So lots of things are going on over here.  When life gets cray, it is good to slow down, take a deep breath and soak up the moment.

It is crazy how life changes when you have a baby, and I’m not just talking about the baby in your arms but the emotional side of things… Your outlook on things.  When you are the mother, the physical changes are hard to ignore, as well.

9/26/12 mornings with my beeb ❤

I’m sort of beating myself up for not taking more before and after pictures of my baby body both while prego and now post-prego.  My body was insanely good to me during pregnancy.  It did all the things it needed to do with such grace.  It is a really amazing thing.  I got super lucky with how I carried and was able to keep a healthy diet throughout.  It wasn’t until after the bambino that I had any cravings (hence, the TJs 73% cacao chocolate bar I’m snacking on) so loosing the baby weight has been super slow.  I have days that are harder then others, where I look at my body and think ugh.  But overall, I’m happy with where I’m at and OK with the slow weight loss.  I think a major part of that “OKness” is because I’m still breastfeeding.  I try to always make healthy choices but sometimes I give in to my chocolate cravings.  Even though I am now (as of this am!!!) at my pre-pregnancy weight, my body HAS A WAYS TO GO.  This is evidenced by this photograph:

Almost EXACTLY a year to the day (tomorrow will be exactly one year) – my wedding.  I was very fit in this photograph (not my most fit, and probably a few lbs over my “normal” weight).  I carried a TON more muscle mass than I currently do, which is why I know that the pre-prego weight thing isn’t really achieved yet (muscle weighs more then fat).  So many people look at the scale when they are trying to reach their fitness goals. I’m not one of those people.  It isn’t even how my clothes fit, it is how I feel even though I’m religious with checking my weight when I look in the mirror I know things are softer.  My hips are slightly wider and my love handles are much more prominent.  This photograph was taken yesterday:

So here I am, 3 months postpartum with my sweeties one in my arms, one at my feet and one behind the camera.  This isn’t the best picture, but you can see my love handles and you can tell my arms aren’t as toned (thank God they aren’t flabby though! 😉 )

When I was pregnant a co-worker (another fitness junkie) asked me how long I was going to give myself to take off my pregnancy weight.  I told him 3 months.  I am almost there in some ways but so far away in others.  Looking back I should have told him 9 months.  After all, it took me 9 months to get to where I was, it is only fair I give myself that long to get back there.  If it takes longer, so be it.  Right now my body is still very much all for my baby.  He needs my arms to hold him, my chest to sleep on, and the awesome food I give him.  These days with him are short, he will be an independent little guy before I know it, and won’t be looking for my comforting arms as much, so if I cut workouts short for the time being, I’m totally OK with that because I can’t get the seconds with him at this age back again.

What did I do to loose the weight?  Clean eats, moderate-light exercise.  It really is all about diet and exercise.  Being aware of what you put in your body is key.  LOTS and LOTS of water and tea (Tj’s decaffeinated green tea and mother’s milk and chamomile when I have stress moments/headaches).  I try to do a warm lemon water mix in the am and add a bit of lemon to my water during the day (if I remember the lemon).  Even if I can’t get a full workout in I make sure to get in something, everyday.  Even if it is just 20 or so pushups (with breaks, I’m working on my pushups again) and some ab work or stretching – Oh and plenty of baby arm curls (see pic above 😉 )

For a comparison here is me, the day after baby and three weeks after baby (a little sleep deprived and sitting down so hard to see but you can see the belly sorta – I told you we were bad at pictures and by we I mean the hubs because I have a thousand pictures of him and Evan):

I’ve told you that I’m big on goals.  Well, Hector and I are reevaluating our goals this weekend and by when dates.  When it comes to myself physically (we do personal, physical and career goals) I’m totally giving myself a break for the short term (my 5 year goal is still to run a handful of 13.1’s or at least 1 marathon or triathlon and money permitting take a yoga-teaching course for the experience).  I think I kept some of this weight on a little longer, simply because of stress.  By putting too much pressure to take the weight off, and by being so nervous about work and buying a home.  Needless to say one of my daily personal goals is to – stress less but my Type-A personality makes that a lot easier said then done.

For my next update, my gym member ship will be active once again and I’m making it a point to take more pictures. 😉