Love Your Tummy Project

I am excited to announce that I am starting the Love Your Tummy project on March 1st!!!

I want to make it an inclusive project, which means, you're ALL invited to do it with me!!! :) Actually, I NEED you to do it with me so that it works LOL I want to share pictures & stories of women who have struggled with their tummies, after children or after losing weight. This is for all of us!!!

It starts with me. I have struggled for the past 6 years with the tummy that my twin pregnancy left me with. I never had "stretchy" skin anyway, I got stretch marks from puberty. However, I was HOPING pregnancy would be different. I put olive oil on my belly, shea butter, you name the home remedy & I tried it!!! I always thought I had a cute tummy before pregnancy, it was not necessarily flat or a 6-pack, but I liked it. Well, I gained 50 pounds with my twins & my belly was stretched to it's max!! I swear, I think my girls were born early b/c my body couldn't give them any more room!

This pic is from 3 weeks before the girls were born:

So no one really talks about what happens to your belly after the baby is out of it....it just hangs there. :/ Not for all women, I understand that, but for me & other women, you're left with extra skin & stretch marks. Since having my twins, I've really struggled with my belly. I've hated it. I've tried coconut oil, dry skin brushing, even stretchmark oil & I honestly think that nothing will help my belly, except a tummy tuck. It's been a huge weight to carry around, it's something I think about every day. I used to plan my outfits around my belly, if I bend down or sit down, it is pushed over my pants. Even when I work out, I am terrified of my shirt lifting up & showing my belly.

BUT, I'm DONE with all of that nonsense!!! For the past year I have been working towards loving ALL of myself. That includes my belly. I have been following some pretty awesome, fit ladies who have shared pics of them getting competition ready, or even featured in a magazine, all with tiger stripes & a mummy tummy!!! I have been inspired. My belly DOESN'T have to hold me back in fitness, and it SHOULDN'T hold me back from loving myself.

I am still in process of learning to love my belly, I KNOW that it held my children & housed them until birth. For that I am thankful. I hold onto that when I really think poorly of it, but I have decided that I want to start a movement. I want real women to be proud of their bellies, whether they've have multiples, multiple pregnancies or have lost a lot of weight. Ladies, ALL of those things are things to celebrate & be proud of. It may have left some marks on our bodies, but that is OK.

If you have a picture & a story that you want me to share, please submit it to my fitness FB page: The Sweat Life: Health & Fitness. I will begin posting them on March 1st!! I am excited about this b/c I know how much seeing other women love themselves & their bodies has helped me accept my own body. I am hoping the same goes for all of the people who are touched by the Love Your Tummy Project!!!

It's Valentine's Day today!! I have to say that I am excited!! :) I love Valentine's Day, maybe b/c I love hearts, roses, pink & chocolate?? I don't know where this love stems from, but it's there & I like to make it special for my kids & my husband. I started the celebration yesterday morning, with heart shaped cinnamon rolls & today I will serve the kids hot dogs cut in half & then put back together to create a heart. Last night, I just had to feed my husband & myself, so I made heart shaped hamburgers for us. Love is on my mind <3

Today I ran with my loco running buddies. We are crazy!! Last week we ran in ankle deep snow & today we ran on the trail that was basically a skating rink. The best part of our run today was getting off the trail & just running on the sidewalk. We did end it on the trail & we got 10.5 miles in, not the 12 we had planned, but for the conditions of the trail, I think we did pretty well :) I also had an amazing run around PR on Monday, when the kids were in preschool. It was cold, windy & a little snowy, but it was awesome. Except for those random sidewalks where people hadn't shoveled well & left tons of ice all over. There were many times where I was sure I would slip & fall, but thankfully I kept light on my feet & was able to hobble, jump & walk over the ice.

All in all, I am happy folks!! I am happy with how I feel, I am happy with the foods I am eating, I am happy that I feel healthy & am starting to see results of the lifestyle changes I've made so far in 2013. I have hit my stride with the daily mile challenge for Feb & have run every day since last Monday. That makes 11 days so far :) I love lifting weights & seeing muscles pop up! I am beginning to look into what supplements I need to help build up my muscles. I am still losing weight, which is not bad, but I would rather be building muscle right now. I do want to lean out, burn fat & build muscle, so really the # on the scale will eventually go up again, once those muscles get bigger. lol I'm hoping that some changes I'm going to make during my next Whole30 will help with that. I used bacon occasionally during my last challenge, but I am cutting it out this time around. Sadsies!! If you know me at all, you KNOW that will be a big challenge, I Lurve me some bacon :)

Other than that, I just want to celebrate love today, so I hope that all of my dear readers get to enjoy the day, whether it be with family or on a romantic date.