missionmightymom

“You are so lucky that you only gained ___lbs with your pregnancy.” You are so lucky that you are already back in your skinny jeans.” I only wish I was that lucky! . Trust me when I say this ladies. It is all about lifestyle. Very few women are “lucky” enough to come by these things naturally (and I hate them for it…in the nicest way possible of course).

For me it took making a conscious effort. I had two goals throughout both of my pregnancies.

Goal#1: To stay moving as long as possible. For the first couple of trimesters (when I wasn’t napping) I was able to continue with my workouts pretty much as usual. The third trimesters…Just.Keep.Moving. Walking. Ellyptical. I tried the bike but my knees hit my belly so that was a no-go. And light strength training. Over all I would say that I achieved this goal 80% of the time.

Goal#2: To eat a healthy and balanced diet. The way I looked at it (most days) was that I was the only source of nutrients for my baby. And a cheeseburger and fries wasn’t really going to provide my little one with the nutrients she needed to grow strong and healthy. On doctor visit days (oooh-don’t you love those days?!? Getting to hear that beautiful little heartbeat!) I would treat myself. Some days with Taco Bueno. But most days with a chocolate shake. Mmm! Mmm! Mmm! I would say that I achieved this goal…umm…70% of the time. But that’s all it takes. Just make an effort and you will reap the reward.

My decision to continue living a somewhat healthy and active lifestyle while pregnant definately made postpartum life  easier. I whole-heartedly attribute my easy cesarean recoveries and fairly rapid weight loss to the decisions I made during those 9 months. And as soon as I felt strong enough…I was moving. Life after Harper was a little more hectic because of her prematurity and NICU stay, but two weeks after Aniston was born…I was moving. It really is the key. I was on the treadmill in my bedroom, baby strapped to my chest. Walking. Slowly. But walking. A couple of weeks later I pulled out my 5lb dumbells and started doing curls, and squats, and lunges in my living room. When it was uncomfortable I stopped. And then I tried again the next day. And when Baby would wake in the middle of my workout, I would let her join. ***I highly recommend incorporating Baby into your workouts when at all possible*** Many days I used Aniston as my weight to do squats and she loved it!

It has now been 12 wonderfully exciting, extremely exhausting weeks since God blessed us with our tiniest girl. And I am proud to say…I am feeling better than ever. Seriously!

Unfortunately I am not one of the 1 in 1 trillion ladies lucky enough to magically leave the hospital in her skinny jeans. It’s all about lifestyle people. And if I can do it (some of the time), so can YOU!!