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So Simple

Exercise, Eating Right Brings New Mom Back to
Her Pre-pregnancy Weight
By Alyssa Skye Collins

Pregnancy: a nine-month period of time filled with mixed emotions, healthy (and abundant) meals and ending with the joyous celebration of a new life entering your world.

I have been blessed with three uneventful pregnancies and births. The first week or two after my babies were born were round-the-clock reminders of the gift that I had been given to help grow into happy human beings.

Then came the hit 'em-hard, this-is-reality part of the postpartum period: the moment when I looked in the mirror one morning at my sagging belly and legs that had gone soft and flabby from months of little or no exercise. My upper arms had drooping bags where once there had been firm, defined muscles. I even detected the start of a second chin peeking out from under my tired face.

Suddenly, the joy from the previous weeks was overshadowed by depression. My heart felt like lead and my mind was overwhelmed with the knowledge that I'd have to work hard to get rid of the flab and excess pounds. The extra weight that had once helped my baby grow strong and healthy was now a chain around my body to be shed and hopefully forgotten. The thought made me so tired that I crawled into bed with my baby and slept for hours.

I soon recovered from my budding postpartum depression after listening to a friend and nurse talk about her post-pregnancy weight loss and fitness program. She discussed healthy nutrition and adequate exercise, making it sound so simple that I decided to try it.

The Road Back
I had always been a runner, so as soon as I had my midwife's permission, I started by running slowly and easily. Because I was out of shape, I didn't run very far the first several days. Eventually, however, I increased the time that I ran from 10 minutes to 12 to 15 – until I could run 20 to 30 minutes with no pain or problem.

At this point, I started using the running stroller that my parents had given me. Not only did my baby love riding in it, but I found that I could fit my runs in whenever it was convenient for me. We probably covered at least a thousand miles in that first stroller before my second child was born.

Veggies Aren't the Enemy
With the running, I noticed some weight loss and increased muscle tone, but it wasn't until I changed my eating habits that I really started to become fit. During all of my pregnancies, I admit that I might have indulged once in a while in high fat foods such as donuts, cake and cookies, but the improved, postpartum me knew that I needed to practice healthier, low-fat eating.

I borrowed a couple of books on nutrition and educated myself. What it boiled down to was a lifestyle makeover. I didn't want to diet. I knew that depriving myself of various foods and counting calories every day would not only make me incredibly grumpy, but it wouldn't work in the long run. Besides, my research showed that some of the popular fad diets might cause my body more harm over time than good.

I taught myself about fats, carbohydrates and protein. I learned that it takes more energy to convert carbohydrates and protein into body fat, and that dietary fat tends to be stored immediately by the body as fat. Before long, I was looking at fat grams and trying to determine which foods were low in fat and high in fiber.

We've probably all heard that eating at least five servings of fruit and vegetables every day is healthy and helps to fight cancer and heart disease. But it is also a wonderful way to lose weight and not be hungry while doing so. I found some delicious recipes and learned simple, tasteful ways to prepare vegetables without adding extra fat and calories. For example, one of my favorites is broccoli, onions and garlic stir-fried in a teaspoon of olive oil and served over basmati rice.

I began to carry portable fruit such as bananas, apples and peaches with me whenever I'd go somewhere in order to stave off those cravings that many people have when they diet. Bagels, which are normally low in fat anyway, are also easy to pack along and provide you with extra energy just when you need it most.

I noticed the greatest difference in my weight when I eliminated butter, margarine and fat-laden dairy products from my eating. At first, I thought that this might be exceedingly difficult to do, but there are an abundance of fat-free and low-fat substitutes on the market which taste almost as good as the regular products.

Keeping up With the Kids
Eating healthier has allowed me to have increased energy so I can keep up with my kids and their busy lives. Instead of walking through my day feeling half-starved and too fatigued to do much, I find myself increasing the lengths of my runs and looking forward to them every day. In fact, I was finally able to accomplish a lifelong goal of running a marathon and enjoyed it so much that I've now run two and am training for a third.

With each subsequent child that I've had, the first thing I do is buy a new running stroller that will accommodate all of them. (I've probably lost my pregnancy weight the most quickly after having my third child due to the combined weight of pushing three children during runs.) Hopefully, this passive participation in my running will encourage them to exercise as they grow older.

The added energy has also allowed me to attempt other sports or activities that I might have once passed up. I learned to rock climb and not only loved it, but I was thrilled to find that it was a good way to tone the sagging skin and muscles in my abdomen.

While it still took me a few months after each pregnancy to lose the extra weight and tone my body once again, it wasn't an exceedingly long period of excruciating exercise and starvation diets. I didn't have to wait until I had stopped breastfeeding my babies in order to diet. Instead, eating healthier also benefited them.

The bottom line is that once you decide to make the switch to eating healthy and exercising at least five days a week doing an activity that you truly enjoy, you, too, can speed up your weight loss after having a baby (or at any other time as well).

Making Tracks While Keeping Track

Keep track of your journey back to your pre-pregnancy weight by starting a diary at www.iParentingFitness.com, the newest site in the award-winning iParenting.com network!

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About the Author: Alyssa Skye Collins is a freelance writer.

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