Happy Friday + Getting Back to My Pre-Baby Weight

4 Months Post Baby 

Some of you have asked me how I got back into shape after having a baby, so I thought I'd finally do a blog post on the topic. I wanted to start off by saying, every body is different. My thought was always that it takes your body 9 months to go through this change, so you should give it that much to get it back. Don't be hard on yourself.

I actually gained about 40 pounds (yes 40--eek) when I was pregnant. Two factors that really helped me get back into shape quickly was breastfeeding (for sure!) and eating super healthy (not by choice). You see, when my son was about 2 months-old he started getting some really bad eczema and was really colicky. I was probably getting 2-3 hours of sleep at night, because he kept on waking up from the colics. Our pediatrician suggested I needed to change my diet (since I was breastfeeding). Many of the things I was eating was causing him to be colicky.

For about 5 months I pretty much gave up wheat, dairy, beans, gluten, and sugars. My diet consisted of oatmeal, lean proteins such as chicken, lamb and veil (no red meat) and tons veggies and certain fruits. Some fruits such as oranges, grapefruits were very acidic and was also causing him to be colicky so I had to eliminate those as well.

In those short months, not only did I go back to my pre-baby weight, I was actually below it--without ever working out. It was so crazy. They say that breastfeeding also helps you burn 500 calories a day, so that also helped.

After I stopped breastfeeding (at around 8 months when my milk supply started running out) I slowly started adding wheat, gluten and the rest back to my diet. I've since tried to continue eating healthy and have been able to maintain my weight. Not only that, but I've noticed the change it has had on my skin and overall how I feel.

So there you have it.  Leave me a comment if you have any other questions or if you'd like me to touch upon any other topics for my new "Motherhood" posts :)