FROM GAINING 80+ PREGNANCY POUNDS TO LOOSING IT: WHAT I LEARNED AND HOW I DID IT

by | Jun 30, 2019 | MOTHERHOOD

Some women get lucky with pregnancy weight gain. During pregnancy, their weight gain only goes to that perfect round basketball they are carrying on their tummies. Picking their outfit every day is fun, as they are dressing the bump! They can continue to wear their favorite shoes ( maybe even heals) and don’t have to spend a fortune on new maternity clothes.

This was not me.

I gained 25 pounds before the first trimester was even over. Each month that went by, I continued to grow and grow. I wore pregnancy from head to toe. My face started to look not like me, I was wearing my husband’s clothes and the only thing that fit my feet were a pair of strap on sandals. I stopped counting when my last weigh-in showed I had gained 80 pounds. I felt like you had to roll me out of bed and I was starting to feel like Pillsbury the doughboy!

For most of my pregnancy, I was sick. I had every food aversion you could think of and most of the time, I had to force myself to eat as my heartburn was so bad. I dragged myself to the gym 2-3 days a week and did personal training and took my fitness seriously. My weight gain was not because of my lifestyle, it was simply just because of how my body handled pregnancy.

I’m not going to lie, I had moments of struggle. I didn’t feel like myself. I felt stuck in a body I didn’t recognize. It was hard hearing comments all the time about how big I was or how was I sure I wasn’t carrying twins.

However, I am glad I went through this struggle. It’s always time of hardship where we learn our greatest lessons.

I went on a babymoon to Spain & Portugal with my husband where I got this catch your eye bathing suit! It got a lot of laughs walking the beach, but I was wearing it mostly for me! At this point in time, I had made myself a promise. I was having a daughter and at this point forward it was my obligation to be an example of how no matter what your size, be PROUD of your body.

There is so much pressure being a woman and when it comes to pregnancy there is such a stigma around it. Woman face a ton of pressure to look and feel a certain way. However, every woman is different, which means we are all going to have different pregnancies. Some will gain 20 pounds, other 100. Some will be sick every day, some will be running marathons. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter, we are all doing the same incredible thing and that is creating a child. It’s not always easy, but the biggest lesson I learned was you need to be easy on yourself. Love yourself. Love your body. And remember doing your best is always enough.

I had a beautiful healthy baby girl. Her name was Lennon. When we were on our babymoon, we ended up staying in this small town outside of Lisbon which was hosting a music festival. The night we were there they had a Beatles tribute band playing and we spent the night dancing in the streets. It was the best and most fun night of our trip! What made it even more magical was this was the first time I felt our baby kick. Then she wouldn’t stop kicking! Apparently, she loved the Beatles! It only made sense we called her Lennon!

After Lennon’s birth, I learned another major lesson when it comes to your body…patience. I had a plan of what my post-baby diet & exercise program would look like and a date in my head of when I wanted to lose the weight by. Well, like most things in my pregnancy, things didn’t go as planned!

C-Section. Low Breastmilk Production. Colic.

These three things instantly made things more challenging for me. I had an unplanned c-section. My milk supply was low. My daughter had colic, which means she cried and wouldn’t sleep around the clock. I also suffered from a breastfeeding condition called DMER, which I won’t get into now but will release a blog sharing my story in the coming weeks!

Things were not easy at the beginning. The best decision I made was I told myself I would not think about diet or exercise for 12 weeks. Let it go, not to worry about weight loss and to just focus on surviving! Just telling myself that, felt so freeing, as I didn’t have these expectations on myself.

Those first 3 months survive is what I did. Having a newborn baby is a big adjustment on its own, having one with colic is a whole other undertaking! Yes, I understand the importance of a good diet post-baby but the reality was some days I was only eating a spoonful of peanut butter (maybe a few times a day lol) as I had a baby that would not sleep and could not be put down.

After those 3 months, I re-evaluated and thought what was I ready for now? Not what did I feel like I should be ready for but what was I actually ready for.

I was trapped inside for 3 months and I was ready to get outside and start being active again. An exercise regime was what I started with. I did this through a stroller boot camp program as it helped to have other women on the same level of as you. No one was judging if you were walking instead of running and definitely no one was judging if you peed your pants! This was great for me, as it got me outside, I was able to bring my baby when she still had colic and it helped build my confidence back into exercise. From there I progressed going back to the gym, which was incredible when I did as it gave me that break without baby and to socialize with other adults!!

It was around 6 months where I felt ready to make another big change. To really focus on my food to help with weight loss. I was very cautious about this as I still did not have a strong milk supply. I made sure that I still had enough calories and fat each day to prevent any further drop in my supply. For me personally, my milk supply still dropped. I had to increase my fat intake by double then found that it would stabilize. This was another point where I had to be patient as I couldn’t restrict my calories as much as I would like. Milk supply was more important to me and so I just focused on eating whole, nutritious food as much as possible but also keeping a high fat intake for my milk.

I stopped breastfeeding after 1 year. FINALLY, I could eat what I wanted and not worry about it making colic worse, dropping my milk supply, flaring up my daughter’s eczema, the list goes on!

I felt freed!

The last thing I was going to do was then go on a diet and feel captive again.

Yes, I did want to lose the rest of that baby weight, but I wasn’t going to do it by counting calories. Instead, this is what I did:

  1. Reset my hormones
  2. Intermittent fast
  3. Focus on cooking all my meals
  4. Be patient & love my body

I started by doing a 30-day detox.  I wanted to help my liver cleanse from any excess hormones it was storing from pregnancy and rebalance my body system. I then incorporated a few foods/supplements into my everyday regime that help support your endocrine system and keep hormones balanced ( I will write a blog on this whole topic soon!).

I intermittent fasted through Monday – Friday. I only did 12 hours ( 7pm-7am) as going up as high as 15 just didn’t work for me.

I followed the “home-cooked” meal 95% of the time. This is where you can eat anything you want as long as you cook it for yourself. I didn’t count calories but just would focus on eating whole foods, organic and lots of colorful vegetables. However, if I was wanting treats or chocolate, I could have it, but had to make it on my own.

Trust me, you never are going to cook brownies every night, so this alone made me reduce those “empty” calories. Plus, anything homemade is always going to be better for you as you can control what goes in it and it doesn’t contain all those unwanted preservatives.

Of course, there were those times where you did eat out, but like I said I focused on this 95% of the time. It was the easiest diet I ever followed – just focusing on eating healthy food and would eat as much of it as I wanted. For those times where I did want something not healthy, no problem, just make it yourself, otherwise, too bad!

Lastly, I was patient. I didn’t have a “due date” anymore for that weight to be gone. I just lived.

I had fun with my family, joined some sports teams and continued to be active in ways I enjoyed. I re-found my love for cooking, got my daughter involved in baking, and learned to love my body and myself all over again.

Its been 18 months, my baby weight is gone and I’m the happiest I have ever been!

I’m now trying to enjoy this moment as before I know it, it will be time to be pregnant with baby #2.

However, when that day comes, bring it 80 pounds, I’m ready for you this time and Im going to love every pound of you 🙂

xo
B