As many of you know, my daughter Riley is 18-months old, and sadly, I'm the most overweight that I have ever been in my life.  You see, I breastfed Riley for a full year and in that time, my body seemed to do everything against what was the norm.  First, I've always heard that if you breastfeed immediately after giving birth, the weight will just "melt" away and you'll be back to your pre-pregnancy size or even BETTER in no time!  Well, that didn't happen for me!  It took me over six months to get back to pre-pregnancy size, even though I nursed Riley exclusively.

Next, I always heard that after you weaned your child from breastfeeding, that you would gain a few extra pounds because most women eat more calories while breastfeeding and they continue to do so after they quit.  I made sure that I was eating MUCH less than I did while breastfeeding and still the scale continued to climb...and climb...and climb!  This was very disheartening to me since I've never really had much of a weight problem before in my life.  Now, I can no longer fit into any of my clothes and I feel like a total cow!  I have always heard that your hormones take a while to "reset" themselves and so I basically tried hard to give my body a pass for the six months after I weaned Riley.

That six month period ended on April 24th.  I am currently 14 pounds over what I'd like to weigh again and so I'm going to get into shape, get my old body back and I'm taking no prisoners!  I've decided that the Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred is just what I need to get back to my old self again right before the summer swimsuit season hits!

Every Wednesday, I will be updating you on my progress while working this program.  I hope to write some helpful suggestions I've found to aid in losing belly fat and any other tips and tricks I pick up along the way will also surely be shared!  I've even included a linky here so that anyone who is also fighting the "battle of the bulge" can join in and we can cheer and encourage each other to victory!