How I did it: It was easier than i thought!  i know that breastfeeding requires more calories than being pregnant, so any super dmodifications to my diet was out of the question. i am a pretty healthy eater aside from my compulsive obsession to consume like half a container of ice cream a day! hah! but actually, recently i switched over to dreyer's frozen yogurt which has the taste of an exquisite ice cream but is half the cholesterol! my concern wasn't so much to lose weight, as i dropped down to my prepregnancy weight in 6 weeks anyways, but all my muscle was gone. and my big fear happened. every summer i lose 10 pounds and gain 10 for the winter. but i wasn't losing my winter weight! turned out, my biggest thing was regaining the time, energy, and care to exercise through out my day. it wasn't about setting aside a whole hour to work out. instead, it was about 5-10 minute intervals a bunch of times a day. i jog around my house for 10 minutes! who needs to go outside when you can run up and down a hallway just the same! my son enjoys watching me prance around the house and every time i run past him, he gets excited! then i do a lot of dancing WITH the baby or FOR the baby. he enjoys both! he likes to watch me jump while he's in his jumper and he'll copy me. another partner in exercise crime has been my husband. every other day we try to either take a 30 minute (or more) walk around town or do circuits of repetitive cardio exercises in the living room. the baby enjoys the walks and sometimes he'll watch us flail around when we do circuits. about two weeks into doing all of this regularly, i got my muscles back! and the jiggly around my mid-section is now within the range of my pants! no more muffin top! i can comforably where a fitted top without worring if my baby pouch is hanging over my pants! MARVELOUS!

Lessons & tips: find what works
completely redo your schedule
fight through some of the exhaustion (a 5 minute jog instead of a 10 minute jog is still better than no jog at all!)
don't listen to your excuses unless they are completely and 100% valid!
you can exercise while doing chores! like doing weird bends when moving the laundry around or vacuuming! break a sweat!
always have music playing- you are more inclined to dance!
don't have wild expectations, don't be disappointed in yourself, don't get discouraged if you go 2 or 3 days totally busy and it turns out you didn't get to have any YOU time
get the baby and/or husband involved with your activities! everyone can benefit from this experience!

Resources: ummm... my own drive and motivation? sometimes writing little notes here and there to tell myself i can do it is a bit inspiring when i suddenly get lethargic or pessimistic.

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Jul 12, 2009, 01:58PM PDT | 0 comments | 4 cheers