It’s not uncommon for new moms to have extra weight that sticks around after pregnancy. You might think that a few extra pounds over your pre-pregnancy weight — “no big deal”, right? I hear this often from my clients.
But when you have more than one child, those pounds will add up.
That’s the situation Lisa found herself in after having four kids. With each pregnancy, she retained 5-10 extra pounds. After her fourth child, she really noticed that her weight gain was taking a toll in many aspects of her life.
“It was just to the point where I was feeling down on myself and not feeling confident,” she says.
Lisa was frustrated.
She noticed she didn’t have a lot of energy, and it was getting harder to keep up with her kids.
“I wanted to be able to play tag with my son and take a picture with my kids without thinking, ‘Oh my, I can’t believe how I look,’” she says. “It was starting to affect my health too.”
When Lisa found out she had borderline high cholesterol, she decided it was time to take action.
First, she tried Weight Watchers, a program that had helped her successfully lose weight before she had kids. But this time, she struggled with keeping the weight off. She would lose 5-10 pounds, only to gain it back again as soon as she stopped counting calories.
What Lisa needed was a program that would help shift her mindset and hold her accountable — that’s what she found with Active Moms Club’s 90 Days of YOU!.
Within the first month and half of the program, Lisa lost 8 pounds. More importantly, she’s been able to maintain her weight and keep those pounds off (even over the holiday season!).
“90 Days of YOU! changed me. With Weight Watchers, I was still having excess amounts of ‘free’ foods. But now I’m being smarter and making better, more mindful choices. An example of that is that I haven’t been drinking as much. It’s not so much that I don’t want the calories, but I know when I drink, I’m not going to sleep well and I’m going to be cranky the next day. 90 Days of YOU! taught me to think a little bit more about the consequences.”
Participating in 90 Days of YOU! taught Lisa to change her mentality from “all-or-nothing” to “always something.”
Every bit of movement and every smart food choice, no matter how small, makes a difference. So while she admits that she doesn’t enjoy exercising, she instead focuses on making sure she’s incorporating enough steps and physical activity in her daily movements around the house.
“If the kids are occupied, I’ll go up and down the stairs 10 times to keep my heart rate up for a minute. I’m proud of that. I just think, ok, how can I bump up my heart rate without taking a full hour to do an exercise video. I’m hoping that as I get stronger and can do more things, then exercising won’t be so challenging and I won’t dislike it so much.”
Not only does 90 Days of YOU! help moms make better choices about exercise and nutrition, the main focus— and the true secret to success, is to help moms make the shift in their mentality to achieve their goals.
Lisa learned to give herself some grace and that it’s ok not to be perfect. This is a game-changer!
“I’m realizing that it’s a slow process and it will sort of be a lifelong thing. I can’t just lose the weight and go back to my old habits. That change has happened and I’m realizing it. And I think now that even when I get down about my weight, I’m kind of like, you know what? It doesn’t always have to be this way. I can change it. Sometimes I say, today’s not the day, and I am going to eat this pizza. And sometimes I say, okay, I’m not going to have that this time.”
Lisa also enjoyed the short, easily accessible videos that added to the convenience of 90 Days of YOU!, as benefitted from the other moms in the program.
“Listening to others’ experiences has been helpful,” she says. “Hearing another mom who looks like she has it all together and is fit say that it has taken her a really long time to get there was reassuring and resonated with me. It gave me validation that it’s okay that I’m not making every great choice.”
Lisa started her weight loss journey with AMC’s 90 Days of YOU! In October 2020. As of February she lost 8 pounds and 2 inches from her waist.
She’s been able to maintain her weight loss and continues to focus on the journey ahead.
**UPDATE**
Fast forward from January and Lisa has lost SIX more pounds, and was actually excited to join AMC’s 30-Day Virtual Build Your Strength Fitness Challenge in the spring!
“I think the greatest value from AMC’s programs is the consistent accountability”.
The 20-minute HIIT workouts in the fitness challenge have changed her perspective on exercise! She no longer sees exercise through an all-or-nothing lens. “Rather than thinking that I can’t keep up with the class, so why bother, I think that I did my best and got my butt kicked…in a good way. Progress, not perfection”.
“I feel proud of myself when I finish a workout, but once I show up and finish the workout, I am always happy that I did. I have realized that exercising a couple of times a week has been a good model for the kids too. My 1½ year old was doing the exercises with me today.
If somebody was on the fence about joining any of AMC’s programs, I’d tell them to just do it. Coach Cassandra has a proven track record to help you shift your mindset so that you have the most success with her nutrition and exercise programs. The best part, when something isn’t working, she makes sure to troubleshoot and identify concrete ways to target difficult areas/times/habits. She really listens to clients and adjusts her programs to ensure the success of her clients.”