Ah, to compare

Yesterday my friend Laura at Get Pretty (ps. check out her awesome blog!) posted some comparison pictures of her preggo self now and her pregnant self with her first child to compare how much healthier she is this go-around.  I've been wanting to do a compare picture type thing as well-comparing myself four months after I had my first daughter, to now which is four months after I had my second.  So here goes:

I didn't even fit into these clothes a day after
I came home from the hospital after my baby was born. 
They were too big!

Oh how telling bathing suit pictures are!  This is after my first.
Wasn't she a cute baby??? :)

(Sorry for the blurr...) Me right now.  Ahhhh.... Such a nice work in progress!

Four months after my first, I hadn't even really started to try  to lose weight.  I think I was just kind of upset that I had gained so much (50 pounds) and I was overwhelmed with the amount I had to lose.  I weighed around 170 around this time. I remember when the light bulb had finally turned on.  I was in California visiting my family (this is where the pictures were taken), and I had wanted to run a 5k while there but I hadn't trained beforehand, so I just tried running with my husband and dad.  I remember feeling like I was going to DIE, and we hadn't even made 1/2 a mile.  I think I ran 1.5 miles very slowly.  I remember just feeling disgusted with myself because I was not fit anymore.  I hardly had exercised during pregnancy, I exercised here and there afterwards, but not like I should have to be fit. Immediately after I got home I decided to work up to 3 miles, and a week or two after being able to run that far I convinced my husband and father to run a half-marathon with me (the only way I knew I would do it was if I had someone to do it with me).  That was when the rest of my healthy life really started. 

Fast forward to this time around-I exercised and ate healthy my whole pregnancy.  I have been exercising since probably three weeks after I had my baby. And, I gained 35 pounds instead of fifty.  I couldn't fit into my old post-partem clothes (sounds nicer than fat clothes huh?), which were sizes 14 and 16 because they were TOO BIG!  I was elated.  Now I am down to size ten and I weigh 141 lbs!  What a contrast, and I love that it is a good contrast! The weight is coming off and I feel good.  I attribute that to nursing, exercising, and eating right- I still indulge sometimes, its just healthier indulges... I have been a member of the ymca since the beginning of January and I have loved going.  I'm slightly obsessed to tell the truth!  I did a killer spinning class this morning, and I get my daily dose of basketball in as well (I even beat a man at horse today!  Wahoo!). 

The best aspect of my losing weight this time around is that my mentality is different.  I'm not obsessed with it.  I'm not on a diet.  This is a healthy lifestyle that I've maintained for 2 1/2 years.  Eating well and exercise is the recipe for success.  The biggest difference is that I can now look at myself in the mirror naked.  From the time I was a teenager, I hated seeing myself in the mirror.  It got worse after I had my first child, and only started to get better once the weight was off.  I love my body.  I love what it can do.  I'm okay with where I am at and I look forward to being the skinny mini I once was that I know I can become again.  I get so emotional thinking that I finally feel this way about myself because I've struggled with negative body image my whole life.  When I take care of myself I feel so much better about myself.  I love striving to be healthy.

Life is great!

What are you doing today to become the you that you want to become????