Someday Skinny

After having my first baby and looking at the almost 90 lbs. I had to lose (I was about 30 lbs. overweight when I got pregnant), I became EXTREMELY overwhelmed! I felt like I didn't know how to choose a healthy meal, let alone make one! I didn't know how to grocery shop (I was in school before that and we pretty much lived off fast food) or exercise or really have any type of knowledge base bigger than the general knowledge that vegetables are better for you than cookies!

I ended up joining a weight-loss competition on a whim about a year after my son was born with the username "Someday Skinny".  I didn't really expect too much to happen. I'd "tried" to lose weight before and failed before I even got started. I think my big "AHA!" moment came when I heard the statistic we've all probably heard many times in our lives:

Weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise.

That realization has changed everything for me, and I've since ventured to say that for me personally, weight loss is about 97% diet and 3% exercise.

I started counting calories and have since changed my eating habits drastically. I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn, but I've reached many of my goals and am excited to share what I've learned.

I had my first baby in January 2011.  As you can see, it took almost before I decided to do something about all the extra weight I was carrying.

After gaining (and then having to lose) WAY too much weight the second time around as well, I feel like I've finally gotten a handle on what being at a healthy weight means to ME and how to go about it.

Before and afters after my second baby. She was born in October of 2012 (the first pic should say Dec. 2012 btw). I still ended up gaining too much weight during the pregnancy, but I was a little more ambitious to get the weight off ASAP this time around!

I'm most definitely NOT an expert, but I've had several people ask me about menus/recipes/what worked for me, etc. and I thought a blog would be a great place to share some of those things.  With so many different diets and supplements and theories on health and nutrition out there, it's hard to appeal to everyone so keep in mind that these are all my opinions and what has worked for ME and the things I personally think are important with weight loss/health.

I'm currently pregnant again, so my goal for this year is to have a healthy pregnancy and gain a healthy amount of weight (with my two previous pregnancies, I gained an average of 60 lbs!).  With cravings and aversions to healthy food, it's already proving to be much harder said than done this third time around!

Feeling confident about yourself and your health is a life-changing experience and I really hope the some of the things on this blog can help someone out there!