About five months after having my third child, I had to wear a strapless bridesmaid’s dress to my sister-in-law’s wedding. With more than 40 pounds of my baby weight still to lose, I decided that was enough motivation to whip myself into shape. I lost it–and more–thanks in huge part to technology.

If you’re still carrying around the extra baby pounds and would like to shave them off for summer time, here are the five ways that I used to tech to make it happen.

1. Exercise DVDs

As a busy mom with a newborn and two older kids, I knew that there was just no way I could commit to spend the time or the money in a gym, even with the childcare that many of them offer. So I invested in Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred DVD, which, along with some simple dietary adjustments, helped me lose 12 lbs in one month with just 20 minutes of exercise a day.

2. Calorie Counting Apps

Even though I was breastfeeding, I was still overeating, so I really needed the help of a calorie counting app. Programs like MyPlate or MyFitnessPal make it ridiculously easy to track your food intake. After Baby #4, I joined Weight Watchers, which has a program just for breastfeeding moms and a cool iPhone app too.

3. Downloadable Workouts

After completing the 30 Day Shred, I needed a change in workouts, so I headed over to ExerciseTV to check out their cool workout downloads. You can find a slew of free workouts including yoga, pilates, abs and fat burning workouts. Also, purchase workout series and DVDS which come as convenient downloads to your computer–eliminating excuses when you travel.

4. Social Media

Throughout my weight loss journey, I utilized the power of social media and the online community to keep me motivated. I started following a number of weight loss and fitness bloggers on both Twitter and Facebook, like @bookieboo, and @ronisweigh, who send out links to helpful blog posts and offer quick bursts of encouragement. Additionally, I kept tabs on various hashtags like #momsrunning and #shredheads (my own viral fitness hashtag that I helped to start) to share in the weight loss journeys of others.

5. Gadgets

There are no shortage of fitness gadgets out there, like simple pedometers that track your activity, and the Fitbit, which also tells you how much (or how little) you’ve been sleeping. On the fancier side, I like the Nike + iPod sport kit and totally recommend a Garmin watch–a staple for any runner. I  also ended up just purchasing a good set of earphones to help pass the times on my long run, and uploaded a few motivating MP3s from terrific list at one of my favorite running blogs, Another Mother Runner.

What technology have you used in a quest to lose weight and get in shape?