Friday, June 18, 2010

My Journey to Becoming a Fit Mommy - Week 1

I ran across another exciting thing this week. Well, I think exciting might be going a bit overboard. Let me start at the beginning.

My husband and I began a lifestyle change almost 4 years ago when we started our journey adhering to an Atkins inspired diet. What really happened was we started to explore different eating option when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (a/k/a GD) during the end of my first pregnancy. I had to severely modify my diet as well as take insulin shots during the last 8 weeks of my pregnancy to get my blood sugar levels back to a normal status. Then life took over. Immediately after our first baby was born my sugar levels became normal and I really didn't worry about it for long. During my first pregnancy I essentially lost 25 lbs.

Then we got pregnant a second time and was test earlier in the pregnancy to see if I would again have to deal with GD. And the results came back as a big YES! The only good thing this time was they weren't so high. I was able to combat the levels with diet modification so we again went back on a low-carb diet to help keep my sugar levels in the normal range.

After Audrie was born and after some time of adjustment we began a full-fledged plunge into the Atkins lifestyle. We bought the Atkins book and read it and then applied it to our life. We started exercising and eating healthier - more vegetable and lean meats, and less on carbs. I think in the first two weeks my husband lost 14 lbs. and I lost 10 lbs. That was great especially for me. The first 2 weeks are definitely the hardest. Over several months we were feeling better, had more energy, and has lost weight and inches.

To make a long story short we eventually got pregnant and I had to modify the way I was eating. That pregnancy ended in a miscarriage and afterwords I sort of lost my "push." I didn't really gain weight, I just stop losing. We then got pregnant with our 4th (my beautiful son, Seanan) was diagnosed with GD again (for the 3rd time), but was able to keep it in check with diet control. After his birth, the diet seemed to just fly out of the window.

Lately I've been feeling the need to plunge in again, but this time I want it to last. I want to get my body back in alignment with God's original plan. Just like our spiritual bodies, our physical bodies need to be in alignment with God's original plan for us to really fulfill all God has in store for us. As we get older (which I am slowly becoming aware of) we lose the ability to lose weight quickly and with three younger children I do not want to be an unhealthy example for them.

I have said all this to say this: my husband and I have officially started back on our lifestyle change. What that really means is that now that I have written this and the "world" can see it I have built in an automatic encouragement circle -- that's where you come in. Please feel free to join me as I join in with Fit Mommy Fridays. You can click the link and it will explain the process in greater detail.

My goals for this upcoming week are:
1. Drink at least 8 glasses of water per day before I have any Coke Zero.
2. Eat at least 3 vegetables per day.
3. Walk at least 15 minutes per day.
4. Consume less then 20 carbs per day.


Thank you Denise for sharing your site and helping me get back on my journey.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is exciting! And this is my suggestion - change to paleo and high raw. Eat fruit, just not tons of it because of your blood sugar problems. And eat lean meats, veggies and nuts. Trust me, it is a lot easier to stick to than Atkins. And there are tons of substitutes if you start craving something.

Also, my last and final suggestion that you are more than welcome to throw out the window - leave the fake sugar at the store. It's just going to have you craving the real stuff. It's much easier to follow a lifestyle change once you break the sugar addiction completely.

And finally, I'll be checking in on you!

author said...

Welcome to the Fit Mommy family! I'm looking forward to reading your first check-in post on Friday! :)

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