Imma Little Rusty

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Ok ya’ll… this blog is gonna be REALLY REALLY REALLY real. I keep getting questions about how I have lost my weight after having a baby so you’re about to find out! This is a topic that I am super passionate about because I have seen so many women post party (including myself) try and snap back to their pre baby body and it’s SO unhealthy. Physically and mentally! You just grew and birthed a human being, give yourself some grace. You won’t bounce back overnight… or even a few months so don’t get discouraged when you don’t see it. And mama’s with more than one kid, it’s even harder to get back to prebaby body. Your body needs time to heal so the best advice I can give you is be patient and learn to love yourself during this time.

With that being said, it’s important not to work out for at least 6 weeks after baby has come. Yeah, you heard me. You can do long term damage to your muscles and your lady parts if you start exercising to quickly. If you want to get out and do some movement… how about a short walk or easy yoga class? Once those 6 weeks have passed, ease back into a workout routine. I personally started back working three days a week with a break day in between each workout. I’m not great at staying motivated by myself at the gym so I joined fitness classes that keep me moving and are based around weights that you feel comfortable using. Three months after having Mercy, I go to the gym at least 5 days a week for an hour during my classes. They push me to use bigger weights and to focus on building muscle verses being skinny.

Let’s talk food. Whatever you were eating during your pregnancy (including those daily milkshakes) have gotta be changed. I focus on a healthy diet with a vacation meal once a week. Fresh veggies, Whole Foods, simple ingredients. The less processed the better. Wanna take it a step farther? Cut out dairy. Aside from food, I drink mainly water and I mix it up with actual juice from my juicer and kombucha. I don’t drink soft drinks or sweet tea. If you have trouble getting your water down, you’ve gotta figure out a way to make it work. If you need it ice cold, add ice! Need some flavor? Add a lemon wedge! Making sure you are hydrated is very important regardless if you’re breastfeeding or not. What a lot of people don’t know is that their “hunger pains” are often thirst pains! So drink some water and see how much it can help! I do not count calories but I do focus on eating a meat and two vegetables with every meal. Limit dairy and eat a crunchy snack in between meals. I love almonds or cut apples with peanut butter.

Aside from that. You need patience during this process. A lot of my weight does come off from breast feeding but not all. I hate my belly area and I’m self conscious about it because I might look skinny but that area is so fluffy it hangs over my pants and I def have a muffin top. I don’t have that hourglass figure that I want. I am normally a size 00 and I am a size 2. Nothing wrong with that and I’m not sharing so I get shamed on how much I normally weigh or currently weight just so you can see the difference in my body. I pulled out a bunch of pants that I normally wear during the winter and my thighs don’t even fit into them… so that discouraged me but I decided to put them all back up and just wear the size 2 jeans I bought from Target. Every time I feel sad about my body, I make it a point to go back a talk with myself in the mirror and tell myself how beautiful I really am.

There’s nothing wrong with being a different size than I was. It’s going to take some time to go back and shoot, it might never go back to what I was but during the process I am focusing on my beautiful little baby that smiles up at me, the hard work that I am putting into my gym time and building a strong body (not a skinny one) and eating healthy so I can feel great. Because in the end as long as you feel good, that’s all that should matter. I don’t own a scale because I’ve done that before and I just nit picked every pound I would loose or gain so I honestly suggest throwing that out. What does a number on a scale mean to you? Would you rather a certain number or to feel beautiful in your own skin? I vote on the latter of the two!

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