Postpartum Diet and Exercise Plan to Lose the Weight Fast: Month 3

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We buried my grandfather yesterday. My grandmother died in April, Baby C was born in July, and now Grandpa died this September.  I was very close with both of them. So, there have been a lot of strong emotions these last 5 months.  What does this have to do with Month 3 of the postpartum diet?  Quite a lot, actually.

It’s easy to get completely consumed with a weight loss goal. You’re always thinking about food (what you wish you were eating, how much longer until you get to eat again, how many more hours until your cheat meal…).  You’re planning and prepping meals and worrying about how you’ll stick to your diet at the next social function.  But sometimes you need  to take a step back and live life a little.

For the funeral, my family was going to be away from home for the whole weekend. I packed myself a bag with my pre-measured diet food. But when it came to the day of the funeral I knew bringing along my food was neither practical nor appropriate. What was I going to do–walk down the aisle of church behind the casket holding my cooler?  That’s insane.

What I did do was try my best. I had my pickled eggs for breakfast as usual. Rather than eating the sandwiches made by the church ladies I loaded my plate with vegetables, and while I skipped the cake and cookies I allowed myself to have two bites of a pecan square.  I tried my best to limit the cakes and chocolate treats at the house after the burial, but once you have one it’s really hard to stop. I knew I wanted the treats more than anything else, so when we went out for a Chinese food dinner I only had one serving, and you could see the plate in between the food.  My husband and Baby J got some Dairy Queen soft serve for dessert and I skipped it knowing I’d prefer the chocolates at home.

Did I overeat?  Absolutely. Was it a cheat day?  Not intentionally. Did I feel bad about it?  A little bit. But here’s the thing. There will be days that sticking to a diet is impossible, for both practical and emotional reasons. Will one day off the diet set you back?  It could; perhaps you won’t be down on the scale that week.  But does that really matter in the greater scheme of things?  So long as your progress is slowly going in the right direction, one day isn’t going to ruin everything–as long as you don’t let it.  And there are things in life that are far more important than being on a diet.

I woke up today and those cakes and treats were still in the fridge. But rather starting Day 2 of a binge weekend, I ate my pre measured breakfast and intend to stick to the meal plan for the rest of the day and hope to squeeze in my workout tonight. One day is easy to recover from. But when that day turns into a weekend which turns into a whole week, you’re in big trouble.

So my message for this final month of our Postpartum Weight Loss Plan is to cut yourself a little slack and live your life without being a miserable, obsessed, guilt ridden slave to the diet. Try to find it within yourself to WANT to stick to the diet because of all the rewards you will be reaping, not as something you can’t wait to be done with. And if you have a moment or even a day of weakness, enjoy it, forgive yourself, and move on–get right back on track at your next meal and forget about it. Life happens, you don’t need to be perfect all the time. Just don’t let life get the better of you.

Ok, now for the Month 3 diet!  Click the image to watch the video, and the links are below for my meal plan, a blank version, and the grocery list.

Postpartum Weight Loss Diet Month 3 Turquoise Toffee

Postpartum Weight Loss Diet Month 3 Blank Turquoise Toffee

Postpartum Weight Loss Diet Month 3 Grocery List Turquoise Toffee

Here’s the Month 3 workout and below is the printout. It’s a tough one, but only 20 minutes!  Like usual, you do this workout twice a day, three times a week, and you alternate it with workout #2 from Month 1 of whatever week you are doing three times a week. That’s half an hour of exercise a day, 6 days a week. So it works like this:

Month 3 Workout, Good Things to Those Who Burpee

Week one: alternate the Month 3 workout with week 1 workout 2.

Week two: alternate the Month 3 workout with week 2 workout 2.

Week three: alternate the Month 3 workout with week 3 workout 2.

Week four: alternate the Month 3 workout with week 4 workout 2.

This is our last month, I hope you are enjoying it so far and finish these last four weeks with happiness and lots of progress!!  Even if you don’t end up losing all the weight you wanted to, I hope you’ve learned how to eat clean and have some good habits down for getting in meals and workouts even with a new baby in tow, because that’s the hardest part of all of this, right?!

 

My progress so far:

24 hours postpartum: down 16 lbs

6 days postpartum (eliminated sugar but not following the diet yet): down 22 lbs

Diet week 1 (no exercise): no weight loss

Diet week 2 (started exercising at the end of this week, had done 3 workouts): lost 1 lb

Week 3: lost 0.5 lbs

Week 4: gained 1 lbs (darn, but no big deal!)

Week 5: lost 1 lbs

Week 6: lost 1.5 lbs

Week 7: lost 1 lbs

Week 8: lost 0.5 lbs

Week 9: lost 0.5 lbs First Goal Met!

Week 10: (was out of town without the scale, will update later)

Total weight loss so far: 27 lbs (will update with week 10 later)

First goal: get to my pre-pregnancy weight: Achieved at 9 Weeks Postpartum!

Second goal: lose 10 lbs by 10 months postpartum, need to lose: 10 lbs

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Aria Bra in Dip Dye Seaweed: Liquido Active

Aztec leggings: Liquido Active (no longer available but they get new colours every month!)

New Balance Barringer 890 V2 Women’s Rainbow Athletic Shoes: no longer available but I found them on ebay here and here