Going Public

I weigh 161 pounds.

Now, it's not because I'm a big eater or because I'm lazy. I had a baby 5.5 months ago and I'm exclusively breastfeeding. For a lot of women, breastfeeding helps the weight fall off. It has helped, to a point. In some cases, however, there are women who can't lose that last 15 pounds until she weans- my body seems to be keeping the fat. I don't really mind it, but I'm tired of looking at it. I do think that Lucy likes it- nothing like a cuddly mama!
I've been exercising, but it's not really helping. I've decided to go whole hog and do it right. Andrew is, of course, my biggest supporter and has created an Excel book for me. I'm very excited about this. He made it so that when I add calories, the colors turn from green to yellow to red as I get closer to my calorie max. It's pretty neat. My calorie max is 1700 a day. I've taken all of my snacks and "handful foods" and put them in sandwich bags according to serving size. I wrote the calories on the bags with permanent marker so that I can see the right serving size and start to remember what's in each snack.
I'm trying to walk about 4 miles a day, and Suz is going to walk with me. I'm also going to send her my calorie counter- it's really cool.
Now, 5.5 months is not bad. I've lost 40 pounds since having Lucy. But I can't get over this 160 hump, and it's killing me. Losing the weight slowly is important for my milk supply, though, so I'm trying not to overdo it or use any fast fixes. I'm also trying to lose slowly so that I avoid stretch marks and ugly skin. So far, my stomach still looks great. Not a single stretch mark, and my skin is going back to normal nicely. For a postpartum stomach, it looks great. But it's still bigger than I'd like. Yuck.

My goals are as follows:

Tighter Tummy
Tinier Tooshie
Weigh about 135 pounds
Fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes well
Be happy
Feel good

Each day I'm going to post my progress here. It'll help keep me honest. If I have to put it out there for the entire world, I think I might try harder. I'll put this at the end of my post:
Weight:
Calories:
Exercise:
______ Bottles of Water

Weight loss has always been really easy for me, but I've never had a baby. It makes it much easier to look myself in the mirror and appreciate what my body has done for our family. If I didn't gain the weight and let my body do its job, we wouldn't have a healthy, happy little girl in our lives. Andrew tells me every day that I'm gorgeous, but I need to feel it for myself.
I'm also going to reward myself for the smaller things. I'm going to buy some new clothing item for every 5 pounds I lose, I'm going to allow myself 2 Lorenzo's cookies a week, I'm going to take long, hot Lucy-free showers after I work out and I'm going to treat myself to falling asleep to my books. I need to recognize and indulge in food-free guilty pleasures. Andrew has promised me that when I get to my goal weight, he will present me with any size diamond earrings I'd like. Now there's a reason to work for it!


In other news, Lucy and I are taking a nursing vacation for the next 48 hours. We have created a camp in the den and will be doing nothing but reading books and watching TV while she nurses. I do need to go out to buy sandwich bags and check the mail, but other than that, we're in bed for two days. I really need to boost my milk supply and get her on track and nursing better during the day. So, we'll see if this helps. She will be napping and doing her night sleeping in her own bed, because she hates sleeping with me. I think her daddy wishes she'd snuggle in bed with us sometimes, but I guess it'll be easier to keep her in her own bed later on!