Friday, December 3, 2010

Girls with Goals- Baby Weight

I plan to be back to my normal schedule of posts next week. I have loads to catch up on and I am finally feeling healthy again! Until then I hope you enjoy a new Girls with Goals! This edition is from a reader Rali and how she lost weight after two pregnancies. It is full of great tips! 

If you have a story you would like to be considered email them (here). Thanks and don't forget to enter The Design Girl makeover giveaway! 


girls with goals
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I am Rali with Styles ‘n Cream and I am so excited to be a guest blogger today and participate in this lovely series hosted by Taylor - Girls with Goals.

 Before I got pregnant with my first child, I was in very good shape; going through the pregnancy itself was not that hard, I think I was one of the lucky girls to have a very easy pregnancy. I stayed active the whole time - running almost every day, doing prenatal yoga and even in my ninth month I was walking all the time. After my daughter was born, the pounds started melting very quickly until I reached a plateau and the last 10 pounds just couldn’t come off. 2 ½ years later I gave birth to my son and again I was stuck with another 10 stubborn pounds. So now I had about 20 pounds I knew I needed to loose to get back in my pre-pregnancy skinny jeans.

The Eating Plan
I knew I had to take some drastic measures because I was no longer in my early twenties and my metabolism was a tad bit slower. I have always followed a very healthy diet ( I am vegetarian and my husband and kids are vegan) and I have been active all the time but my life had changed - I was a busy working mom, handling a full-time job, 2 young kids and a household. I didn’t have that much time to go to the gym and often I was relying on quick snacks such as whole grain pita chips, pretzels, Kashi crackers. I thought my snacks were healthy and eating them was OK but my body wasn’t saying the same thing. I realized that it was so much harder to digest all these processed and packaged foods. So, one day just like that, I decided to see if I can go for 3 weeks without any packaged foods and I was amazed at how easy it was. And the best thing is, the scale just started moving down and the pounds were melting off.

During this period my motto was “Eat clean, lean, green and mean”. Clean is for all of the fruit and fresh salads that I ate. My diet was about 80% raw food. Lean was for all of the low-fat products such as low-fat greek yogurt or low-fat cottage cheese; green was for all fresh produce and mean was for all the spices I was using - I love adding black cracked pepper and cayenne pepper to many of my meals - you get flavor without increasing your sodium intake and these spices speed up metabolism.

Originally I thought I am going to stick to this plan for 3 weeks only, but I could not stop myself. I was feeling so much better and I wasn’t missing all the carbs and quick snacks I used to love. I ate five small meals a day and when I felt the need for a snack I would grab a non-fat greek yogurt drizzled with some honey, or celery sticks, or a handful of nuts. My day always started with a lemon water cocktail (a whole lemon squeezed in hot water, maple syrup and a dash of cayenne pepper), then I would have some fruit for breakfast, my mid-morning snack was usually greek yogurt, lunch was a fresh salad with tons of veggies and chick peas or lentils, and for dinner I would have again a salad (you can see I love salads) and steamed veggies. The best thing about this food plan was that I was never hungry. I love eating fruits and vegetables and they keep me full for a long time. Starting your meal with a green salad is key - you get many nutrients and vitamins and you tend to eat less of your entrĂ©e.

The Workout Plan
I also remained very active during this time. I would wake up at 5am to go for a 3 to 5 mile run before the kids wake up and in my lunch break I attended yoga or pilates classes at my gym. I did cardio about 4-5 times a week and the mind-body classes 3 times a week. The combination of cardio and yoga was the best workout for my body and I was seeing results pretty quickly. I have found out that in order to stick with working out, you need to do something you truly enjoy or if you see you are getting bored or you don’t see any results just switch things up a little bit. It is best for your motivation and beating boredom and your muscles will thank you as well- they like being challenged and pushed through various types of exercise.

Being active is very important to the overall health of every person but I truly believe that the key to successful weight loss is 80% eating healthy and 20% exercise. My focus was mostly on the eating habits and the workout was just an extra bonus. Plus, I loved the feeling after a long run or a vigorous yoga class.

In about 2 months I lost 20 pounds and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was in the best shape of my life and I was feeling the happiest I‘ve ever been. Now I maintain my healthy weight by continuing to eat mostly fresh vegetables and fruit, controlling my portions and staying active as much as I can.

29 comments:

Christine said...

this is so great! so many women "let themselves go" after having children - especially when the health of a loved one is put in front of your own. It's great to see someone take charge and know that their health means well for the ones they care for also. Congrats!

www.ThePantryDrawer.com

Nicole Lisa said...

Oh this is so very inspirational!
I need to do something, and soon, so this just might be exactly that.
Thank you for this.
<3 Nicole Lisa
http://www.blushcode.com/

jenn from midlife modern said...

I am so inspired by mothers who wake up before their kids do to go take a jog or workout. I don't do that now, and I'm kid-free! I think you are totally right about the 80/20 ratio and avoiding processed food. Michael Pollan says we should avoid any food that our grandmothers wouldn't recognize as children, and I think that standard is a pretty good one. Congrats!

ediot said...

what a nice post. thanks for sharing. enjoyed reading it.

happy weekend

xx

Closet Fashionista said...

Oooh wow, that's amazing!! I hope I don't have too much trouble when I have children, I would hate to have to lose all the weight I gained, ha ha. 20 seems more reasonable ;)
http://aclosetfashionista.blogspot.com/

Jamie said...

As a personal trainer I will tell you, you hit the nail on the head! It really is 80% eating healthy and 20% working out. That is the biggest mistake most people make thinking if they workout then they can eat poorly and it cancels itself out. It really doesn't!

Congrats on your success! You deserve it!!

http://www.glamlatte.com

ATTITUDEINABUNDANCE said...

Useful for mums feeling they want to be healthier and fitter, as for losing weight I think there is far too much pressure on mothers to drop the baby weight.


www.purelovefashionn.blogspot.com

TheBeautyFile said...

Thank you thank you thank you!!! This is exactly the inspiration and help I needed to get my last 17 pounds off. It's only been 3 months, but I'm feeling SO large and ready to finally get rid of it!

Erin said...

Wow, that's very inspirational. I'm nowhere near having kids (I'm still in school) but even so I try to eat healthy and stay mainly vegetarian, and you inspired me to get back on the bandwagon and go back to full vegetarian.
Not sure if I can stay away from those Magnolia's chocolate cupcakes though... girl's got a serious sweet tooth :)

Anonymous said...

Great post! Very interesting and inspirational!.. ~

Reyna @reynasblogxo said...

Nice post! xx

Katy A said...

such an inspiring story -- and it's always a good reminder that there's no magic diet secret -- eating healthy and exercise is all you need!

Nicole Marie said...

good for her!

FASHION SNAG said...

This is very inspiring, especially for someone who sees kids in her future.

www.FashionSnag.com

Unknown said...

holey moley. that is TOUGH. she's lucky her hubby is vegan... my husband's pizzas and tacos are hard for me to resist! one of my larger fears in getting pregnant is the inability to get my body back. and while i'll need to embrace the stretch marks, i do think i have the fighting spirit to make the sacrifice to drop the last weight. love the idea of yoga on lunch break!

Amanda @ Life with A.Co said...

Amazing.

First off, the motivation to get back into those pre-pgrenancy jeans and then it turning into the best shape of her life! WOW.

I like the 80%:20% she put on this, interesting, and optimistic.

This certainly wasn't a quick fix or an easy solution (but those don't really exist anyways, let's be honest) but hearing the optimism, enthusiasm and positivity from Rali is soo inspiring!! GREAT WORK!

A.Co @ A.Co est. 1984

Marcie said...

I love this series, Taylor! It might be my favorite in blogland. I love hearing about real women who set goals and achieve them! As a legal career advisor, I help people set goals all the time, which inspires me to set my own as well!

xo M

MMM said...

great pics!
have a look here!
www.modemuffins.blogspot.com
XXX
MMM

Anonymous said...

Great story. I am proud of her for making it a priority to lose those pounds. What dedication!

Taylor Sterling said...

I agree with all of you. Rali shows that with hard work and dedication you can achieve even the hardest goals.

Unknown said...

nice photos

*** said...

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. I am so happy to see that my story had inspired all of you.

If anyone has particular questions, please feel free to contact me at ralisaggese@gmail.com. I would love to chat with you.

Have a fabulous weekend!

xoxo,

Rali

A Day in the Life of One Girl said...

Thanks so much for this post! I have a 3 year old and I have lost the weight, but have gained it back. Now it is harder than EVER! I know my body got completely out of whack when I was pregnant and now it's like if I gain anything it goes right back onto my belly - maybe because it got so huge with the baby in there! But anyway, I haven't explored this type of diet yet. Thank you so much!

Catarina said...

This was a great read. Although I have never been pregnant, it's a great plan for anyone to try. Until recently I was going to the gym 4 times a week and was eating healthily but since I came back from holiday it's been hard for me to get back into that routine. I will definately try again as I was seeing results but having an office job that forces you to be seated for almost 8 hours makes things a little difficult...

angela said...

for those that want to be in shape and don't have like an hour to do a workout because of the busy work schedules, you guys should check out this website BodyRock.Tv
it is a marvelous site that provides diet insights and quick workouts to stay fit or become fit. i think they are quite fun and enjoyable.

Taylor Sterling said...

Thanks Angela! I will have to go check it out!

Unknown said...

Mommy to a 13 month old...and YES, those last 10 pounds are BRUTAL. I really didn't change my diet ( I hate limiting what I eat) but tried not to eat after 7pm during the week and hit the gym twice a week. It really helped and I am happy to say I am back (actually 2 pounds lighter) then before my beautiful baby boy Connor.
Love Rali...been a follower of her for a few weeks now...she is GORG:)

Kelly said...

This is SUCH a great post and I love this series! I like that it shows a woman address a goal and accomplishing it! Very motivating and inspiring. Great series, Taylor! xx

Bohemian Redhead said...

What a wonderful post! Thank you for the inspiration! It is so wonderful to see another vegetarian family living a healthy life! I putting on my running shoes today after work :)

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