Hello!! Thanks for coming by my page! I recently gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, and am working to loose the baby weight, get back my strength, and to set healthy habits that will encourage and motivate my family to live... healthfully! I gained prolly around 35lbs during my pregnancy, and two months post-partum I have about 20lbs to go to be back to my prebaby weight. I did work to keep in shape while pregnant, running up till my 35th week and taking water aerobics (and doing cartwheels ...

Hello!! Thanks for coming by my page! I recently gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, and am working to loose the baby weight, get back my strength, and to set healthy habits that will encourage and motivate my family to live... healthfully! I gained prolly around 35lbs during my pregnancy, and two months post-partum I have about 20lbs to go to be back to my prebaby weight. I did work to keep in shape while pregnant, running up till my 35th week and taking water aerobics (and doing cartwheels ino my 7th month...), but its par for the course in healthy pregnancy to pack on a few pounds :) I know 20lbs may not seem like a ton of weight, but it feels like a long road- it will certainly be a challenge, but Im up to it!

You see, I love fitness- before my pregnancy I taught Zumba and Pilates regularly, and was working on personal training certifications. I also did dance- and boy did my hips and ankles take a beating this pregnancy! So now its vital that I rehab my body since personal training and group instruction will hopefully serve as extra income for me and my family (a couple of starving artists...) now that I have left my full time work (trust me- it wasn't too hard to leave.- counseling meets social work= EXHAUSTING.. although I NEVER in my life would have expected to be home with a baby! shows you never know what turns life might take.... anyway...). I lost a lot of strength and flexibility and gained quite a number of pounds over the 9 months- so I have to work hard to be instructor-and-dance-ready again.

I am therefore busting up all my excuses. Every squat is worth it because it gets me closer to my goal of being strong and lean again, and every bite of something nutritious builds into my body vitality and strength. I am not letting all the 'buts' that have cropped up now that I am a new mom stop me from transforming my own butt and getting into awesome shape. I feel like I have more hurdles than ever to being in shape- but isnt that what builds strength? Overload and repetition? So the very days that I feel overwhelmed by my excuses are the very days that can build me that awesome healthy lifestyle. Choice by choice!


Some of my current interests:
-Incorporating dance into my fitness through dance-inspired strength training (pilates, barre, etc.) and through cardio-dance

-Baby and parenting! Right now Baby takes up a lot of mental and emotional energy- so talking about and learning about all things baby is exciting to me... how do their brains work? what is the best way to- (fill in ubiquitous parenting question)? when will my baby begin to- (fill in developmental milestone )?

-Fitness industry- I am excited to grow my skills and credentials as a fitness instructor. By the end of 2013 I want to have my personal training certification and to grow my group fitness credentials (CEs maybe?).


Ill be posting here in the main body my month to month schedule and progress, and my general program and goals on the sidebar- stop by to see updates!

This is my 'Treat it like a JOB! (Live Like an Athlete)' Bootcamp! Program for March 2013!!

Weekly Workout Schedule:
Sunday- 10 minutes of any kinda exercise
Monday- Cardio Dance 60 minutes
Tuesday- Tonique 60 minutes
Wednesday- TA Mat Workout
Thursday- Tonique 60 minutes
Friday- Turbo Jam and Tonique Arms
Saturday- TA Postpartum or Perfect Design and http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/cro
ssfit-workout

Future strength training programs:
April= Pop Physique and TA rotation
May= Wed: Ballet Beautiful; Sat: Fusion Fitness
June= Wed: Tonique Premier; Sat: Tonique Sculpt Dynamics... (CANNOT wait to be able to keep up w/Sylwia!)


Nutrition Goals:
-Get at least two servings of fruit/veg per day
-Eat between 1800-2200 cals/day (feels like A WHOLE LOT but I am currently EBF which can take 250-500 cals per day- need to keep up that milk supply!)
-Drink at least 10 glasses of water per day (again, a lot since Im EBF)
-Focusing on and PRACTICING in creative ways mindful, intelligent eating
-Baby has a milk (and maybe soy!) allergy, so now, I have to get enough calcium and protein w/out dairy

Motivation:
-Participate in SparkCoach program daily
-Each day, post on a sticky note on the fridge (hubby will whine about the paper usage, hee hee) or as my Sparkpage status what my nutrition/fitness/motivation goal is for that day to give me focus
-make a few more Saprkfriends to get me some more motivation (so I can be inspired by other people's successes and trials!) :)


Progress STATS:

Weight
Starting 12/2012: 138lbs
Goal: 118-123lbs by October 2013- prebaby was between 116-122 (sometimes less, but dont need to be!)
Current: 132lbs 2/21/2013
Mini Goals:
3/1/2013: 130lbs
4/1/2013: 127lbs
5/1/2013: 124lbs
6/1/2013: 121lbs
7/1/2013: 119lbs
8/1/2013: 116lbs

Waist
Starting 12/2012: 26.25 inches
Goal: 24 inches by October 2013- prebaby was btween 23-24.5 inches
Current:
-2/21/2013: 24.75

Hips
Starting 12/2012: 39 inches
Goal: 35 inches by October 2013- prebaby was between 34-35 inches
Current:
-2/21/2013: 36.25

Weekly Fitness minutes
Starting 12/2012: 140
Previous Goal: by April 2013: 270/wk- haha, prebaby was A LOT of minutes, never realized how much time I had on my hands!
-Week of 1/20/2013: 366 minutes!! GOAL MET!!
Ultimate Goal: 330 fitness minutes by June 2013


Rewards and Goals!
"You can only take credit for what you finish, not what you start"- unknown

Weightloss:
134lbs- Tonique Sculpt Dynamics Done!
130lbs- Fusion Fitness DreamBody Workout
**128lbs**- Half Way! haircut and color from my FAV stylist!
126lbs- *KD dance warmup wear
122lbs- *NUDE Replenishing Facial Oil
118lbs- **A Trip to New York City with my brand new family of three** that WILL include staying in a hotle! running in central park! shopping in SOHO for clothes to fit my newly svelte self! eating at Milk Bar in Brooklyn (LOVE love love)!

Fitness:
*For every week I do 360 fitness minutes: A Bubble Bath!
*Be able to do the splits almost as fully as I could pre-preggo: Urban Outiftters floaty top that is nursing-friendly... ;)
*For sticking with my program month to month I can pick a mini reward :) like a new workout dvd, a massage, etc.


Fitness Queen Career Launch:

For January my GOAL is to tackle 'The Essentials of Exercise Science for Fitness Professionals.' Some of this is review- but I need it!! There are 5 dense chapters, so my goal is to do about a chapter a week and to be THROUGH it by the end of February (so a VERY loose chapter a week- heehee!)
Ch. 1- DONE! 1/9
Ch. 2- Done 1/16
Ch. 3- Done! 1/22
Ch. 4- DONE! 1/25
Ch. 5-
Date Completed:
Reward myself!
Next Book: the dauntingly massive 'ACE Personal Trainer Manual'


Fit Thoughts that motivate Me:
1. Act like an athlete
2. You cant out exercise a crap diet
3. If your dreams dont scare you, theyre not big enough
4. Waking up with determination= going to bed with satisfaction
5. I want to feel sore, not sorry
6. Any workout is better than none
7. Because tomorrow Ill wish I had started today
8. Get fit in the gym, loose weight in the kitchen
9. A one hour workout is only 4% of the day- no excuses
10. One more minute of exercise will always get you closer
11. You dont have to be perfect right now
12. Dont punish failure; reward success!

Woohoo!! Thanks for stopping by my page!!

Read More About C-MERRIE11 (Updated March 9)

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