How did you get your body back after dcs?

[zippyswife]

I'm due dc3 soon and I've completely ballooned in this pregnancy. Chronic anaemia and sciatica has meant I've been sitting or lying about as much as possible rather than being on the go (I'm normally someone who is always busy doing something). I'm looking at my body with no tone and several
Stone heavier and am feeling slightly scared that I'll never get my shape back. Does anyone have any tips or advice on how I can gain some normality back?

Have a baby that will only nap when in a moving pram and live somewhere with a lot of hills. A daily 1.5 hour walk up and down hills for 6 months did wonders.

Only one dc here but aiming for a 5k walk a day, not always possible but that was the distance I found that the next day I feel like I've done some exercise.

I think your body shape is supposed to be 70% diet and 30% exercise so if you watch what you eat you should lose most of it without having to take up some time consuming exercise routine.

I find running after the older two means that the weight is dropping relatively easily and I put on a good 4 st (with no medical issues!). Breastfeeding helps if it works for you. Once baby is 3/4 months, dropping carbs also helps massively. I'm not going zero carbs but reducing them so one piece of decent bread toasted and lots of eggs, pasta once a week rather than food-coma portions three times a week, big bowls of Greek yoghurt and fruit as a snack rather than biscuits. I also got a jawbone fitness tracker and it encourages me to walk rather than the bus so j can hit my daily 10000. First 6 weeks take t easy and get your energy and health back though

I second dinosaur.

Body? It's getting my mind back that worries me.

I saved up - wile I worked out and lost weight... then got a fab surgeon to tidy the droopy bits ! It's costly and hurts but the results are incredible !

Thanks for the advice. I put on 5 stone with ds1 and it fell off easily. I put on 2.5 stone with ds2 and 2 bouts of mastitis which floored me
Straight after he was born meant I was back in my jeans in a flash (albeit completely haggered and unwell looking). I'm just not confident this time round. My arms and legs seem so... Round! And chunky! I've been so lazy (well I have no energy so can't work out if it's laziness) that I barely can muster up the energy to get to my car at the moment. I walked for miles with ds' on the buggy though so I guess I just need to ge back into the habit of that.

5:2 worked for me - ds2 is 2 though and I started 5:2 after he turned 1 and I had stopped BF-Ing him.

Have a look at the 5:2 forum but I would definitely advise you look at BigChocFrenzy's advice on post baby weightloss.

Another vote for 5:2! 2 stone practically fell off me and I was in better shape than I was before being pregnant.

The forums here are ace.

I've never got on well with diets. They make me obsess about food and eat more. But needs must- I'll take a look at the 5:2 boards. Thank you.

On maternity leave, I went for at least one long walk each day with the pram for between 60 and 90 minutes, sometimes longer. I used to pack a flask and stop on a bench in the middle of the walk for a cup of coffee. As we didn´t (and don´t) have a car, I used to walk everywhere else I needed to go to (or catch public transport...getting the pram on and off buses and trains is a serious workout!)

With my second child I had a three year old as well and I used to take him to the park to run around each day and for "bike" rides and swimming at weekends (with my husband so we could take turns having a proper swim while the other played with the children in the pool).

I was ravenously hungry after both births but found I was satisfied by eating huge quantities of fruit and, particularly, vegetables, as well as plenty of protein.

I think it´s key to try and get some routine with things like your own eating and, if you can, sleeping as overall you will have more energy and generally feel more in control of what is a busy and even stressful time.

You mention some health problems so exercising may not be much of an option for you; perhaps focus on some healthy meals that all of the family enjoys and, if you have time before the birth, make some in batches and freeze them. Also consider switching to having your groceries delivered so that you know you will always have a supply of your favourite healthy foods even when you are too busy or exhausted to get out to the shops.

The diet you have will only change your weight, it won't make much impact on your shape. You can't tone your arms by starving yourself twice a week on 5:2, for example.

I think the 70:30 split for diet/exercise often gets touted simply because people will exercise, then over eat as they under estimate calories burned/consumed. In reality, it's more like 50:50.

That's why it's very easy for people to get down to their pre pregnancy weight and still be really upset with their appearance, as they have lost muscle tone during the pregnancy and first few months of baby madness.

Walking and swimming. With first I walked miles each day to get out and them sleeping in sling, with second I was out wearing out first anyway. We all swim 3-4 times a week ( Dh and I took turns watching children swim or swimming ourselves. 5 years on both can swim well so swim alongside us)

I think if you're the sort of person who never sits still, the weight will come off in its own good time. Plus having a little one to run around after! If your weight has always been more or less healthy/stable, then eating/exercising as you used to will work. Diets sometimes make people obsessed with food and craving stuff that is "banned".

For me what worked with DC1 was walking everywhere with a buggy, being out and about a lot and generally being much less sedentary than when I was in an office job.

With DC2 what worked was having a huge hungry high-needs baby who was allergic to egg and dairy so that exclusively breastfeeding him sucked the fat off my body while I slowly starved (unable to eat the cake I needed)!

Goodnessgracious - Iit's a given that exercise is required to change your body shape but interms of pure weightloss it is much easier to eat 3500 less calories than to not reduce your calorie intake and attempt to burn off that same 3500 calories (1lb weight loss). That's why there are the sayings "you can't out exercise a bad diet" and "abs are made in the kitchen"

"Have a baby that will only nap when in a moving pram and live somewhere with a lot of hills. A daily 1.5 hour walk up and down hills for 6 months did wonders."

That was the reality for me when DD was a baby. Also, I didn't put much weight on when I was pregnant because I was full after a couple of mouthfuls as DD took up most of my stomach cavity. I breastfed exclusively (not being smug here because it was extremely difficult and I was on the verge of giving up several times), but it meant that my uterus had shrunk back to its original size within 10 days.

I was back in my size 12 jeans within three weeks.

I didn't gain very much weight and it just fell off by walking with the pram. I also didn't eat over 1,400 calories

Do look at the 5:2 forum and main threads - it's the first "diet" that has ever worked for me. As it's not really a diet - no calorie counting or denying yourself anything for 5 days and then just 2 days where you work out what you can eat. It does take time to get used to it and make it work for you. And not one to start when you are still up through the night every night with your LO - but when you are ready it does work!

(I do exercise too - but mostly the chasing DCs and cleaning type stuff)