Working on my fitness

Ok, so yesterday I talked about my word for the year… Abundance. That’s a pretty high caliber word, don’t you think?

I picked it as a theme for my year because I believe “abundance” to be all-encompassing. I’m 30 years old, and I feel its time to grow up in certain arenas in life. I want my life to be less about “getting by” and more about “becoming.” I want more for my life, and therefore I need to implement some serious discipline to achieve the “more” part.

So, the first place I need discipline is in my diet. Oh shoot. I really let it all hang out during my pregnancy with Tenny. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really regret it. I gained the same 35 lbs. with him that I gained with my first two pregnancies. The only difference is, I started out about 15 lbs. heavier.

I’m not good at math, so I’ll let you do it.

Y’all remember the doctor who told me to stop gaining weight during my pregnancy? Yah, he can still shove it.

But right now I’m sort of serving penance for all the double-doubles I shoved in my own mouth. In ‘n’ Out was my number one craving, and I now I think of it as my number one vice.

So what am I doing? I don’t want to call it a “diet” because that is such a negative word these days, but a strict diet is what I need right now to get the weight off. Tennyson is six months old (wow!) and I am still breastfeeding. However, after a lot of In ‘n’ Out, and some extensive online research, I decided I need a major change.

I joined the 95% of Americans on New Year’s day by starting a diet. It’s totally cliche to start on the 1st, but the good thing about it is that I can count how many days I’ve been “good.” 21 and counting!

My method has been cutting down calories, upping my physical activity, and trying to eat a super balanced, well-hydrated diet every day.

I didn’t have to diet with my first two babies. The weight just sort of came off on its own with breastfeeding. Maybe it’s because I’m older, maybe it’s because I started out heavier. All I know is, the weight was NOT coming off with JUST breastfeeding. But, because I am still exclusively nursing, I have to make sure I’m getting enough to eat and hitting all the nutritional goals each day.

Amazingly, I’ve lost 11 lbs. since January 1st. Squeeee!!! I have such a long way to go, but its like God gave me a nice jumpstart for this year. I have a feeling it’s gonna slow down now and the rest of the way will be excruciating.

Sigh.

I really want a double-double. One of these days, I’m gonna have a cheat day and I will let myself have In ‘n’ Out. But right now, I have to stay strong and keep my winning streak going.

I wish I would have taken a “before” pic because I can already see some major results. Eventually, I’ll post a pic of the “before” and maybe an in-betweeen-almost-after. Also, I’ve learned a lot about eating and want to share some of it with you. For now, here’s a few days spent living abundantly.

Really enjoying this winter break with these two crazies! #beach #beachbikeride #tandem

A photo posted by thehilljean (@thehilljean) on Jan 8, 2015 at 2:30pm PST

So we just did the Culver City stairs. Proud of these little maniacs for going the whole way without whining! 22 floors high! #culvercitystairs #baldwinhills #gettingfit #fitkids

 

Stay tuned for more “abundance!” Oh wait, is that a redundant sentence? 

A photo posted by thehilljean (@thehilljean) on Jan 19, 2015 at 12:33pm PST