Post Pregnancy Body
My sons are now a year old, and I feel amazing in my body. I am back down to my pre-pregnancy weight. I have way more confidence than I did before I had my twin sons. I didn’t feel this way the first few months of my post-pregnancy journey. It took some time to get comfortable in my skin. After all, I just shared my body with two babies for nine months. I was blessed to carry my sons very well during my pregnancy. I didn’t get a lot of stretch marks, but I do have some soft, wrinkled skin. I’m sure a lot of the moms reading this know what I’m talking about. I felt a little self-conscious in the beginning, but now I’m so in love with my body. When I had my sons, I still had 25 pounds of baby weight to lose. I gained around 55 pounds during pregnancy, and half of it came off immediately. I believe breastfeeding helped with losing weight in the newborn stage. "When you breast-feed, you use fat cells stored in your body during pregnancy — along with calories from your diet — to fuel your milk production and feed your baby" (Mayo Clinic, 2020). The other pounds came off naturally when I stopped thinking about losing weight. After the first six weeks, I was eager to get back to working out, but I moved too fast and strained my shoulder. The strain came from lifting dumbbells. Injuring myself made it more of a challenge nursing twins, carrying them, and cleaning my home. I’m grateful for the strength it gave me because I pushed through. It also forced me to be in the moment with my body and love on my sons. MOMS I know you don’t want to hear this, but love your body as it is after your baby or babies. After all, you just brought new LIFE or LIVES into the world. The most amazing and powerful thing you could ever do with your body is to create life. I feel all moms hear that piece of advice, but it is human to feel a little insecure after having a baby.
As I mentioned earlier, the rest of my weight fell off when I stopped worrying about losing weight. My healthy balanced lifestyle helped me with weight loss. I do yoga daily and light aerobics three days a week. I did change my diet to become a plant-based vegan and did three fasts. I started making all my meals nutritious with a lot of greens, smoothies, fruit, and herbs. I feel way healthier since transitioning to a vegan lifestyle. I have added so many different fruits, veggies, and herbs into my life. I have self-educated myself on what food does for the body on a deeper level. My fasts lasted for a week to two weeks. During the fast, I just drank smoothies, ate salads, and two small snacks during the day. Fasting is so beneficial to your health. It gives the body and internal system a break and cleanses toxins out of the body. At first, it’s challenging because the body is not adjusted to eating less solid foods, but it gets easier as each day goes by. Fasting helped drop the baby weight. I wasn’t doing it to lose weight, but I did want to give my body a reboot! My body has elevated since the cleanses. I can’t eat as much processed food, barely any and I have more energy. My digestive system has improved as well as my mental clarity.
I know every woman’s post-pregnancy journey and body is different, but my biggest advice to any mom wanting to get in shape is to eat clean REAL food, exercise for your body type, lower stress, drink clean alkaline water, and rest. Most importantly, love your body the best you can on the journey.
Sources:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/expert-answers/breastfeeding-and-weight-loss/faq-20094993
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