The changes your body goes through from pre-pregnancy to pregnancy to birth then postpartum can be vast and vary from person to person. No matter which phase you are currently in, it is important to recognize that your body is a literal superhero - taking all of these rapid changes in stride and syncing into a new rhythm.
When you’re pregnant your body is seriously is a superhero. (I had to say this many times during my pregnancy and during labor!)
I recently got a massage by a lovely gentleman who I hadn’t had a massage by since right before I found out I was pregnant and it made me think of how much my body has changed since then.
Every woman’s body recovers differently from pregnancy and birth, which sometimes can be hard to deal with. They say if you breastfeed you’ll burn extra calories and that will help you lose the weight but really it’s not as cut and dry as that.
There’s an idea of way back (think more of that live off the land times) that when you're breastfeeding your body holds onto extra weight to make sure that you have enough umph to continue to nourish your little one if things like famine or war come and you are not able to eat as often.
From the science perspective, the hormone prolactin released during breastfeeding tends to reduce the ability to lose weight in some women. This hormone is released every time you nurse and may contribute to weight gain, especially if you are prone to gaining weight anyway.
Knowing these aspects doesn't always make it easier to deal with the fact that I have not lost the 'baby weight' (which duh, this takes time) but I like to go searching for the why behind things to understand a little bit more of what might be going on in my body.
The one area I am most confident in is FOOD. It is not that I know everything (nobody does) but food has been one of my primary tools for healing and having a magical pregnancy (truly I enjoyed being pregnant like 99% of the time), and as I recently mentioned, a BIG deal when it comes to navigating the holidays.
If you find yourself overindulging during the holiday season and you’re looking for a better way to enjoy foods and feel good stick around, I recently put together a holiday food challenge and I will be doing these throughout the upcoming year so keep an eye out for the next one!
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