Real Moms Share Their Weight-Loss Secrets

The hair on the back of my neck bristles when I hear this comment, one I’ve heard countless times, “Oh, you probably stay in shape chasing after those four boys!” or “You’re so busy with your kids you don’t have time to eat, no wonder you’ve lost weight!”

Of course, there are always smiles and laughs accompanied by these light-hearted, somewhat complimentary words, and, to some degree, I HAVE learned to take myself and my weight issues less seriously……..so I have had to sort of evaluate why I feel this sting in my gut when those “compliments” are directed at me.

I certainly don’t look like a supermodel, far from it, but I have stamina, I’m strong, I like the way I look in my Joe’s Jeans and each time I have had a child, I have lost the extra pounds (which I had in abundance) which makes me look transformed when someone hasn’t seen me in a while.  But none of these little successes happened BECAUSE I am busy with four active boys, in many ways, I think they happened IN SPITE of the fact that my kids and their constant needs could become excuses for me not to work out regularly or eat right.

When someone says, “Now I know why I used to be skinny, too, I was burning all those calories chasing my kids,” a small voice inside me yearns to receive some credit for the fact that I have to work HARD darnit to take off baby pounds, and not just once, FOUR times!  I should be a freakin’ pro at weight loss by now!  Yes, I have learned a lot, and yes, I do take the weight off, at least by 1 year post partum, but I sweat and strain for every pound I lose!  I WISH it were as easy as just “chasing after my kids” – SHEESH!  Anyway, no matter what people think, or what excuses they want to make for themselves, the reward, for me, is not in the compliments, it is in the satisfaction I feel when I put on my pre-4th-baby favorite pair of Joe’s Jeans!  My reward is the 9 miles I can run, because I am grateful for a healthy body that I can discipline and train, a body that has delivered four healthy children into this world and that gets me around in life and allows me to enjoy every blessing in each present day!

It is really tough for some of us moms to have a baby and then feel like everyone is watching to see what your body will do this time.  At some point I realized that taking care of my body had to become a priority, not just for me but for my family.  Once, when my third son was almost a year old, I got stuck overnight in Atlanta at the airport when our connecting flight had “mechanical difficulities”.  I was alone with my three kids and they were shuttling planes full of people to hotels at midnight.  I waited as shuttle after shuttle quickly filled up with people while me, my three kids, with stroller, bags and car seat, hung back with the poor folks in wheelchairs because none of us were quick enough to shove our way onto the buses!  It was a frustrating, exhausting and lonely 48 hours for me and my kids and I truly think the only reason I was able to physically do it (and not lose my cool with my kids) was because I had been taking good care of my body and I was physically up to the challenge of hauling three kids age 4 and under around airports and hotels and onto planes in an unknown city where an airline endangered us, but did finally deliver us, to our destination.

As moms we have difficult choices to make, we are caregivers and professionals but we are also women, with one body and one chance to keep it healthy.  Sometimes I think it is harder work to protect the priority of healhy fitness habits than it is to actually burn through a 9 mile run (let alone a 30 minute workout!) or plan a healthy balanced meal for us to eat.  Sadly, in my experience, as much as I wish it were true, extra weight does not melt as a result of the daily, however important, task of “chasing after my kids”.  Maybe I don’t think they want to really hear what I do, or maybe I am just enjoying my small successes within myself, but I usually just smile and think to myself, “Weight loss, for moms, or anyone, is a goal that is first acknowledged, visualized, worked for, and accomplished.  And ANYONE can do that.”

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Busty women can run, too!  I am living proof of that.  As a “C” woman (who has also experienced being a D and DD and probably a Z) I don’t like my girls flopping about even when I’m just walking down a flight of stairs, let alone when I’m runnng.  I like ‘em to stay put and at least imitate the youthful high and perky position they once adorned on my 33 year-old body.

I used to think that the words “maximum support” and “underwire” were always said in the same breath.  But not anymore.  Yes, I am aware that running can cause our precious boobies to bounce up and down as much as 8 inches. Yikes!  Which is why I must share with you my most supportive, underwire-less friend, the Under Armour Endure Sports Bra for Women!  It comes in A/B, C or D cups (and S, M, L, XL within the cup sizes).

Not only does this bra hold up the girls and keep them in place, it is actually VERY figure-flattering.  It is easy to feel shapely and feminine when you’re wearing a supportive, shaping undergarment that is the very opposite of the “uni-boob”.  Plus this bra’s performance is AWESOME!  I have road-tested it up to 9 miles – no bouncing, no chafing, and no need to EVER manually adjust the darn thing.

A couple of others sports bras that I like to run in that take 2nd and 3rd place on my list also offer great support and comfort as well.  They are the Full Figure Seamless Bra by Champion® (I purchased mine at Athleta.com, my favorite online women’s activewear store) and the PowerBack Underwire Sports Bra also by Champion®.

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“Running gets it done,” is what a friend of mine once told me a couple years ago when I first started to run.  I have never forgotten what he said and now, two years later, I have a better understanding of what he meant by that.  Running is empowering, in a mental and physical way, it torches calories and fat, it is measurable by distance and time – building confidence and character, it also strengthens not only your legs but also your core, which is so important after having a baby.

You may remember my description of how I started running back in the fall of 2007, shortly after my 3rd son turned one:

When circumstances changed, I made sure to plan ahead.
When my middle son started preschool at a Montessori school, he was “phased in”, meaning he went for a little bit longer time each morning he went to school. Since I normally did my workout in the morning, this presented a real challenge for my already regular exercise routine. So, I planned ahead as to how I was going to accomplish my daily exercise routine. I decided to pack up the stroller and take my youngest son for a walk around the school’s surrounding neighborhood while we waited for his brother to finish school each day. Well, as the days went by, my walk turned into a jog and that daily jog got a little longer each day as my son was staying in school a little longer each day. I lost 5 pounds through what I thought would be a hiccup in my exercise routine. I was so pleased to discover, as well, how much I like to run. It was rewarding to know that, no matter what changes in my kids’ routines occurred (and they inevitably will), I could improvise, plan and stick to my work out routine.

I remember how I started out back then, I would run for a bit, then walk for a bit, then run for a bit, then walk…..but it did not take me very long (about a week of running) before my running intervals became longer and my walking intervals disapeared altogether.  I began in a similar way when I started running a couple of months ago – about 8 months after having our 4th son.  We had just moved into a very hilly neighborhood and my run around the block (all hills) took about 35 minutes.  I quickly sought out flatter ground (I like to use RunningMap.com) and began to run a mile, then 2, then 3, until I decided to sign up for the Denver 1/2 marathon coming up this October.  I have been following an awesome beginner’s half-marathon training guide by Hal Higdon that you can view here and I am now running between 6 and 9 miles a day – a personal record for me!  I am almost ready for my race.

It has been so refreshing to focus on fitness with more of a performance perspective rather than a weight loss perspective.  And, as a result of training for this race (at a nice, easy pace that has worked for me and my lifestyle) I have scorched another  7 or 8 pounds and dropped another dress/pant size.

Ironically, the September issue of Women’s Health Magazine featured an article for beginning runners that I recommend if you are interested in running.  This issue should still be in the stands for you to buy.  They, too, suggest starting out with short, easy runs, and doing them in intervals of walking and running, you’d be amazed at how quickly you progress if you keep training.

As important as the committment to running (and to listening carefully to your body as you’re training, after consulting your physician, of course!), is the gear that you invest in that can protect you as well as enhance your running performance, maximize your calorie and fat burning: from the shoes to the sports bra to the jog stroller and the music on your playlist.  I am excited to share my training experience with you as well as the tools and advice that are helping me to achieve my training goals!

So whether you’re a new runner or a veteran, I would love to hear from you.  What races have you done, what is your training like, what obstacles do you face and how do you overcome them?  Do you run alone or with some pals or your significant other, what about your kids?  How did you get started running, and, of course, what’s on your playlist?

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Obstacle #4: Stress

Yep, stress can quickly shatter the resolve of the most dedicated dieter, in a matter of milliseconds!  Whether it’s an outrageous gas bill, a two-year-old throwing the mother of all tantrums, or an angry tiff with your spouse, our old standby comfort foods soothingly call our names like a siren, promising refuge but leaving us crashed on the rocks!  Not very strategic for reaching our weight loss goals.

If you are one of so many moms who has ever wrestled with comfort-eating, emotional-eating, eat-everything-in-sight-stress-relief, whatever you want to call it, I have news for you – you CAN overcome this.  It is a mental game more than anything and, when conquered one day at a time (or one minute at a time), creates a new habit that will help you accomplish your weight loss goals and make you thin.  The secret is to PREPARE YOURSELF.

If you want to lose the weight and become a lean, strong mom, try this: Daily prepare yourself for the stress you will inevitably face (I actually prefer to prepare myself the night before):

1. Identify what relaxes and energizes you by finishing the following sentences:

When I’ve had a chance to _________________, I feel energized to face whatever comes my way.

I always feel better after I’ve __________________________.

If you would like some great suggestions for simple ways to get energized, check out this list I found online: Improve Your Mood in 5 Minutes

2.  Daily remind yourself of not just your weight loss goals but also the MOTIVATIONS behind your goals, in other words, the BENEFITS you will experience as a result of losing the extra weight and becoming thin.  It even helps to write yourself a letter, in the present tense, describing how you feel, in the present tense, as a result of accomplishing your health and fitness goals.  For example, recently I was stuck in a post-partum weight loss plateau and so I set a small weight loss goal of 5 pounds to lose and  I wrote down the benefits of reaching this goal and on the next page I wrote a page long journal entry, describing how proud I felt for reaching my goal and how worth all the hard work it was.

3.  Make a list of all the possible things you can do INSTEAD of reach for that 2nd piece of cake, or that bag of chips, whatever the yummy temptation might be.  Right now some of the items on my list are: write a letter or send an email to an old friend, do the ten-minute/trash bag tango (which involves clearing out some clutter from your house), go for a walk (never hurts to get up from your cubicle at work, either!), learn something new about my camera (I’m interested in photography), do a load of laundry (hey, keeps me moving in the opposite direction of the fridge!).  Having alternatives to excessive snacking or stress-eating will help you to make choices that will contribute to your weight loss.

Writing ideas and strategies down can be a real help for reaching your post-partum weight loss goals.  Losing weight, as with any goal, involves engaging your MIND.  It is okay to play mind games with yourself, talking to yourself about what you plan to accomplish, or even changing your thinking as if you ALREADY HAVE ACCOMPLISHED your goal.  Stress can be a real sabateur of weight loss and the only way to combat it is to prepare your MIND ahead of time so that stress will never again be an excuse for abandoning your goals.

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