How I am shedding my postpartum weight(2)

Before we begin:

If you didn’t read part one of the series, stop and read it first, so you can have some background knowledge about all I’m going to share in this post. Don’t forget to follow this blog before you leave the page. This post will be long because I’m going to give as much detail as I can to help you understand what I’m doing to lose weight and the why for each specific step.

DIET:

Due to the complications of the c-section, recovery was quite long and stressful for me. I was on catheter for 2 days as opposed to 8 hours after my first c-section. I couldn’t pass gas for about 4 days, even with “gasX” and that caused me a lot of pain, plus I couldn’t go number 2 until a week after. So my diet during all this was mainly vegetable soup, and beans(separately of course 😂). Ate only very little rice occasionally and Amala (yam flour). That was really how my dieting began.

Two weeks after the surgery, I was back in the emergency room because my feet were swollen and was told due to the amount of blood I lost, I had developed albunaemia and needed to eat more protein. So two boiled eggs became a whole meal for me.

From that period on, my carbohydrate intake reduced drastically because I was very keen on getting enough protein into my body. This high protein low carb diet really helped me towards my weight loss goals.

My diet all through breastfeeding was typically cereal for breakfast (after breastfeeding through the night, I need something fast in the morning), beans/boiled eggs for lunch and a high carb meal for dinner, typically rice or yam flour or spaghetti (to get ready for breastfeeding at night 😂). I try to stay off pounded yam and replaced it with yam flour, because my mom said yam flour is good for breastfeeding 🤷🏽‍♀️

After I weaned baby at 7 months, I started on a protein meal replacement shake as breakfast (for 2 weeks when hubs got it for free), a fruit meal for lunch and carbohydrates for dinner. I left my carbs as dinner because a full belly makes sleeping a whole lot easier 😂.

For the past few weeks, I have modified again to fruit meal for breakfast, which is typically banana and/or apples. I snack on Crackers with my girls during the day and I eat a whole meal in the evening. Boiled eggs or beans or grilled Plantain is my go to if I feel famished before it’s time for dinner. I scarcely consume bread and fried foods even though I love bread and I love chicken nuggets. And of course, no carbonated drinks for me, except once in a blue moon. I actually love water and I drink gazillions of it! Oh I still take my iron pills, hubs makes sure of that.

I am not a nutritionist, and being away from my home country, I do not have a lot of options because I am a picky eater. I just do what I can with the resources available to me and try to keep my carb intake as low as possible. So I keep modifying and modifying. I’m getting set to make lots of steamed bean pudding (moimoi) and add it to my palate, because I recently got the beans I need for it.

NOTE: If you’re a nutritionist or food specialist reading this, pls help a sister, I need recipe for a highly nutritious but equally delicious smoothie, with ingredients I can easily find, so I can be drinking on the go😂. Plsssssssss leave it for me in the comments.

BREASTFEEDING:

Breastfeeding was definitely a good thing to help me lose weight too. I didn’t do exclusive, but for a couple of months, baby only drank formula about twice a day, so that meant I breast fed a lot, and we all know breastfeeding helps weight loss/gain for mother&child.

After I weaned baby at seven months, I weighed about 175lbs, so that means I lost about 15 pounds with diet and breastfeeding.

It is important for me to mention that my diet while breastfeeding took baby into account. When I had cereal for breakfast, sometimes, I ate two bowls of it, lol, which is why it was easy to just eat two boiled eggs or vegetable soup with fish for lunch. When I took my baby for check up at two months, her weight gain was in the 99th percentile. Right now, she is completely outside that graph😂. So please while reducing your portions, ensure you’re still eating enough for baby to get the most.

EXERCISE:

During my early recovery phase, I couldn’t do any exercise, besides walking inside my apartment (no outside walks because it was freezing). So my weight loss plan mainly consisted of diet (which I have discussed in detail), breastfeeding, drinking warm water and binding my belly with the binder I got from the hospital (the last two really worked great for my c-section belly).

NOTE: Pls ensure you check the surgery site everyday, or ask your husband to do it for you. It’s really important. And whenever you feel uncomfortable, take off the belt. You are also not to wear it to sleep, it should be used only when you’re awake and moving around.

Eight weeks postpartum, after my gynecologist said I could start exercising, I started riding my stationary bike for about 5 minutes daily. By four months postpartum, I was able to do some core and arm exercises using the easy mode on my exercise app. By six months postpartum, I was able to do the moderate exercises on the app and right now at 8 months postpartum I’m able to do the hard exercises.

For exercises, starting slowly is important but consistency is equally important. When I started, I couldn’t do one single push up properly, I had to do a modified version with my knees on the ground and my ankles in the air. Now I can do fifteen push ups in proper form with a little rest after the first ten reps. So I started from where I was and I kept at it. I’m hoping to keep getting better as I remain consistent.

While I know diet is the major key to my weight loss, I believe the exercise is very important because fitness should be our overall goal. I am much stronger today than I was before I had my first child. It is evident in the activities I’m able to do and especially with the things I’m able to lift. My second baby weighs about 50% more than what my first baby weighed at the same age and I’m able to lift her without ache in my arms and shoulder like I used to experience with my first child.

Exercise makes me feel a lot better and ready for the day, even when my sleep wasn’t so good due to interruptions. Exercise makes sex a whole lot sweeter! I just have to add that😂. And of course we know increased blood flow does a world of good to all our systems. Also, the consistency you exhibit in exercising regularly transfers to other areas of your life. I noticed I became more consistent in word study, prayer, writing and just about anything I set my mind to. So never try to lose weight by diet alone.

I really tried to leave it all on this blog post, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comments. If you found this post helpful, don’t leave without letting me know in the comments and following this blog is the best way to say thank you.

I wish you the best in your journey.

With all my love,

Mrs O.