Hola! While I'm away, I am soooo stoked to have Emily from The Mom Grind share about getting your body back postpartum! This is something I plan on doing once I get back from Mexico!! Thank you so much Emily for sharing! -Laura

Hi I’m Emily from @themomgrind, and I’m so excited to be guest posting here for Laura’s blog! I’ve read her blog for a while now, and couldn’t be more thrilled to be talking about one of my favourite subjects- getting your body back after having a baby!

Backstory

I didn’t have a fit pregnancy the first time around- I think I worked out mayyybe 4 times. I walked a lot, but with terrible morning sickness, and a massive belly causing back pain I really had no interest in working up a sweat. I didn’t watch what I ate- so I ended up gaining just over 40 pounds. I also wasn’t a lucky Mom that lost weight from breastfeeding either, I ended up putting more pounds on!

So weighing my heaviest in my life I was desperate to lose the weight and feel good in my body again. I was successful, and now even 3 months pregnant with number 2 I am the strongest I’ve ever been in my life!

BEFORE (roughly 4 months postpartum)

AFTER (Roughly a year and four months postpartum)

I’m excited to share with you all of my tips & tricks that helped me achieve and maintain a healthy relationship with food & exercise. I’m going to give you the literal guide book for how to lose that baby weight (healthily) while still finding balance in your life as a Mama.

Nutrition

I think there’s a lot of information out there for “dieting, cleansing, and detoxing” etc. But lets take a step back from that all for a minute. Your body just did the most amazing thing! It grew a human, it birthed a human, it may even still be feeding that human. The last thing we want to be doing is depleting this amazing machine of what it needs, so instead let’s think of rewarding it with the best fuel we can get our hands on. Delicious, satiating foods. Meat with some good fats, cruciferous vegetables, fruits, good carbs. Stuff that makes you feel awesome, and if you’re honest with yourself you’ll know what that is and isn’t.

A common mistake people make while trying to lose weight is upping their exercise and lowering their calorie intake. That’s unfortunately a recipe for disaster- they should be upping their calorie intake (just slightly, with nutritious foods) so that their body has fuel to match the extra energy output. If you’re not eating enough it will actually send your body into a panic state where it will hold onto fat- because it’s freaking out that you’re in a “famine.” That’s just something we don’t want to do, because lots of other nasty things can happen to our bodies when we do that.

Here’s what TO DO:

Step 1)

Meal Plan- Sunday afternoons sit down and pick two healthy meals and double or triple the recipe.

BONUS: Pick a yummy snack to make, healthy energy balls, nice cream etc. For those snacky or sweet craving times.

-Write down your ingredients then get hubby, grandma, or auntie to watch your baby (or babies!) and go grocery shopping.

-Come back home, do up your meals and put them in containers for the week!

This whole process usually takes me 3 ish hours to do from start to finish (the efficiency of a Mom without kids I tell you!) You now have healthy meals for the week. I’ve actually gone ahead and given you two recipes to use that I love to meal prep here

A day of eating for me usually looks like:

Breakfast- 2 eggs on 2 pieces of spelt bread, or an egg scramble with a whole bell pepper spinach and maybe some sausage or bacon or mushrooms, or you could also do a smoothie bowl with handful of granola & chopped fruit.

Lunch- Prepped Meal #1

(Maybe an apple with peanut butter, hard boiled egg, handful of nuts etc. between meals)

Dinner- Prepped Meal #2

After dinner treat- dark chocolate, nice cream etc.

You should be eating until you’re full! If you’re hungry then you probably need to be eating more.

Step 2)

Cut out sugar. In a lot of cases most people lose 2-5lbs from doing this alone. But it’s easier said than done- cutting out sugar is hard, pay attention to what’s in your food & sauces.

-You’re still going to need “cheats” so allow yourself dark chocolate, smoothies, nice cream etc. Eventually your body won’t crave the refined sugars, and when you do have a “cheat” snack with refined sugar you won’t be able to have much without feeling sick.