From GREAT to awful and now clawing my way back again...

I am 6-weeks post c-section.

On the day of my daughter's birth I lost 10 lb in one day. But that's because my little girl was not so little at a whopping 9lb 10 oz.

Surgery went great. A bazillion times better than my first c-section. With my first I could barely walk for weeks. This time I was walking upright the next day. The pain was less, I had hardly any swelling of my feet and legs. It was great. I felt great.

And so I did stoopid shit.

5 days after surgery I strapped my new born to myself in a wrap, put my 2 year old in a cart and went shopping at Target. 1/2 way through my shopping excursion I realized that I maybe shouldn't have done that. I rested a few days after that and started to feel good again.

So I strapped my heavy ass newborn to myself again and went shopping at Home Depot, walking the aisles for at least an hour (we're in the midst of a home remodel). Again, I felt like doodoo for a few days after that. So I rested.

I continued this pattern of making bad choices and then resting for 3 weeks. Toward the end of this 3 weeks I started lifting my 24 lb 2 year old son up. I felt good and strong so I figured I would just do it, I was sick of waiting for my mom or husband to help me with him all the time. After 2 days of that I noticed a big 'Uh Oh.' My surgery incision opened up a tiny bit on the end.

I was getting dizzy and nauseous and I just did not feel well at all. A call to my midwife and they said to come right in right away.

My midwife sat me down and had a coming to Jesus with me.

I was to spend the next 3 weeks on almost bed rest. I was firmly told that I had been doing dumb stuff for a person who had just been cut open only a few weeks before. She said if I didn't rest that things could get very bad for me very fast. My wings were clipped. But she was right. I cried my little eyes out in her office as the exhaustion and super woman syndrome all just enveloped me and became too much to bear.

I had been doing way too much. As a result I was losing a lot of pregnancy weight, fast. I was pretty happy about that part.

3 weeks of modified bed rest and my final visit to the midwife and I'm all healed and have been given the ok to SLOWLY start activity again. With strict instruction to not 'be an idiot' (her words I swear, lol). Which is great news. However, the 3 weeks of rest resulted in absolutely no weight loss since my last visit. I was quite disheartened by this.

(disclaimer: I know I'm doing extremely well. I know this so please don't get me wrong. My goal is to be ready for live television as a fitness model in the next few months. This is a big goal that is not the norm so my standards for myself are very high. You must find goals and standards that work for you in your world. Do not compare your journey to mine. Find your own path. As long as you are making yourself proud then you're doing great.)

6-weeks post c-section number 2 (side view)

I had to remind myself that I accomplished so much more than weight loss. I had been healing after a major operation. I had slowed down enough to breath and BE with my new little girl and share many wonderful moments with her and my son without always being on the go.

6-weeks post c-section number 2 (front view)

But now it's time to get my arse in gear. I have to be smart and safe but I have to be disciplined and meticulous. It's difficult enough to find time to pee with a newborn, let alone a new born and a 2 year old. Now I must also find time to exercise and eat right.

I'm praying for strength and energy and clarity to be able to handle all of these challenges.

For me I'm doing this for my fitness career so that I can make a comfortable living and enjoy fantastic, stress free times with my family. This motivates me to stay strong and stay committed to my goals.

What motivates YOU to reach your health and weight loss goals? What will keep you on track when those cookies are calling? What will get you out of bed to exercise when all you want to do is hit snooze and get 10 more minutes?

You have to find a 'why' that is greater than YOU. It has to be bigger than you or it won't fire you up and pull on your heart.

My why is a visual image of me, my husband and my kids running around on the beach in the sun enjoying long days together playing and laughing and not working or worrying about bills. This vision is so strong that it will knock-out any temptation to cheat on my plan to eat healthy and exercise.


Find your reason. I'd love to hear about it. Share it with me below.

 

Want to share my journey, learn some tips, get workout ideas, and more?

Then subscribe to this blog, friend me on facebook (Gemma Rayne Fountain), definitely join my facebook group 'Nutrition & Lifestyle Coaching for a Healthier YOU.' And feel free to find me on Pinterest and twitter too :)
And check out my website, www.GemmaRayneFountain.com

Want to support this busy mama?
Then buy some goodies from one of my two websites:

USANA Nutritional Products, weight loss program and skin care line
www.GemmaRayneFountain.USANA.com

Younique - toxin free, chemical free and cruelty free make-up
www.YouniqueProducts.com/GemmaRayneFountain/business

I am also available for online Nutrition and Lifestyle Coaching. Contact me to learn more at GemmaRayneFountain@gmail.com.

A Pregnant Fitness Healthy Role Model - NOT!!!!!

A friend sent me a link to an article today about a series of Prenatal Fitness videos with a popular athlete leading the exercises while she is pregnant.

The article is the author's feelings on how unrealistic the videos are for 'regular' people. The routine seems to be one that only a pregnant athlete can complete.

The article is about 'Fit Shaming' pregnant women.

When I was pregnant with my first child at the age of 34/35 I had a plan to be a fit pregnant super star. I was going to be the poster child for fitness during pregnancy. I would not succumb to cravings. I was going to continue to prepare all my clean eating food and eat measured amounts of calories every few hours and maintain my usual routine with modifications to allow for additional calories for creating life.

At 24 weeks with my first pregnancy.

I would NEVER be one of 'those' women who ate uncontrollably and gained tons of weight in pregnancy. How could I be? I am a fitness professional. And I KNOW how to eat. I would be a preggo to emulate.

Bwahahahah! Boy was I W-R-O-N-G!!!

I ate a diet of 80% milk chocolate and 20% dark chocolate for the first 10 weeks of my first pregnancy. I hated ALL other food. The rest of my pregnancy my diet consisted of potatoes and bacon, and a few other things. I hadn't eaten pork in 17 years but I made up for lost time in the 9 months I was 'creating life' let me tell you!!!

At my St. Pete Baby Shower

Suffering from pain from a car accident in my first trimester prevented me from lifting weights so I lost a lot of muscle. But what I lost in muscle, I gained in fat.

Then a month of bed rest followed by a c-section had me jiggling and sagging in places I didn't know I could jig or sag.

Needless to say, I was NOT a Pregnant Fitness Role Model for all to envy.

It was a huge reality check to learn that I couldn't have eaten healthy if I tried. My body had other plans. And it's plan was to eat fat! This is what I needed to create an amazing little person I guess.

I felt like a total ass face for all the times in the past that I had judged pregnant women for eating so poorly during pregnancy. Karma is a beast I tell ya. And I got mine :)

As humans all we can do it try our best on a daily basis. Sometimes our 'best' is shit! And that's ok. If that's all we can do today, then that's all we can do. As long as we're doing the best we can in the given situation how can we possibly ask for more. On most days my best was BACON!

Want to see MY 'realistic' pregnancy fitness videos?
Find them all on YouTube under 'Prenatal Fitness with Gemma' there are about 15 videos in the series. Enjoy!


See article that inspired this blog HERE


Want to share my journey, learn some tips, get workout ideas, and more?

Then subscribe to this blog, friend me on facebook (Gemma Rayne Fountain), definitely join my facebook group 'Nutrition & Lifestyle Coaching for a Healthier YOU.' And feel free to find me on Pinterest and twitter too :)
And check out my website, www.GemmaRayneFountain.com

Want to support this busy mama?
Then buy some goodies from one of my two websites:

USANA Nutritional Products, weight loss program and skin care line
www.GemmaRayneFountain.USANA.com

Younique - toxin free, chemical free and cruelty free make-up
www.YouniqueProducts.com/GemmaRayneFountain/business

I am also available for online Nutrition and Lifestyle Coaching. Contact me to learn more at GemmaRayneFountain@gmail.com.

Today Was a Breakfast BUST! (aka "What Wagon?")

Some days I am a 'Breakfast bad Ass.'

Today, however, I was not. Today was a breakfast BUST!!!

With a 2 year old and a 4 week old sleep is hard to come by. This morning my husband got our 2 year old up and ready and took him to play group and our 4 week old was fast asleep. Do you think I was about to get my arse up out of bed to make a healthy breakfast in a quiet house and a comfy bed with my name written all over it????? Hail NO!!!!!

I stayed in bed until 10am.

And when I woke up I did not feel like preparing my healthy breakfast, I was still tired, groggy, and had 2 hours of time until the 2 year old came home. And, in mommy time "2 hours" is really only 5 minutes (that's how fast 2 hours goes by).

So I heated up a huge plate of left over take-out Chinese food from last night (yep I cheated and at that crap last night too) and ate it for breakfast. I then followed it up with a few bites of a cherry pie my mom picked up at Sam's Club yesterday.


While I am not proud of these choices there are days when they must be made. There are days when my Wonder Woman outfit is at the cleaners and I'm just ME. Imperfect and wonderful ME. And sometimes even "I," the fitness girl, eat leftover Chinese food take-out and cherry pie for breakfast.

I am not feeling the least bit guilty about these choices. I enjoyed them immensely. I ate, I savored and then I let it go. I took my vitamins (from USANA, of course) and will be eating a healthy lunch.

We can't be perfect all the time - what's the fun in that?
Be imperfect, but do your very best every single day. Let go of guilt, it's a silly emotion when food is concerned, and celebrate the fact that you're doing your best. That's all any of us can do anyway.

")

Did you like this little blog? If you did please could you share it on facebook, twitter, pinterest, etc. I would love to get my readership and followers up. I'm also interested in doing some guest blogging, so please contact me if you have a blog you'd like me to guest on.



Want to share my journey, learn some tips, get workout ideas, and more?

Then subscribe to this blog, friend me on facebook (Gemma Rayne Fountain), definitely join my facebook group 'Nutrition & Lifestyle Coaching for a Healthier YOU.' And feel free to find me on Pinterest and twitter too :)
And check out my website, www.GemmaRayneFountain.com

Want to support this busy mama?
Then buy some goodies from one of my two websites:

USANA Nutritional Products, weight loss program and skin care line
www.GemmaRayneFountain.USANA.com

Younique - toxin free, chemical free and cruelty free make-up
www.YouniqueProducts.com/GemmaRayneFountain/business

I am also available for online Nutrition and Lifestyle Coaching. Contact me to learn more at GemmaRayneFountain@gmail.com.

Don't Compare Your Goals or Your Journey...

You are a unique and delicate snowflake. No one else is like you.

Your goals, dreams, motivations and inspirations are your own. You can't compare what makes you YOU with anyone else.

So why would you compare your health and fitness journey and goals with someone else?

And yet so many people do this. And, I have to admit, I have been guilty of this too.

I have looked at other fitness professionals and compared their physique to mine. I have compared my eating habits with others and have been harsh on myself because of the drastic inequalities.

It wasn't until I noticed friends of mine comparing their fitness and nutrition habits with my own that I became hugely aware of the ridiculousness of this bad habit.

Being in the health and fitness industry can be stressful on friendships and relationships. Other people assume that I am judging their meal, their size, their fitness regimen (or lack thereof). People create a barrier that simply is not there.

I have a dear friend, whom I love to pieces, but every single time I see her she immediately mentions her new diet, or that she's lost weight or the new cleanse she is trying. This is the entire topic of our conversations. It's like she thinks I'm judging her because she isn't the same as me.

But let's put this into perspective...you can't compare your health, fitness or nutrition results with a fitness professional. Someone in the fitness industry gets PAID to be in shape, to teach fitness classes, to be in shape for modeling jobs, etc. This is one heck of a motivation for a fitness professional. Our entire income and career depends on how we look and what shape we are in. It is drastically insane to compare yourself to someone who has that kind of external motivation to eat right and exercise. It is a fitness professional's JOB to do these things. You. most likely, have a job of your own that takes up a significant amount of your time, energy and thoughts. Imagine if all that time was spent on exercise and eating right? But it's not. You have to do YOUR job and you are doing it a thousand times better than I could be, because that's not MY job.


But I'll admit that I am guilty of this silly behavior. When I see my friends who are professional nail technicians I have been guilty of making excuses for my chewed up stubs called fingers because I think they are looking at them in disgust.

I can tell you though, from this side of the coin - I don't judge people, their shape, size, nutritional choices, etc. I have absolutely no desire for my thoughts to drift in that direction. I respect where each person is on their own journey. Should a friend want help with health, fitness or nutrition I'm happy to help. But if not asked then it's none of my dang business.

So, as I go on my journey to get back in shape after being pregnant and having a c-section please keep in mind that my job, my income, my goals, and my career depend on my getting back into shape. Comparing your progress to mine is just plain unproductive.

I challenge you to love you - exactly where you are - in your health and fitness journey. Let's all make steps together to be better tomorrow than we were today. No comparing to someone else. Ok?


If you compare yourself to someone you view is doing better than you are you're just setting yourself up for a whole bunch of feelings that are not productive or going to help you on your journey to being the best YOU you can be.

Compare yourself with the you from yesterday. That's the ONLY comparing you should be doing.

Find inspiration and motivation from others and their journeys, but only these.

Now go and make yourself proud of yourself.


Did you like this little blog? If you did please could you share it on facebook, twitter, pinterest, etc. I would love to get my readership and followers up. I'm also interested in doing some guest blogging, so please contact me if you have a blog you'd like me to guest on.



Want to share my journey, learn some tips, get workout ideas, and more?

Then subscribe to this blog, friend me on facebook (Gemma Rayne Fountain), definitely join my facebook group 'Nutrition & Lifestyle Coaching for a Healthier YOU.' And feel free to find me on Pinterest and twitter too :)
And check out my website, www.GemmaRayneFountain.com

Want to support this busy mama?
Then buy some goodies from one of my two websites:

USANA Nutritional Products, weight loss program and skin care line
www.GemmaRayneFountain.USANA.com

Younique - toxin free, chemical free and cruelty free make-up
www.YouniqueProducts.com/GemmaRayneFountain/business

I am also available for online Nutrition and Lifestyle Coaching. Contact me to learn more at GemmaRayneFountain@gmail.com.