week. My Fitbit also helped me figure out my activity level so I knew to eat more on very active days.

Just remember, you didn't gain it overnight, and you're not going to lose it overnight either. If you stick with it long enough and follow the rules by eating less, you'll lose weight. No, you're probably not going to magically revert back to the person you were before kids. But you can become someone better.