Pregnancy

To the Momma with the baby...

Megan Dahlman
March 21, 2017

What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

Losing the Baby Weight


...Slow it down, sister. Don't rush this. You've got time, even if it doesn't feel like it. 
 
Why are you trying to get your body back as fast as you can? As soon as we have babies, the race is on to look like it never happened. "I don't want to be like this forever!"

I totally understand that panicky feeling. Being pregnant is a wild ride where you have almost zero control over your body. Everything just grows and grows and grows. And being that large is uncomfortable and a tad bit depressing, especially when you know what it feels like to be active.

You’re anxious for the day that you can feel and move like normal again.

It certainly doesn’t help when some women wear their sleek post-baby bodies like badges of honor. We try not to judge, but it’s awfully difficult when your friend had a baby at the exact same time as you, and she “doesn’t even look like it!” Ugh. 
 
Stay with me here…don’t look over there at her. You're not going to be like this forever, but you are going to be postpartum forever. And you need to slow down. If you hurry into this, you could do it all wrong and hurt your body for a long time. 

 
Try not to worry about losing fat yet, especially if you’re breastfeeding. Your hormones are all over the place and it’s hardly the right environment for good fat loss. Instead of worrying about losing fat right now, focus on re-establishing good eating habits, especially if you let them slide during your pregnancy.

Do NOT restrict your overall intake at all, which could hinder your milk production and even your body’s ability to create a good metabolism. Aim to eat high quality unprocessed foods, emphasizing eating your PRO’s (lots of protein and lots of produce) with every meal and including healthy fats throughout the day, like nuts, seeds and olives. Go ahead and eat some whole grains, but the bulk of your foods should be coming from your PRO's and fats.

The day for losing weight will come, but it will go much smoother if you have good habits in place. 

 
Gain strength slowly and in the right places.

1. From day one postpartum, work on good posture. Make sure your ribs are lined up evenly over your pelvis, your shoulders are low and your hips aren’t cockeyed. Get as many pillows and wedges as you need to prop yourself up well while nursing and napping. Pay special attention to this when you wear your baby in a carrier or push her in a stroller. 
 
2. Also, from day one you can learn how to breathe using your entire core. Inhale through your nose and fill up your entire ribcage and belly, enough to even feel your pelvic floor bulge a bit. Then exhale through your mouth long and evenly, pushing the air out of your core by gently engaging your abs and lifting upward with your pelvic floor. Do about 2 sets of 10 of these breaths daily. (By the way, this is the right way to do a kegel!) Practice this breathing in any position (sidelying, on your back, sitting or standing), but always with good posture. 

3. Start with strength training. Even if you were a runner or cardio-fiend prior to giving birth, the best place to start is with a good total body strength training program like this one. You can easily monitor the intensity and listen to your body with each exercise. Plus, you can build upon this with harder and more intense strength training when the time is right. (Fast, intense strength training workouts are the best types of workouts to lose bodyfat, so your work now should be pointing in that direction!). 
 
4. Avoid direct abdominal work for a while. Your abs have a lot of healing work ahead, so any exercises that place direct tension on your abs should be avoided for several months postpartum. This includes planks, crunches, sit-ups, V-ups, bicycles, and anything else that makes your abs bulge and strain hard. Instead, slowly add in some indirect core work like glute bridges, squats, half kneeling lifts, farmers carries, and any exercise that has you carrying the weight on one side of your body. Continue to focus on good posture while doing these exercises. 
 
5. Avoid jumping and bouncing for a while. Once again, your core needs to heal to do these well, but more importantly your pelvic floor needs to regain its integrity. If your favorite form of exercise is running or athletic-style plyometrics, you should hold off on these for a few months until you have done a good job of re-training your core and pelvic floor. Hang out with your breathing exercises, your posture work, and some good indirect core exercises in addition to total body strengthening exercises for about 3-4 months at least before you do any power training, jumping or running.

 
Think longterm. If you progress through these early stages of postpartum well, you will have a much stronger foundation to build upon. It’s tempting to immediately hop back into the fast, hard, bootcamp style workouts as soon as a doctor gives you the green light. But if your body hasn’t been prepped for this, you could do more damage.

I'm just going to say it...be careful with many of the "baby bootcamp" style classes. Often, the workouts are really random and don't take into consideration your postpartum body. I know you want to meet up with all your friends again and do a good, sweaty workout, but they usually include a lot of jogging, jumping and even inappropriate ab work. Not good.

What would you rather have: a strong body that can do anything you ask it to do with power, strength and ease at 18 months postpartum? Or a damaged back, hips and leaky bladder because you tried to get there in 6 months?
 
If you take the time to condition and strengthen your body properly, you will eventually be able to hit it hard and efficiently lose any extra body fat that you’d like to get rid of. It's crazy hard to lose weight when your body is injured.

 
“But what if my baby is 6?” Do you remember what I said in the beginning? You are postpartum forever. Your body will have always endured the stresses of pregnancy and labor (whatever your labor looked like). It doesn’t matter how far removed you are from it, you can certainly still benefit from this stuff.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • Do your back or hips hurt on a regular basis?
  • Do you occasionally pee your pants when you run, jump or sneeze?
  • Do you still have significantly separated abs (diastasis recti)?
  • Do you feel like your core is squishy and nonexistent? 


If you can answer yes to any of these questions, you need to treat your core and pelvic floor like an early postpartum core and floor, putting in the work to regain proper strength. Learn how to breathe and maintain good posture, start to engage your pelvic floor, do plenty of indirect core work and total-body strengthening. After a month or two of this groundwork, you can start to progress and try harder things. 
 
You might still have "baby weight" to lose...or the weight you gained when you were pregnant, regardless of how long ago that was. Fortunately for you, you’re probably not breastfeeding anymore so your lactation hormones aren’t going to mess with your ability to lose bodyfat.

Make sure your mindset is in "progress mode", not "maintenance mode" anymore. Get your nutrition dialed in and stay disciplined until you feel like your goal is met. Combine good eating habits with a sound strength and conditioning program, and you'll probably feel stronger and more fit than you ever did before babies.

Take a breath. A good, pelvic floor engaging breath. Sit up with good posture and relax a little. This is not a race. Nobody is watching and judging you to see how fast  you get your body back. Take the time to do it right and you'll have the potential to be strong, lean and functioning at the top of your game again. 

If you're realizing that you've been going about this a little wrong and need professional guidance, you could probably benefit from a Coaching Call with me. Click here to learn more. ($15 off Coaching Calls if you sign up by 3/26!)

Also, be sure to check out the Strong Mommas Membership, your one-stop source that gives you everything you need to be stronger, leaner and eating healthy for a Strong Momma body. Click here to learn more and to see free samples of the program!


Hey, guess what? You can start showing up for your body in simple ways, right now.
Let us take the guesswork out of where and how to start taking action.
Woman sitting on the floor typing on her laptop

Discover your unique metabolic body type, and learn exactly how to train and eat to maximize your natural strengths and improve your weaknesses.

Take the FREE Quiz
Female cutting up vegtables

Discover how thousands of everyday moms are quitting the trendy diets and detoxes and finally changing their eating habits for life.

Download for FREE Now
Female doing a diastasis recti assessment

This brand-new guide reveals the safest way for you to strengthen and flatten your postpartum abs so you can feel confident in your core again.

Download for FREE Now
Trainer, nutrition coach, and Christian mom — in a culture that’s obsessed with “gym-selfies” and a number on the scale, I’m passionate about helping moms discover what it feels like to actually love their bodies and thrive in them.
Read More About Megan
Hi! I’m Megan.
take the quiz
Self-Care Simplified is for Christian moms that want to be equipped and encouraged to take simple steps towards the healthy life you want for yourself and the people you love.
Be sure to subscribe to Self-Care Simplified wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.
RECENT posts