Postpartum - Losing the Pregnancy Weight

Written by Carri

So I'm 3.5 months out from the birth of Emery my 4th child. With my other three pregnancies, I was pretty much back to normal at this point - but not this time. This last pregnancy was brutal, and I reduced my exercise considerably (which pretty much means no exercise except a once a week prenatal swim class). I felt sick or extremely exhausted (like so exhausted I felt like I would pass out). I'm not sure why, but my midwife highly recommended that I take it easy this pregnancy and so I did. But now I'm frustrated with the weight and shape of my body, and sadly I still feel exhausted. I had a full blood panel done, and everything was fine - which means I'm just overweight and out of shape. This is both good and bad news. Secretly I wanted them to tell me something simple was out of whack and if I took a pill or changed my diet slightly my body would magically bounce back to normal. Logically, I am glad that there really isn't anything wrong and I only need to exercise and take better care of myself. How does a mom find time to exercise with 4 kids though?! With 3 kids in schools full of germs, I don't want to put her in daycare so I can exercise, and I've never been a night exerciser. Emery is still not sleeping through the night, so the last thing I want to do is get up early and exercise. So I'm going to have to suck it up and do it at night. I got Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD and my husband and I started doing it on Monday. It is 20 minutes of strength and cardio exercise. We have both really enjoyed it - and I'm sore to prove that I'm actually doing it! So I'll let you know how it goes, but my tip to you if you're pregnant is to exercise if you can and you will be so much better for it!