After my fourth pregnancy I used a three-pronged approach that has me comfortably fitting back in pre-pre-pre-pre-pregnancy jeans. Several of you have asked what worked, and I am happy to share that with you here.

In this little series on recovering my pre-baby body, I have talked about the natural liposuction of breastfeeding and the strategic use of compression garments in moving back to a normal, healthy body weight. I have leveraged those two elements consistently after each pregnancy with moderate success.

there’s the rub

The one lingering issue for me was that my thighs would rub together. I never had this problem pre-baby, and I certainly wasn’t excited when it became my “new normal.”

Running was a potential solution, and in fact my desire to conquer thigh rubbing was the motivation behind my attempt to follow the couch to 5k program. Unfortunately, knee pain and repeated mastitis put at least a temporary end to that fitness goal.

Another idea came from the writing of Catholic blogger Jennifer Fulwiler, who mentioned what she calls the Saint Diet. In a nutshell she finds it easier to concentrate, to regulate how much she eats, and she has higher energy levels when she eliminates flour and sugar from her diet.

Intrigued, I read more at Wellness Mama, the blogger to whom Jennifer linked. Kate lists a number of benefits of grain-free living, and one of them is reduced seasonal allergies. Having experienced spring and autumn allergies for the first time in my life last year, I decided I would try this grain-free thing and see if I noticed any improvement on the elimination diet.

Having never dieted before, I simply jumped in, going almost without grains (I already ate little sugar) for 60 days. I prepared crustless quiches for breakfast but otherwise ate what my family did, simply omitting any rice, bread, or pasta that accompanied each meal.

The early days were tricky as I didn’t have that full carb feeling to tide me along. I ate more meat and vegetables and ignored the inconvenient (and highly unusual outside of pregnancy!) cravings for doughnuts and brownies. My nightly snack became a glass of milk rather than a bowl of cereal.

signs of improvement

After a while – maybe around two or three weeks, the cravings vanished. Fortunately I enjoy meat and vegetables, so I didn’t feel deprived at all.

At around four weeks I began to notice that I sneezed only on days when I had indulged in Ben’s tasty pancakes or French toast. The sneezing had become consistently bothersome prior to my dietary experiment, so this was enough of an incentive for me to continue. Even if it was all the grain elimination did for me, it would have been enough.

As a bonus, though, I have also noticed that omitting grains has reduced the size of my thighs so that they no longer rub together. I had been able to squeeze into pre-baby jeans between my pregnancies with Nikki and Michael, but now I slide into my favourite Zara denims easily.

Currently I am experimenting with adding white rice to my meals. I also recently read Perfect Health Diet. I am still making sense of how the authors’ research translates into day-to-day eating, but I don’t think I’ll soon go back to regular wheat consumption. The benefits of grain-free living are real enough for me.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.

After my fourth pregnancy I used a three-pronged approach that has me comfortably fitting back in pre-pre-pre-pre-pregnancy jeans. Several of you have asked what worked, and I am happy to share that with you here.

The cornerstone of postpartum weight loss for me is breastfeeding, which I discussed last week. This week I’ll highlight something perhaps a bit less obvious: undergarments.

a unique opportunity to shrink

Now I have to admit, even my midwives scratch their heads over my shapewear selections. But they are also delighted by how quickly my uterus contracts and with my overall speed of recovery. I have also found that I prefer the feeling of having my body held firmly together after giving birth.

The secret to the undergarments’ success is this: in the first six to eight weeks after giving birth, our bodies are flooded with relaxin, the chemical that allows us to open up and birth so beautifully. It’s a big reason why doctors advise women who have just given birth not to exercise in the early weeks, because we’re all loosey-goosey and prone to injury.

I like to think of the immediate postpartum or “babymoon” time as a unique window of opportunity to make the relaxin work for me! If, while my body is full of relaxin, I sit for extended periods without wearing shapewear, my hips will continue the widening they have begun during pregnancy. On the other hand, if I pull my hips together, relaxin gives my body a head start as it moves back into some semblance of its pre-pregnancy shape.

my experience with different shapewear garments

With each pregnancy, I have tried different brands and styles as my preferences and the shapewear market evolve. Here is what I have found – your mileage may vary:

• While still pregnant with my first, I ordered Agent Provocateur post-natal control briefs. I love these and have them in two sizes – larger immediately post-partum and smaller as soon as I can squeeze into them. I have worn them after all four pregnancies and they are still in excellent condition.
• Throughout my second pregnancy I tried Spanx Power Mama baby belly support – these are made with a hosiery material, which means they are comfortable, but also prone to runs.
• Next I moved on to a combination of the Cinch Wrap and Shrinkx Hips – both items were very effective, and I loved how I was able to adjust them smaller and smaller rather than having to buy a new smaller size. The down side was that, at least for me and my long torso, there was a gap between the two cinching products, emphasizing a roll of fat in the middle! My post-natal control briefs did a lot to minimise the lumpiness, but I wasn’t happy wearing them outside the house.
• Finally I moved on to the total solution: Wink’s Ultimate Skinny Minny. No bulges or rolls, compression everywhere I needed it, and comfortable, too. It is a bit pricey, but I considered it an investment in feeling good about myself and fitting back in the clothes I already own.

{SPECIAL OFFER: I had this blog post drafted and ready to go, then Wink Shapewear sent me email about its Mother’s Day promotion: 20% off storewide, April 21-23 only. So I’m posting this early in case anyone reading wants to take advantage of their offer. I’m not compensated in any way, just want to let you know about a great deal on a brand I like! Oh, and it’s a little hard to find on their site, so you can click HERE for sizing instructions.}

I also modified my diet starting around six months after my fourth baby’s birth, a change that has substantially boosted my post-partum weight loss. I will close out this series with more details next week.

After my fourth pregnancy I used a three-pronged approach that has me comfortably fitting back in pre-pre-pre-pre-pregnancy jeans. Several of you have asked what worked, and I am happy to share that with you here.

For an average-weight woman like me, weight gain during pregnancy is a good thing. One study even suggests a link between increased IQ in children and the omega-3 fatty acids stored in maternal hips and thighs.

natural liposuction

When baby arrives, the slow process of moving back to my healthy normal weight begins. Fortunately, breastfeeding acts as natural liposuction. Mama loses the extra weight and baby gains, a perfect reciprocity.

To maximise the weight transfer, I work with baby to get an effective, efficient latch. Then I let baby feed as long as he wants on one side (more fat is transferred later in the feed) before offering the other side and again letting him nurse to his heart’s content.

I tend to be impatient (especially if I don’t have a good book or a laptop to keep me occupied during a nursing session), but I try to remind myself that I want to give baby all the fat. I’m vain enough that just thinking about the fat transfer will usually overcome my desire to cut a feed short and jump up to do something else.

shrinking the stomach

All this output is great, but if you are anything like me, you’ll find that your appetite increases to match the calories – and then some – that you are sending baby’s way. At the same time, since giving birth, there is a lot more space for internal organs to spread out, including the stomach. I will eat much more than I need if I fill up all the space my stomach suddenly has.

One way around this is to calculate my caloric requirements and eat just that. However, I hate feeling deprived, especially just after giving birth!

There are a couple tricks I use to reach satiation more quickly. The first (note: I don’t do this during pregnancy) is to drink a tall glass of water immediately before eating. I also use compression garments, which I will discuss in more detail next week, to squish my stomach back down to size.

image source bmigaming.com

Going places with small children is a logistical, physical, and sometimes even an emotional challenge. To make life easier, we set rules and expectations with our children up front, to try to prevent misunderstandings or unreasonable demands.

An example. As we prepared to go to the zoo for the first time, I tried to think about what things we would allow/encourage, and what things we would disallow/discourage.

Before leaving the house, I ask my kids what they think. Would we, for example, play at a playground on the way to the zoo? Would we eat lunch at the zoo? What would they do if they needed to use the toilet? And so on.

I find the question and answer format works well for kids this age. If they guess something different than what I’m thinking, I can immediately correct the misperception.

Often, I will try to explain the reasoning behind these decisions. For instance, we don’t pay for the little merry-go-rounds because we choose to spend our money on other things. We hold hands so we can enjoy the zoo together. We don’t run or yell so we can show love to the people around us and also so we have a better chance of seeing the animals instead of frightening them away.

When my children understand in advance what is expected of them and why, they have a much easier time complying, even if it looks like everyone else is doing things differently.

What do you do to make it easier to go places with your kids?

For the past six weeks, we have been working to memorize questions 72 through 104 in the Young Children’s Catechism; all of them relate to the Ten Commandments. Progress was slow until one morning I had the idea to create hand signals as memory prompts for each commandment.

Ben gallantly demonstrated the prompts on this silent video so I can share them with you.

For anyone interested in hearing Nikki answer the questions, I also created a six and a half minute slideshow of the relevant questions from the Catechism for Young Children. This video features audio of Nikki answering the questions and Michael chiming in from time to time.

So I got really excited about making my own beautiful bread with very little effort and mixed up a batch of artisan dough (enough for four one-pound loaves) in the largest container I have in my kitchen.

Then I left it to rise for a couple hours.

Realizing my mistake, I moved the dough to a big stockpot and stuck it in the refrigerator as the next step.

After the older kids were in bed, I removed a grapefruit-sized pound of dough and transferred the rest back into the yogurt bucket to take up less room in my refrigerator. I formed the dough into a free-form ball, let it rest on my pizza peel, and slashed it.

Into the oven, and thirty minutes later – well, if I hadn’t seen myself make this bread I wouldn’t have believed it.

Ben sliced into the warm crusty loaf, and we each ate a delicious piece before going to bed. This was easy and fun, and after we devour this batch, I’m looking forward to trying the healthier version here.

I love having only one bathroom, because that means I only have to clean one bathroom.

The downside is that we’re all sharing one bathroom.

Somehow I don’t find it restful to soak in a bathtub decorated with cat litter crumbs.

And as wonderful as it is to have a toilet trained preschooler, I could do without the little drips on the toilet seat. And did I mention that we plan to toilet train our son soon?

sanitizing frequently used surfaces

I like the vinegar cleaner I use in the kitchen. However, our bathroom demands full-on germ warfare.

Bleach would do the trick, but in order to use it frequently I want a safe, convenient way to store and dispense it in the bathroom. Clorox® wipes aren’t readily available here, and I imagine they would be expensive if they were.

So, I made my own using this recipe:

homemade bleach wipes

 

You will need:

• reusable red non woven wipes (colour-coded for the bathroom)
• an empty baby wipe container
• bleach solution:
1. 1 tablespoon bleach
2. 1 quart water

Method:

• Cut reusable red towels into baby wipe size (approx 18cm x 20cm)
• Fold the towels in half and place them in an empty baby wipe container
• Pour bleach solution over the wipes
• Pull out one wipe and use it to clean frequently used bathroom surfaces
• Throw the used wipe in a little flip-top plastic bin
• When you start to run low, wash the used wipes and repeat

I am well rewarded for the half hour it took to make these wipes when I sink gratefully into a marvelously crumb-free bath. Ahhhh.