Every pregnancy I say I’m going to to do better.  I’m going to take my vitamins, eat healthy, keep exercising, and come out on the other side better than when I went in.  And every pregnancy, I fail miserably.

Typically, I do great until 5-6 weeks when the morning sickness hits.  Then, I eat only what will stay down.  After the morning sickness is over, I’m just so happy I eat everything in sight!  By this time the thought of vitamins and exercise make me sick, so I avoid them as I pork out, all the time excusing my bad habits as celebrating my pregnancy.

Nice one, Amy.

When it comes to eating healthy and exercising, I have always seen my life as a series of pregnancies with the time in between being the only opportunity I had to get back in shape.  Sometimes that was mere months!  Only a few months to undo a cycle of unhealthy habits, only to find myself right back to my old ways as soon as a new baby was on its way.  And let me tell you, when you’ve been eating poorly for 9 months, it is extremely difficult to go back to eating well and exercising.

Toward the end of my pregnancy with Creed, I started reading Trim Healthy Mama and began to realize pregnancy didn’t need to be a time when I got weaker.  I actually began to be excited about getting stronger and healthier.  Rather than throwing my hands up because I was at the end of my pregnancy anyway, I started to think how much stronger and healthier I would be after baby arrived if I started right then.

So, that’s what I did!

And 6 weeks after baby’s birth, I was back down to pre-pregnancy weight!

4 weeks postpartum – almost there!

I had a few readers ask for tips on what you can do while pregnant to start making healthy changes, so I decided to write out what I plan to do if the Lord should bless us again.  I hope this helps some of you!

1.  Start Now!  Stop waiting to not be pregnant, and if you’re not currently pregnant, start these healthy habits with the intention of carrying them over into pregnancy.

2.  Make your supplements a habit.  I’m terrible at taking vitamins, but some of it is the fact that I don’t stick with it long enough to make it a habit.  Right now, I’m working on making my vitamins a healthy habit.  I’ve even enlisted the help of my husband to remind me.

3.  A little exercise is better than nothing.  I know, I know…you’re tired and you hurt, but really, all you have to do is 10 minutes of something that is a little more exertion than you are used to.  Take the stairs up to your OB’s office instead of the elevator (yep, that was my exercise of choice ) or do some stretching or find a pregnancy workout on YouTube (there are TONS of these!).  Even now, I take this approach…what time I have to exercise is what time I have.  A little bit is better than nothing.

4.  Eat what will nourish you and baby.  The key word here is NOURISH.  We have to stop seeing food as just something we do.  It has to be seen as the FUEL it is.  What kind of fuel you put in your body will determine how you feel burning that fuel.  And when you are pregnant, you have someone else to think about as well.  Are you and baby running on junk or on the best fuel you can manage?  Make the choice meal by meal to nourish you and your baby.  I think about this as I’m breastfeeding too…nourish me and in turn, nourish baby.

5.  Make goals.  I started making goals when I was pregnant for what I wanted to do once I had baby, but you can easily make goals for yourself during pregnancy.  Things like a slower weight gain or exercise goals are great to have and shoot for during pregnancy.  Remember, think strong!

I started making changes about 4 weeks prior to delivery.  My goal was to get a jump start on losing the baby weight by eating better at the end then I ever have before.  I’m focused now on getting stronger through weight training and cardio and continuing to eat nourishing foods.

I’m nowhere near perfect and sweets are still a major downfall for me, but I’m not giving up and I refuse to make pregnancy an excuse anymore!

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So, how’s my progress?  Baby Creed is 9 weeks old and I am 5 pounds under pre-pregnancy weight.

My next mini-goal (remember, I said I have to do small goals because if I look at ALL the weight I need to lose, it overwhelms me) is about 7 pounds away!  That goal will mark the weight I was when I got pregnant with my 6th child in 2008.

Yes, that’s right…
all 40 pounds of pregnancy weight are GONE!

Baby Creed is 6 weeks old and as of yesterday, I was back at the weight I was when I got pregnant with him.  When I mentioned this on Facebook yesterday, I had several people ask me to share how I did it, so this post is to do just that.

First, I feel I need to add a disclaimer…

I was overweight to begin with.

(This photo was taken right before I found out I was pregnant)

It’s a known fact that the closer you get to your ideal weight, the harder it is to get the weight off, so it stands to reason that my being 40 pounds or more overweight to begin with makes it that much easier for me to lose the baby weight.

I also wanted to point out one of my weight loss heroes from this photo taken in April of last year.  Her name is Kris and she blogs at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.  I watched her drop nearly 100 pounds and become more fit and active than I had ever seen her.  Her journey has been an inspiration to me!  Thanks, Kris!

OK, so back to WHAT I did to lose the pregnancy weight…

When I was still pregnant, I joined a group of moms of many I knew online who were making healthy changes.  I was still several weeks from my due date, but I knew this time I was going to do it and not just think about it.  My husband was already starting to lose weight using My Fitness Pal, so I was inspired by him and my friends to start eating better even before Creed was born.  (By the way, Ty is now down 30 pounds!  Wow!)

I got a copy of Trim, Healthy Mama (a few weeks before Creed’s birth) and started learning about separating out my fuel sources, so my blood sugar stayed at a healthy level (something that has always been a big struggle for me).  I do not always eat the way that is recommended in THM, but it has made me more aware of what I am eating and what I need to do to feel my best.

Also, prior to having baby, I decided on some Baby Step Goals.  I’m one of those people who would rather deal with the trees than the forest.  A huge number of pounds to lose wasn’t something that motivated me in the least, so I decided to guess at what weight I might be after having baby and then set small goals from there.  I wrote every single goal I had on a sheet of paper and then covered up all but the current goal and taped it to the back of my closet where I would see it every day.  It felt so good to move that sheet of paper down to uncover the next goal yesterday!

The way I decided on what my goals would be were based mostly on my children.  My first goal was to get to where I was when I got pregnant with Creed, which also happened to be the weight I was when I got pregnant with my last child as well.  My next goal is another 12 pounds down and where I got pregnant with baby #6.  After that, the goals work their way down to where I have been with other pregnancies…baby stepping my way out of all the “baby weight” I’ve ever gained.

I decided I would exercise as soon as I felt able to.  I felt really well after having Creed, so I began walking at 3 weeks postpartum.  I started by walking 1 lap around the back of our pasture with Ty.  I worked my way up to 2 laps, then I started T-Tapp’s 15 Minute Basic Workout Plus.

T-Tapp isn’t a strenuous workout and it is easy to fit into my day.  About a week ago, I started using the elliptical for 10 minutes.  A couple of days ago, I worked up to 20 minutes.  I also just purchased:

Lindsey Brin’s PostNatal Workout and her CORE Firing Sequence.  (I’ll let you know what I think after I’ve used them.)  I also just started back in with the Tupler exercises.  Exercise at this point, is really just about what I can fit in when.  I do hope at some point to be a little more planned out, but that just isn’t happening.  I do like my friend Jamie’s take on exercising though…

I am also trying to get more sleep at night and drink more water during the day.

I also have been working on some “head issues.”

I know I am a person who needs to surround myself with people who believe in me and are determined and energetic themselves, rather than people who want to tell me how they can never get the weight off and how I probably won’t either (followed up with, “and that’s okay.”)  I’ve had to be careful about who I listen to and what I tell myself.

I’ve also had to come to grips with my lack of self-control and ask the Lord to help me learn this.  If you remember from this post, I allowed myself to indulge in food because of my daughter’s death.  No more!

And lastly, I am acting like a fit mama.  This may sound silly, but I have noticed how much more energetic and motivated I am when I move, eat, and think like a fit woman.  I stand taller, I move quicker, I even enjoy the things I do more, when I act like I am fit.  Crazy, but true!

So, there you have it!  It’s not some magic bullet, but it did work for me!  How about you?  What have you done to get your pregnancy weight off?  I’m sure everyone would love to hear more ideas for losing the baby weight!