Another body assessment

Monday, October 01, 2012

I just completed what I think was my 5th body assessment and I'm going pretty strong. Although I'm not in the cardiovascular shape that I would like to be, I'm still in great health.

-My weight dropped, but my lean body mass went up (a good thing), resulting in 19.4% body fat.

-My flexibility has improved considerably (I was able to reach 3 inches more from my previous personal best in the sit and reach assessment).

-My arms have gotten stronger (amazing what lifting a toddler over and over again will do for arm strength).

-My cardio health is still considered "very good."

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It's been one year...

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

...and a month since Graham was born. What a wild ride!! This winter in particular has been challenging, as I've struggled with stomach flu, colitis and various other germs from daycare. I lost a lot of weight (about 10 lbs past my pre-pregnancy weight), had to stop running for a while, had a colonoscopy, but am finally feeling a little more back to normal. We've stopped breastfeeding - well, G woke up one day and decided he was done. While it was sad, I was ready. We made it until a week before his first birthday. I of course had to pump for about 3 more weeks to gradually wean my body. In the last 2 weeks, I've gained 4 lbs, which I have to remind myself is a good thing. I had gotten down to high school weight and people were starting to comment on how "skinny" I was - and not in a good way. My husband recently informed me he liked it when I was 20 lbs heavier and had a little more meat on me. I told him tough crap, I'm not gaining 20 lbs for him. Now that I'm running again, I've put a little more meat on my backside, which is a good thing - all of my pants were sagging off of me. Sadly, my boobs have all but vanished. They weren't much to begin with, now they are smaller and saggier. Breastfeeding was not kind to me, apparently. I shouldn't whine about so much weight loss, but I was at the point where my BMI was in the "underweight" category. My mom told me I didn't look healthy - dark circles under my eyes, sallow coloring. I'm exhausted these days from working out at lunch and staying up past 10pm every night cleaning up the house, and then getting up before 6 every morning to get us all out the door on time, but I'm glad to hear that I don't look so sickly anymore. Graham is moving to the toddler room at daycare and there is way less I have to prep for him every day (they provide snacks and milk) and I am thrilled to cut just that little bit out of our routine! He's a big, active, funny, smart, opinionated, strong, feisty little boy who is more than keeping us on our toes.

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Experiencing a setback

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Well, my distance running career has been cut short and I'm feeling pretty bummed about it. Here are the details:

www.accordingtohillary.blogspot.com/
2012/02/ischemic-colitis-or-why-my-bod
y-has-yet.html

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8 months post-partum

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

I read in another new mom's blog recently the question, "At what point do you stop being post-partum?" That got me thinking of the adage, "It takes 9 months to gain the weight, so 9 months to lose it makes sense." I guess my answer to the question is that once your baby is older than the amount of time you carried him/her in utero, you are no longer post-partum. You're just a mom with a kid. :)

Since I carried Graham for almost 42 weeks, I guess I'm still post-partum! It's been a busy couple of months. My travel season is over for now, not to really start again until probably mid-march. But life in the office has been just as hectic. I've had good weeks where I've been able to have lunch workouts and not so good weeks when I've been working through lunch and giving into my sweet tooth.

Here are my stats:
Prepregnancy: 28" waist, 37" hips, 128 lbs
41 weeks pregnant: 42" waist (I think), 41" hips, 156 lbs
4 weeks post-partum: 35" waist, 40" hips, 137 lbs
8 weeks post-partum: 33" waist, 38.5" hips, 135 lbs
12 weeks post-partum: 32.5" waist, 38.5" hips, 132 lbs
16 weeks post-partum: 30.5" waist, 37.5" hips, 130 lbs
5 months post-partum: 30" waist, 37" hips, 128 lbs
6 months post-partum: 30" waist, 37" hips, 126 lbs
8 months post-partum: 29" waist, 36" hips, 124 lbs

I'm actually smaller than I was pre-pregnancy with the exception of my waist. Although I feel like I'm stronger. Maybe it's because of carrying Graham, who is very big and very squirmy. I've lifted weights a few times lately and have been amazed that I can lift more than before I was pregnant (though I've been SORE after each session).

This photo is from almost 6 weeks ago. I pretty much look the same. Graham is a little bigger. As of 2 weeks ago (he was at the doctor for a bad cold) he was 22 lbs and 29 inches long (right at or over the 85th percentile for both).

We had 2 glorious weeks of him sleeping through the night and then in the last almost 2 weeks, we've had a pretty rough go of things. He wakes up between 11pm and 1am just SCREAMING and then we're up for hours. The last few nights, I've attempted the Ferber method of Progressive Waiting. I'm really tired, my husband is sick, but Graham seems ok. I'm hoping this comes to an end soon. When he's up, however, he is SO much fun! Army crawling, pulling up to his knees, bouncing, laughing, and generally being a curious little boy!

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6 months post-partum

Friday, October 14, 2011

I can't believe Graham is 6 months already! This fall continues to be a bit hectic with my traveling for work and with Jeff's craziness at his work. Graham and I both got colds; I have lingering congestion, he has a lingering cough. But we'll both survive. :) He's growing like crazy and is eating solids. I'm making all his baby food because it's not hard and it's healthier and cheaper. He's sitting up on his own, rolling all over the place and scooting. He's also just this week starting some separation anxiety. He's totally fine going to daycare (so far) but he doesn't like it if someone isn't sitting right next to him or holding him. He's been fighting naps, too, which makes him super cranky in the evenings. He's not entirely sleeping through the night; he seems to wake up between 4 and 4:30, which is just a little too early, though that's 8+ hours of sleep straight, which isn't too bad I guess.

I've been running sporadically as my work schedule permits. I've had some awesome runs (when I was in Saint Louis, I ran for 45 minutes in Forest Park and it was fantastic) and I've had some short runs where I've wanted to barf. I signed up to run the 5K at homecoming (I work at a college) next weekend and I'm sort of regretting that. It's a hilly course and I don't like running in the morning. Oh well - it's super low key and there are lots of walkers. I've also been sporadic with yoga even though I know I need the strength training and flexibility. It's just hard to fit it all in with my nutty schedule!

On the plus side, I'm down to pre-pregnancy weight. I actually weighed in under this week, but in all fairness, I had some stomach issues for several days and wasn't eating very much. So who knows. I guess it's also worth pointing out that in the peak of my fitness journey (summer 2009) when I ran a 10K, I had gotten down to 123 soaking wet, but was bordering on being too thin (my BMI was right on that edge of underweight and normal).

I'm basically wearing all my pre-pregnancy clothes with the exception of a couple pairs of jeans. While the weight is back to normal, I still have a couple extra inches around my waist.

Here are my most recent stats:
Prepregnancy: 28" waist, 37" hips, 128 lbs
41 weeks pregnant: 42" waist (I think), 41" hips, 156 lbs
4 weeks post-partum: 35" waist, 40" hips, 137 lbs
8 weeks post-partum: 33" waist, 38.5" hips, 135 lbs
12 weeks post-partum: 32.5" waist, 38.5" hips, 132 lbs
16 weeks post-partum: 30.5" waist, 37.5" hips, 130 lbs
5 months post-partum: 30" waist, 37" hips, 128 lbs
6 months post-partum: 30" waist, 37" hips, 126 lbs

Again , I don't have a good picture of me (rather, a picture that shows my progress), but I do have a few of Graham (and one of my dog who is jealous that Graham gets to sit in my lap).

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