I read a quote by Jenny Mccarthy when I was pregnant with Phinn about how important it is for new mamas to be gracious with themselves during postpartum. I can’t remember the quote exactly but it was some to the effect of it taking nine months to put the baby weight on so allow yourself nine months to take it off.
At the time that sounded great to me! Nine months sounded like a long time! I thought to myself ‘oh I’ll do that no problem!’ Hahhahaha! Well when Phinn was 9 months old I was already 4 months pregnant with Tallulah! Soooo there went that plan!
After Lou was born I was exhausted and overwhelmed by the amount of weight I needed to drop! I had two babies back to back and my body took a few solid hits! As I started to approach the 9 month mark I started to feel a lot of pressure to be back to “normal”! I began to put this expectation on myself and started to beat myself up for missing it! Instead of celebrating all that my body did and was continuing to do I started to hate it. I was jealous of those moms that just nursed themselves skinny!! If you’re one of those mamas… All the praise hands! Fingers crossed I come back as someone like you in my next life! Ha! Just kidding! I know we each have our own journey and I’m thankful for mine and I totally celebrate yours!
Anyways, when Lou was 10 months old I finally felt ready to tackle the weight loss. I did the whole30 and then transitioned into paleo. I did that from August 20th until mid December. During that time I lost over 50 pounds and was actually lower than my wedding weight! I worked hard, made sacrifices, and fully enjoyed the reward! I felt fantastic!
Fast forward a bit. Baby number three arrives. The weight loss is slow and I feel like I blinked and he was 9 months! Again I started to feel the pressure of all the I should haves! I should be back to my pre baby weight by now. I should be more careful about what I’m eating. I should be working out more or harder! The list goes on and you get the idea.
The truth is sometimes you just don’t have the grace to tackle certain things but when the time is right it just clicks. When River hit the ten month mark I felt ready. I gave myself the goal of being back to my pre pregnancy weight by his first birthday! It felt realistic for me and even though the timing fell right over the holidays I felt the grace to do it.
River will be 1 in twelve days and I’m about 5 pounds away from my goal. I think I’ll make it but if not that’s okay. I’m learning to be gentel with myself. I’m learning to be comfortable in my own skin regardless of a number on a scale. I’m taking the time to love myself for who I am and not for what I look like. I’m finding my confidence again and feeling back to normal. For me carrying around extra weight weighs on my emotions negatively and I just don’t want to waste my days there. I want to live in freedom and enjoy my life exactly where I am in every situation. I’m focused and practicing doing just that!
Hat
Diaper bag
Scarf (similar)
Jacket (similar)
Jeans
Shoes (similar)
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