Today marks seven months until my 40th birthday. After two babies, and knowing my pregnancies are behind me, I have this desire to get into the best shape of my life. I will admit that at six weeks postpartum, that feels a little shameful to admit – that I *should* instead be focusing on more important things. But I believe there can be the best of both worlds; to want to take care of myself and my children. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. And I’m ready and feeling strong. If I wasn’t, I would turn inward and lean more into a period of rest. While I am still heavily within the newborn phase with baby number two, this experience has felt so different compared to my first. This is largely attributed to having already gone through it, but I know certain things I did during my second pregnancy – that I did not do during my first – are responsible as well. Let me explain.
After my son Mason was born (who is now almost 3.5. years old), I remember feeling so uncomfortable in my body. I was surprised at how good I felt pregnant, but postpartum was a different story. After 53 hours of labor, a tough delivery, and a challenging first few weeks of healing, my body felt foreign to me. I simply wanted to feel like myself again. Looking back, I know I pushed it a little too much in those early days. He was born at the end of June, so I got swept away by the energy of summer (for example, five days after returning home from the hospital, I was at my best friend’s house celebrating the fourth of July). I wanted so badly to remain social. I also put pressure on myself to be as active as I could from the get-go. At first this looked like short walks around my neighborhood, which then turned into longer walks a couple of times per day. Those walks were my saving grace mentally – I got outside and away from the confines of my living room, where I spent so much time (alone, might I add).
Nutritionally, I wasn’t nourishing myself in the way a new mom is meant to. I didn’t know very much about postpartum nutrition, so I reverted back to old ways of a lower carbohydrate and higher healthy fat diet (because that is what worked not pregnant, but carbs are so important postpartum!). Having worn a continuous glucose monitor for months, this method proved the most blood sugar balancing for my body, but even then I was confused about what I needed to do to optimize my nutrition at this stage of life (another post or podcast episode for a different day!). As a result, my milk supply suffered, my anxiety was at an all-time high, and I was not the best version of myself. It was also the aftermath of Covid, so my only forms of movement were my walks and some self-led exercise classes in my home office after being cleared for exercise at six weeks. Unfortunately, those were mostly done fasted, which just made matters worse.
Fast forward to pregnancy number two, and I told myself I would approach both prenatal and postpartum nutrition and movement differently the second time around. I took it upon myself to learn from midwives and prenatal/postnatal nutritionists, listening to podcasts, reading books, and following credible sources on social media. It made a world of a difference! Additionally, the shifts I had made before getting pregnant proved beneficial as well. Here are some of those changes that I made:
- After working with Erik Young, the Flexible Dieting Coach months prior to getting pregnant, I had a better handle on my particular nutritional needs. I not only increased my caloric intake significantly, but adopted a more macro-balanced approach. I increased my protein and carbohydrate intake (and therefore fiber intake), while decreasing my healthy fat consumption (for context, I had been eating around 100-115 grams of fat per day. This was way too much. I decreased that to 50 to 85 grams per day). I even noticed my digestion improve. If you are interested in learning more about this, check out my podcast episode with Erik.
- Along those lines, I tracked my food from time to time to make sure I was eating enough protein and eating enough in general. Eating a diet rich in whole foods, I often feel satiated with less, so I need to make sure I am hitting my calorie goals for the day. For example, sometimes I will track, feeling like I have eaten a lot of food by lunch, but have only eaten around 1000 calories. This means while pregnant and breastfeeding, I would need 1,100 to 1,300 more calories, and if I wasn’t tracking, I probably wouldn’t have known that. This understanding and knowledge allows me to tweak and adjust my meals accordingly. I look at this practice from a very scientific perspective; I have found more food freedom and less anxiety around eating by doing so, not the other way around!
- I strength trained 2 to 3 times per week. This did wonders for both my pregnancy and preparing my body for birth. The only cardio with which I supplemented was walking and hiking my favorite trail.
With my first pregnancy, I gained around 36 to 40 pounds. Very healthy and normal. It took about a year to get get back to my pre-pregnancy weight (again, very normal), but as I mentioned, I wasn’t going about it in an optimal way, and had a lot of stress around the situation. And it wasn’t until I did a four-day Purium cleanse that got me there.
During my second pregnancy, I gained about 24 to 25 pounds, and at six weeks postpartum, feel so much stronger and more energized than I did the first time. Labor and delivery was so much easier (less than 12 hours versus 53 hours), I healed faster, and was back in my pre-pregnancy jeans about four weeks postpartum. I am still about 6 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight, and even so, will be focusing on body recomposition (gaining muscle, losing some fat), rather than the number on the scale. My relationship with this journey is softer with less stress, and I am just so appreciative of the fact that I get to lift weights again.
My intention is to implement the same things I have been doing, because they work:
- Loose tracking of my food intake to make sure I am eating enough. I am exclusively breastfeeding, and aim to get between 2100 and 2400 calories per day
- Eat a minimum of 120 to 130 grams of protein per day (for carbs and fat, my target intake is 220g and 80g respectively)
- Strength training three times per week (but if I only get two sessions, that is great too)
- Continue my long walks, aiming for 8,000 to 12,000 steps per day
- Speak to myself in a positive way.
- Fun fact: I have a Healthified sweet treat at least once per day (usually twice) to avoid feelings of deprivation. I have a sweet tooth, and a couple of bites of one of my homemade desserts after lunch and dinner does the trick! I had episodes of binge eating in my twenties, and this strategy supports a healthier relationship with food. I haven’t binge ate in years!
I wish I could shout some of these changes from the rooftops. There is so much information out there with regards to nutrition and fitness. Being so deeply immersed in the wellness world, I know first-hand how overwhelming it can be. Clearly I still get confused! It is difficult to decipher it all. What has become evident is the evolutionary nature of personalized nutrition. In other words, what works for you during a particular time in your life might not work for you later on down the road. Words have never wrung more true during my child-bearing years.
Where are you in your nutritional and fitness journey? What is working? What is not?
