My Postpartum Weight Loss Journey Begins Here: Week 1

Looking for a fitness journey to follow? How many pounds do you lose after pregnancy? Here’s my postpartum weight loss journey, starting from the very beginning: Week 1! 

How many pounds do you lose after pregnancy? What is the fastest way to lose weight after pregnancy? Is it harder to lose weight after second baby? In this post, I’m talking about all of those things based on my own postpartum weight loss progression.

If you’ve been hanging out on the blog at all lately, you probably know that I was due to have baby number two in late January. I have been eager to share my postpartum weight loss & fitness journey with you, and I’m excited to say that baby Sawyer is finally here!

I’m sitting here pumping breast milk for my sweet boy, and even though I hadn’t planned on it, I just couldn’t wait any longer to get started sharing this all with you.

I’m actually exactly one week postpartum today. I know people like to see transformations from the starting point, and this will be mine.

A Little Background

If you’re new here, you might be wondering why all of this is such a big deal to me. Why a postpartum weight loss blog? I recommend reading more about the blog and me here if it interests you, but for now I’ll give you a short bit of info to help you understand why this fitness journey is so important:

• I had severe postpartum depression after my daughter was born 4 years ago and I gained a TON of weight during this time.
• My goal is to help new moms through healthy pregnancies and postpartum recovery, but I’m also wanting to support people who have struggled with mental health issues. With that in mind, I became a certified personal trainer in November 2017.
• I’ve created this blog for accountability for my health, to reach clients, and as a way to make money from home. Learn how you can make money from a blog here. Or you can read specifically about how I use mine to make money and stay accountable in this post.

Now that you have the gist of it, let’s get rolling on my own postpartum journey!

One Week Postpartum Update / Postpartum Weight Loss Progression

I promised myself that I wouldn’t weigh myself or worry too much about food for at least the first week after giving birth. I did try to get plenty of fruit and veggies but we’ve been eating meals given to us by family and friends. (I’m also super glad I pre-made my turkey egg muffins!)

Since I’m recovering from C-section number two (read about recovery and my experience here) and we’re still figuring this newborn thing out, I’m okay with that. I’m eating what I want, when I want, with the addition of things that are supposed to promote breastmilk production.

I’m giving breastfeeding my best attempt because it didn’t go well last time. So I’m drinking tons of water, drinking Mother’s Milk tea, eating yummy lactation cookies, lots of oatmeal and fruit/veggies.

I finally weighed myself, knowing that it’s not a big deal what the scale says right now, but out of curiosity. The day before I went in for my repeat c-section, I weighed 183 lbs at 5’4″.  (This is four pounds more than I weighed last time, when I was at full-term with my daughter.)

Today, at one week postpartum, I weighed 163 lbs. That means that I lost 20 lbs in 7 days. I started my pregnancy at 155 lbs, so with this weight loss I am just 8 lbs shy of my pre-pregnancy weight.

I know that baby, the placenta, and the fluids I was retaining are to blame for most of that extra weight. However, I know that I’m burning a lot of calories with breastfeeding too.

My Postpartum Weight Loss Journey – Plans Moving Forward

Until I stop losing weight, I don’t plan on counting calories. I also don’t plan on making any big changes to what I’m doing other than trying to add in more fruit and vegetables. (For now.)

There are many things that I couldn’t eat during the majority of my pregnancy, many of them being green vegetables. These are the types of things I plan on adding back.

I’m not making any numerical goals because I don’t need any extra pressure as a newly postpartum mom; I won’t be able to work out until 6-8 weeks postpartum. If there’s anything I learned the first time around, it’s that it’s OKAY to take your time recovering. (I feel so strongly about the pressure put on new moms to lose weight that I wrote a big fat post about it here.)

At the one-month mark, however, I plan to look more seriously into my diet. I’ll also be finalizing my c-section recovery program – I’m testing it on myself and I’ll be offering it to you after I implement it!

Plans For The 6-8 Week Mark

Beginning with my doctor’s clearance, I plan to implement a new, more detailed plan-of-action.

This puts me mid-February to early April before I can exercise like I used to. Like I mentioned, I’ve put together a core/stabilization rehab program for myself, and it’s a 12-week progression.

It doesn’t include other strength and cardio workouts (other than core work) so I need to make a more detailed plan for that. My hope is to share my results with you then turn it into my own program for c-section and postpartum mamas. Stay tuned!

I’m *hoping* that I can get back into the swing of things at the gym. So fingers crossed that this baby is as social as my daughter was. If not, home workouts and a lot of jogging stroller action are my Plan B. 🙂

At the two-month mark, I’m going to get REALLY serious about nutrition. I will need to track my calories and macros for a few days before starting. That’s so that I can get an idea about how breastfeeding is affecting my weight loss/intake.

I want to keep losing weight, gain muscle, and keep my supply up at the same time, so I expect this to be a little tricky.

I’ve invested in some really nice meal prep containers and a veggie spiralizer, and I feel like I have everything I need to get going. I’ve never been so excited to get in the kitchen. Ha.

If you’ve made it this far and you’re still reading, I am thoroughly impressed! The plan is important. I feel like I need to get very specific with my accountability in order for it to work. Failure to plan is planning to fail, after all!

Thank you so much for following my postpartum weight loss journey – stay tuned for more!

Other articles you might like:

• C-Section Recovery 101 
• 7 Things to Have on Hand for Easier C-Section Recovery
• 3 Things All Moms Should Know About Postpartum Weight Loss
• How to Set Realistic Fitness Goals After Having a Baby