Our very own Lauren has some great tips on how she lost the weight (and inches!) after baby.
Lauren is also featured as this month's Mom Of the Month!
I had been actively T-Tapping for quite some time when I found out I was pregnant at the end of 2005. I took the news as a free pass to sit on the couch and watch re-runs of Sex and the City. The only T-Tapping I did was Hoe Downs when I was really tired or Primary Back Stretch in the third trimester to help with the discomfort of being pregnant. After my daughter was born, I continued on with my inactive exercise schedule. I honestly didn't even think of working out. I was just happy to function through sleepless nights and I gradually kept gaining, inch by inch, pound by pound.
On my daughter's second birthday I found myself at 200 pounds and in a size 16/18. I knew I had to do something. From being on the other end of the phone at the T-Tapp Office, I knew T-Tapp was the answer. Yet, the daunting words I have been repeating over and over again for years, "consistency is the only key", intimidated me immensely. Every time I would try to do a boot camp I would fail miserably. I tried to pull in others to come workout with me and help me get through, keep me consistent. Yet, if no one could make it I would take it as an excuse not to T-Tapp. I gave myself free passes not to exercise every day. I felt overwhelmed with work, school and adjusting to having a toddler that adding in something else like exercise seemed like too much to me. Not exercising was my reward for accomplishing what I could in a day. So, I just kept on gaining.
At some point in 2008, I remember zipping up a size 18 and feeling like I was going to explode out of them. Something inside of me just broke. I was fed up. I had always been thin. I had always loved to go shopping and come home with a new outfit. I was NOT going to purchase the next size up. I took a long hard look at where I was and realized I didn't want to even look in the mirror. I had no clothes. I avoided my picture being taken. I would not wear a dress. I would not go to the beach. Working at T-Tapp for over a decade, I had mastered the fitting fitness in for everyone else besides myself. As much as we all wish we could just rub the DVD on our bellies and it would magically disappear... it doesn't work like that. You have to DO it for it to work, but work it will! I realized that day that I was the other side of the phone. I was the person that needed help and I could help myself. Actually, I was the ONLY one who could help myself.
Working T-Tapp into my lifestyle was more than just time for me. It was a mental process. It was one more thing on my plate. I knew if I tried to dedicate too much time or give myself a unrelenting schedule, I wouldn't do it. So, I didn't do a boot camp. I just started. I didn't think about results, when, where, how, what or why. I put in the DVD when I thought about it. If I got to a Sunday and I realized I hadn't worked out all week, I did Basic Workout Plus followed by Lunges, Balance Sequence or Thread the Needle.
What also helped me was to look for time when I was idle in my daily life. When I was waiting for a TV show to come on at night I added in Organs In Place/Half Frogs, Awesome Legs or Diva Derriere. When my show started, I allowed myself to stop. When I was waiting for a pot of water to boil I did Hoe Downs. When my incredibly independent daughter would want to give herself a bath without my help, I would do Basic Workout Plus from memory standing next to the bathtub (yes, you really can T-Tapp anywhere).
I tricked myself when I actually went to T-Tapp. I would put in different T-Tapp DVD's all the time, telling myself I only had to do the Basic Workout Plus, the first 15 minutes. Yet, sometimes I would continue on and do the full workout, or stop at 30 minutes.
I didn't expect the inches to come off quickly because I wasn't being consistent. I wouldn't measure week to week. I would measure when I felt thin after I had been consistent (for me) and reward myself with "seeing" the inch loss. When I didn't work out, I tried to eat cleaner. I do not diet. However, when I'm not working out I do not allow myself to consider a Boston cream doughnut breakfast. Yet, when I am working out, I allow myself to eat what I want. It's my rule and it helps so much not to think about everything I am putting into my mouth.
There were months of absolute standstill in inch loss but I didn't let it shake me. T-Tapp was balancing my hormones. My body would plateau for a few weeks or sometimes even a few months and then the inches would just avalanche off.
The thing about T-Tapp is that as long as you are consistently doing SOMETHING you WILL look like a different person by the end of the year. This was true for me! I lost 41 inches and 30 lbs by the end of that year doing Basic Workout Plus sporadically. Goodness knows how much I have lost since then! All I know is that my dress size is now a SMALL and I am a 6 in most pant sizes. I still follow my same rules. I try to do something weekly and if I'm not going to then I don't get to eat the cakes I bake.
I think the most important thing for a mommy to remember is that, you have to make the time. No one else is going to do it for you. You are not going to wake up thinner. We say it all the time but it's so true: you cannot take care of anyone if you don't take care of yourself first. The energy you feel from T-Tapp and just the hormonal toxicity you burn off makes you a BETTER mother. My patience, my endurance, everything about my personality improves when I T-Tapp. I don't spend the extra money on coffee because I don't need it. I don't crash mid afternoon and want to put in a movie for my daughter so I can rest on the couch. We go out, we do crafts, we have fun together because I'm not exhausted.
Now, my daughter is enthralled by her Auntie Teresa and so proud to know her personally. When she's wearing her T-Tapp tank she will proudly announce, "This is my T-Tapp shirt! I T-Tapp with my Mama". It makes my heart smile to know she is growing up with such a healthy view towards exercise.
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