How I lost The Weight

This is a story about patience and grace. Weight loss can be hard, frustrating and at times seems impossible to do. You try all the things and yet the scale doesn’t move. Did you know stress can hinder weight loss? Yep! Cortisol, also called our stress hormone, can hinder our weight loss by promoting fat storage, slowing down our metabolism, and even increasing our cravings for high-calorie “comfort” foods. Think about it, you get on the scale, it isn’t moving, you get upset, which increases your cortisol levels and you reach for some comfort, either in the form of high-calorie foods or empty calories such as a glass of wine. We’ve all done it. 

Insert patience and grace. 

When I had my second baby, the weight loss was harder. I was over 40; I wasn’t breastfeeding, so my body wasn’t burning as much energy as it did for my first child (for those of you that don’t know me, I had a double mastectomy, so I couldn’t breastfeed). And I was also juggling two kids and a husband with a broken arm (ask me about this story; it's a doozy!), so I didn’t have a lot of time for myself. After going through cancer and then another miracle pregnancy, I just wanted my body back! BUT, I had to do it differently. Here’s how I lost the weight and got my body back to a happy place.

I gave myself grace.

I didn’t have much time to myself. Unfortunately, my husband broke his arm two weeks after my son was born (and my son also broke his arm on the way out! You can’t make this stuff up!), so I had to do A LOT. Constantly feeding, cleaning, taking care of my other child, etc. Self-care was really hard, so I had to give myself grace that I wouldn’t have time to work out as much - or some days at all!

I let myself heal.

 6 weeks is not enough time to fully heal your body and get back to what you were doing prior to giving birth. Even after a surgery, you really have to ease into it! Baby steps. Resting my body while recovering gave me the strength I needed to heal so that when I was ready to start working out my body was ready too. Regardless if it’s pregnancy or a surgery you’re recovering from, allow yourself to recover first!!! Give yourself the rest you need. Do what you can and what feels good - you will get back to what you were doing it’s just not going to happen overnight. Focus on what you CAN do instead of what you can’t. 

I started small.

Once my body felt ready to move, I started small. Walking. It was easy to do as I could do it anywhere and I could take my kids with me if needed. Walking also helped with my mental health! I focused on how my body felt and moved appropriately.

Then I kept going.

Once the walking felt good and I felt ready I started lifting again. Lifting helped keep my body strong and really helped move the dial when it came to weight loss. I mixed up my workouts adding in cardio where I could and focused on moving my body everyday even if it was for 15 minutes at a time. I didn’t have a lot of time to workout, nor a lot of energy so I kept my workouts simple and short

I kept my nutrition in check.

It’s easy to let your nutrition fall to the back burner when you’re super busy. Nibble this and that, forget to eat or just order takeout. I really made sure my nutrition was in check. First of all I DID NOT DIET. I don’t believe in diets. I just made sure I ate healthy to support my healing body. I needed protein, I needed nutrients, I needed clean healthy food. I also hydrated a lot. Staying hydrated and ensuring I was eating healthy foods helped me keep my energy up because I wasn’t sleeping a lot! I also just felt better and had more energy when I ate healthy. 

I didn’t weigh myself everyday.

I gained about 20 - 25 lbs during my pregnancy. I of course wanted to get back down to my previous pre-baby weight, but me and the scale haven’t always been friends. So instead of focusing on the number on the scale, I focused on how my clothes were fitting. When can I fit in my normal clothes and get out of maternity clothes?! That was a good measuring tool for me, so I focused on that. I also focused on how I felt in general. We always have this number in our head “When I lose 10 lbs, I’ll feel better!” but then that happens and it's like, meh? I focused on my energy levels, how I felt in my clothes. Yes, I weighed myself from time to time, but it wasn’t my only measuring tool, and I wasn’t obsessed with a specific weight. 

I was patient.

It took me 9 months to gain 20lbs, so it wasn’t going to take a week to take it off. I knew this would take time. So I was patient with myself. The scale moved slowly, but after 6 months I was able to get back down to the weight, size and energy levels that I felt good with. I also knew that my post-baby body would change. I’m over 40; my body has been through a lot. I want to love the skin I’m in and feel good about myself. I stopped comparing myself to other people who lost weight faster and just focused on my own personal journey. It took me about a year to get back to where I felt really good, mentally and physically. And that is ok!

I can now say that I’m in the best shape of my life, honestly. I feel strong, I feel happy, and I am healthy. These aren’t hard things to focus on, but the implementation and consistency are where the challenge lies. Take it slow and learn from the journey. Focus on the baby steps and you’ll get where you want to be. 

Now you may not be able to relate to losing post-baby weight, but we’ve all had our own weight loss journey, and I hope that some of this can be helpful while you navigate through your own personal journey towards your best self. The situations may be different but there is common ground - consistency. Keep going, repeat the good stuff, be as consistent as you can with movement, nutrition, and sleep.