Weight Wednesday: Starvation works!

I am really relieved I lost two pounds this past week. I had started to feel a sense of doom that there was no way I can meet my goal... but seriously, I think I can pull it off. In regards to the title of this post... FOR ME, I feel like I have to "starve" myself in order to lose weight. This does not mean that I am not eating anything, it just means that the amount that I can get away with eating leaves me feel like I am starving the whole freaking day. I wish I could be one of those people that has four 300 calorie meals a day and "never feels hungry." First of all, I think those people are lying. Whether it is to themselves or to everyone else, I don't believe for one second that they wouldn't kill for pizza or some french fries at any point in the day. 

For me, the whole thing with this weight loss stuff is that it is very difficult. It is very unsatisfying. It sometimes feels like torture. I do still have "bad" meals every week (cough last night), but what I have to do the next day to make up for it is like eat a can of tuna and call it a day. The thing is, no matter what it takes for YOU to lose weight... sorry, but that's what it takes for YOU to lose weight. If you can cut out soda and lose 10 lbs, great, do that. If you have to eat under 1000 calories per day on top of working out for two hours... Yeah, that sucks. I feel for you. I know how unfair it feels. I know how frustrating it is. But my personal experience is YOU JUST HAVE TO DO IT. You have to move past how much "harder" it is for you than the average person, and just get it done.

I like being open about this because it really bothers me when people or celebrities try to make it seem like weight loss was so easy or even FUN for them. Any celebrity that claims they lost weight from pole dancing or some dumb shit like that is also leaving out that they probably also never eat. When Kirstie Alley loses weight and says she is a size 4, I want to scream. GIRL, YOU ARE NOT A SIZE 4. STOP LYING. Or when Kim Kardashian says she weighs 120 pounds. Shyeah... In your bra! I think the most refreshing thing I have ever heard a celebrity say was when Katy Perry stated that she weighs 135 lbs... See, THAT makes sense. Her body is amazing, she looks great, and she has huge boobs. Drew Barrymore recently gave an interview where she said how trying to have the perfect body or the perfect career right now would compromise how good of a mother she could be to her new baby. Yes. Spending 6 hours a day in the gym like Kate Hudson did as soon as her baby was born probably was not in the best interest of her newborn son. So thanks, Drew Barrymore, for being one of the few moms in Hollywood who seems to understand this. Sarah Jessica Parker was also very graceful about weight loss after the birth of her son. She basically didn't even want to talk about it and said that her looks were so not the point of what was going on in her life with a new baby. 

So on a less angsty note... I hope all of your weight loss endeavors are going well! I know one thing that would help me a lot right now would be to drink more water. I hardly ever experience thirst, so it takes a lot of effort for me to drink enough water through out the day. Any suggestions on how much water I need to be drinking every day? Or how to get on a water drinking schedule? I'd love to hear your experiences on how water intake has affected your weight loss!

Love,

Lauren

Henry: 8 months!

We are two thirds of the way through our first year. Which basically means I need to start planning his birthday party immediately.

Henry hasn't been to the doctor in a while, so I honestly have no clue how big he is. I know that he is somewhere between 19 and 20 pounds, and that is ALL that I know. His head doesn't seem to be getting any smaller in proportion to his body, so ole Henny big head is here to stay. PS - my nick name for Henry is Henny. His nickname was supposed to be Hank (which I love and find absolutely adorable), which is a big reason we named him Henry, but not one time have I ever felt compelled to call him Hank.

My favorite thing to report on is Henry's teeth. He currently has one tooth on top and THREE on the bottom. It's a really good look for a baby, I guess. We had been paying so much attention to when the top teeth were going to come in, that we didn't event notice that a side tooth on the bottom had popped out. I looked it up on the internet (you know, that thing, the internet), and everything is coming in out of order. Maybe a wisdom tooth will be next? Either way, I desperately need a break from teething. I can imagine how badly it hurts to bust a tooth through your gums, and Henry definitely lets us know how uncomfortable it is. They need to make XL teething-sized bottles of baby tylenol because we go through one in like a week.

The next order of business is crawling. Henry CAN crawl, he just chooses not to. Kind of like how I CAN cook, but it's really just not for me. He goes backwards, and around in a circle, but for some reason, as soon as he needs to go forward, he gives up and starts whining. I have no explanation for it other than he is teething 24/7 these days, and isn't in the right frame of mind to take on new challenges at the moment. Plus, he knows that mommy can't say no to a sad baby, so he is probably just waiting for me to come pick him up when he is on his tummy.

He is talking, as in making lots of noises and sounds, but no words yet. I seriously hold his fingers on my mouth, Helen Keller style, while I say mama over and over again. Doesn't seem to be making a difference. He makes a lot of "ba ba ba" sounds, but no ma or da.

Henry is getting into EVERYTHING these days. He straight up pulled a lamp off my nightstand today (as I was holding him), so he cannot be trusted with anything, really. Sometimes I have no choice but to let him sit on my lap while I do my makeup, and he goes insane with my makeup drawer. I wouldn't care except I have lip glosses in there that are like nasty 5 year old relics from college that may have been dropped on the floor of a bar at some point. We are now the people who at a restaurant have to take everything off of the table. The people who have no control over their infant. Henry is also finally starting to get mad when you take things away from him. Before, it didn't seem to matter. But now, it's like ... real bad.

My child is still an excellent night sleeper. He averages about 11.5 hours a night and never wakes up. His naps have been a moving target for the past month or two. I feel like I spend every day stressing out about his naps. The science of baby napping is so delicate. It's like you want them to sleep as much as possible (so you can watch your DVR), but you know that if their first nap of the day is too long, that you will pay for it when he doesn't nap the rest of the day. And by dinner time, he is so unbelievably tired and grumpy that there's nothing you can do to make it better. Imagine a very fine scale that can detect grains of sand added or taken away. That's the best imagery I can provide for how on edge naps make me all day.

So here he is... my baby...

These pictures are getting harder and harder to take...

I love this little baby more than anything on earth. He is my little angel, and I'm super proud of both of us for making it this far. Of course, we couldn't have done it without that dad person that lives in the house, too. 

Love,

Lauren

Stay at home style...

So I really have been making an effort. I even showered to go to Costco two days ago. Just to clarify, I do not think that the outfits I have been posting are groundbreaking or anything. I just wanted to showcase things that I can have fun wearing while still being reasonably dressed to take care of a baby all day. Speaking of, I haven't posted much about Henry lately. Just to let you know, he is doing amazing, and he is doing new "big boy" things every day! Details later.

For me, the leanest part of my body is my legs. They are nothing amazing, but I have no issues wearing shorts every single day of my life. Plus, it is seriously so effing hot in Houston that the thought of wearing jeans after May kind of makes me want to throw up. 

Also, please excuse the fact that all of my clothes are wrinkled. Not only am I the WORST IRONER EVER, but I also like to let things sit in the dryer for about 36 hours before I take them out and fold them. Anyway, below are some recent looks. 

A play date...

tee // Banana Republic

shorts // LOFT

belt // Banana Republic

cuff // Kendra Scott

Lunch with a friend...

shirt // Gap

skirt // Gap

sandals // Miu Miu 

(the shoes were a gift so don't like freak out or anything)

 Landscaping my in-laws new home...

I am unwilling to share the sources of my awesomeness in this picture

I honestly can't remember what I was doing this day...

tee // Gap

shorts // Old Navy

sandals // Loeffler Randall

So that right there is about every single time I have showered and worn real clothes in the past two weeks. Can you say MAKING STRIDES? Truly, I should start documenting Henry's wardrobe. He is the best dressed person in the entire family. 

Speaking of... CUTEST DADDY BABY MATCHING COMBO EVER!

Love,

Lauren

Weight Wednesdays: 34 days left!

I have no idea why I went crazy with my 80s themed graphic, but yes, I lost one pound this past week. I need to lose like 2 a week seeing as I only have until July 9th, but I am doing my best! And please keep in mind that I live in Houston, and it is already 95 degrees here. That basically means that I cannot go outside from 11-6pm unless I want to die of skin cancer on the spot. This makes getting extra walks in kind of hard since I have a baby to protect from the sun and heat. 

I have been SUPER busy lately. I decided to open an Etsy shop which I will talk more about later, but I have already had some sales and between that and my child that I am actually supposed to spend time with, blogging has taken a back seat for the time being. I'll get back to it here soon!

A lot of you showed interest in joining a weight loss challenge. Consider this your starting date! Each week, please report on your progress in the comments section. I promise that I really do care, and I really do love hearing about other people's journeys. Trust me, writing about your weight on the internet definitely keeps you motivated, so if you need a little extra motivation, please join in!

Love,

Lauren

Weight Wednesdays are back!

10 lbs to go. I would be more excited but I've had 10 pounds to go for a month now. I don't know why there has been such a halt in my progress. I haven't been perfect the last month, but I also wasn't perfect any of the previous months. Either way, my goal is to lose the last 10 lbs by July 9th aka when Henry turns 9 months old. That gives me about six weeks. 

I am still going to baby boot camp 5 times a week, and still trying to moderate my food. If I had the money, I would do My Fit Foods again, but it's just way too expensive to do on a daily basis. 

One source of motivation has been posting more pictures of myself and my clothes lately. I will get it all out there for y'all: I am a solid size 12 right now. The funny thing is, that when I was 20 lbs lighter than I am now, I was still a size 10 or 12. My particular body shape does not seem to let me get much smaller than a size 10. Sure, the clothes look better, and my limbs are thinner. But I have wide hips and a wide bust line that never seems to break a size 10. Size is really not a huge issue for me, other than when you shop at cheapy stores like F21, the sizes tend to run small and sometimes leave me empty handed. I feel like when I was a younger, I went straight from kids sizes to a women's size 6 so like I said, I don't have any mental hangups over dress size, but I sure would like to wear whatever the hell I want. 

I am not a self-conscious person. Even at a size 12, I am perfectly happy to wear a two-piece bathingsuit. It's not like I've been fooling people all along that I am skinny and that a bikini is going to let the cat out of the bag. With that said, if I had the body for it, I would wear all sorts of crazy shit. I would first of all, FOR SURE, work out in just a sports bra. This is probably one of my life long dreams. I gain most of my weight in my mid section, so I would probably have to be like 12% body fat to make that dream come true. Anyway, like I said... I am open to wearing just about anything so long as I look decent in it. Remember when people were wearing underwear as pants like two years ago? Yeah. I would do that. So currently, my adventurous taste is sort of being wasted on this body. I think Tyra Banks once said that she feels more confident with her body when she is naked than when she is in clothes. That is probably the only thing that Tyra Banks and I have in common, but I totally understand what she meant by that statement. 

Here's where I'm at. I literally took this photo like 5 minutes ago, so it is a completely legit representation of what I currently look like...

Is there anyone else who would like to get in on weekly weigh in action? I can honestly say that it's helped me to stay in line! Having some pals to check in with really motivates me, so if you're interested just let me know!

Love,

Lauren