Help
Posted 19 October 2007 - 08:56 AM
My history:
Born and raised in Rochester, NY. I stopped growing in 5th grade. I was a spindly 80 pounds and 5'2", hit puberty and quickly went up to about 130 without eating anything different. Bye bye metabolism! My mom pointed out that I probably would have to watch what I ate. I "settled in" at a weight around 110. I ran track (jr. high) played JV and Varsity soccer(2 years of high school) and did Varsity cross country (2 yrs.)I was in really good shape.
I went to SUNY Geneseo for college, gaining only about 5 pounds during my college. I managed to stay active and there's a lot of hilly walking there just to get from place to place. I met my DH-to-be there. Graduated in May 1992--married Glenn in July 1992.
I had my first daughter, Emelie, by c-sxn in 1998. I weighed about 123 when I got pregnant with her, but I was in not-too-bad shape. I gained 52 pounds, having the last 3 months where I was on "restricted activity", meaning "as as much as you can". I carried her so low that I was having lots of back problems. I did not exercise at all my entire pregnancy. She only weighed 6lbs 6oz. I went to weigh myself in the hospital before I was discharged and was dismayed to find that I not only did not weigh significantly less, but actually weighed 2lbs. MORE than when I went in. The doctor said she supposed I was retaining fluid.
I could NOT lose that weight. In retrospect, I think I probably should have been more adamant that SOMETHING was not right. I walked with Emmie up to 9 miles a day--I was a SAHM--, it was the only thing that kept her quiet and the weight did NOT come off. My hair was like straw and I had massive self-esteem issues. I looked terrible, I felt terrible and I had a baby who screamed ALL the time. I lived in maternity sweatpants and men's Tshirts.
2 years after I had Emmie, I got a part time job in the evenings and started to lose a little weight, so of course...got pregnant. I was about 145 pounds at the beginning of that pregnancy.
Kathleen (Kate) was born by c-sxn in February 2001. I had gained only 30 pounds this time, putting me at exactly the same delivery weight, BUT this time I did Gilad aerobics 4-5 days a week until I was 38 weeks pregnant. I can't tell you how silly it looks to try to get "knees up" when you're that pregnant! LOL. My recovery from that delivery was much, much easier.
Summer 2004-Fall 2005 In that period of time I had three miscarriages, which really threw me into quite a tailspin. With each pregnancy, my weight went up by 10 pounds or so and by the end...I found myself right back up where I had been after delivering the girls.
Some months after my third miscarriage, I realized that "this was the rest of my life". I was NOT going to be like my MIL, who claims her extra 75 pounds that she's lugging around is "baby weight". (Her "baby" is 36.) I watched her have asthma and heart problems because of her excess weight. I see my grandmother with type 2 diabetes. I watched my grandfather die from colon cancer and heart disease. I realized that keeping myself healthy, while not eliminating my inherited risk, would keep me from adding to it.
For me, it's about habits. I do best when I work out at the same time each day...which is why I get up and work out at 5:30 in the morning. It's the only "chunk" of time that I consistently have. I can do stuff at lunch time, but not always. I walk 6 miles M-F (takes me about 1 hour, 15 minutes). I have also been trying to add Pilates a few days a week at lunchtime. On Saturdays I walk 8 miles and Sundays I rest. I know I don't do enough weight training...but I am wimpy and haven't gotten into "enjoying" that yet. I also keep track of my efforts on my blog...usually on Saturday I have a "Healthy Living Log" post.
I have been trying to eat healthier...My breakfasts, while probably pretty large, have always been healthy. Lunch was my next target and I have been doing quite well, getting out of the super-sized sub and more into the "spinach salad with all sorts of yummy stuff on it". Dinner is still a struggle. I think having my husband there (who is quite overweight and refuses to acknowlege it) makes it really hard to portion control. I especialy love comfort foods (lasagna, steak, mashed potatoes), so it's hard. I do all of the cooking at our house, so what I make is MY choice, I guess, but Glenn is resistant to anything but the meat-and-potatoes meals he grew up with.
I *do* refuse to tell myself that I CAN'T have something. I just aim to think about it before it goes in my mouth. I really need to think about those Cheez its a little more, LOL.
I work as a church secretary Wednesday through Friday, and I have more time to post then (shhhhh).
Anywhoo...this was waaay longer than you probably wanted.
If you have any questions...let me know!
Kristina
This post has been edited by mom2emnkate: 19 October 2007 - 09:08 AM
Go figure.
You do awesome w/ those long walks!! I can't handle walking that long, I'd have to run just to get it over faster!! 
I live in the cold north (Canada) and snow has already started to fly here! Another cooped up winter is around the corner. I also get a mild version of seasonal disorder, so not looking forward to that. Our days are already much shorter and we will be turning back the clocks soon for daylight savings time. So it will be dark by 5:00 PM, yuck. I'm thinking of ordering the P90X from Jess, just waiting to hear if the shipping will be excessive due to duty. DH said that he would try it with me, so I'm really thinking this might be an option. I'm not much of a runner, in fact I dread it. Biking would be something I'm intereted in, but I just have to get a bike!! I may ask for some X-country skies for X-mas. I think I would enjoy that too, if I could get away from the kiddies to do it!! I'm nursing Bailey still, so I can't get too far away from her yet. When the kids are older, I will for sure get them some skies too, so that we could make it a familly outing, KWIM. Anyhoo, I'm stuck in a rut, but plan on getting out and being much more active on this board again. I will try to post, even if I don't know much about what is being posted, ex, running, biking....... so bear with me girls...... I'm an amateur in those departments. 
