How To Lose Pregnancy Weight in 10 Months?
Do you wish to get back into your own jeans you used to wear before having kids? Do you keep your own clothes and think one day you would go back to wear those jeans again?
It was me. I kept those jeans and hoped one days I would wear them again.
After two pregnancies, I gained 15 pounds. After giving birth to my son, I gained 4 pounds. After my daughter, I gained another 4 pounds. 8 pounds for 2 pregnancies was not a bad weight gain. But gaining another 7 pounds just in couple months was an alarm to me. You would laugh at me and tell me that 15 pounds was nothing.
You are right. I am not overweight or obese. Why did I want to lose weight and make a big deal out of 15 pounds?
First of all, I am petite and short. I felt heavy with those 15 pounds. I didn’t fit into my old clothes anymore. I found myself have to buy bigger pants almost every month.
After meals, I felt bloated and tired. I wasn’t happy with my weight.
The truth wasn’t my weight that bother me and made me unhappy. It was me. I was tired, fatigued, sleep deprived, and stressed. Mentally I was exhausted.
Every night at 11pm after everyone was in bed, I found myself sitting in my dark kitchen eating a hot bowl of rice with soy sauce.
It was not only about the taste of the rice and soy sauce that I loved, but also it was the feeling of safe childhood’s memories. Those feelings comforted and relaxed me. I didn’t remember about my exhaustion at the moment. I didn’t feel sleepy or tired. I felt loved, happy, and relaxed.
That comforting feeling also gave me another 7 pounds in couple months. I hated myself after each bowl. However, I couldn’t stop myself.
I was craving for the taste and the feelings. I was helpless and desperate. It was always “a last bowl and no more tomorrow” conversations.
It was never a last bowl. The tomorrow was months later.
Make a Decision
One morning in 2017, as I walked out of shower and dried myself in front of the mirror, my husband came in and asked me a question about the broken spiderweb my son made. Just one simple question about the toy brought us into a big fight that I felt I wasn’t seen, heard or loved by my husband. I recognized that I was lost, unhappy and depressed, on top of lacking sleep from taking care of a newborn and a toddler.
I stared at my naked body in the mirror. I asked myself “what would make me happy?”
At that moment, I would do anything to make me happy again. I wanted to do something for myself.
Start with a small goal
I hated the feeling of being bloated after meals. I didn’t like the way my body looked.
I wanted to wear my skinny jeans again.
I didn’t want to hide myself behind the dresses.
Staring at my body in the mirror, I told myself that I didn’t like my body. The small voice told me “let’s start there!”
“Start small! Just one pound per month!” said the voice.
I didn’t want to put the pressure on myself and felt like a failure if I didn’t reach my goal. My goal was not to lose weight but to find myself back. I wanted to do something to make myself happy. I wanted to do something that made me feel loved and cared. No one couldn’t do that for me but myself.
Start out small! One pound per month, or one pound per week! It doesn’t matter how many pounds you want to lose, set a goal that is easy for you to do. Setting a simple easy goal that your brain doesn’t have a reason to argue back at you but agree with you.
Eating Less
10 years ago, to support my husband, I learnt how to cook 500 calories meals for 6 months. I knew that eating less and cutting carbs worked. I didn’t know much about nutrition at the time.
However, that process was painful because every meal took me hours to cook. I had to weigh every little ingredient including cilantro and green onion.
I didn’t want to go back to that process again. With 2 little kids, I didn’t have hours to cook. On top of that, I already cooked 2 different types of meals for the whole family. I couldn’t bear to think of cooking a third meal for myself.
I was afraid of doing my research on how to lose weight and the best program to follow. What if I couldn’t follow?
“Keep it simple and go with what you know where you are”, said the voice.
Eating less is the number one key in my diet. I didn’t change my family diet to meet my goal; I changed my diet accordingly to my family lifestyle.
I ate what they ate.
I ate less. I cut meals in half.
I did that for a month before adding anything new into my diet.
It was easy enough to keep me going with my days.
Cutting out carb and sugar
I cut out carb and sugar at the beginning because I knew it worked for me 10 years ago. I just needed to be strong and got past the first 7 days. After that it felt normal.
For a new person knowing nothing about nutrition and diet, I suggest you start out slow.
Your body needs healthy carb and healthy sugar to function. If we overuse them, it becomes an addiction.
Carb and sugar addiction are like other addictions. If you suddenly reduce sugar intake, you may experience withdrawal symptoms.
I remembered after 6 months into my diet journey, I decided to add a sugar diet into my journey. I didn’t do the whole30 because I didn’t know what whole30 was.
First 10 days without sugar was not easy. My body was shaking. I craved sweets. I didn’t feel myself or the energy level that I used to have. I felt my blood flow was low.
However, my mind was clear. I wasn’t sleepy after meals. I was able to focus more than before.
Listening to my body and adjust what I eat accordingly
The only knowledge I had about diet at the moment was low carb and less calories. If you asked me about nutrition, vitamins, minerals, Ayurveda, and other diets, I didn’t know.
With two little kids, I didn’t have much time. Therefore, I tried to avoid extra cooking and follow any instructions. I decided not to do any research but followed my instinct and knowledge that I had.
It was the best decision I have ever made in my life. I ate what I cooked for my family. I ate what I like to eat. However, I listened and paid attention to my body.
Scale is my only tracking system. I weigh myself every morning. The weight told me about how my metabolism and how my body worked.
I monitored the weights for a couple weeks or at least a month. If my weight didn’t change, I knew that I had to change my diet. If I didn’t lose 1 pound that month, I knew that I had to make a modification.
Change main meal to lunch time
One of my modifications was to change the main meal to lunch time.
After 6 months of modifying the diet to work for my lifestyle, I learnt the main meal should be at lunch time. That way, I could eat the heavy carb I wanted. Enjoying the piece of deep-fried chicken wouldn’t hurt my weight.
Since then, my main meal is at lunch. At night, I ate light things like soup or salad. No carb or red meat for dinner!
Until today, I still do the same thing. My dinner is light and simple. If I cooked Vietnamese beef noodle soup (Pho) for family dinner, I ate a small bowl of soup with bean sprout, no noodles.
Introduce light exercise
After adjusting and moving the main meal to lunch time, my weight wasn’t changing much after 3 months.
It was time to adjust again, either cutting some calories or being active to burn calories.
I decided to introduce walking for 15 minutes to 45 minutes per day.
Again, I didn’t move into 30 minutes or walked for 45 minutes right away. I started small at 15 minutes and moved up to 45 minutes.
At first, I did 2 times per week, then 3 times, and then 4 or 5 times per week whenever I had time.
However, 3 times per week was perfect.
Main Focus
At the moment I thought my main focus was on losing one pound per month. Every day I religiously watched what I ate. I weighed myself every morning before starting my day with food and drink.
I also weighed myself before bedtime, so I could compare and learnt how my body worked.
It didn’t take a lot of work, but it took a lot of commitment and consistency. I didn’t miss a day of my diet routine.
Now looking back, weight wasn’t my focus. Watching what I ate wasn’t my focus. Weighing myself everyday wasn’t my focus. These are tools and steps for me to reach my goal.
My main focus was to find my happiness and confidence. Everytime, I lost one pound, I felt happy. After six months, I lost 6 pounds. I felt confident. I knew that I did the right thing and have the correct techniques and tools for reaching that goal.
I didn’t wish for the beach body. I didn’t look for a fast way of losing weight. I didn’t search for magic pills. I just simply wanted to take care of myself.
And that was my main focus.
What you want is your main focus.
What did I learn at the end of my journey?
I thought at the end of 12 months, I learnt how to lose weight step by steps. However, the lesson was way more beyond my comprehension.
I thought losing weight was what I wanted. But deep down, it wasn’t true. The truth of my journey was to be happy again.
On that day staring at my naked body in the mirror, my main question was “what would make me happy?” And I got the answer and found my way to my own happiness. I got the tools and took the actions to get there.
This happiness is from the within.
At the end of 10 months, I lost 14 pounds. I got back into my skinny jeans. I weigh 100 pounds, my college weight. I not only felt good and happy with the result, but I was also proud of myself.
The moment hit me as looking back at the past 10 months. I learnt that I was capable. I could do anything I set out to do. It was my first aha moment of my life. The first time in 40s years, I felt a smile inside out.
First time I got a goal and worked toward it diligently. Everyday waking up, I was living on one mission, finding true happiness for myself. This happiness is not from others, not from beautiful purses, not from building my dream house. It is from within.
I committed and determined. I am capable. I don’t want to go back to my own self again. I promised to keep going because I knew deep down that I was here on this earth for something bigger and deeper than that.
It was just my beginning.
What a lesson for you from my journey?
Sharing my journey with you, I hope it will give you the courage to do something meaningful for yourself. If something’s bothering you for a long time, either your weight, family, or career, I urge you to look deeper and ask, “What do I want?”
Find the answer there!
I am not here to solve your life’s problem, but I hope I can help you with one problem like losing your pregnancy weight. I am here to support you and tell you that you can do it no matter what reasons are.
Set your mind and focus on what you want. You can do it.
If you can’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of others. And you have the whole family relying on you.
If your arguments are that you don’t have time and knowledge, I hope you see my example and call yourself out for that.
You don’t need knowledge to eat less. It doesn’t take a lot of time eating half of your meal every time. It doesn’t take time to stop eating your sweet.
You just need to make a decision and eat less.
To avoid being overwhelmed, start out small and take one step at the time just like I did.
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