From Twins to Baby 3 and back to me
Part III: In the Zone
Hello and welcome and/or welcome back! This is part three of a four part blog series about how I lost the baby weight after having twins in 2018 and baby 3 in 2019. I lost all the weight in 2020 and was within 1 pound of my goal weight. The past two posts detailed the first and second part of this process, which I call “Part I: Denial Exuberance and Delusion” followed by “Part II: Reality Check”. This week I will detail what happened when I got myself securely and fully in the zone, and could see and feel that I was really, actually, truly losing the weight.
At this part of my journey, I was what I will call “in the zone”. If you have ever experienced this feeling, it is magical. Being in the zone refers to the phenomenon when your body, mind, breath, thoughts, heart, soul, your EVERYTHING is on the same page.
There is no conflict, there is no hesitation, no second guessing, no doubt, no fear, no delusion and no looking back. I have had this experience many times because of my yoga practice, which is fortunate because being in the zone is very powerful. I can recall a few instances when I was in the zone in the treadmill or in a dance class, or reading my kids a story – 100% of me is in that moment.
Being in the zone when it comes to diet and exercise means for me, that the taste of fattening/sugary foods has left my mouth. This means I am at the point where it has been a long enough time without eating these things: candy, ice cream, pizza, takeout, bread, alcohol, etc…I do not miss them enough to want to eat them in any detrimental way. This doesn't mean I don’t indulge here or there, because I do! And during this time, I did! But it was so infrequent that it did not pose any kind of impact on my weight loss.
So what was happening at this point? I was running 45 min-hour 5 days per week, sometimes 6. I was eating according to my Weight watchers plan with minimal detours. I was drinking only water or seltzer. And we were still fully in the pandemic, so no birthday parties, no bridal showers, no cupcakes at work, no cookies at meetings, no bagels at brunches, really there were no opportunities to get sidetracked unless I created them for myself, and I had come too far to let all my hard work slip away. As you recall from my previous post, I suffer from a lack of self control when temptation is right in front of me. If I can't see it, I'm fine. But if its in front of me, its over!!!
At some point during this phase, which lasted approximately from June-September,
we went on a family vacation. I allowed myself alcohol because my Dad was with us, so for once it wasn't just me as the only adult around the kids. I had a lovely cocktail every night on vacation, and it was awesome. There is something about a cold drink on a warm summer night, after the kids are in bed, that is just divine. Looking forward to that in a few months! I could feel the weight coming off, because my clothes were loose, and my body just felt different. I felt lighter, back to my old self, pre babies. It was a wonderful and liberating feeling.
I also felt very gratified because I knew I had done the work and it was finally starting to pay off in the best way. I also knew that I had been very good with setting boundaries when necessary – for example, with my Dad on vacation, he might cook rice for dinner but I simply would not have any. He also would make us burgers on the grill, but I would skip the bun. For some folks, it can be hard to put yourself first because it might seem like you are being rude, or the people around you are not supportive. This kind of boundary setting, like other positive changes we make in our lives, can upset the status quo and feel like a threat to the people around us. One way to mitigate this is to reassure your loved ones that even though you are taking better care of yourself, that does not mean that you love them any less. You will have to find a creative and less boring way to say that!
All in all, this stage was my favorite. I was feeling great, I was in control and my habits were all in service of my goals. Remember it took me months of denial, followed by a severe reality check to get to this place where it was all smoothed out. No matter what stage you are in, stay the course. If you fall, and you will, get back up. Every moment is a chance to get it right.
Here are two pics of me in the same white bikini: one is 2016, pre babies, and one in 2020, post babies. Its not terrible!
