This Postpartum Weight Loss Journey Has Me Feeling Like A New Version Of My Old Self
Where I am currently on my journey to “getting my body back” after having a baby and what I have learned thus far.
Many of you know that I had a baby a little over 2 months ago, and before having my daughter I was very active. I worked out 5–6 times a week doing weight training and light running.
This was all the result of the weight loss journey, I call it a slim thick journey that I went on in December of 2021.
I started this journey again because I hated the way I looked and I was in an unhealthy pattern of negative self-talk and emotional eating.
I was sick and tired of stopping and starting,
Gaining weight and losing weight,
Feeling strong and then feeling weak.
I was tired of starting over.
After over a year of losing weight, gaining weight, restricting myself with food, and obsessing over the number on the scale.
I gained control, spoke nice and comforting words to myself, overcame my emotional eating problem, found a healthy balance between indulging and discipline with my eating, got into amazing shape, and for the first time in my life loved the body I was in.
And then in February of 2023, my husband and I decided to start our family and ended up pregnant with our daughter.
Now I still worked out up until the last couple of weeks of my pregnancy. However, the duration and intensity of my workouts declined from what I was doing pre-pregnancy (as I knew it would).
With this being my first pregnancy the first trimester really kicked my butt, the fatigue and food aversions were at an all-time high and I ended up gaining about 30lbs in the first 3–4 months.
I ended my pregnancy 60lbs heavier than when I first found out I was pregnant and the biggest I have ever been.
On December 7th I got cleared to start working out again and that Sunday I went back to the gym and did a real workout for the first time in 10 months.
You can imagine how that went. I started from square 1 in terms of my strength and endurance and it has been humbling, to say the least. It is hard realizing how the things I used to do with ease are now so hard
Since then I have been working out 3 days a week in the gym and I have to say
This postpartum weight loss journey has me feeling like a new version of my old self.
What I mean by this is that when I am working out and I am doing the exercises that I used to do, it all feels so familiar to me yet I realize I am so different.
The familiarity — The parts that make me feel like my old self:
The energy boost I get from my pre-workout makes me excited and ready to push myself in the gym.
My workout playlist piggybacks off of the pre-workout boost and sets the perfect mood to get my slim thick body back. I let the music take me away and lean into the feelings of confidence and cockiness that only a banger song can bring.
The burn I feel in my muscles as I get halfway through a rep makes part of me scream stop already and the other part scream you’re almost done, finish strong
It is that inner cheerleader I hear telling me how good I am doing.
The smile that creeps on my face as I catch a glimpse of my reflection,
Me trying to catch my breath, sweat shining on my forehead, and nodding my head to one of my favorite songs.
Feeling happy to be working out. Just being in the moment of development.
The Unfamiliarity — The parts that make me feel like the new version:
The way my body fills out my clothes. Being able to see the round of my belly under my shirt when there used to be no roundness to see through my shirt.
Feeling the intense burning after only 3 reps of an exercise and looking down at the 10lb weight wondering …
When did 10lb weights start feeling like 20lbs?
How did I go from doing 25 reps seamlessly to only being able to push out 5–10 reps?
It’s checking the time on my phone and realizing before I would see photos of me or my husband on my wallpaper. But now I see my beautiful smiling baby girl.
Feeling the flutter in my chest.
Feeling the weight and motivation of being her mother.
And pushing a little harder at the moment.
It is noticing as each workout day comes and goes I can go a little longer before feeling the burn in my muscles.
I can increase the number of reps by 1 or 2 and feel so much pride and strength from this versus feeling weakness.
It's catching that glimpse of my reflection and smiling, but remembering how good I used to look, and finding confidence in this thought knowing that I can do it again because I did it before.
I hope you can take these revelations I am having, relate to them, and find some strength from them.
The writings I am sharing on this journey through motherhood are inspired by the thoughts I am having daily as I adjust to the new norm of motherhood.
This article came because I had the thought one day as I was leaving the gym
I don’t feel like the old me…
But I do…
It’s like I am a new version of my old self.
Whether it has been 6 months, 1 year, 10 years, or longer since you had your child I believe it is never too late to achieve a body that you love.
Become a new version of your old self starting today!
I share my slim thick journey if you want to join me or follow along and support me. Just follow me on Instagram
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