Self & Herbal Magic

by Celeste (Website Owner!)
(Canada =))

After my first son I weighed a whopping 170lbs! Now, that may not sound like a lot but when your 5'2 that's a lot of weight on a short person.

Prior to my oldest I gained the "Freshmen 15" (which ACTUALLY turned into the Freshmen 25) and stayed there. And being a starving student I justified my weight by telling myself that it was cheaper to buy a bag of chips then it was to buy a tomato.

I guess to a degree it was true, but it never stopped my mom from making a comment about my weight. I can remember exactly where I was. My brother had flown my boyfriend and I into Brantford to visit and surprise my parents for Christmas.

Now, I don't think that she was being mean at all. It was just an observation, and really if your child gained 35 pounds from the last time you saw them, I'm sure you'd say something too!

Shortly thereafter, I moved to Southern Ontario and everything changed. (Really, if your moving from Winnipeg to Toronto you'd think I would have been prepared but nope!)

Holy culture shock!

I worked for a busy high rise company made good money and about three seconds after my fiance moved here, got pregnant. I had a beautiful baby boy and struggled to loose the baby pounds.

I thought it would be pretty easy considering I had eaten fairly well while pregnant. Lots of beans, meat and rarely any junk food. Lunches at work consisted of Japanese meals.

However, I had major water retention and the pounds stayed on. I tried to believe that it would come off quickly and that I just had to take care of myself.

But like all new moms (or most anyway!) that just wasn't the case. Lack of sleep, lack of exercise and little opportunity to take care of myself quickly took hold.

Fast Forward 6 months!

Moved to another city and for Christmas that year my parents got us a Mommy & Baby Swim at the local YMCA.

Dear Lord, that meant I had to get into SWIMSUIT!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

So, I slipped one on, not thinking anything and all of a sudden my back wasn't as supple and muscular as it used to be.

My thighs overpowered the inside of the suit and even the chest part was overflowing. Did I mention that was my 6th swimsuit that I tried on?

Eventually, I went to that Mommy & Baby Swim. Then, I got in the pool and swam.

And swam and swam. I swam 5 days a week, trained to become a lifeguard and basically busted my but to loose the weight.

As a kid I lived in the water with Synchronized Swimming and later on as a Competitive Race Swimmer. So You can understand why it was so hard to get into a suit that was so much larger then the last one I'd worn.

With the final push of Qualifications coming up for the National Lifesaving Society I lost quite a few more pounds. After about a year, I left that job and took a job at the local Herbal Magic.

I followed the program 100% WITHOUT the supplements and lost another 10 pounds. I was 120 lbs and felt great! I have had another little man since then and managed to rebound very well after the birth! (Thanks to be in shape in the first place!)