I have a confession. With my first, I was THAT person that effortlessly dropped the baby weight, despite gaining 60 pounds. Within 3-4 months the pounds were gone. With my second, I gained way less and figured the same thing would happen.1. Journal your weight. I know, this sounds like the last thing you want to do. There were months I didn’t lose a single pound, months I gained two, but over time the scale slowly fell. When I would find myself in a rut, I would look back at the previous 6 months and recognize I was improving. I just needed to keep on.
2. Practice self love. Women’s bodies are incredible. You grew a human. You birthed a human. Don’t look in the mirror and see imperfections. See the beauty you have added to the world. Put post it notes with messages of positivity and love on the mirrors you most use to criticize your body. When you get down on yourself, look at the note and smile.
3. Get active. I really started seeing progress once I made a commitment to being active every single day. I’m not talking about crazy workouts seven days per week. Do simple things like taking a walk with your kids or jogging with the dog.
4. Build your schedule around activity. I am the queen of packing every hour of my day with something. I had to reshuffle in order to make sure one of those hours was always activity related. I guarded that hour like crazy. I couldn’t make things at times because that was “my” time. It’s ok and important to be a little selfish for your own benefit. As moms, we deserve it!
5. Nutrition. There are a million different diets out there and I couldn’t tell you what works. For me, it was as simple as paying attention to what I was consuming and trying to be better each week. Take out something unhealthy and replace with a fruit or veggie. Before you know it, the weeks add up and you will have great nutrition.
6. Find someone to keep you accountable. Make sure your significant others knows this is important to you and go to the gym with friends to make sure you don’t want to skip.
7. Celebrate your success. You can do this! Every pound down is a battle and you should be proud of EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. No matter how far you have to go. Set goals and treat yourself once you achieve them.
Beyond anything, know you aren’t the only one. Lots of us don’t bounce back instantly after baby. And that’s OK. Wherever you are in your journey, know that you are strong, beautiful and worth it.
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