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Hey friend, are you just starting your pregnacy already over weight or you just delivered your baby headed into the postpartum season but your ready to get the baby weight off as soon as possible? Don't worry I hear you, I have been where you are. I'm here to tell you there is hope!
My journey started back in 2016, was a bit rocky until 2020 and it's been smooth sailing ever since. I'm here to give you a bit of encouragment today that you can have the healthy mom bod you desire all while enjoying your food and nourishing your baby either during your pregnancy or your postpartum season.
Before we dig into each of my 3 pregnancies and how I used Trim Healthy Mama during it let me give you a brief intro about myself and what brought me to THM. I found THM through my midwife when I was struggling with fertility issues in 2016. She told me I had insulin resistance because I had too much weight around my midsection. Sound about like where your at? Keep reading! She gave me the option to try out THM or to start on metformin. I'm more of a naturalist so I started digging into Trim Healthy Mama learning the plan or atleast I thought. I jumped right on in and lost I think about 25 lbs straight away but come Christmas I had put it all back on, had exploritory surgery for my infertility and was put on fertility meds. Talk about emotional chaos! Moving forward to April 2017 God blessed us with baby #1, we found out at the end of the month that we were pregnant!!!! God's timing is always perfect although that was not easy to understand during our trial.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9 ESV
Pregnancy #1
I continued on a standard american diet throughout the first part of my pregnancy eating every ~2 hrs to keep the nausea at bay and by the end of my first trimester I was up 10lbs. So not only was I already overweight I was now on track to gaining almost a lb per week of my pregnancy. There's no way I could have gained another 30lbs! I knew something had to give so after that first trimester I started loosely following THM again. I say lossely because at the time I was not very good at it, although I thought I had it figured out I desprately wish there would have been coaches at that time (hence why I became a coach). I successfully slowed the weight gain by following THM actually almost reversed it given I was already quite a bit overweight at that point. I also failed my glucose testing miserably, remember the whole insulin resistance thing yeah I was well on my way to pre-diabetes at that time in my life. I went on to use THM throught my pregnancy to control my after meal numbers although I didn't understand the food, fuel and sugar correlations then like I do now but I managed to have a very successful pregnacy with only 15lbs weight gained and controlled GD with a low dose of medicine to help my fasting numbers only. Once baby #1 was here all THM things went out the window. People were bringing us food and I was so grateful for the help. Becoming a mother was the biggest wirlwhind, world rocker I have ever been through to date. It rocked my world so hard I had absolutely no clue how to fuction outside of holding my baby.
Plot twist, while exclusively nursing my first babe we were blessed again at 5.5 months pp with another bundle of joy! The start of pregnancy #2 began June of 2018.
Pregnancy #2
So here I was 5.5 months pp still exclusively nursing baby #1, I had lost all but about 2 lbs of baby weight by 2 weeks postpartum but had went on to gain about 3lbs back with my continued SAD diet. Still overweight, I knew I'd have GD again and so I went ahead, dug back in, trying to muster through the cravings to make the best decisions possible. I was not at a great place and everywhere I turned people were telling me it's okay your in survival mode just do the best you can. But y'all I needed better! I needed full on support of someone telling me no you can do it the healthy way, you will feel the nausea no matter what you eat either on plan or off but I promise you will be so much prouder of yourself if you just eat the healthy food and take the extra steps to take care of you and your babies. I continued to nurse throughout my second pregnancy. Went on to have GD again and controlled my after meal numbers again with Trim Healthy Mama while also controlling my weight gain. I ended pregnancy #2 in March 2019 up 12 lbs from my prepregnancy weight.
Learning how to care for 2 small babies was hard enough for me at that point that after delivery I reverted back to my old ways of a SAD diet. Choosing to ignore the fact that I was still at risk for diabetes now more than ever. It wasn't until I had my blood work done a year later in Feb 2020 did I realize how close I was to the pre-diabetes world. I was sitting at a 5.6 A1C. Not good, not good at all. Here I was insulin resistant already then having GD not once but twice put me at an ever higher risk for diabetes later in life. Not to mention it runs in my family. So I had 2 choices. Continue on the same path I had for all my adult years or make a change and never look back.
I decided to make a change and never look back!! By June 2020 I was down 30lbs, feeling absolutely amazing and loving the food I was able to create for my family. Then along came baby #3 LOL!
Pregnancy #3
Here I was creating new paths for myself, learning & growing in my THM lifestyle then bam a new season hit that made me crave ALL the bad things again. Along came food aversions/cravings and I was not equipped to say no. I knew I shouldn't allow myself to derail but having been here before and not having the proper systems in place all I knew was how to derail during this season, then to give myself grace and get on track later. But y'all there had to be a better way. I'm not saying I'm not for grace. I just knew I would allow that to be my excuse and I was determined to do better not only for myself but also for my children. I was tandem nursing both boys and pregnant plus I needed to start setting an example, leading from the front and helping my children learn to make the healthy choices too. So I stuck it out and made the hard choices and did all the things. I had a successful on plan first trimester and it was glourious!! Good girl moonshine became my bestfriend for keeping the nausea at bay. I also enjoyed lots of E Meals (good healthy carb meals). I did enjoy my crossovers more frequently given I was still nursing at the time.
Then my family and I went on a week long vacation where I allowed myself what I thought was some freedom from cooking which is not what it turned into at all. It became a week of stressing over what was spiking my blood sugar, sugar crashes, swelling, bloated tummy, and IBS. Not what I was wanting on my family vacation! Since then it has been a whole lot easier to make the choice to stay on plan. I have since gained so much more food freedom and health just by choosing to continue to fuel my body in a healthy way.
After that I had my A1C drawn again per my midwifes request and to my surprise by Aug of 2020 my A1 C had dropped from 5.6 to 5.1! Just by consistantly following the Trim Healthy Mama Lifestyle. With that kind of proof in the pudding I knew right then and there this was it. This was exactly what I needed for my health. I continued to follow THM throughout the remainder of my pregnancy gaining a healthy total of 30lbs during my third pregnancy. Remeber I started this pregnancy off at Goal or Queen weight so I was totally comfortable with my gain. Being successful in paving new paths through my pregnant season gave me a new fire to pave a new path during my postpartum season which is exactly what I went on to do and am still doing!
Fourth Trimester and beyond
I was determined to not let my health go to the wayside during this postpartum season which I am so thankful for becuase I have had the absolute best postpartum journey this go around and I get to share it with you! So what exactly did I do differently this go around that I couldn't seem to get the hang of the first two times? Well I was prepared, motivated and determined. Plus I had put into place a great support system.
It all started right at the hospital. My husband and I requested a burrito bowl from chipolte as our first after birth meal instead of pizza like the first two labors. I prepped and packed my hospital bag with supplemental foods & drinks to keep me on track along with the food the hospital provided. I also prepped some foods to have a freezer stocked with on plan meals once we came home. In the past my biggest concern was fueling my body in a manner that provided me with ample milk supply which I had read a lot of other resources that lead me to turn back to old behaviors because I thought I needed certain foods and I didn't know how to enjoy those foods while following Trim Healthy Mama during my first two postpartum seasons. Boy do I know how to now! I had the most abundant milk supply with my baby girl (3rd nursling) all while implementing the THM lifestyle, fueling my body in a manner that was
healing and focused on providing the most vitamin/mineral rich milk to my newborn!
So enough about me how do you get on track?
Step 1: Find your sisters:
Find ladies who are in the same season as you, who you can relate to. Ladies who get the struggles your going through and who will help encourage you every step of the way. Not sure where to start to find a community like that? I've got a few places I like to connect with my sisters! In my free group community on facebook, on my instagram account: Healthy_driven_country_livin & over in the THM Journey app (you can find me by searching "driven").
Step 2: Get started on the THM lifestlye:
You can do this by grabbing The Plan Book and diving right in learning as you grow just as I did. Or you can reach out for help, find a THM Coach just like myself who can start you in the right direction from the get go. I offer a couple coaching opportunities, CLICK HERE to find out more about my coaching services. I offer 1 on 1 & group coaching to help you learn how to implement the Trim Healthy plan like a boss!
Step 3: Keep going momma!! You are 100% worth it!
That's it! Easy peasy huh?
So how would you like to get started on your journey? Would you like to book a FREE discovery call to see if 1 on 1 coaching is right for you? Or would you like to join the waitlist for my pregnant and postpartum momma's course that's coming soon?
My favorite Nursing Momma's Meals
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