Project Skinny Me

This blog theme is hosted by Miss Candy and I'm so excited to join her group challenge and lose post pregnancy pounds. Our prompt for day one is self introduction and list of health goals.

My name is Rachel and I life in South Florida with husband, 26 month old daughter Charlotte, 1 month old Sam, 3 cats and one dog. I work full time for a toy company where I design and develop plush toys of popular licensed characters - mainly Disney & Pixar. I go to a really cool church called Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale. I'd love to volunteer for Kids in Distress or His Caring Place but for now I'm focused on my little family.

I'll be honest, my immediate motivation is to look good in a dress for my cousin's wedding in 4 weeks. There will be professional cameras and in hindsight, I don't think I've had dressy photos taken in a long time!

I bought a gorgeous purple dress from Nordstrom's back in 2006 for a fancy Miami wedding of a co-worker. Since then I've had two kids and am definitely not the same size! Actually I'm only 7lbs over that size but in dress sizes it makes all the difference in fit or not fit.

I realize there are folks out there who may think 7lbs is too little to be troubled with, but let me explain - I'm 5' 4", 132lbs and if it were evenly proportioned I'd probably be okay with being a size 10 but the problem is the weight is centered in my belly - so with small boobs and a round belly I still look 4 months pregnant! I tend to hide this with big shirts that cover it up and it's actually getting harder to find billowing shirts since petite clothing designers tend to favor body hugging styles. So while I want to look good in that dress, I also want to comfortably buy clothes without agonizing over my tummy and looking pregnant.

I'm breast feeding so can't go on a strict diet or milk supply will decrease. My pre-pregnancy diet was 1200 calories and I've added 400 for Sam so I'm working on maintaining 1600 calories per day in all food groups.

I need to emphasize ALL food groups while breast feeding. Many diets recommend removal of fruit, carbs and breads during the weight loss time but I can't do that so I need to find other areas to cut back.

Realistically here is what I can do:

• Cut out bad stuff that doesn't benefit me or Sam like junk food - chips, fries, ice cream, sugar, donuts, chocolate croissants, sausage, pastries, etc.
• Continue to drink 64+ fluid ounces of water per day
• Cut out as much salt as possible to reduce bloating

My first test was grocery shopping on Labor day weekend and I passed on getting the Buy 1 Get 1 Free Lay's Bar B Que potato chips - my favorite! I told husband to keep reminding me of the dress.

Today I'm dying to go to Cracker Barrel where a wonderful display of yummy foods await to tempt me away from my goals so instead I'm writing this post first, then starting Jillian Michael's Shread work-out, then eating eggs for energy and going to the beach with a banana for snack!

Good luck girls and I look forward to getting to know everyone who participates!