As we locked eyes for the first time, it was like the world had stopped spinning and my life-long dream of having a baby had finally come true.

… the all-too-often "ice cream and a movie night" (popcorn just wasn’t cutting it anymore)…

… and the strange combinations of foods (pickles and chocolate anyone?) that often added more calories to my diet than my body could handle.

My careless lifestyle habits had completely destroyed my metabolism, causing my weight to escalate dramatically as I entered my second trimester.

About 5 months into my pregnancy, I was gaining weight pretty quickly; in fact, I was blowing up like a balloon!

I practically snuck out of the office that day, half-holding back tears, half-angry at myself for all those years I had treated myself so poorly.

In photos, I would hide my face and try to keep my exposure to my belly only. I did everything to avoid the embarrassment of associating myself with that weight gain.

After Tyler was born, I was told I would lose a lot of weight simply from breastfeeding – and I did, shedding 17 pounds in the first 2 months.

Sure I was grateful to lose those 17 pounds (in fact, fitting back into REAL jeans again was a godsend!), but I still needed to lose 33 pounds more to get back to my "pre-baby-body".

If I were to follow their suggestions, I’d be spending 1-2 hours everyday JUST getting my body back in shape.

For some reason or another, my husband and I started walking up and down those hills while alternating periods of fast walking (up the hills) and slow walking (down the hills).

In the next 8 weeks, I dropped another 14 pounds… simply because I was…