How I Lost My Pregnancy Weight

This post has been a long time coming.

Actually I’ve been meaning to write this post for about 6 months now. In fact, I recorded a solo podcast episode all about how I lost my pregnancy weight from Zaza, but as always, I wanted to share my tips here with you guys, too.

When I was pregnant with Zaza I gained 55 pounds. If you want to read more about that, scope this post, BUT let me just say: if you want a quick fix, this ain’t it. I’m not going to share any quick fixes here because that’s just not how it went for me. The whole process of losing that weight was a REAL fucking bitch. It took nearly 2 years !! I was grinding & working every single day.

This blog post & the podcast are just tools that might work for you because they worked for me. Not one size fits all. As I always say, take what you like, leave what you don’t.

After I gave birth to Zaza I was inflamed, I was bloated, I did not feel like myself. I did not feel good. And I know a lot of women feel like that obviously after birth, but this happened for a year. I just didn’t feel good. From the podcast & the blog I’ve learned so much & gotten to talk to some incredible guests, but I also have so much good information from all of you guys, the blog, books & my own research. It was kind of overwhelming actually so I really had to sit down & simplify it to find what was going to work for me.

Looking back, I was a little bit too hard on myself. There was a lot of negative talk that I could have changed. And that’s just one of the thing we talk about in this blog post & on the podcast.

Anyway, I want to get right into all the things that helped me lose my pregnancy weight, but be sure to listen to the whole podcast where I talk about specifics of every single thing I did.

HOW I LOST MY PREGNANCY WEIGHT:

♡ balanced my hormones

Two months after giving birth I was in Pilates, complaining about my weight when a woman overheard me & said “you have to go see my hormone doctor.”

It was so life-changing that I’ve done a whole podcast episode on it, so be sure to listen to that if you really want the nitty-gritty of hormones. It was the very first step to shedding the pregnancy weight. It’s important you do your research & make sure you find someone who can really test you for everything. I mean, we took so much blood, tested minerals, vitamins, everything – really, we looked a the whole big picture. I went to Dr. Shirley Elzinga in Beverly Hills & we found out that no matter what I did, I could’ve starved myself, taken diet pills, Adderall, exercised 2 hours a day & I still wouldn’t have lost any weight. For me it was my thryoid & it was working against me BIG TIME.

So that is the #1 & most important tip because women can do everything ‘they should be doing’ but it’s still not working. Just be sure to go to a good hormone or naturopathic doctor who will do a full scope of work. This isn’t something that GP can just draw a few vials of blood for.

♡ started walking

This is something that I made a habit in my life again. I just walked whenever I could, if I was on calls & if I couldn’t leave the house I would have my calls or answer emails on the treadmill. Walking is easy on your body if you’re postpartum, especially if you’re breastfeeding, & for me, it just helped me be more kind to myself. It’s easy to implement into your day too, whether you take your baby in the stroller to grab a coffee or have a quick walk with a friend. Obviously walking outdoors is much better with the plants, scenery & fresh air.

♡ held myself accountable with food.

I’m not someone who can go on a diet that’s totally restrictive of bread, alcohol or some other thing. It feels limiting & like, I would just binge sourdough a few days after I started. So I worked with The Flexible Dieting Coach ( he has been on the podcast before, you can listen here ) & with him, you can eat what you want to eat. Erik helped me be more conscious of portions so I could eat what I wanted to eat & drink what I wanted to drink. So if this sounds like a diet you could get behind reach out to him on Instagram @theflexible.dieting.coach

He laid it all out for me, told me what to eat each day & if I went out to a restaurant we just amde it work. I didn’t feel deprived, had so much fiber, protein & greens & it wasn’t super rigid. It’s the perfect diet if you like to eat intuitively.

♡ changed my thoughts to positive ones.

This made one of the biggest differences overall. Like many women, I’m hard on myself. Every day for a year I was waking up stressed. I hated the way I felt & my body looked & I didn’t realize how much negative talk I was giving myself until I stepped back & monitored it.

You’ll hear way more about this in the podcast, but I basically started waking up & starting my day with finding hwat was ‘right,’ not wrong. It’s a mindful practice & it does take work. A book that everyone should read that really helped with this is You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. Highly recommend.

It actually changed my life & once my mindset changed, the way I looked & felt changed too. It’s like $2 on Audible so just get it. Trust me.

♡ started weightlifting.

Now you guys know that I love Pilates, The Method, Melissa Wood Health, P.volve- they’re ride or die workout for me. But I found my trainer Brent in Austin & we incorporated weight lifting into my exercise plan. I can’t believe how much it toned & tightened me up. So I think adding some weights into your workout along with some Pilates style movement is just such a good idea.

In the past, I’ve stayed away from gyms & weights because I don’t want some cortisol-raising workout where someone is screaming at me & I’m dripping in sweat. It’s just not for me. Brent’s gym is basically outside & he’s so relaxing to train with. He’s been on the podcast & on the blog so be sure to check both of those out.

♡ some other tweaks that really helped me.

+ sLeep.

I started going to bed way earlier & made it a ritual with red light bulbs, salt rock nightlight, Hush weighted blanket ( use code SKINNY for $40 off ) among some other things.

+ put my phone away.

You’ve all heard this before, but I actually put my phone in the other room before I go to sleep & turn on some healing frequencies that I learned about from Mimi Bouchard. Post on healing frequencies is coming very soon. Sound therapy is the REAL DEAL & so relaxing.

+ supplements.

This is not one size fits all, you have to do what’s right for you & consult your doctor or health provider. For me, I love Gangster Chic Inulin, Arrae, Ritual multi-vitamin, cholorphyll & lots of other herbs I have from my acupuncturist. One thing that seems to be amazing across the board for skin, hair & your blood is cholorphyll. I love Sakara Life Detox Drops in my water in the morning. & you can use code SKINNY for 20% off your first order.

+ adding superfoods.

Chia seeds, hemp hearts, Sakara Detox Drops & green powders etc. are all in my ‘health’ cabinet ready & easy for me to use. I think these things played a big part in tightening me up because they gave me fiber & protein ( hemp seeds have 10 g of protein in 3 tbsp ! ). I loved to have them on fruit with berries with some Gangster Chic Inulin. To add some healthy fats I’d have a scoop of almond butter or have Coconut Cult yogurt ( the chocolate mousse one is out of this world ).

+ completely cut alcohol.

I had a Cabo trip coming up in about 70 days so I decided not to drink alcohol for 70 days. It made me clear, so focused on business, & it just wasn’t serving me in any way at that time. More on 70 days sober in this blog post.

There you have it. Those are all the things that have helped me lose Zaza’s pregnancy weight. Just in time for baby #2, LOL.

As I said, this is just what has worked for me. These are tools that might work for you, or might not. For me, weight loss is about feeling good. I feel like I’m the best version of myself when I’m a certain size, & FEEL a certain way. And that’s just me. If the phrase ‘weight loss’ is triggering for any of you, maybe this isn’t the blog post or podcast episode for you. But weight loss is what it’s about so I’m going to say it.

This is a subject that I really wanted to start a conversation on because I think a lot of women see influencers or people in the media walk out of the hospital 1 day after giving birth in skinny jeans, but that just isn’t the case for so many of us, me included!

Anyway, I really hope you find value in this blog post, but be sure to listen to the full podcast episode because I break it down way more & get super micro, as always.

x, lauryn

+ check out this post if you’re dealing with anxiety or depression in pregnancy.

++ listen to my podcast where we dive deep into all things hormones.

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