Pregnancy weight …. it just seems to happen and I totally don’t understand how women can look exactly the same before and after pregnancy. I thought I was doing fine and ate well, but at week 40 I weight a shocking 200lb! Okay, with 6 feet I’m a tall woman, but before I had any kids my weight scale told me an entirely different number… 2 kids and some unsuccessful pregnancies later I was at a point where none of my clothes fit, my weight was hovering around 190lb and 5 months post pregnancy I was still wearing maternity clothes – note; NOT good for your self esteem…
And I was not alone. My husband had been a wonderful supporter during my pregnancy, even in gaining weight. So there we were. Something had to be done, as soon as I had reached my 6 months breastfeeding goal I started with a program. We had had enough time to think about it, so this is what my husband I did and …. I lost already 30lb!
Diet
- We took out gluten. That was the first major change in our diet. Not only did we stop eating bread, all of a sudden we also eliminated pizza, cookies, cakes, pastries, pasta etc. which is a huuuge calorie saver. There are plenty of gluten free options available to still enjoy a Sunday brunch with the family and I still bake gluten free pancakes. Also try Banza chickpea pasta, great taste and good source of protein.
- Next thing to go was cheese. Not entirely, but still substantially. Honestly I think cheese was the culprit in gaining so much weight in the first place, so we decided we’d only eat cheese in the weekend. First we opted for light cheese, but after we read how much processing is needed to make fat free milk/cheese, we understood that our bodies will have a hard time digesting and eliminating this processed food. That’s why we eat almond cheese during the week, if we need to, and save real cheese for the weekend. In moderation.
- Beverages; I used to drink a cup of milk with lunch, a glass of (diluted) juice at breakfast or snack time and a cup of tea with agave and milk when we wake up. I took out most of it, only drinking my tea on the weekends. I have substituted that with plain boring water, but okay it works. And herbal teas, very delicious and without any added calories. So that’s great!
- Chocolate and other desserts…yup, we still eat them! But only on Wednesday and the weekend. And gluten free of course. This way we can keep up with the program, because completely denying yourself everything ain’t gonna work period.
Exercise routine
- KetteBells. Oh yeah! 10 minutes a day will transform you in no time. We do 20 minutes on alternating days and it is fan-tas-tic! We bought a book for technique and form, but the real motivation and routines come from this 10 minute DVD I bought. It works great. KettleBell exercises use your whole body and involves lots of thigh and bottom shaping moves. It tones your arms and abs and honestly, because you swing that weight it moves dynamically which makes it easer. With the DVD, we choose any of the exercises; thighs and buns, fat burner, total body workout – really motivating titels – and end with the ab toner routine. I’ll give a link below, it’s great.
- Yoga. My husband is a certified kundalini yoga teacher so we don’t need a DVD for that. We just do some essentials to make sure we stay stretched, relaxed and balanced. The kettle bells tend to tighten everything a bit… we are working on an app that gives you 7-10 minutes yoga so you can do it too! I’ll let you know when we’re done 🙂
And that’s it. I’m at 168lb now and want to go even less, because I see the results come so relatively easily. I must say there are two important factors that help me a lot and I’ll share them with you.
- Do it together – this way you can motivate each other and most importantly you can keep it fun together.
- Be disciplined but remember to enjoy.
