Post Baby Bod

     I'll just start by saying, once you have a baby, you have this new profound love for your body.  It's like any insecurities I once had, the usual #whitegirlproblems, instantly vanished.  By no means do I intend for this to be any kind of show off post about how I lost the baby weight.  Mostly, I think it's necessary to show how important it is to love yourself because, as a woman, you can do some seriously amazing things.  

  
     Your body is well equipped to make a baby in nine short months, and once you're at your worst, you somehow manage to use your own strength to maneuver that 6 plus pound baby out of your tiny frame.  How?!  It just doesn't make sense...but somehow it happens.  And after all that, you heal up and lug that heavy kid around for another couple of years.

Hold me up Momma, you're not tired!

So... here's the deal... 

     I ate everything in sight.  Like anything and everything I've ever wanted because it was good for baby.  Right? that's what you're supposed to do?

     I'm talking Dairy Queen pretty much every day, poutines, pizza coated in mild wing sauce, pastries and brownies galore.  Never did I ever want anything to do with anything green and leafy, or high in protein.  Nope...carbs and high fat dairy is where it was at.  There was no way I wanted an underweight, scrawny baby.  (Yet, she still came out at 6lbs15oz, which was skinny.)

Let's just get one of everything.

     I seriously packed it on.  And I felt bad about it when my doctor asked me if I was having a baby or an elephant.  I kid you not, those words came out of my doctor's mouth.  I felt bad about it for all of 10 minutes.  Once I left her office... I headed to the nearest Marble Slab.

Apparently my body wasn't the only thing I let go...someone needs a mani. Yikes!

     Ladies! Don't ever, ever feel bad about indulging and satisfying your cravings when you are pregnant.  There's a reason for it.  The foods that contain the highest levels of bacteria, ex. fruits and vegetables, dairy, and meat, will probably be the foods you are least interested in.  Your fetus is a little genius already.  Little smarty pants doesn't want to risk being contaminated.  Eat what your body tells you.

      

So here's what I did...

     I tried to stay fit once I found out I was pregnant.  I did yoga and walked around the block every night until I strained my S.I joint hiking.  Which is pretty common in pregnancy.  Once I pulled that sweet move,  I stopped most activity all together.

This must be the pretty sight that the hubs got to look at for a good 7 months straight.

     I ate everything.  If I wanted a poutine for breakfast, I got it.  When I desperately needed 4 packs of Pillsbury turnovers, I ate them all and didn't share.

     I hoped that once I popped this kid out, I would get my love of veggies back and I would start working out whenever I was ready.

     I didn't rush things.  I wanted to take advantage of my post-partum body for as long as I could.  I needed all the newborn snuggles that I could get with my soft, squishy body.   It was the best.

What do you want to do today C? This? Okay me too!

     The day I got home from the hospital was the day my veggie cravings began.  I literally only wanted salads and grilled veggies for every meal.  I couldn't even stomach the thought of eating anything deep fried, or any kind of meat.  My body wanted green nutrients.

     Eating healthy, along with breastfeeding, got me back to my pre-preggers weight at around 8 weeks post-partum.

At around 10 weeks post-partum,  I started doing yoga and I began running again.

Here's the progression of my body...

 

My pre- pregnancy weight was 125lbs

 I gained a total of 35lbs.

 I lost 14lbs before I got home from the hospital and C weighed almost 7lbs of that.

Today I weigh 124lbs.

     No need to stress.  Do what feels right while you're cooking that little babe.  Once you accept that your post baby bod will never look the same as it did in your glory days, you can feel better about your battle flab.  Yeah I said it... battle flab.  And it's worth every roll.

xo, Kiara