It was then that I decided that pregnancy was "the greatest motivator for me to get in shape". I made a game plan in my mind for how I would loose all the baby weight after my pregnancy was over. Once I had recovered from the horrible delivery of my son, I restricted my calories to under 1000 a day and went running at least 3x’s a week and walked pushing baby about 4 miles every other day. This was an extremely hard routine to keep up, but it worked! By nine months after my son was born I weighed what I had in college, but just like I had been told, my body was not the same. I had a gut, a shapeless butt, my legs were thin, but had cellulite and my boobs (don’t even get me started on my boobs) they were worse than saggy. I chalked it up to the cost of motherhood and figured," I looked better than most so I shouldn’t complain".

In order to not gain any weight I lived on a very unhealthy diet of basically coffee and one large meal a day. My body looked thin in clothes, but I had fat all over. My term to describe this body type is "Skinny Fat". It is a somewhat attractive body with clothes on, but one that can be over fat and malnourished. The "skinny fat" individual’s lifestyle is very difficult to maintain and very unhealthy. Overtime it will lead to premature aging, low energy levels, depression and even disease. As a "skinny fat" person I had no energy and no joy but, somehow I kept it up for 2 years. I was still young enough to pull it off, but I was scared to death at the prospect of having to live this way the rest of my life and I was absolutely terrified at the prospect of having to go through another pregnancy.

When my son was 21/2 I decided to try working out on the home gym my husband had bought us for Christmas a month earlier. It seemed to be working to help him look better, so I thought "I’ll do this a couple days a week and maybe I’ll look better too." Sure enough a month into it I began to notice positive change and then surprise! I was looking so good that I got pregnant again.

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