Week 8 Update: Fit or Fabulous? by Liimu

Week 8 update: I am down a total of 10.5 pounds since I started and definitely can start to see a difference. I’m still on track to reach my goal of being fabulous by Max’s first birthday on March 14, 2012.

Speaking of fabulous, I did a google search today and looked up “how to be fabulous.” How sad is that? With four kids (one of them a not-quite-eight-month old), a thriving consulting business, a budding singing/songwriting career and a very public quest to regain my pre-pregnancy figure, I am feeling quite a loss for where I would find the extra time to get that put-together look I see in women all around me and on TV. How does J Lo end up the Most Beautiful Woman in the World, when she’s the same age as me and has toddler TWINS? Ok, right, right, right. I know what you’re all thinking. She’s in the business to look good – it’s her job. AND she has an entire staff helping her. But still. I’m not trying to look all Gucci’d out every minute of the day. But I would like to find a way to get a workout in and a full day’s work and still have time for a shower, make up and a quick hair styling that doesn’t involve a scrunchie.

All that being said, it hasn’t escaped me how ironic it is that Kim Kardashian – known for her drop-dead gorgeous looks and sex appeal – was dying to get married for years and then wasn’t even able to make it through one entire season of the year before she filed for divorce. J Lo is on divorce number 3. Halle Berry is still gorgeous and always looks perfectly put together, whether on the red carpet or at the playground with her equally gorgeous baby and yet she is allegedly getting ready for marriage number three? Four?

I’m not trying to be catty. I completely feel for this women and how frustrating and lonely it must be to not be able to forge and maintain a partnership that’s satisfying and fulfilling. It must be hard to do that when you’re constantly in the public eye, constantly on the go for a demanding career, and feeling the pressure to get as much done as you can while you still have the beauty and youth that seem to be at the top of the list of requirements for women in Hollywood. I made a choice when I was younger to put my dreams of becoming a famous actress and pop star to the side because I was headed down a very dark and destructive path, a tragic fate that would be all but sealed if I pursued a career in entertainment. Instead, I took a safer, corporate track, but could never completely let me dreams go. I became a wedding singer and met my husband. We began having kids immediately, and I kept singing and performing all the while, even getting the chance at one point to perform a solo with Patti Labelle on NBC television in front of 10 million viewers. I still pursue music to this day, as I said, writing and performing original music at local venues all year round and I hope one day to have the success I longed for so long ago. I do it now as much to show my kids how important it is to pursue your dreams as for myself.

I’m not glamorous and fabulous right now. It will probably take me 12 months to get back to a size I’m comfortable with, where it takes most actresses and pop stars less than 12 weeks. I’m overwhelmed most days and with a staff of just me, my husband and our mother’s helper, I’m happy just to get to 9 pm having clothed, bathed, and fed all my kids, helped them with homework, worked a full day, worked out, showered, and eaten healthy myself. If I’m able to also say that I rehearsed for a gig, volunteered for the junior choir, coached a friend, or gotten my nails done, that’s a bonus. If I’ve put on makeup and done my hair, that’s a freakin’ miracle.

Any advice you guys can give for how to look fabulous every day in ten minutes or less, please let me know! And if you know of a cheap personal stylist who can help me get my closet full of clothes that fit, flatter and help me in my quest for fabulousness, even better.

BodyFIT update: I finally downloaded the BodyFIT iPhone app and am now consistently tracking my nutrition data too, so I can clearly see the daily deficit calories burned vs. calories eaten. That is game-changing and definitely the reason I lost another 3 pounds this week.