oly messages!!! Just from my last weight loss before and after post and sharing an updated before/after yesterday -- the messages are rolling in... 
 
The messages range anywhere from.... 
 
Great job. 
What AREN'T you eating? 
What are you doing in the gym? 
What are your secrets? 
 
To... 
 
Will you train me? 
 
So I thought MAYBEEEE it might help if I post some of my 'secrets' here on the blog!!! 
 
I've mentioned this before, but let me start this off by saying that I've always been a gym rat... an athlete... and I tried really hard to continue working out while I was pregnant... but as some of you may have experienced -- it's HARD... and you're exhausted.. so it didn't 'work out' well for me (ha, did you see what I did there) 
 
Once Ava Lynn arrived - I began breastfeeding -- I was able to successfully breastfeed for about 11 months... I was hoping to at least reach Ava's one year mark.. but my body just wasn't having it -- even after a good fight on my behalf.... About 6-8 weeks after Ava was born - I got the go-ahead to workout, and I did.. well.. I tried..... It was not successful... when I tried to 'eat right' -- it really affected my milk supply... and I just had no energy in the gym.. I still felt pregnant. 
 
I believed that being a 'mom' was more important than getting back to the 'old Sharon'.... So I focused on providing for Ava instead of working out. 
 
My body was hoarding all of that extra fat while breastfeeding.. I wasn't losing any weight. 
 
As soon as I knew the breastfeeding journey was coming to an end... I got my booty back in the gym. 
 
Honestly... it was the only thing that kept my spirits up... Emotionally, I had a difficult time stopping... 
 
It was ROUGH at first... holy embarrassing... I felt like everyone was judging me. 
 
Hell.. I was judging myself.... because I wasn't as strong as I once was. 
 
My pride was hurt. 
 
But almost 3 months later -- I'm back to the old Sharon - at least mentally.... Now I feel 'guilty' if I don't make it to the gym...  
 
Motivation... Determination.  
 
I love those feelings. 
 
------------ 
 
SO LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR... 
 
There are NO secrets to weight-loss...  
 
Eat well... and exercise...  
 
Period.... that's it.. VOILA! 
 
When I first got back into the gym... Honestly.. I was just doing WHATEVER I could.  
 
15-30 minutes of cardio + Weights 
 
After I made it a habit (it takes about 2-3 weeks to make it a habit) -- Chase and I got on a routine together. 
 
 
3x8-10 (sets x rep count) of legs/shoulders - chest/tris - back/bis 
 
After a couple of weeks we switched over to (below) for a month or so 
 
5x5 of squats - deadlifts - chest + an isolated exercise of each one (rotating each gym day) -- HEAVY weight 
 
I got REALLY strong doing that routine... quickly was able to do 225x2 deadlifting and was rocking out 155# on the bench -- with no previous training 
 
Now we are on a 
 
3x15 routine with moderate/heavy weight 
 
Monday - Back/Tris 
Wed - Leg/Shoulders 
Fri - Chest/Bis 
Sat/Sun - We usually go in and 'play' 
 
----- 
 
If the gymnasium is available - we'll go in and play basketball for 30 minutes... but otherwise -- I haven't been using any of the 'cardio' machines since the very beginning.... I've also been sick for the past few weeks -- so my goal is to add in cardio now that we're on the 3x15 and once I start feeling better! remind yourself that ANY gym day is better than NO gym day 
 
So tonight when we go to the gym... we'll be doing.... moderate/heavy weight (we're NOT doing high reps with LIGHT weight) 
 
3x15 of bench press  
3x15 of cable fly 
3x15 of incline or decline bench press 
3x15 of hammer curls 
3x15 of superset - bench/cable bicep workout (super set is where you do two workouts back to back without resting) 
3 sets of 21 bicep workout 
 
And we will likely add in another workout to focus on either bis or chest! 
 
Because I have diastasis -- I'm not able to do 'ab workouts' other than planks.... and honestly -- your abs are made in the kitchen and by doing cardio... not by doing 500 crunches!!! =) 
----- 
 
I have NOT been eating clean -- I got comfortable once I hit 143#.. not comfortable in the sense that I never wanted to work out again or drop the weight... but more-so in that I felt 'proud' of myself for getting back down this far... so I gave myself a break....  
 
Beginning next week -- it's clean eating again for me... so the rest of this weight will come off! 
 
My clean eating looks like this..... 
 
Breakfast (within an hour of waking up) --- 4 eggwhites + spinach + 1 wheat carb (bread -- tortilla or oatmeal) 
Snack (1-2 hours after breakfast) --- yogurt + almonds 
Lunch (1-2 hours after snack) --- chicken breast + salad/veggies + 1 carb (sweet potato -- brown rice) 
Snack (1-2 hours after lunch) --- banana + protein shake 
Dinner (1-2 hours after snack) -- salmon + veggie 
Meal before bed --- 4 eggwhites  
 
You need to fuel your body up before bed with protein -- if you give it carbs -- it turns straight to fat/sugar and your body has a hard time digesting it.... Your body will be 'fasting' ALL night while you sleep -- that's why it's called break'fast' -- because when you wake up you need to break your body's fast....  
 
AND 
 
If you are not eating a lot -- your body is going to store whatever it DOES get into fat, because it thinks it's being starved... so don't think you need to eat VERY LITTLE in order to lose weight... you still need to fuel your body.. ESPECIALLY if you are working out!  
 
 
I did true measurements this morning (vs measuring myself at the end of the day after I've been eating all day) - so my waist is actually smaller than I thought yesterday!!!! YYAYYY!!!! And look at the differences in my shoulders -- you see how it looks 'flatter' vs rolling downward... that's exciting!