Losing the baby weight....Day 1

Bethany is 1 week away from being 9 months old. DAMN! How did that go so fast. That means a year and a half ago I got pregnant. I had a kidney stone blasted. I weighed 150 lbs which was still about 15 or so more than I wanted to weigh. Looking back at my NFP charts (yes I keep them, you never know when you want to look back at your old cycles) I was 168 lbs in February of 2011 (4 months postpartem with Mercy). Hell, let me just do it this way, if not just for my own records:

June 2009 - 140 lbs 
July 2009 - 149 lbs (wow, what a jump, but I did have a miscarriage that cycle so I probably ate to compensate and self-soothe)
Sept 2009 - 147 lbs
Oct 2009 - 149.6 lbs
Nov 2009 - 152.6 lbs
Dec 2009 - 154.4 lbs
Jan 2010 - 154.2 lbs
Feb 2010 - 148.8 lbs

And then I was pregnant with Mercy. I gained about 50 lbs that pregnancy, but went into labor weighing less than 200 lbs which was my goal. And she was a big baby (8 lbs 8 oz) so I used that as an excuse for gaining so much weight.

I started charting again in January 2011 at 72 days postpartem and my lovely period returned mid January. Hooray (not really)

January 2011 - 166.2 lbs
February 2011 -  168.2 lbs - Out of work cause Ruby's closed. Stressed? Yes.
March 2011 - 165 lbs - Started new job at Beehive
April 2011 - 162.8 lbs
May 2011 - 166 lbs
June 2011 - 166.4 lbs
July 2011 - 167 lbs
August 2011 - no weight recorded, also sucked up the temp charting.
September 2011 - 154.8! (I must have started A.C.E. but I don't remember exactly when I started it)
October 2011 - 150.4 lbs! (Back to pre-pregnancy weight before Mercy)
November 2011 - 149.8 lbs - And then I got pregnant with Bethany....tee hee

Ok so I would not change a thing with my life, especially our little blessing of Bethany. She's such a joy and such a pleasant baby. And she makes me smile every day. But the timing of my pregnancy was not particularly planned. At first I said God has a sense of humor. Really, he knew we needed her in our lives. Granted, 3 kids is tough, and Mike and I are both tired all the time but like I said, I wouldn't change a thing. I was made to be a mom and I'm so very, very blessed to have these three amazing and beautiful girls in my life. My weight loss journey is as much for them as it is for me. I don't want to be an overweight mom that doesn't want to go swimming with them because I don't want to be in a suit. Or a mom that's too tired to play because I'm out of shape. And I want to instill healthy eating habits for them and not my addiction to sugar. Which I am 100% sure I am addicted to. Sometimes I eat just to eat and I'm sick of eating because I'm bored. And I do that.

I lost a lot of weight after I had Grace by following the Weight Watchers plan. I was not a member. I just knew the system. I had the calculator, I charted my food, I ate sensibly. I went from 172 lbs to 135 lbs. I looked and felt great. Then I stopped using the system and I gained a lot back. Then pregnancy after pregnancy. You know the rest.

I could try WW again, but honestly I don't think it'll work this time because of things I have decided to give up, i.e. aspartame. When I was on WW, I ate a lot of prepared foods. They were easy to calculate points. Plus, they changed the system and I'm too lazy to figure it out.

About a year and a half ago, I tried A.C.E - Appetite Control & Energy. First time I took it I freaked out. I took 2 pills. I mowed my lawn and felt like I had run a marathon. I didn't like how I felt, so I stopped. Then I decided to try it again and I lost almost 20 lbs in a few months. I would have kept going by God decided it was time for Bethany, so I stopped.

As of right now, I'm no longer nursing (thanks to 8 teeth in my 8 month old. Really??? Yes) I'm ready to lose this baby weight and I just need some help. I am reading "Wheat Belly" and I'll probably eliminate gluten from my diet. I'm trying to kick the sugar habit, but that morning cup of coffee is going to be hard to get rid of and I like it sweet. ACE is there to jump start my energy and suppress my appetite so I don't reach for a snack when I'm bored. I'm also trying to read 100 books this year, and I'm only down 27 so I have some stuff to read.

Ok, back to my weight chart cause I just found this year's charts -

September 2012 - 177 lbs - 8 weeks post partem with Bethany
November 2012 - 176.2 lbs - period back again. Damn
December 2012 - 176 lbs
January 2013 - 173 lbs
February 2013 - 172.8 lbs
March 2013 - 168.6 lbs
April 2013 - 168 lbs and today
170.4 lbs.

As you can see, in 7 months I've only lost 7 lbs. I have been nursing so I couldn't really diet in the typical sense, and I don't work out. I hate it.

Wow this post is rambling. Moral of this post - I'm back on ACE and I want to hit my goal of 135. Well, between 130-140. I'm only 5'3" so 170 is way too big. I'm sick of the muffin top on my pants. I'm sick of size 14 pants. I'm sick of not liking my clothes. I'm sick of looking like I'm pregnant again. I'm going to try and keep track of what I eat every day. I'm going to weigh in on Wednesdays. I'm going to drink lots and lots of water and I'm going to gain my self esteem back. I know it's just a number, but I wanna feel good about myself when I look in the mirror. And I'm actually going to post this video I took this morning that shows my post-baby belly. I'm nuts. Pray for me! Cheer me on! Follow me on this journey.

March 2008 - I was about 135 lbs

October 2011 - 150 lbs