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Friday, May 24, 2013

Preparing for a Little One


My friend Kaitlyn and I came up with a great idea that I absolutely love.

As you know, Kaitlyn is expecting her first child. This can be so overwhelming and I know that other first time moms probably feel the same. She has so many questions and would love to hear the opinions of moms who have already been through this a time or two before.
Because of this, we are hosting a weekly series for a few weeks to try and get some answers to some of the most common questions.

We have finished the second series, but if you have missed them here are the topics below that you can go back and check out.


Friday, April 5: Registering (Everything you need to know, Must Haves, Don't Bothers, etc...)
Friday, April 12: Nursery Organization & Ideas
Friday, April 19: Packing For The Hospital: For you & the baby
Friday, April 26: Birth Stories (The good, bad, and ugly) / Birth Plans (yes? no?)

This week starts our second mini-series.
Friday, May 3: Bringing Baby Home / Surviving The First Few Weeks
Friday, May 10: Breast Feeding vs. Formula
Friday, May 17: Calming Your Baby & Sleep Methods
Friday, May 24: Losing The Baby Weight

The second series will focus on bringing the baby home, new mom obstacles and losing the dreaded baby weight.  Even if you are a first time mom, you may have posts or input on this first series especially!! I know some of you are due any day now, so I'd love to get your input as well.

If you decide to participate on any of the weeks, all you have to do is write a post answering and discussing the topic/question that week and link up to the main post on my blog. I think it will be a great resource for tons of moms to be!

Below you can grab a button to use on your posts and it will be helpful if you link back to Wifessionals or Five 27 Jones so that others can get the details to link up as well. I really hope some of you will share your secrets with us!!!



Grab button for PFALO







This week Losing the Baby Weight

Losing Baby Weight  isn't easy.  Period!

Let me just start with the fact that I wasn't at my ideal weight when I got pregnant with my first.
This was just a few weeks before we found out I was pregnant.

 Then throughout my pregnancy I gained 47 pounds.  Yeah I know that's a lot, way more than I had planned.  When  I pregnant they said a good amount was between 25-35 and my goal was 30 I thought right in the middle was good.  I passed that one pretty quick.  Needless to say for me I was huge.  I will never forget the day I gave birth when they asked me how much I weighed, I never wanted to say that number again.
Here is me 2 weeks before Noah was born.   Yuck!  I always show weight gain in my face so much.  I always have cheeks but they just get bigger and bigger.


After Noah was born I had a lot to get rid of and honestly I didn't really do a whole lot about it.   I was going through a lot of family issues, I was adjusting to my new life as a mommy.  When I got home from the hospital I had lost 13 pounds so far, and then after about two weeks I think I was at 20, then shortly 30 down.  Then the rest took awhile.  I plateaued for a good 6 months.    I did some walking here and there, tried to watch what I ate but didn't necessarily try very hard. I was uncomfortable with myself every single day but just couldn't get motivated to make any lasting changes.   Then the week of Noah's first birthday  I found out I was pregnant with Carson.

I was scared.   I still had  about 7 pounds on that I never lost from Noah and I had a hard time dealing with the fact that it was now too late to try and loose weight and I would see the numbers start to go up again.  With Carson I did better but still not too great.   I gained 33 pounds with him.
After Carson  I knew I wanted to be done and again that day when I was getting ready to have him, they asked the same questions, what is your current weight... Grrrr... I vowed again to never say that number again.  It was 7 pounds less than last time but still painful.

After Carson I was ready to loose the weight.  Right after he was born as soon as I could I tried to go on little walks when possible.  We have an elliptical and had a treadmill and as soon as  I was able I tried to start doing those a few days a week.  Carson was born August 29th and by December 6th I had lost all 33 pounds, which was just over 3 months.  I remember getting on the scale and seeing that number, it was a huge victory.  I was excited to see it but still had more I wanted to loose.

 Over the last year and a half I have done multiple things, I have continued to work out, walk, more recently running, have done some Turbo Fire, Brazilian Butt Lift, and the elliptical.  Last July I also started taking Genesis Pure which I know has contributed a ton to my weight loss and the ability to stay at my ideal weight.   I have always been a yo-yo'er but since last summer have actually kept  the weight off.  I still fluctuate about 3-5 pounds every so many weeks but I blame that one on hormones and sometimes we all have those bad eating weeks because of stress, vacations or just busy schedules.

I'm not perfect and still have some weight/body goals I would like to achieve but also proud of where I have came from.  I am in better shape now than before I got pregnant so that is a good feeling.

I hardly ever takes pictures of myself and I think I already posted this one a few weeks ago but for comparison here is a recent picture.

To all of you future mommies, here are some things to remember because I know you already know them!  

1)  It took your whole pregnancy to gain the weight, it's not going to come off as soon as your baby is born or shortly after.  It will take time, but you will get there!  

2)  Drink plenty of water ( especially if nursing).

3)  Get plenty of rest.  Your body functions better with sleep.  Sleep provides us with energy.  Getting enough sleep helps us make better food choices.  It is important and will help in the long run.  I know sleep is always the first thing I can think of to give up when I'm short on time, but it's not always the best option.  

4)  Don't diet.  Diet's don't work.  Just eat healthy foods and try more frequent smaller meals each day rather than 3 larger ones .  

5)  Make some time for yourself and get your sweat on.  Go for a walk, take your pick of workouts and do them!  I can't tell you how good it felt to really work out after Carson.  I had to get up really early and it stunk at first but once I got used to it, I really started to enjoy it.  I love the quiet time I get to myself.  I love the feeling of a good sweaty workout, makes you feel like you accomplished something.  I hear it said a lot but  love it "sweat is your fat crying".

6)  Expect for weight to look different on your post  baby body.   You may reach your  pre-baby weight but still look so different and that's normal.  Things shift, around your belly will take longer to change, my hips stayed bigger for quite some time.  That all took some extra time but again it can/ will get better. 

7)  Enjoy your baby and remember he/ she was all worth it!  







3 comments:

  1. Thanks so Much! This is encouraging!

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  2. Good for you! You look awesome :) Your story is going to encourage so many mamas.

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  3. Thanks for such an encouraging post! I'm gaining more weight than I expected even though I actually eat very healthy and continue to work out, I still gain more than 1lb a week which is frustrating. Its awesome to see that you managed to loose the weight and you look AWESOME!

    Thanks :)
    Shannon

    ReplyDelete