Goals

Me & my friend, Meghann, almost exactly a year ago before participating in the Dirty Dash

Me & my friend Amanda in NYC (the same weekend as the above picture)

Amanda & I at the 9/11 Memorial (man, I look good ;) )

Me now

I don't love sharing "before" pictures without an "after" to follow, but I'm hoping that blogging about this will help motivate me. In the pictures from last year, I am about 22 lbs lighter than I am now. In my defense, I did just deliver another baby in July. (I think nearly everyone who reads this blog knows that I was a surrogate again, but if you didn't and would like to read about that most recent journey, leave me a comment & I'll add you to my private surrogacy blog.) I lost all of the baby weight very quickly, but haven't lost any more, and I actually started out the pregnancy about 15 lbs heavier than I was in the first pictures (vacations, breaks from working out, and the hormones I had to take before getting pregnant all played a big roll in gaining that much weight before I got pregnant). In fact, I've actually GAINED about 5-6 lbs in the past 4-6 weeks. This is what I find so frustrating about my body: when I am pregnant, I eat whatever I want and still have a hard time gaining weight - I gained no more than 20 lbs during this most recent pregnancy. But then when I am not pregnant, I gain 5+ lbs in a matter of weeks. Not cool. After my last pregnancy (I also delivered a surrogate baby in February 2012), I lost all the baby weight quickly, lost a few more pounds, plateaued, and then finally about 6 months after I delivered, was able to get past that plateau and reach my goal. However, during that pregnancy, I continued working out until I was 34 weeks. During this most recent pregnancy, I stopped working out pretty early on because it was causing me to cramp and that is not a good thing. So for several months, I was not working out and I was eating more sweets and treats than I normally would. It's been hard for me to stop that habit and so I know that's why I've gained some weight instead of losing some. Plus, I would like to start trying to have my own baby at the beginning of the year, so part (okay, a lot) of me thinks, "What's the point of trying to lose weight if I'm just going to get pregnant again?" Yeah, not feeling so motivated. Again, that's why I'm blogging about it, so hopefully it'll help me keep more motivated. *Side note: I know I just delivered 2 months ago, and I should give myself some slack. I do realize that I look pretty good for just delivering a baby, but I can't use that as an excuse forever. Plus, I'm not carrying a baby around with me, so people who don't know me don't know I just delivered a baby and just think I'm chubby. Not that I should care what strangers think, but you know what I mean.*

Here are the three goals that I am currently working towards:

1. I want to be able to fit in the jeans in the first pictures by October 1st. (Those are my favorite jeans!)

2. I would like to lose (at least) 15 lbs by November 1st.

3. I would like to keep that weight off, or continue losing weight, until I get pregnant again.

I will try to post my progress on here as I go along. Wish me luck!