Finding Balance in the Chaos of Postpartum Life

As the weight of motherhood settled on my shoulders, I found myself navigating the complex waters of postpartum weight loss—a journey fraught with societal pressures and personal challenges. Alongside my husband, Tony, we peel back the layers of my experience, revealing the deeply personal struggles and achievements that punctuate the path to reclaiming my health and body after birth. Our candid conversation dismantles the unrealistic expectations of 'snapping back' and spotlights the need for patience, self-love, and the celebration of each small victory that comes with being a new parent.

Motherhood is an evolution, transforming more than just our bodies—it reshapes our identities, our routines, and our priorities. I open up about the nuances of staying healthy during pregnancy and beyond, sharing actionable tips like embracing a balanced diet, the benefits of prenatal workouts such as Birth Fit, and the critical nature of a personalized, gentle reintroduction to fitness post-birth. Tony brings his perspective into the fold, acknowledging the unique challenges we've faced, and together, we champion the mantra of health over aesthetics in a society that often tells us otherwise.

Concluding our heart-to-heart, we address the delicate juggle between sleep, self-care, and exercise in the life of a postpartum mom. We confront the reality of sleep deprivation and how sometimes, rest must take precedence over the gym. But it's not just about the physical—nutrition, intermittent fasting, and the complexities of diet are explored, particularly during breastfeeding. We're here to hold space for an honest and supportive dialogue that empowers mothers to navigate their own wellness journey with confidence and grace.

Your hosts: @lynnhazan_ and @tonydoesknow

follow us on social @ltkpod!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hey, welcome to the Lynn and Tony Know podcast. I'm your host, lynn.

Speaker 2: 0:04

And I'm Tony. We are both wellness coaches and married with kids.

Speaker 1: 0:08

Join us as we talk about all things health, wellness, relationships, life hacks, parenting and everything in between, unfiltered. Thanks for listening and let's get into it. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 2: 0:19

Welcome back.

Speaker 1: 0:20

It feels good to be back. I'm like excited, yeah, you.

Speaker 2: 0:25

Quite.

Speaker 1: 0:26

What are we talking about today?

Speaker 2: 0:28

Today we're going to talk about your postpartum weight loss journey.

Speaker 1: 0:32

Yes, and it's something that I get a lot of questions and I wanted to take the time today to kind of really dive into the details. Now, before I dive into the details, I want to say that there's no rush in snapping back. Like I really hate the snapback culture, like I really hate the pressure that women put on themselves and also the societal pressures of us, like returning back to who we were before having a baby, because the reality is you're never going to be the same, because you went through pregnancy, growing a whole human being in your body and pushing him out of your body and then caring for them until they're like 30 years old, you know. So you don't really like, you don't really snap back and I like to think of it as snapping. For, that being said, we're you know there's nothing wrong with wanting to be a baby You're wanting to lose the baby weight, to fitting into you know a nice pair of jeans, to feeling good about yourself. So really, the focus today is on feeling good, because I feel like, after you have a baby, a lot of times moms will put their needs aside and their whole focus will become the family, which is 100% normal. But at the same time, you need to take care of yourself. It's like the cliche of like you're putting the mask on your, the mask on yourself, the oxygen mask on yourself, before doing it to others. So I'm going to share, kind of like, what I did and how.

Speaker 1: 2:03

I'm still not at where I was before getting pregnant, nor will I, nor do I think that I ever will be. But I feel like I'm in really good shape, I feel really healthy, I feel good about myself and and I and I'm working really hard to feel this way and I'm working really hard to be at this place where I have the energy and stamina to take care of my family and also feel a business and feel good. But again, it takes, you know, it took a lot of sacrifice and it's not not everybody is going to be able to do it. And like, if you're listening to this, if you just had a baby, give yourself time. Like it takes time. Like I'm 10 months postpartum and it literally took me more than nine months to sort of get back to my like kind of get to a place where I'm happy with. Do you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 2: 2:54

I do and may I say you look amazing. Thank you.

Speaker 1: 2:57

And I got dressed today and my hair. I did my hair Like I feel good, you know, like it's. That's a big accomplishment for any person who's like kind of a. I'm a hybrid of a stay at home mom and a business owner yeah. And so for me to be able to shower and do my hair and get dressed on any given day is a huge accomplishment.

Speaker 2: 3:17

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 3:18

Like yeah.

Speaker 2: 3:19

What I'm hearing a lot of what you're alluding to is that you, you have a healthy marriage between the mental and the physical aspects of recovering from childbirth, and I've heard that all along over the past 10 months. There's this tug of war between you feeling good about yourself but also feeling like you look good as well, which they go hand in hand. But there's obviously some play between the two where you have to adjust your mental approach to it, your spiritual approach to it, as well as your physical, and, of course, they you know they're going to play off each other.

Speaker 1: 3:59

But 100% and it also comes with a lot of patients and, of course, with me particularly, like I was in the best shape of my life before getting pregnant and I'm you know, I'm 40 years old. It's not like the easiest thing. It took me a couple of years to get to that place, so I knew, going into it, that it was going to be a journey and then I would have to be patient with myself and kind to myself and that was like really I think the mindset was was the biggest thing for me. And you know, when I was pregnant with Mia 11 years ago, I was 10 years younger and it took me a couple of years, but I wasn't so like focused on that either. I was just like more focused on my child, and that was okay and that was the time I was, I was in, and it took me a couple of years to kind of have a better attitude when it came to diet and exercise. But that's for a whole other podcast.

Speaker 2: 4:50

Like your first pregnancy postpartum, you did not have a laser focus on.

Speaker 1: 4:54

I did it and then I got postpartum depression. So then I was in an even deeper hole and I also had an eating disorder and like a binge disorder and kind of a yo-yo dieting and again that's like a whole other topic. But I wasn't. I didn't have a healthy relationship with myself and with my body and I wasn't necessarily focused so much on the weight loss until like I went right back to work after three months and it took a while.

Speaker 1: 5:18

It was. It was a whole different struggle. Like I don't even I got postpartum depression and I'm like I can't even, like I don't even want to, like dive into this, because it's a whole other thing. But yeah, it was a completely different journey and this time I, when we got pregnant, I was laser focused. I was like I'm going to have a healthy pregnancy. I'm going to focus on eating what I need to eat, and sometimes that was a Domino's pizza, because that's all I could stomach. I'm going to continue moving because I wanted a healthy pregnancy.

Speaker 1: 5:47

I didn't. I was like I'm not going to focus so much on the weight gain Because I I'm small and five feet tall. I need to. You know you need to gain weight. And right away when you get pregnant, you go to the doctor and the first thing they literally tell you is only gain weight between 25, they give you like a range and it's really it's kind of tall. It is a little toxic because it's like right away you got pregnant and it's beautiful, beautiful thing happening. And right away the doc, the OBJYN, is like make sure you don't gain more than this amount of weight. And it's like like oh, thanks for ripping the rug underneath me, like I'm like happy in La La Land that I even got pregnant. And now I have to like worry.

Speaker 1: 6:22

And you know, and especially the first trimester, like everybody has pregnancy experience is completely different. But for me I was not capable of eating healthy. I was not capable of eating vegetables and fruit. I wanted bagels. It's the only thing I could stomach, and a lot of women in the first trimester it's a struggle and throughout your whole pregnancy it's a struggle, because there's certain you have certain food aversions and the baby wants what it wants. So it is a struggle to kind of maintain that balance. But for me I was like I'm going to focus on moving my body because I want a healthy pregnancy, because I am a little bit older and I know that movement is really important. And I continued weight training, I continued drinking a lot of water and I tried when I could, I tried to eat new, nutritionally for the most part. But when that cre Domino's Pizza Craving hit, oh yes.

Speaker 2: 7:10

Listen, I'm really looking forward to the day that I get to make Noah a baked Alaska and be like do you remember this? Do you remember wanting?

Speaker 1: 7:18

this. Can you tell the story you want to tell us?

Speaker 2: 7:20

Yeah, yeah, this was great.

Speaker 1: 7:21

What is a baked like? No people don't know what a baked Alaska is.

Speaker 2: 7:24

People were me when you brought it up. So you started talking about this dessert that you had had at one point in your life. I don't even know where you had it.

Speaker 1: 7:35

My mom made it.

Speaker 2: 7:36

Okay, your mom made it and I'd never heard of it and it was called a baked Alaska dessert thing, which essentially amounts to this cake layer, like a pound cake layer in a bowl which goes on last. So in the bowl you put ice cream, you cram it into like the cylinder, like a half circle bowl, and you mash in all the ice cream different kinds, I don't remember what I chose and then on top of that you put, like a baked, a cake layer like an inch thick pound cake intimates in the face, right in the top of the bowl and then Outside of that you create a meringue layer that would essentially it's very intricate.

Speaker 2: 8:17

It's very intricate, yeah, what it essentially insulates this cake that you then put into the oven to crisp up the meringue layer, which also simultaneously doesn't really destroy the ice cream. It stays intact because it's so frozen. You put it in the freezer for like a day to really make sure it's hard as a rock, and Then you bake it for just long enough to crisp up the meringue, like you would see on any lemon meringue cake. And Ta-da, that's it.

Speaker 1: 8:42

It's and and to that effect. If he wanted to, he would. Tony went out of his way to make this for me like I had a craving and you, like, you went and got all the ingredients and you went on YouTube and you learned how to make it and you made it for for me and it was like the best thing ever and it was like, yeah, like when you're pregnant, satisfy those cravings, like, enjoy it, like yeah.

Speaker 2: 9:05

You know, so yeah, no, no, wanted that. Obviously she's the one informed you that big.

Speaker 1: 9:10

She's like I want to bake. The last guy was needed also Just occurred to me.

Speaker 2: 9:13

I'm really good at recipes on the first try, and Then it gets more difficult.

Speaker 1: 9:21

Thinking about yeah, I've tried them. Like.

Speaker 2: 9:23

I'll knock it out of the park the first time.

Speaker 1: 9:25

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 9:25

I'm scared to go back and do it again because I feel like I think we might need a baked Alaska, maybe this weekend.

Speaker 1: 9:30

Yeah, that might happen, so, okay, so first, before Diving into like the postpartum weight loss, like it's obviously important during pregnancy to and I'm not saying to like keep your weight in check, but to like Start your healthy practices, like it just to feel, because you want to feel good and pregnancy is a very is very tough on your back and on all your muscles and Having some sort of weight training program working with the personal trainer. There's also an online program called birth fit, which is all for for women who want to get pregnant we are pregnant and it's safe and it really teaches you how to properly lift weights and how to engage certain muscles to help with your core and your pelvic floor and all those things. These are things that are like just generally really important for a healthy pregnancy. So, during it doesn't start a postpartum, it starts before you know and like again, I like the diet thing, like I don't really love talking about the food. It's just you try your best. You guys know what to eat, like you know you need to eat fruits and vegetables and to drink a lot of water and a little bit less caffeine, and you know you need a lot of protein in your diet because you are supporting a growing human that's taking all your resources. So obviously you want good fats and protein and stay away from, you know, process foods. And again it's like an 80 20%, like a 20% of the time you like and gotta enjoy life and you got to give in to those crate and especially when you're pregnant, like it's gonna.

Speaker 1: 11:01

Every pregnancy, again, is different. You might crave sweets, you might crave craved salties, salty foods, like again, it's like that 80 20, like balance. But like I just don't, don't be so hard on yourself because you are growing a human being at the end of the day. Like I gained, it was in a inevitable. I was working out and I was eating healthy and I gained like 45 pounds. It was inevitable, I had to gain that weight and and no, was born and she was only five pounds. Like my body needs to gain the weight, whereas, like, if a woman is like a little bit, you know, taller and she carries the weight differently, she can gain like 25 pounds and that's fine for her. Like every, every journey is completely different.

Speaker 2: 11:36

That was your body knows how much.

Speaker 1: 11:38

I need. I needed to gain that amount of weight, I needed to gain a certain amount of fat in order to support a growing baby and support my body and all that stuff. And like that is just something that I had to like repeat to myself like this this is my journey. Like don't compare yours. It's easy to compare yourself to like, especially with social media.

Speaker 1: 11:54

Like you see these women, they like these, they snap back and they're just like wearing a bikini. Like a month later, like you know, like what the fuck? Like it's crazy and it's not, but that's not really the reality of from for most people. You know, for most normal women, it's a little bit more than that. And then you know you have the baby and the first Like throw out the window, like losing any way the first six months because you're not sleeping. You know what I mean. Like you're not sleeping, you're not functioning at a high level, you know if you're able to work out, great, but you're still like taking care of, you're keeping another human being alive, while everything else, like you have Everything else going on in the world and most of us don't have that village and don't have like support. So, like the first six months, like you know, focus on. You know focus on you're moving your body and doing what you can and, again, eating nutritionally, but like, focus more on that, on feeling good and on recovering. And of course, you can't work out for the first six weeks. So the first six weeks, the first couple of weeks, I stayed in bed mostly and then I wanted to start. I felt, you know, I had a natural birth so I was able to go out and start walking and we went for like family walks and walks and we got sunlight and that's how I started my movement. And then I started doing like some basic Pelvic floor workouts to strengthen, because you have to rehab, like your body just went through something traumatic, you have to rehabilitate it and you have to go easy and you can't just go into, like what you know, the workouts that you were doing like before you're pregnant and you know, once you get the green light from the doctor, that's when you can start working out.

Speaker 1: 13:35

I worked out with a personal trainer, ashley LaVec, who I've been working out with since the pandemic and we do virtual workouts and the way I started with her was just With like a few weight you know weights and we worked out from home and from there I built out, built out more, I bought more equipment and bands and a bar and things like that and I work, for I work out from home, don't? I don't go to a fancy gym. I like I had some mornings I wake up and I'm like in my pajamas, still in my pajamas, and I get my workout in. I don't have to like travel anywhere. So it doesn't.

Speaker 1: 14:04

I don't spend that much time, you know, and I have a, and really at the core of everything, of all of this, of why I was able to like get to where I am, is because I have the support, because I have a husband that supports me and is with Noah and Gives me that space and time for me to be able to work out and take care of myself. So that's number one is having a supportive partner, like you know. That's a hundred percent number one. So, yeah, so I started training, training three times a week virtually in my home gym and Also walking every day, walking with no walking with the baby, walking. We do family walks, we, I walk the dogs, getting like going outdoors. So if you don't know where to start, start by walking. Walking is like the best and Healthiest thing that you could do for yourself. You're outside, you're getting that vitamin D. You know you're in nature. It's very therapeutic.

Speaker 2: 14:59

It's just good for you overall, for your cortisol levels, for just everything Walking, and it's free, I it's free free 99 free 99 the other thing that I'm hearing in and your, your plan for all this was You're keeping it as simple as possible, like the least amount of barriers. Right to entry as possible. Work out at home virtual classes right, just a couple weights. You don't need an elaborate setup.

Speaker 1: 15:26

And if you don't, obviously if you can't afford a personal trainer, youtube is your best friend, like there's. I use YouTube sometimes, like when it doesn't work out with my trainer, I want to work out another day. Like I go on YouTube and I search, like you know, like a way you know lower body or intervals. Or like you don't even need weights, you don't even need dumbbells, like you can do all body weight like some sort of weight-bearing. Like strength training is your friend, especially if you're a woman and you are postpartum. Like it Balances your hormones. It builds muscle.

Speaker 1: 15:59

Like as we age, we loot, we start losing from our muscle mass and our metabolism slows down. So if you want to increase your metabolism, you, if you want to like Balance your hormones, if you want to look hot as fuck in a bathing suit, like, start lifting weights. Like there's this misconception that lifting weights makes you bulky. That's the biggest lie. You need to eat thousands and thousands of calories over what you eat in order to become bulky. Like it does I lift like super heavy. I'm not bulky, I have some like nice muscles.

Speaker 2: 16:28

Yes, but they're covered up.

Speaker 1: 16:30

Yeah, but strength training is like the best thing you can do, for if you're a woman and you want to like Get you know, get healthy and get strong, I don't be scared of like lifting heavy things and putting them down. Like every longevity doctor talks about strength training like Like it's even more important than cardio, in my opinion, because you need that muscle.

Speaker 2: 16:49

And there's an element of cardio to win.

Speaker 1: 16:51

Yeah, like you get the bang for your buck and like again, you don't need actual weights, you could do push-ups and squats and Weight-bearing exercises, you could get bands and that all that stuff is really beneficial in the long term and you can do all that for free on YouTube. So definitely strength training, if there. If there's one thing that you're gonna do is start Doing some sort of strength training three times a week could be 30 minutes, doesn't mean I don't even do a whole hour. I do 45 minutes tops and then I stretch and and walk, go take, put the baby in the stroller or in the Carrier. That's a weight-bearing. You know you could. You could do squats while the baby's in your carrier, in the carrier, and lunges and go for a walk, go outside. You know I tried.

Speaker 1: 17:35

I try to get a bit a minimum of 5k steps a day.

Speaker 1: 17:38

It's just like I try to keep a goal and I get that throughout the day. So like I start, I walk the dogs in the morning and then I'll go take no out for an if it's beautiful outside, I'll take no out for another walk in the afternoon. So I try to get a minimum of 5k steps per day so that I know that I'm generally active, you know, taking the stairs, things like that. It's about just being constantly active is getting up, standing up, not being just Sitting all day, right, so that so now that was number one was strength training, number two was walking. And you know, sometimes when I have another time, I like to go take a class like a Fitness class, because it's you're in a group environment and it's motivating and it allows you to kind of switch things up. So Tony and I occasionally will like, once every two weeks, once a week We'll go to f45, which is like a high intensity, like functional training, and it's 45 minutes and it goes by so fast.

Speaker 2: 18:34

It's. It's great. It's especially great to kind of just for a mix-up, and Not only that, most of the exercises that you can do in that class you can replicate at home. So it kind of gives you some. It gives you some good ideas to to mix up your, your At-home exercises. Obviously there's machines and stuff there that are involved that you can't. It's always different.

Speaker 1: 18:54

It's fun, the music is like high intensity and like you're done in 45 minutes. It's like really quick and there's at 45 is like all over the country you know. So if you want to like change it up and have fun and get out of the house, sometimes I'll do like a Pilates class, like if I I did a lot of Pilates for postpartum to strengthen like my core muscle, because you kind of lose like your brain, to like you know muscle feeling after you have a baby like it doesn't like, and it's really Pilates, a great way to connect with your pelvic floor and to kind of reconnect with that area. And it's very challenging and it's weight-bearing too and it's it's pull it up. Pilates is really really fucking hard. I Shout out to elevated Pilates and Hoboken. They're really great, they know what they're doing when it comes to like postpartum.

Speaker 1: 19:43

Next thing is what I also did, what it's important to also look underneath the engine, right, if things aren't working, if you're feeling sluggish yeah, you could be just tired because your baby is waking up every couple of hours, but if it's like you're feeling, you're not feeling well, then it's really important to check your hormones. They do your home hormone testing and we had Dr Mark from peak by MD. We had him last season to talk about I we talked about like ozempic and all these other things, but he also does hormone testing and that was really helpful. I I checked my hormones and we made some tweaks to like my supplements and my diet and I was able to kind of have a general idea of what's going on in my body. So definitely doing your in checking your hormones, especially six months after giving birth, to see where you are, if you Make my, if your thyroid could be a little bit slow, like that's a reason why you're not losing weight, you know could be your hormone imbalances.

Speaker 1: 20:37

Some women are like doing everything, they're eating right, they're exercising, but they're still not losing the way and one of the reasons could be hormone imbalance, right, and another reason could be lack of sleep. Again, like I said, the first couple of months, if you're not sleeping, had like your body is not working optimally, like sleep is for Healing, it's for healing, it's for rest, it's for, you know, recovering your muscles. And if you're waking up every two hours, you're, you're in fight or flight, you're not like, you're not, your body's not burning fuel and also you're hungrier, or then you compensate with drinking more coffee. So then you're like your cortisol are like like a fucking roller coaster, so like they're gonna hold on to every calorie. So you know, prioritizing I know I could say like prioritize sleep, but I've been there, I was like I tried to prioritize sleep, but it's really hard when your babies Waking up every couple of hours.

Speaker 2: 21:31

So that sort of goes back to if you aren't able to get the sleep that you would need to be Optimal and to lose the weight that you want, at least at the very least just recognize oh, I'm not getting enough sleep, let me give myself a little bit of a break here. That's where you can bring in the right a little more grace and allow yourself that room to be okay With where you are, because there's nothing like, sometimes, postpartum. There's just literally nothing you can do about. You're just not gonna get enough sleep and you're gonna have to be okay.

Speaker 1: 22:01

An unpopular opinion. This is an unpopular opinion. If you're going to choose between sleep and a workout, choose sleep. Absolutely choose sleep. If you have the opportunity to sleep in it's either. I sleep because you know this is it. If you're postpartum if you're postpartum and you have the opportunity to either get an extra hour of sleep or Workout, choose sleep.

Speaker 1: 22:27

Yeah, that is so much more important than then. Of course, the working out is important, but that's when you're getting enough sleep. You know what I mean. Like right now, when you're postpartum and you're in the thick of it and your baby's waking ever every couple hours Is not the time to be like, yeah, I'm gonna go to the gym. You know what I mean? No, like like the gym is great and it gives you energy, but but the sleep is way more important and, again, unpopular opinion like nobody, I don't, I don't think I've ever heard anybody Tell you to skip the gym for sleep. But in this case, like, the more sleep you can get if you can get an app or if you can rest on the couch, get that extra. Like, just get it in and get it in. Like, get that sleep in until the baby starts. You know, sleeping through the night.

Speaker 2: 23:10

Yeah, and if you're just being a lazy schmuck, go to the gym. Yeah, go to the gym prioritizing protein with every meal.

Speaker 1: 23:17

Again, I feel like especially women were like scared of eating. You know we have this like idea of like protein. You know like protein shakes and like and like raw eggs and like just gulping that shit down. I get it, I understand that, but protein is the building blocks of your life. It is. It makes you less hungry, like when you incorporate protein with every meal. You I try between like 20 and 25 grams of protein with every meal I'm fuller for longer. You know carbs I'm not saying carbs are the devil, but like have a protein with it so it keeps your blood sugar stabilized. Again, you're not, especially if you're not sleeping. You want to have like make make sure you eat nutritious, because when we were tired we tend to reach for, you know, the high sugar foods and then you're just like in that constant roller coaster. So keeping your blood sugar levels like optimal is really important.

Speaker 2: 24:10

So get that protein in not all protein comes with a tap out t-shirt. You can yeah, you can eat protein and still be a woman.

Speaker 1: 24:17

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1: 24:18

Yeah yeah, eggs and beef, and especially if you're a breast, if you're breastfeeding and you're nursing, you got to account for those calories. Like and I didn't even address the breastfeeding part that's a whole other element of energy. Like the fact that I worked out while also breastfeeding blows my mind not for everybody. Again, like this journey is is different for everybody, and Like when you're taking care of a new, a baby, and also breastfeeding and also have, you know, other kids and a job and all these things like, like you can see how exercise could be like the last on the list. But it doesn't need to be an hour long, like, like I said, like try to get. Like if you just focus on every day getting some sort of movement, even if it's just a walk or even it's just like a 10 minute stretch before bed, like do it, like Anything counts, like it's just about being consistent and showing up for yourself.

Speaker 2: 25:10

I think that's a huge piece of the puzzle for a lot of people, because we built it up to be such a Huge undertaking where we have to dedicate an hour every single day to this thing and who has the time? But you can get. You can get pretty significant results with 15, 20 minutes a day, especially if you're starting from zero. You didn't start from zero because you had that sort of discipline built in throughout the pregnancy, well before the pregnancy.

Speaker 2: 25:34

Yeah but if you are starting from a place of I don't really have a regular workout routine, start with 15 minutes a day on YouTube and build from there.

Speaker 1: 25:42

Just keep it as simple as possible so that you can make it manageable right and but, but it's a non-negotiable every single day and it, like I said, 15 minutes a YouTube video, or Go for a walk, or go for a quick jog, or even stretch, or take a. Take a class there's, there's a lot of classes around in the New Jersey, like everywhere, then every city. There's, there are mommy and me classes that you can take, and there there are gyms with, with child support. There's, you know, in like the suburbs, I think, but like there is a way of like getting that in and if you focus, like every day, I'm gonna, you know, get 20 minutes in and like, put your baby in the carrier, go for like for a walk. If it's raining, go to the mall, put the baby in the carrier, walk around the mall, spend a little money, buy a little Starby's, whatever, just like, do something for yourself every single day and it's good, like if you're pouring into your own cup, like you're just gonna be a better mom. And I know that when I'm working out, I'm feeling so good.

Speaker 1: 26:41

I feel so good and I was sharing this like the other day, like I went to a hot yoga class and it's the last thing I wanted to do that morning. I just wanted to say. It was raining outside. It was been raining for a couple of days in New Jersey. It was depressing. The last thing I wanted to do was get in my car and go to a hot yoga class hot yoga class. But I did it and right after I felt so good. I felt like just good and like just like that, that. You know that that hum of like calmness, of like I just accomplished a workout. I moved my body, I moved some energy out of my body, like it felt really, really good and it's like Focus on how you're gonna feel after. Because, like, the getting to is the hardest part, right Is the going to the gym, it's the starting, the workout. But once you're doing it, like you feel good and like you never regret a workout, like you just never do. And it's it's the core of all of this. Like, yeah, we all want to like lose a couple of pounds and lose the baby weight, but at the end of the day, we want to feel good.

Speaker 1: 27:37

And that's really the point of this episode. Is is about encouraging postpartum you know moms to do what they can to feel good because, like, if you feel good, that you can be a better, you can show up better for your kids, right, like, and I feel like I feel like a better mom when I, when I take the time for myself and also like my, my daughters are gonna See me working out and taking time for myself and they're they're gonna learn from that. They're gonna see that mommy puts her needs first you know what I mean. They're gonna see that mommy works out and takes care of her health and, like I know that that's gonna they're gonna have a Ripple effect on our family and it's an important aspect of our lives, right? So it's not just about Losing the weight, although that is nice, but, like I said, you know I'm, I'm, I know I'm never gonna go back.

Speaker 1: 28:25

My body's completely changed.

Speaker 1: 28:27

My hips are wider, you know, like there's just certain clothes that just don't fit me.

Speaker 1: 28:31

The same, and and it's fine, and I've kind of like accepted it, and Tony and I went shopping this weekend and I got some cute things that I I can feel better, you know, in my body and and, and that's that's also another aspect.

Speaker 1: 28:44

It's kind of like moving forward is not trying to go back to who we were before, but moving forward and what that looks like, and, and I know for postpartum it's like a weird you're kind of in this weird place of who am I like? Who am I? Who like? Am I my mom and my wife and my Lynn and my business owner like who am I now? Like that, like I went through it's like two years, takes two years of your life, right, like you're pregnant, and then post postpartum is a year plus. It's not just immediate, it's not just a couple months. Like I'm still considered postpartum. I'm still figuring myself out and figuring out like my style and like what to wear and like what feels good and my routines that feel good to me and that sort of thing. So it's like kind of like a whole journey, you know.

Speaker 2: 29:28

Yeah, it's a redefining of of who you are and who you want to be. It's like you are all of those things, but you're also none of those things and none of them. None of those identities fit quite the same as they did before, just like yeah, the clothes.

Speaker 1: 29:42

Yeah, it took it like it's kind of crazy, though, like it, it took me a minute. It took me a minute to kind of have a good grasp as to, like what all that means for me. Because, yeah, this experience has been different than my first, like in my first pregnancy I was in another head, completely different headspace, and now I'm in a healthier headspace. So I'm a lot more aware of, like the things that I'm feeling and going through and I finally feel like I'm 10 months Postpartum and only now am I starting to feel like I have a sense of of me, of who I am and what, what I want and my purpose and what like what my next steps are. And because I in the past year I was focused on Raising my kids and I always will be that. That will always be. You know that's okay.

Speaker 1: 30:27

Like Me, me being mom is okay. It's like in Barbie, what she's like. Can we just be mom like, and that just be enough. You know what I mean like, and to me that's that's enough and whatever else that I have going on is just a plus. Yeah, but I am blend, the mom and I'm I couldn't be happier and the wife, but you know what I mean.

Speaker 2: 30:45

I know what you mean.

Speaker 1: 30:48

Next thing I want to talk about that I didn't water hydration. Drinking a lot of water, especially if you're breastfeeding. Replenishing those mineral also replenishing minerals and, unfortunately, staying away from alcohol.

Speaker 2: 31:04

Is what it is.

Speaker 1: 31:04

It is what it is. Like there's no, like I know that's like people like joke and I joked about it last week like mommy juice, like let's drink wine and like sometimes our only way to cope with like the stresses of Of life and and being a parent is to escape by using alcohol. But that's especially if you're on a postpartum journey to like getting back to yourself. That can absolutely hinder your grenade.

Speaker 1: 31:28

Well, it's not great and I'm I'm also kind of figuring my, my figuring out my relationship with drinking and and had a balance that. But yeah, I drink a lot of water. Stay away from alcohol if you must, you know, have a little bit of wine, but like hard liquor is just not not good for, for for your hormones and for you know, you have certain goals, right. Intermittent fasting that is also a. I don't I think we need to bring in experts for intermittent fasting, but that is personally something that I like to do, a because right when I wake up, I'm not hungry and I don't feel like eating necessarily. I just Rather like have a nice, a nice big lunch, like that's just full of fruits and vegetables and eggs and and all the things, and and I have like two, three, two meal, two big meals and like a snack in between, and that, like to me, is enough. That being said, it's important to not do intermittent fast. So what is? I should give detail.

Speaker 1: 32:32

Yeah, what is intermittent fast so intermittent fasting is just like a fancy way of saying that you skip breakfast, basically.

Speaker 2: 32:40

Right, so it's a. It's basically you. You are intentionally shorting your, shortening your feeding window throughout the day. Yes, so there's, you know whatever interval that looks like. There's 18, 6, 16, 8, like whatever adds up to 24, essentially because there's 24 hours in the day. You're just shortening the window that you are allowing yourself to consume calories. Now there's a couple pieces that make it more effective, and the first one is lengthening the time between your last meal and when you go to sleep. Like that one is Huge, because you don't want to spend your overnight Digesting food, because that consumes energy, it contributes to bad sleep, it dehydrates you throughout the night and it's just a bad. It's a bad way to go is to eat like. I think general rule of thumb is like try to eat three hours before you're going to go to bed, yeah, and then when you wake up in the morning, obviously, if you can stretch that time window.

Speaker 1: 33:37

I was 16, out like generally 16 minimum 12 hours, yeah, and then up to like 16 hours, yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:43

My hardest core was like 18 6 was about where I was. I would have like a six hour noon to six, was about your man, though it's different, yeah, 100% different, if you're breastfeeding.

Speaker 1: 33:53

Do not do this, absolutely fucking not. Like when I was breastfeeding I was eating breakfast every morning I was eating oatmeal, like I was eating every three at two to three hours. You need to eat, you need to consume food. Like don't even think about intermittent fasting when you're breastfeeding. No, no, no, unless you want to screw up your milk supply and then your baby is not going to be happy with you. But I only started intermittent fasting a little bit after I stopped breastfeeding and I only did it like a few times a week just to Kind of give my gut a little bit of a break, and that personally works well for me and I've done it before.

Speaker 1: 34:28

It's not for everybody. It could mess up your home. This is for women. For men thrive on this but for women specifically, there are certain times during our cycle, or hormonal cycle, that you should not be Intermittent fasting, like during the luteal phase, which is a week leading up to your period, where I'm a fucking hot mess. You need to up your calories, you need to eat more You're. You're actually burning more calories during that week. That is why we crave, you know, sweets and we're kind of like Moody and poopy-doopy.

Speaker 2: 34:58

I've never noticed.

Speaker 1: 35:01

Are you're being sarcastic right, the that week you should not be intermittent fasting. Enjoy a nice breakfast, but otherwise it's a. For me personally it's. It's definitely helped me. You know, tighten things up.

Speaker 1: 35:15

I usually break my fast at like a lot, like it's not even that long. Like I eat, I usually eat like an early lunch, brunch at 11, and like my go-to Meal is, you know, two eggs, chicken sausage, so there's like it's very high in protein. I'll put spinach. You know leafy greens are super healthy for you and then I'll have, you know, blueberry. You know some blueberries. Blueberries are also very good for you and he can't in the berry fan like anti-cancerous and it's just really good for you and it's an antioxidant. Like you know, I get organ like I make you wash them organic. All that stuff I'll have, you know, sourdough bread and avocado. So I have a little bit of everything. I have my fruits, my vegetable, my fat, my carb and like it keeps me full, usually till, like right now, which is 230, and then I'll have a snack as some sort of snack, you know, like a nuts or fruit or just something to like keep me.

Speaker 2: 36:14

Promix protein bar.

Speaker 1: 36:15

Yeah, promix, I love promix. It's really good protein brand that we love. I'll have a promix protein bar or whatever and that'll keep me going and we'll have an usually an early dinner and it's also the you know a dinner will also could be Consists of a protein in the carb and a vegetable and and we'll have a treat after, like some, some dessert have to have a treat.

Speaker 2: 36:39

Even if it's simple.

Speaker 1: 36:40

Yeah, and so a lot of people ask me like, how do I maintain my weight? But also, like, get to eat the foods that you know, because we do eat, go out to eat and they see that I post on social media like, oh, how do you, how do you eat all this stuff?

Speaker 2: 36:54

Like, well, yes 80, 20, 80, 20, because you know when we post about going out to eat, like it might happen. Maybe it happens once a week, but when you see it it feels like in the course of like a month, it feels like we're always going out to eat.

Speaker 1: 37:10

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 37:11

And what I understand is that it only feels like that it's only a couple of times a month that we go out to eat and so, like you're saying, the 80, 20 rule really does apply to us, like 20% of the time we're going to eat, kind of whatever. Whatever feels good, because 80% of the time we're on point.

Speaker 1: 37:29

And when we are eating out and ordering, like I, you generally order whatever my heart desires, because I don't believe in depriving and I feel like, especially if you deprive yourself, if you really want that thing and you don't order that thing, you're going to try to compensate but it's never going to satisfy you.

Speaker 1: 37:45

So, like there is a nice, like fine balance and that's mindful eating and it's just like how to eat mindfully, right, and it's really just learning how to, you know, eat when you're hungry and stopping when you're full, which is in the society that we live in in America, in the United States, it's like we don't know those boundaries of like, oh, I'm full, we go past fullness.

Speaker 1: 38:05

So there's like a concept of eating until you're 80% full and kind of like it's something that I a skill that I had to learn, because I did have like a binge eating disorder where I would just eat to a point where I'd want to like, yeah, I'd be sick, so I had to relearn of like what my hunger cues are and like really being in touch with myself and also that comes with like you know, learning how to meditate and just being, you know, being calm before entering a meal and and that sort of thing and this is like a whole separate. I feel like we're going to eat a whole episode for like mindful eating intuitive eating and all that stuff and what that that means.

Speaker 1: 38:45

So when we do eat out, like I order whatever I want and I just and I eat and I stop when I'm full, like I generally like okay, that was delicious, like I can't eat anymore. Like I'm 80% full, like I I rarely ever eat to a point where I'm like completely stuffed.

Speaker 2: 38:59

We're so great for me because then I go, because then Tony eats the rest of it, and then I move on.

Speaker 1: 39:04

There's no guilt. There's no like guilt is like the moment my brain's like oh, maybe you should have eaten that Like that's. You know, my, my, my higher self is like shut the fuck up, that was delicious, do you, sis? You only live once. You know like there's literally a constant war between these two voices. So, yeah, that's really enjoy life, and I think that's it for me, did I? Oh, cold plunging.

Speaker 2: 39:32

We talked about that last week. There were. There were literally like four spots where I felt we could interject with them, but I was like like I don't want to be annoying about cold plunging, Like we talk about it all the time.

Speaker 1: 39:43

I wore that people, but it definitely has helped my increase my metabolism. Like I'm hungrier, I've you know it works. Yeah, it's definitely working. For sure it activates brown fat. Can we like? Should we go into that or no?

Speaker 2: 39:58

we're going to have a cold, we're going to do if the people aren't absolutely sick and tired of hearing a hearing about it. We are going to do a cold plunge episode with an expert so we can get into some of the nuts and bolts.

Speaker 1: 40:13

We should do the. We should interview the expert in the cold plunge with mics. Wouldn't that be hilarious?

Speaker 2: 40:23

That would be sick, that would be iconic. I might have to fake the temperature so that we're not sitting in 40 degree water for for a half an hour, but that would be. We'll see if we can do it. Look forward to that.

Speaker 1: 40:34

Well, thank you for listening episode two. Make sure you like and follow us on social media. Feel free to DM us your questions, yeah.

Speaker 2: 40:45

Yeah, beautiful.

Speaker 1: 40:46

Have a good day. Thank you for listening. Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye.

Speaker 2: 40:48

Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye you.