Getting My Body Back After Baby

40 Weeks Pregnant

5 1/2 Months Post-Partum

During pregnancy I felt like I pretty much loaned my body out to this little human growing inside of me.
(because you pretty much do...)

No wonder most of us moms are anxious to get our body's back!

I gained exactly 40lbs during my pregnancy with Gavin.

At my six week post-partum appointment, I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight.

In those first 6 weeks, here's what I did:

I ate extremely healthy- very low, to no sugar.

I drank a lot of water, 90-100oz every day.

I breastfed (& pumped a lot).

(and no, I did NOT workout in those first six weeks- I was not at all ready for that yet!)

During my pregnancy I ate extremely healthy! I never had fast food ONCE, never had a soda(I'm not really a soda drinker anyway...), I ate almost all organic, I juiced a lot(check out my favorite juice here.), ate tons of protein, veggies and fruits. Those nine months were by far the healthiest nine months of my life.
(I wasn't a crazy health freak though- I still had Orange Leaf ice cream on occasion, Oreo cookies here & there...I definitely gave in to my sweet tooth cravings, but it was rare!)

A healthy diet is, as everyone knows, key in losing weight! I was anxious to lose the baby weight, but I was NOT in any hurry to start working out! So in the beginning I just focused on my diet.

My diet those first 6 weeks consisted mostly of:

Oatmeal for breakfast(organic, thick rolled oats) with cinnamon
Scrambled eggs with broccoli
Cranberry Cream Cheese Chicken
Eggplant Parmesan
Grilled chicken breasts
Venison steaks
Venison burgers (no buns)
Egg sandwiches (with organic sourdough bread)
Chicken/Steak shish kabobs w/ peppers & zucchini
Sweet Potato Fries
*With our dinners we always have lots of (organic) veggies- broccoli/green beans/zucchini/sweet potato...etc. and sometimes we'll do a side of some sort of quinoa*

*I really did my best to stay away from as much sugar as possible. No sweets and I tried to stay away from bread, rice, potatoes (sweet potatoes are ok & GOOD for you!) as much as possible.

Working Out

I wasn't ready (and frankly, didn't want to) workout yet in those first 6 weeks, but I made sure to get out as often as possible and take Gavin for walks outside.

I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I still had a lot of toning up to do!
(anyone who's had a baby knows that your poor stretched out belly doesn't necessarily tighten right back up to it's pre-pregnancy self all on it's own! ...if only!!!)

So, at 3 months post-partum, I gave in. I knew I had to get back into working out (ughh!), so I decided to do "mini" workouts at home. I kept them short, and really focused on my core.
I would run on the treadmill (only for 5 minutes..I hate running...yuck) and then followed that with squats, and ab exercises (at least 200 crunches, planking...etc.).

I did my own workouts for about a week- and then decided to get my gym membership back!
SO glad I did!

Once I had my gym membership back, I started taking weekly Body Pump Express classes (my sister-in-law is the instructor..which is the only reason I decided to try it!) and oh my gosh, I LOVE it!
I go to the class twice a week and they're only 45 minutes long!
(For more info on this class check out the "Body Pump" link above)
I love this class because you can literally SEE progress- not just with how your body changes, but in the amount of weight you use (you choose how much weight you want to use for each track). I've never been a "class" person.. but if this class is available to you- TRY IT!!!
I highly recommend it!

On days that I don't do Body Pump, I do my own "mini" workout at home.
Example:
10 minutes running on treadmill
100+ squats
100+ crunches
30+ rotator presses
30+ bicep curls
100+ leg extensions (one of my favorite ab exercises)

All in all, my own little workouts take about 20-30 minutes!
Gavin LOVES watching me workout too :)

Losing baby weight or toning up is different for every mama out there!

Your diet, your metabolism, your workout routine, breastfeeding- it all has a factor in it.

Take your time, go at your own pace!

In terms of WEIGHT LOSS, I can definitely say my diet and breastfeeding did most of the work (breastfeeding/milk production alone burns 300-500 calories/day...some sources even say closer to 1,000 calories/day!!).

For TONING my body, once I stuck to a good workout routine, and started my Body Pump class I saw results almost right away! It was just a matter of doing it, and being disciplined enough to stick with it.

Stick with a healthy diet and a good workout routine, and you're guaranteed results!