Jul 23 2009
Getting Back Into Shape After Having a Baby
It’s been awhile since I posted here - and actually needed to beg the Today.com staff to reinstate my account because I haven’t been able to write like I usually do!
I had a very good reason for not being here for so long though…A very cute and sweet baby girl!
Something amazing has happened this time with my weight compared to my other two kids. With the other two I waited weeks and weeks for those baby pounds to wear off. If you’ve ever had kids you know how it goes. You think that you will just magically go back to yourold body shortly after the baby is born. It’s pretty discouraging when you’re still wearing maternity clothes 5 weeks later.
This time around though things were different. I even had a pair of my old “fat” pants for me to hopefully wear until I could start exercising again. (After you have a baby you should always wait to exercise until your doctor gives you the okay - for me this is still another few weeks). Anyways, I think they were size 16 or 14 maybe, but they were loose and baggy before I got pregnant - pretty much slid right off of me if I didn’t wear a belt.
Much to my astonishment and surprise, guess what? They were too big for me to wear just two weeks after having the baby. I was in total shock. I wasn’t exercising. I was eating well - when you are nursing you have to make sure you eat enough. Curiously I tried on my skinny jeans, a size 10. Slightly snug around the waist, they fit! I was elated and I couldn’t believe it. When my other daughter was born two years ago it was the whole reason I created the LoseFree diet - she was a year old and I still weighed around 200 pounds, never managing to get rid of the baby fat from her until I did all the nutrition and exercise research I learned that I share on my blogs.
I can’t explain it scientifically or prove it, but I have to think the reason the pounds melted right off this time around is 100% related to my healthy eating habits. The entire time throughout pregnancy I did not have to adjust my diet hardly at all. I had a spinach omelet with whole grain toast for breakfast, usually some sort of healthy sandwich for lunch, and then for dinner we would have spaghetti or tacos or salads and other good tasting stuff. I kept up with the “no added sugar” and I made sure that I had all of the food groups each day. For snacks I had things like sugar free pudding or yogurt or raw veggies.
To make a long story short, I think the secret is to eat healthy consistently and make a change not temporarily just to lose weight now - but to stay on track for good. I could have succombed to those pregnancy cravings of wanting to eat lots of sweets and chips and not so good for you foods - but instead I chose healthy things. When you make a change for life, you’re much more likely to have success no matter what might happen.
I can’t wait to start exercising again soon. I plan on slowly getting back into it since it has been about 9 months since I’ve really had a good workout. (I did exercise some while I was pregnant but it was all low impact - taking walks mostly). We’ll start off with some walking most likely and then it’s off to the more serious aerobic sessions for me 
Will keep you all posted.
