Happy Birthday to Me!

Yep, today is my day! I look forward to my birthday every year, but this year, the countdown to it was especially prevalent. Back at the start of the year, I decided I was going to do anything and everything in my power to lose my final pounds of baby weight I hadn't been able to kick since having Levi.  I have tried and tried over the past couple years, but this weight is stubborn, and I knew it would take perfection, discipline, and perseverance to shed some of it!   I know myself well enough to know that if I felt like I was giving up and/or adding certain things forever, I would quickly get discouraged, but if I knew it was a temporary thing, I could probably keep it up! With 10 weeks in between the first of the year (well, January 6th to be exact because that's when I started), and my birthday, I decided my birthday would be a good benchmark.
So here we are.  I set out to lose 10-15 pounds.  I lost 7.
But I'm done...at least for the foreseeable future. For one, the changes I made over the past 10 weeks were intense (for me, at least), and I need the break! To lose the weight, I:

• changed my diet to high protein with touches of "clean" eating.  My dietician friend told me 30% of my calories each day should come from protein (and of those, most of those should be animal-products and lean, so grilled chicken, eggs, etc).  I have always focused solely on calories when trying to lose weight and generally would eat a lot of carbs in the process, so this was a big switch!  But it was probably the most significant.  Not only did I feel fuller than I ever did when dieting before, but I actually lost weight!
• stuck very strictly to 1200-1300 calories a day.  I used MyFitnesspal to track each and everything I ate, including taking the time to calculate each new dinner we made.  To stay within that calorie count, I was very good about only eating my meals and designated snack (no sneaking handfuls or bites of the kids' stuff!)
• cut out my nightly ice cream...except for a treat once a week!  I usually manage to stick to a half cup anyway, but I tried to use my 150 calories on something more beneficial!
•  I stayed strong when eating out (something we do pretty frequently, especially on weekends when my previous diets would go out the window). I made sure to order things that were healthy, as opposed to what I wanted.  Sounds obvious, but it's something I generally have a hard time with when dieting, especially when we go somewhere we don't go to as frequently and I feel like I'm going to miss out on the amazing dish!
• increased my workouts from 5 a week to 6 a week. 
• changed up my workouts to have more variety and high-intensity intervals. I kept up my Muscle Blast classes and running routine (up to 4.5 miles...not straight running, but still!), but added in tabata (love it by the way!), swimming, and even boxing.

Really, I probably didn't have to do all of those, and I really don't even know which was the most beneficial.  All I know is that after trying many different things over the past year and a half or so to get these final 10-15 pounds off, I finally saw the scale go down (for the record, the first 50ish came off with the same dieting tricks I have used my whole life before I completely stalled out!).  Which brings me to my second and probably more important point:

I'm still not at my pre-pregnancy weight...by about 7 pounds. But, I really think I'm ok with that! When I look in the mirror, I like what I see (at least in clothes!).  I am arguably in the best shape of my life, or at least since I swam 10 times a week as a teenager.  I am healthy. My body is toned and fit.  Sure, there are some trouble spots there (a muffin top, no thigh gap for sure, etc), BUT my body has gone through two pregnancies and I'm content with how I fared! I still don't love the number on the scale, but if I'm being honest with myself, I think I generally look the same as I did pre-children.  And for that I'm happy!
So I'm moving on the next phase of my life with no dieting.  Sure, I'm still going to work out at least five times a week and continue to make healthy eating choices most of the time. But the painful truth is that I like foods that are bad for me.  And I like to have a few drinks.  And I like to be able to meet my friends for coffee some mornings instead of going to the gym.  And so on and so on.  I sincerely believe that at this point part of being a "healthy" me means occasionally giving in to life's little indulgences and just enjoying. So, that's what I intend to do.  Happy birthday to me!