Virginia and Trevor Marum work out with their children, 11-month-old Calla and 3-year-old Weston, at their gym, Vert. Fitness and Wellness Center.
Issue Date: March 20, 2009, Posted On: 3/20/2009
Lose the Baby Weight
Moms and health professionals tell us what works
Krista Nightengale
By Krista Nightengale
Assistant Editing Manager
Dena Robinson has a lot going on. She’s a dentist. She runs a household. And she has two kids — Charlotte, 3, and Matthew, 3 months.
But you could never tell all this by looking at her. Instead, if you’re a female, you’d do what females do. Gawk at her perfect body and wish you’d spent just a few more minutes at the gym yesterday.
But Robinson hasn’t gotten where she is physically without a lot of work, dedication, and time — three things that are in short supply with two youngsters at home.
“After giving birth, you feel like you’ve just been beat up,” she said. “That was the hardest part. All you want to do is sleep, but you know in your mind you need to get up, get moving. That’s what [my personal trainer] Ryan always told me. He said, ‘You have to get started as fast as possible.’”
If taking a walk as soon as she got home from the hospital counts as “as fast as possible,” then Robinson followed her trainer’s advice to the T.
But losing that baby weight hasn’t been easy. It very rarely is. So we talked to several trainers, a dietician, dads, and — most importantly — moms, and gathered their advice for what works when trying to take care of a newborn and lose the weight the little one made you gain.
Preplanning
The first tip to losing that stubborn baby weight begins when you first get pregnant.
“If you stay somewhat fit, or remain at that fitness level you were at before or during, it’s going to help you regain it after,” said Trevor Marum, owner of Vert. Fitness and Wellness Center. “Once you get in shape, it’s easier to stay in shape. It’s much harder to come from a position of out of shape to in shape.”
Marum should know what works. Not only does he specialize in pre-, during-, and post-natal training for women, but his wife, Virginia, has had two kids. Weston, who’s 3-and-a-half years old, and 11-month-old Calla have taught their parents quite a bit about living life and losing weight.
Virginia said the toughest time for her was the first trimester.
“I definitely had my days of not wanting to do anything other than lay in bed and feel like a beached whale,” she said in an e-mail. “Trevor, being an excellent trainer, knew that sometimes these days were just necessary. We have to give to ourselves what our body is asking for, and sometimes it is sleep. The same with the cravings.”
But Trevor did encourage Virginia to get up and moving as much as possible.
“I was used to going to the gym three to four times a week, and now all I wanted to do was sleep,” she wrote. “Once I realized that exercise itself actually helped me feel more rested and less exhausted (I know it sounds contrary, but it’s true), I tried to wake up in the morning by taking a walk to Starbucks and treating myself to a decaf latté for the walk back.”
The Marums aren’t the only ones who suggest preplanning.
At AEON Health, dietitian and wellness coach Julie Bender, physician and co-founder Irene Willingham, and trainer and co-founder Ryan Tompkins said it’s imperative to have a plan of action for post-baby time.
“I haven’t had a baby, but I’m assuming that you have the best of intentions,” said Tompkins, who has four young children. “?‘I’m going to get in shape. I’m going to get with my trainer and my nutritionist.’ And then baby comes, and you don’t feel near as strong about those statements when you’re exhausted and tired.”
But if your team of health professionals are aware of your goals and plans, they can be calling you and encouraging you to get back on track.
Bender suggests writing out a plan of what your exercise routine will be and what your diet plan will look like.
“You can’t, with your first child, know completely what to expect, but at least doing a little planning pre-baby can help in the long run,” she said.
Get Moving
After baby arrives, the next step sounds much easier than it actually is, but all our professionals and moms told us the same thing — you have to get moving.
“I think that to me was the hardest part,” said Robinson. “[With a] newborn, you don’t get a lot of sleep, so the last thing you want to do is exercise. All you want to do is sleep. One of the most important things to do is get up and do something.”
But, Tompkins said, that doesn’t mean you have to dedicate a full hour to exercising. Divide it up throughout your day.
“If baby takes a nap two to three times a day, take 15 minutes two or three times a day and go through some of these exercises and break it up. It doesn’t seem so overwhelming, and you’re not so exhausted afterward.”
While baby sleeps, you can do pilates, lunges, or squats. But what about when the baby’s awake?
“You have to use whatever moments you have to get moving,” Virginia said. “Don’t sit at the park watching your kids; play with them. Don’t drive down the street; walk it. Don’t sit on Facebook during naptimes; do a few crunches.”
Virginia said she uses every single moment she gets. When she’s cooking dinner, she’ll do squats while waiting for the water to boil. If her daughter gets grumpy, Virginia will hold her and do walking lunges or rollbacks, which ends up making her daughter laugh and gives mom toner muscles.
Tompkins said incorporating your baby in workouts is great for the two of you. You can do chest presses, or even bicep curl your baby. He also said there are multiple programs such as StrollerFit and Baby Boot Camp where mothers can bond and get toned.
Food Choices
Although exercise is vital to getting back in shape, food choices are just as important.
“One thing after you have a child, it’s hard to make time for yourself,” Bender said. “You’re giving so much and you lose sight of regular meal times.”
She said it’s really easy just to grab something when you’re rushing around, but those snacks tend to be higher in starchy carbs. Taking just a few minutes to make eggs and oatmeal for breakfast can go a long way on your waistline.
Or, if you don’t have time for that, grab fruit and a quality nutrition bar. Bender also suggests eating every three to four hours to boost your metabolism.
“Some moms lose track of the day because they’re so busy,” she said. “I’ve had some folks who actually set a timer that goes off that reminds them to eat. It may not be the baby’s time to eat, but its their time to eat so they take that time out.”
Another important aspect is drinking plenty of fluids.
“Fluids are important to boost metabolism, also for staying well hydrated to keep your energy level up and for breast feeding,” Bender said. “Think fluids first.”
And the number one tip for losing baby weight?
“Breast feeding is one of the best ways to help lose weight,” she said.
Time For Yourself
With all the hustle of raising kids, running households, work, and everything else that you have in the mix, be sure to take some time for yourself.
For Robinson, this time is a gift from her husband.
“We have a great partnership in the sense that we allow each other time for ourselves,” she said. “If I say, ‘Don, I want to go for a run for an hour,’ he’ll go, ‘OK, I’ll watch the kids.’”
And then later in the day, Robinson will take over watching the kids so Don can have some time to play golf.
“It’s a partnership, and you have to allow time for yourself,” she said.
Even though the moms we talked to were just a few months from pregnancy, they both have spent a lot of time getting back to their pre-pregnancy bodies. Neither of them are where they want to be, but that doesn’t stop them from working on it.
“I am still a few inches from my pre-pregnancy size, but I can say that I’m having the time of my life keeping up with both my kids and with what some might see as a rather hectic schedule,” Virginia said. “Exercise is not a chore to me, but an essential part of life, and I’m grateful for my husband who keeps it pain free and likes to remind me that my stretchmarks are nothing more than ‘battlewounds,’ and I should flaunt them in my bikini.”
