Dorah Mwima Schools Fellow Women
LONG POST ALERT:
I have received a few messages from ladies who are curious and want to know my secret of losing baby weight fast... Thank you for your lovely messages and as promised I won't be selfish so here goes ...
In 2010 when I gave birth to Ethan I lost 10kgs without really doing much. I easily dropped from 65kgs to 55kgs in just a month. So i won't really concentrate on how I lost that baby weight being that I was only 19yrs and I believe due to my then busy schedule I was able to lose it that fast.
5yrs later with a weight of 53kgs before conceiving , I added on 20kgs in 9 months. What did I do or what have i been doing to lose the baby weight???
Ok the truth is its not a magical act that one tends to perform and in a snap you are back into shape neither is it an overnight job to get your sexy back.
Let me first start by saying if you are pregnant right now and are already stressing on how you will get to lose that baby weight I suggest you first relax and enjoy your pregnancy to the fullest and get to worry about losing that baby weight after you have had your healthy baby...
Gabriella was born 5 weeks and 3 days ago weighing 3.4kgs. Unlike Ethan I knew with Gaby I had to put in some extra work to get back to my original weight of 55kgs. Am not yet there and am still working on the baby weight with 8 stubborn kgs to lose by mid October(personal baby weight challenge)... On July 21st 2015 a month after her birth I weighed 62kgs which ment I had lost 11kgs in just a month so here are a few personal tips for you but remember as far as weight loss is concerned our bodies are built differently what works for me might not work for you or might even work for u far better than it did with me but it doesn't kill to give it a try, right?...
1. Relax, take it easy and switch on that positive mindset... A lot of women during or after child birth tend to stress about the baby weight and with questions such as "How am I going to lose it?", "Am I going to look as sexy as before?", "Am fat!", "I don't think I can do this!" nyo nyo nyooo ...The fact is, it took you a good 9 months to turn food into a human being! So stop stressing and start thinking positive. Don't allow such thoughts to run through your head and make the mirror your best friend. Yess, you and only you have YOU to inspire YOU! No one else will do that for you! In fact most people are ready to call you out on your baby weight " Oooh you are fat" "Oooh what happened to 'our' body", "Oooh how are you going to lose all that weight?" blah blah blah... so make sure to assure them and yourself that it's just baby weight not you being FAT and within no time you will be back to your former self.
2. Now let's get to work... I tied my stomach from day 1(after being discharged from hospital). Unlike a CS birth, with a vaginal birth you can do so as soon as possible unless you are just plain lazy! Well, that stomach won't go away by itself!
So for the first four weeks I used what is called the box method where one gets a piece of cardboard, measures it according to their stomach size and wraps a leso or gutter around the stomach. The cardboard helps your stomach to remain straight and won't allow your stomach to fold (which tends to happen sometimes when one uses a gutter or leso). After the first month, u can either decide to continue with that method or get a waist trainer that will help you to further lose more of that stomach till you get to your target size.
3. Let's not lie to ourselves and think that if you are going to eat for 3 you will achieve your target weight! No madam! eat healthy yes, because your body needs to get back the energy lost during child birth. But if u are going to do katogo in the morning and after every 2hrs then add porridge and that soup (the cow leg soup that people like drinking (forgot its name)) then am sorry but you won't lose any baby weight, instead you will be adding on a good sum of fat on top of it. Don't get me wrong and start saying "eh eh so how am I going to generate my breast milk if I starve myself?" No am not saying starve yourself, I mean "Eat for one and drink for two" as in eat normally as you did before being pregnant but drink a lot of liquids... For me i take a cup of ovaltine every 2hrs, i drink 3ltrs of water a day, lots of fresh juice, two bowls of vegetable or chicken soup can do too(Knorr). The trick is to drink more liquids, eat normally esp if you are breastfeeding and don't forget to drink a glass of warm water every morning to help you detox...and btw, of course we all have our mother in laws, mothers, aunties or friends who might want us to drink up that flask of porridge every hour in order to generate milk, So no disrespect to them cos they do so in good faith but it's really up to you to see how to go about this without offending anyone who is attending to you during that recovery period.
4. Having added 20kgs I knew this was not going to be a walk in the park as Ethan had been, so I contacted a workout trainer who comes home and takes me through some workout drills. I think the thought of leaving your baby at just one month nd going to the gym is scary to most mothers, that's why they tend to delay going to the gym or start working out late when the body has adopted to the baby weight, making it much more harder to lose. So why not bring the gym to you? I started my workouts when Gaby turned a month old, so there are really no excuses! With a good trainer you can start a work out schedule after one month of vaginal birth. For CS i think its about 3-6 months...So if you need one i can recommend you mine and he's really affordable, He's a professional trainer and if necessary gets you on a diet too which will be according to your body type and eating habits. My body is the type that loses weight fast so am not on any diet.
5. LOOK GOOD ALWAYS! Motherhood was not meant to make us look old or beat up. Just because you are a mom doesn't mean you let go of yourself. Get a salon lady to come fix your hair at home, a manicure and pedicure can be done too at the comfort of your house. I know leaving your newborn at home just to go out and get a new look might sound selfish and one tends to even feel guilty, so really you don't have to wait till 3 months or soo when your baby is old enough to move around in order to get back to your former self or look good! Bring the service providers to you!
Every opportunity that I get when Gabriella sleeps I use it to get some rest and take care of myself.
6. Lastly take a TIME OUT, I know my children are going to grow up and leave me behind with that one special "big baby"! That "baby" that they found me with. So I never trip on the fact that I always have to look good for my bu bu and make time for him too (can I hear an AMEN from the men? Lol)...You are not being a bad mommy when you decide to let the nanny or someone you trust watch over the baby as you clean up and prepare yourself for hubby before he gets home. Let him find you cleaned up and smelling fresh (it's for your own good too). You may not wear make up or dress up all the time while you are home but you know how we tend to forget or assume that everyone around us will understand that you are a "nakawerre". So there u go with a huge t-shirt on, all covered in breast milk, you get to shower only when u feel like it, head wrap has been on the whole week,hair/weave not washed and you still stroll around the house with your maternity clothes 3 - 6months after delivery. Ladies, let us not create unnecessary and not called-for scary movies for our husbands and those around us all in the name of "motherhood". Take good care of yourself! Take a TIME OUT and just do YOU (even though it's 30 min a day)cause when you look good, you will feel good...
Am only on baby no. 2 and I know that even after baby no.4 I will still be looking this good, because I know that I simply "can" and so can you...
P.s Am not a health, weight or marriage specialist am just sharing what has and is working for me as a second time mother and wife.
Stay Blessed!
