My Baby Weight Story
Before I thought about having kids I was skinny. Then when I started to think about getting
pregnant I became average (why watch my weight when I’m going to be pregnant
soon anyway??). Then when I got pregnant
I became overweight. There are a few
reasons why I put on 20kg while pregnant.
- I had twins that weighed 4.3kg and a big placenta and all that amniotic fluid, etc.
- I had pregnancy hormones that told me I was STARVING all of the time
- I felt sick if I didn’t eat every hour
- I was sedentary due to pelvic pain
- I had steroid shots. These made me retain even more water!
0-3 Months
At first I was still eating loads of food and not exercising. I remember eating a lot of chocolate during those 2am, 4am, 6am feeds!!! I would eat a HUGE fruit salad for afternoon tea to try to keep me satisfied but I would still need to eat a HUGE dinner and snack during the night. Trying to cut back food when I was sleep deprived, stressed and lactating just was not an option. The only exercise I did during those first three months was walk, bend down and practise getting up off the floor. As I’ve mentioned previously, pregnancy was not kind to my body and getting up off the floor was impossible because I had lost a lot of muscle tone in my legs. By the end of 3 months I could (just) get myself off the floor and bend down to pick something up off the floor and walk around the block.
At first I was still eating loads of food and not exercising. I remember eating a lot of chocolate during those 2am, 4am, 6am feeds!!! I would eat a HUGE fruit salad for afternoon tea to try to keep me satisfied but I would still need to eat a HUGE dinner and snack during the night. Trying to cut back food when I was sleep deprived, stressed and lactating just was not an option. The only exercise I did during those first three months was walk, bend down and practise getting up off the floor. As I’ve mentioned previously, pregnancy was not kind to my body and getting up off the floor was impossible because I had lost a lot of muscle tone in my legs. By the end of 3 months I could (just) get myself off the floor and bend down to pick something up off the floor and walk around the block.
3-7 Months
This is what I call the “walking to avoid crying”
stage. The girls were always very fussy
in the afternoon after their second nap.
I quickly worked out that the best solution was to put them in the pram
and just walk. I didn’t want to walk
(sooooo tired...zzzzzzzzzzzzz) but it was better to be pushing the pram at a
snails pace than trying to jiggle them in my arms for hours. So I would just walk and keep walking until
both of them had had a third nap.
Sometimes it only took an hour, sometimes two. At first I avoided hills but after a while I
would deliberately go for the hills to challenge myself and get a bit of
exercise. I would always take the baby
carrier and would often end up carrying one in the carrier and push the other. I had stopped breast pumping by 3 months and
felt that all my hormones had settled down.
I didn’t feel the need to eat in the middle of the night and I quit
eating so much cheese and chocolate.
7-10 Months
mmm...I was slack. No
more walking the streets (too hot!) and a lot of walking the shopping centre
with iced coffee in hand....mmmm indeed.
11-18 months
I joined a gym!!!!! Have you ever tried to have a shower
with 10 month old twins in your care? At
10 months they have 2 naps (usually not at the same time!), they move (and can
open drawers, pull themselves up on things, etc.) and are not happy with any
form of restraint (playpen, highchair, etc.).
This was my number one incentive to join a gym – the crèche!!! And the baby free showers that come with
having a crèche! There were some days I
would drive all the way to the gym, settle them in crèche and then have a
really long....shower! No workout
required. Most of the time I would
actually do some exercise but I was really there for the shower for the first
couple of months. I would typically try
to do about 20 minutes cardio (treadmill and elliptical) and 15 minutes of
weights (5 different weights machines) three times a week. Once I started working out I started to cut a
little bit more of the unhealthy stuff out of my diet...bye bye juice, ice
cream, greek yoghurt and nuts!
18-24 months
The weight loss really slowed down at 18 months. It was time to join those crazy gym
classes! With some encouragement from
some friends I did a Body Pump class.
The first time I used 0.5kg weights on each end and just focussed on the
technique. I was in AGONY!!!! I thought I was going to die from all of
those lunges and squats! Death by
lunge...mmmm not the way I wanted to go.
I persisted with the class and slowly added on the weight as I gained
more muscle. Now I can lift ten times
the weight I started with! I still haven’t
got the hang of those hard core aerobics classes (e.g. Body Step) but there was
this basic cardio class I could keep up with and didn’t require a lot of
coordination.
24 months
So I’ve lost all the pregnancy weight and now I’ve moved on
to trying to look more tone and fit. I am
really looking at what I’m eating and realising how addicted I am to chocolate
and sugar. One bite of chocolate cake
and I’m hooked...mmmm cake!!! So I’m
working on my self control around sugar.
I also tend to eat the girls’ leftovers which adds in extra
calories. They eat healthy food but I’ll
tend to eat their leftover dinner at 5.30pm then eat a full sized dinner at
7.30/8pm with hubby as well! I'm certainly not skinny but I'm healthy and happy with my body.
