One fun thing about motherhood is that everyone will tell you how skinny breastfeeding will make you.
I dont know who made up this cruel tale but i'm debunking it right here and now. It doesnt. When you have your baby you will drop a solid 25-30lbs of baby, placenta and water weight. So if thats all you gained, thats awesome! The rest is up to you. Not breastfeeding. Boo.
People tell me all the time how breastfeeding will melt my fat away. I dont know if i have ever looked at someone with such a blank stare before. That certainly remains to be seen.
I dont know why i thought gaining so much weight would be a good idea while i was pregnant... but maybe i needed to, who knows. Apparently I like to do things the hard way, and maybe i just needed a good old reminder of how lucky (and not fat) i was prepregnancy. One thing positive i will say about my pregnancy weight gain and my new curvy nursing body is that i now have a completely different and much healthier relationship with food. I am much more patient and healthy and less in need of a quick fix.
I will say that old habits die hard and i was so anxious to do whatever i could to drop the weight and flab immediately, but that was short lived. I am Owen's only source of nutrition and there is no amount of selfish pride that would make me consiously make the decision to deprive him of anything. I noticed a sharp decrease in nutrients in my milk when i went on a low carb fling, we cant have that! This made me reevaluate my priorities and chose a healthier way. Klay and i have done our research and are actively striving to eat much better. We have noticed such a positive outcome in our energy levels and our outlooks on everything. We feel so much better! Fruits and vegetables are amazing.
One thing that really surprised me about exploring our new diet choices was just how "off" i have become. After losing so much weight earlier in my life, i could tell you the serving and calorie count of ANYTHING. So much so that i stopped looking it up or measuring or tracking how much i was intaking. I probably estimated OK for a while but i got way off. Out of curiosity the other day, i was thinking about my breakfast and was like, that was maybe 200 calories. When i added it up it was over 600 (healthy) calories. Holy crap! That prompted me to really get more of a hold on what i was putting in my body. Eating clean and natural has become so much more important in our lives and we are doing so much better because of it! I cant wait to raise Owen with a healthy view of the fuel that he puts into his body.
All in all, I know its annoying to see gym posts and food pics all over your feed but nutrition really is so important in leading a happy and healthy life.
Balance is everything!
