Exercise and Food

Erica Baker is the co-owner of Bakermedia, a popular Connecticut web design and social media agency, and creative blog writer of Classic Peach

It’s safe to say that nearly 10 months of pregnancy did things to my body that I could have never imagined. While a certain amount of weight gain was expected for my body size, the stretching of hip bones, expansion of ribs, and overall hormonal explosion combined to create an end result that threw me for a loop. I did everything I could during pregnancy to maintain a healthy diet and exercise regimen and keep the weight gain slow and steady. I grazed on healthy foods, did weekly private prenatal yoga lessons with an amazing instructor and continued moderate cardiovascular activity, weightlifting, and a weekly traditional vinyasa yoga class. Towards the end, my food intake increased and my ability to exercise lessened. During the last 2 months, everything was a challenge. I had so many aches and discomforts, not to mention could only go about 5 minutes before I felt like my bladder was going to explode! At almost 42 weeks pregnant I just wanted to meet my little guy and I was sooooo done with being pregnant. I pictured him arriving and me wearing my kid size jeans in no time. HAHHAHA boy was I wrong. I weighed 112 lbs. when I became pregnant and my weight at my last doctor’s appointment was 157lbs. In case you can’t add, that’s a total weight gain of 45lbs, so basically it’s like I added almost half of my body weight to my body weight. Does that even make sense?

I laid eyes on my son and was blown away. Nothing will ever top that moment. I entered motherhood with an amazing sense of accomplishment and pride and love and joy, but there were other not-so-pleasant emotions in the mix. I became a sleep deprived walking zombie who sat on the couch all day and breastfed her son. I knew nothing about being a mom, nothing about nursing, or nothing about anything for that matter. I put every bit of energy I had into my beautiful son and didn’t pay one bit of attention to myself. After some challenges I continued to nurse (while supplementing with formula) for nearly 7 months. Contrary to popular belief, not all women miraculously drop weight and shrink their uterus back while nursing. My hormones were crazy and I was starving and empty and tired and couldn’t get my body back on track no matter how hard I tried. I was really angry that 7 months after having my 7lb. boy I still looked like I was pregnant and had only lost a little bit of weight.

It wasn’t until I stopped nursing completely and got my first menstrual cycle that things started to change. I strongly believe nursing is what kept me from jumpstarting my weight loss. Everybody’s different and genetics certainly have a lot to do with it. When I stopped, I was beginning to get a little more sleep and started feeling a bit more like a human. My exercise and food choices were good but still things weren’t changing much. One day I just accepted that I had been completely unrealistic about my goals. This whole experience was way harder than I ever imagined (but worth every bit of it) and if I wanted to feel like my old self again I was going to have to go nuts. So what if some women look awesome a month after they have a baby, you’re not one of them, get over it! Hahha. So it started with hiking.

We would go on family hikes 2-3 days a week (6 miles minimum per wk) from May through October when it became too cold. Our walks on rugged terrain were great for mental clarity and a very intense cardio session for every intricate muscle in the legs and glutes. I went back to Bikram yoga once a week and always feel better afterwards. It is an overall mind and body cleanse. In addition, I am now lucky enough to get to the gym 2-3 days a week where I do some form of cardio for 30 min. and mix weights with traditional yoga. I don’t really do biceps though because I get all of the bicep workout I need lugging around 25lbs of pure solid toddler baby boy freak ahha. The constant sprinting and lifting required of a mother of a toddler is pretty much the best exercise anyone can ask for. I don’t eat synthetic food, fast food or even chain restaurants. I never drink soda nor eat red meat/beef/pork. I eat very little sweets and just really enjoy clean eating. It’s what fuels me. I do all of my food shopping at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and the organic section of Stop & Shop. I graze all day to keep my metabolism working hard and I rarely sit down because I don’t have time to sit.

My son is 14 months old now and I weigh 120lbs. It is not my pre-pregnancy weight and I don’t care. I can wear my old freakishly small jeans (with an elastic holding the button closed) yup that’s right, my hips still aren’t back and maybe they’ll never be and so what. I still have discomfort in my ribcage which I suppose are my ribs slowly coming back into their original position. I don’t have my hard four pack of abs of the old days but my stomach is almost flat and I don’t have a single stretch mark so F U pregnancy…..you can’t take me down! The important thing is that I feel good. My exercise and food choices are what set the tone for a complete lifestyle. It really isn’t about some perfect body. We are our worst critics and no one will ever live up to their own ideals of perfectionism.