We need the whole weight- loss story, not the abridged version....

Sometimes we see memes that call the scale a liar...I've called it a liar too :)
In reality, the scale just doesn't tell the whole story, but it tells you SOMETHING. It might be saying you ate a lot of salt, it might say you gained muscle, or fat, or had a busy day and didn't drink a lot, or you drank a ton, or your cycle is coming, or you're bloated...it tells us a TON, we just need to figure out what it's saying.

Take me for example. On Sunday we spent all day outside in the humidity (retaining water in the humidity) I felt bloated and my eyes were even a tad swollen when I woke up. On Monday the scale was up 3 lbs from what it was Saturday morning. 3 whole pounds.
Monday during the day, I only drank a few extra glasses of water but I began peeing All. DAY. LONG. for no real reason other than I was holding water from being outside the day before and finally letting it go.

Upon waking up Tuesday morning the scale is down the 3 lbs of water that I peed out all day Monday. And that was just from normal life hanging out outside and probably not hydrating enough.

Water can make a huge difference on the scale, so don't take what the scale says and make it ruin your day. If I had, I would have been saying that all the fun we had outside the day before ruined my next day...it didn't, it was fun and the scale can't say how much fun we had, only that I was out in the humidity!  Don't let the scale be your FUN-METER.

I use the scale for my clients because it's part of the math...and it is a TOOL to tell us where you're at but we have to look at the whole picture (yesterday's activity, 2 days ago food, cycle, hormones, weather...) to figure out what the scale is telling us on that one day. From there I make decisions on what we change or if we change nutrition.

Things that make your scale go up...and then go down:

Being dehydrated

Being Overhydrated

Just eaten a meal

Not enough SLEEP

Heavy lifting workout the day before (muscles retain water)

Extra carbs than normal (holding water...not a bad thing)

Extra salt

Humidity in the air

hormones fluctuating

time of the month bloating 

weighing before voiding bladder

wearing different clothes than normal (or wearing clothes at all!)

Dr office scales....check to see if it's on carpet, that makes it inaccurate

Different scale than normal

If you weight, weigh 2 or three times a week and then look at the TREND OVER TIME. Day today will be different, week to week is a better way of seeing how you progress. If you weigh every day, that's ok too...but take a weekly average and then compare it to the weekly average of the next week, that is a more fair comparison of progress. 

And if you don't weigh at all...and it's working for you, you're in a good place in life and happy where you're at....be happy and don't change your ways!

Mom bikini competitor Post-Show recap

I think I'm going to go about this in reverse. I'll start with how the show went and what happens post-show because this is the most important part, in terms of health. Then you can check back and see how I prepped and how I feel about that (hint, it was hard!)

The show I did was the All Star Championships in Kansas City and it was a great time. My show day started off with a hitch, the make up person never showed up to our hotel room! But the weird thing is I wasn't stressing... (and she eventually showed, 3 hours later).  Well the day was wonderful and after a healthier prep then I've ever done, I was relaxed and had fun the whole day but was I was SOOO looking forward to my trailmix and Platano chips (dried plantains) that I packed for post show treats. So I really just wanted to to be over :)  

I am not one that likes to be the center of attention but when I get on stage I just feel like I'm showing my hard work and I nail it as best as I can, and I feel great about it. I'm in my own little world. I did stumble on the very last turn which did not help my placing. I was dead center in first callouts the whole time (usually a good thing, last time that happened I got 1st place) but on the last turn I stumbled and almost fell...should have practiced more. That's all it is, practice, and I really didn't spend as much on it as I should have. Well, I ended up with 3rd place after being center...or left of center at least...the whole time. I'm still super happy about that!! 10 months postpartum and eating Thai food and sushi up until the last week...yeah, I had a great time.   Backstage everyone is so nice, they all talked about what they were going to eat and it was amazing how much they planned on eating, I was drooling. I would have LOVED to hit up some of those restaurants with them and have a doughnut or a burger and sweet potato fries...but I didn't.... Why is it different for some of us? read on:

I had ABs the next morning after the show when MOST don't, you know why? Because I didn't binge that night...oh I WANTED to...but I didn't GET to. Everyone was getting showered off, dolled up and stuffed with food and drinks...while I went to the hotel, nursed for what felt like 3 hours straight, and ate a ton of rice cakes with peanut butter and jelly (the same snack I'd been eating all day), trail mix and platano (plantain) chips. That's it...no fries, pizza or anything fun. I even slept in my tan and bikini bottoms because I couldn't get out from under the baby.... It was gross. But I wanted cuddles. They were great.
💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟

When you're a mom of 2 little ones that just want cuddles and need milk, it's what you do. Competition life is different for everyone. Mine did not consist of a total focus during workouts, uninterrupted cardio or splurge meals after winning a medal. It was all mommy all the time, feeding during workouts, getting toys during cardio, avoiding little fingers while riding the bike....even at 2am post show eating rice cakes. And I enjoyed every single minute!

Where's my body after baby?

It's been 4 months since I had my 2nd baby, Yay!,  but I haven't lost anything after the initial 20lbs most moms tend to lose right out of the hospital. "What?!" you say.  A Personal Trainer who hasn't lost baby-weight and who doesn't look PERFECT and back to normal mere months after a baby? I'm so guilty of scrolling through newsfeeds and seeing these fitness people who've had babies around the time I did and they are SO lean, and skinny and bounced right back...or worked super hard to get there, buckling down right out of the hospital.  Well, I didn't....and it's for a few good reasons....  (besides the fact that I'm human!) ((My "before" is at the bottom,,,if you're wondering))  Here are my reasons:

1) Healthy adrenals/thyroid. I had adrenal fatigue just over year ago...right before I got pregnant, and that can come from stress on the body. Having a baby is stressful on the body enough, but pressure to lose weight is stressful emotionally, and eating in a caloric deficit (to lose weight) is a stressor on the body. I want to keep a healthy body, hormones and mind and not "dieting" is the best way to do that for me.

2) Milk supply. I had a great milk supply last time and I do this time too but I'd like to keep it that way. So eating in a healthy range, and in a surplus of calories can help that. It's usually established by 6 months, about the time I'll start "cutting" fat.

I'm using those last two as reasons for this one-

3) Building muscle. You cannot build a lot of muscle if you're trying to lose weight (and many will say you can't do it at all while losing body fat, but I'm not here to debate this). I am already a "hard gainer" when it comes to muscle, so that means I need to eat a lot to gain some muscle. I figured, why not use the excess energy I have stored from pregnancy in addition to the excess calories I want to eat, to stay happy and healthy and to build some great muscle going into my next competition...it works out perfectly!

Top is 1 month PP, bottom is 4 months PP

 NOT trying to lose weight after having a baby is such a weird thing... it's always in our heads, in our faces and in our fat cells  that we need to lose it fast and bounce back and get our pre-baby body back.   What about this; how many moms do you know that have thyroid problems? or adrenal fatigue (linked to thyroid or eventual thyroid issues)?..... What if it's not only the stress of a pregnancy, labor and delivery, recovery, a baby, work, life, husband and on top of that we have to look PERFECT in 3 -6 months ...that is leading to the thyroid issues many moms have?  But this is a whole 'nother blog post, I'll get to sometime.

I am at my heaviest I've ever been...I'm lucky and I'm a genetically naturally thin person, but I also can gain weight...just ask my pics from the days I lived in Europe! (over-indulgence anyone?).
         I did lose weight initially, like most do, but then when I began on my goal of building muscle I gained some weight...as happens sometimes because you increase your calories to build muscle.
Mine also went up because I'm nursing and that's what my body does (it did it last time too...6 months later I was way bigger than 6 weeks postpartum :( ). I gain weight when breastfeeding and, guess what, so do many others! They just don't tell you that...it's a secret...you might gain weight when breastfeeding...I did, Google it, you'll find you are in the company of many here.   That, too, is a whole 'nother blog post.

       Anyways, I'm here to say that it is frustrating to have not gotten back to my normal walking around weight by 4 months simply because I know people are watching for it. When I'm getting dressed and I have zero pants that fit it's maddening. When I have no underwear that's comfortable it's sad (tmi??.. sorry.) But then my loving husband says "You know why it's like that, you have GOALS...you'll be back to YOU in just a few months." And I love that he understands. And that he takes me shopping while on vacation at the beach to get all new summer clothes :) (now that's love! Or that's him trying to get me to stop whining about my jeans...)

This is where I started, my "walking around"

             And he also is a realist, he reminds me that I made this choice to do it this way and I can't complain...he's so right... and really, I'm not that much far off from where I began, I'm in a place many would love to be. But I'm gaining muscle (love those GIANZ coach!) and I'm eating, not dieting, not stressing and having fun postpartum rather than restricting and I'm enjoying my baby and family. I still eat on "plan" according to what's healthy and what my macros are for my current goals and body but they are HAPPY macros (thanks to my coach from All or Nothing Fitness!)...because I get to eat and fit in all that I want to. So here's to being postpartum...and being happy with whatever place in life you're in.

In the end, don't compare yourself to me, or any other pregnant or postpartum woman out there. You are you, you have your own genetics and your own life to live.

*cheers* to all us moms out there.

Be happy and healthy friends!

I Rock(Taped) it!

       This was done a while ago but I thought I'd put it on the blog for easier reference for those of you that keep looking for it.

         I did not have a very large DR (diastasis Recti) after C was born, but I did have one, I had it fairly big after G was born also so I expected it. I wanted to correct it quickly because I already had residual back pain and I wanted to make sure that I did what I could to keep the DR from getting worse, because it very easily can...and it can take years to heal if you don't correct it right away.  

     So along with some non-crunching core exercises for strength and healing, I had a RockTape certified massage therapist do the taping technique on me as seen here in the first picture...(with the 4 year old rocking out like a rock-star)... This is roughly 7 weeks postpartum:  

During the week that I wore the tape I felt a lot more stable and really feel that it helped my core strength and my performance during lifting workouts.As I added in some core workouts I felt that I was more in tune with what I had to do to keep my core strong and activating the Transverse Abdominis (deep ab muscles). Through all 5 days of lifting and core workouts the tape stuck...very well! The only thing was that I had some itchiness under the tape and even got a tiny spec of a rash, but I think that was my sensitive skin. 

This picture is from 5 days later, the tape is still sticking and my posture was much better. 

I do think it really helped, my back pain was not as bad during this time because I was reminded to keep my abs tight and sit up straight. Because of the itchiness I only reapplied the tape one more time for 4 days and I really liked the results and feeling of strength.  But, I did not put it on again because I then began to tape my lower back (for some continuing pain/inflammation) and didn't want to be a tape-monster.

Conclusion: Do it! Because no matter what, you don't want DR to stick around, you want better posture and you want to regain core strength as soon as you can. Your body will thank you! (if you're looking for ab workouts keep an eye on my Facebook page, I will post what I do randomly there)

**Update: Still have DR but it had gotten better and my core was SO MUCH stronger over the last month....Here's the thing, my back is still out of whack and in a lot of pain....because my back had many more problems than just the DR so now I know that the reason I still had pain was a disc issue...but with all that going on I still felt better, my core as tighter and I felt more "solid" through my core.

After the baby bump...fit plan

The baby is here! She turned out to be a girl :) She went exactly 1 week past her due date, that was one of the longest weeks of my life! But Cecilia Crimm Howard is here and Gianna, Steve and I are excited to have her here. It's still a learning process for me, learning to have two kiddos around, but it is a fun one. In the words of Gia "having a newborn around is hard..." and yes, it is. But we know that time will fly by and I'll soon be able to put her down and we can be more free.

This is from 38 weeks, I went to 41!

Now it's time for me to get this healthy body back. It's important to be healthy as a mom. You have to play with your kids, keep the baby happy, bouncing and clean and you have to make milk to feed your baby...it's very taxing on the body and if you aren't full of energy you won't make it! It's also important to be healthy and fit for YOU. I dealt with postpartum depression last time and I know it had to do with my first snowy winter ever, being a new mom, moving to a new state, not having local support in the beginning and all of the other changes.  I had an active pregnancy last time, so that helped but with the winter I wasn't able to get right out and walk or be as active as I wanted....it was a very emotional and interesting time.  Then what did we do? Had another winter baby!

This time...my goal is to avoid the depression... I had an equally fit pregnancy (I chronicled it on Facebook and Instagram).  You'd think that would make for an easy delivery...nope. I did it natural again (I'm NO hero... I did it this way both times because i'm terrified of long needles in the back and pain meds make me out of sorts!) Last time it was 17 hours and this time...19 all ACTIVE labor hours...hard work!  So here is the 1 week postpartum pics. NO body/belly binding/wrapping and no exercise. Just GENETICS at work here:

1 week postpartum

Now it's time to work... What's my fit plan???    I'm back to the studio and training clients both online and in person so I'm jumping in 6 weeks postpartum. I also got an awesome sponsorship for my next bikini competition...yep it's happening at the end of the year! I'm part of Team All or Nothing Fit!! My coach waited for my go-ahead and now we've begun the off-season fitness plan that will help me build back any muscle I lost, and hopefully put on even more... then we'll begin a competition prep towards mid summer.  The one thing that is most important to me is my milk supply. I will not do anything to compromise my baby's health during this process. I will drink tons of water and eat oatmeal (though my supply is good for now, I will keep an eye on it) I'm not cutting calories since I'm not trying to cut fat, I'm building muscle. Once milk supply is established it will be  cutting time. I will also be doing protein powder, fish oil and vitamins (and a cup of joe for preworkout) no other supps at this time.....

I'm stoked to focus on building muscle! I may not lean out and thin down like many want to do right after having a baby, and that is going to be a tough pill to swallow, but I may do just that when lifting heavy. This is why I love fitness and lifting, it's like a science experiment, trial and error every time. You get to see how your body responds to your hard work and dedication and change it up as needed. Here's some pics from home, just a few days past 1 month postpatum:

I'm pretty sure it's a slimming mirror since it's at an angle in my room and I am a bit more flabby than the pics show but this is my "progress mirror" for now. I don't have stretchmarks (thanks mom!) but I've heard they can come later so we'll keep fingers crossed. I have been on my macros (protein, fat and carbs) for a good few days now and I worked out a couple of days but beginning Monday I'm all in, on plan, ready to see how to change my body. I expect to see the scale go up...with MUSCLE...so we'll see. I will post daily pics on Instagram and I'll update the blog as best as I can so stay tuned.

Physique bikini competition November 7th, 2015...there. It's in writing. Join me on the journey to change.