Hello everyone….. My names are Motunrayo Reis-Alade, a proud working class mum, a super hero to my boy and a self acclaimed advocate for safe hand washing culture, very finicky about anything hygiene and would love to share/be an inspiration to all other young mums out there. I am only human and I did it! You too can do the same too. Having a child is not the end of the world, you can still be a fit mum if you put your mind to it. Here is my success story. I pray someone out there is blessed with this.
How I did it: At 95kg, This was my first pregnancy, so I knew what I was in for, I had heard several tales from my seniors in childbearing (I call them mother hen’s) trust me, at some point in your life you will come across them, they will say all sorts to you “your body can never be the same” “this is the end of your shakara” you’re a mum deal with it you are gonna have a flabby tummy for therest of your life” “this is the d of your social life”… My advice is (close your ears to all negativity) focus on your goals, your ideal weight gain yes! You heard right, there is no way you will not gain weight while pregnant but the trick is, do everything in moderation. With this mind set, it was easier for me to lose the weight post pregnancy. I started exercising more and eating better/healthier before I even got pregnant and throughout pregnancy, so I felt prepared and confident to lose the weight after I gave birth to my son (I call him bobo). I must confess, it was not quite the easy path to toil, being pregnant and working as well coupled with the stress you have to go through (Island traffic) need I say more.
Support system: I have an amazing family and a wonderful husband who stood by me all through my pregnancy and also took part in my aerobics exercise to support me, need I say more, he would buy so much fruit for me to take and sometime I would just marvel at how lucky I am to have so many people around to support me. My dad will send me crabs every weekend. Love them all.
Target size: I presently weigh 81kg, but before now, i had this dress I loved so much, an LBD (little black dress) all through my pregnancy I had it hung in my wardrobe, it’s the first thing you would see when you open it. I had always had it at the back of my mind that there is no way I would not fit into that dress post pregnancy. If not for anything at all but for the love of that particular dress lol…… I was motivated.
My pregnancy diet: Oh yes it is not a mistake, I literally meant a diet, I cut down on all fizzy drinks (coke, fanta and all other brightly coloured drinks) I replaced them with fruit smoothies. (get yourself a fruit extractor). At times when I want to get full on time, i nibble on them. The more colorful your food is, the better for you. I always had a side dish of vegetables (tomatoes, lettuce and spinach) whenever I had my meals. Cut down on the carbs (learn to measure your food, limit your rice and pasta intake NB: I did not say you should cut them out completely, you will still need the nutrients for healthy fetal growth. I did not have a scale or a clue of what calorie count meant so I did mine the local way. I used peak milk tin to measure my rice, half a cup of rice will be enough to make my day with a large portion of vegetables, my personalfavorite (efo riro or fried spinach with tomatoes and pepper). I had yams, 2 pieces with veggies (one trick most people do not know is that veggies aid healthy bowel movement because most people complain of being constipated during pregnancy), it is ok to indulge yourself a little bit, cut down on the snacks, it will not do you much good, it keeps on pilling up fat in your body (let go of that burger, sauceage, pizza, doughnuts, barbeque etc. Let your chicken boil properly till there are no traces of blood in it or you could try kpomo, shaki or cowleg (they contain little or no calories and are healthy). I was blessed I could eat almost anything I had no single symptom of morning sickness. Eat lots of beans and moi-moi, eat your salads raw without cream. Remember do everything with moderation! Drink lots and lots of water, I cannot over emphasize the numerous benefits of drinking water, this in my opinion its natures best gift to us. There is a little trick I play on myself, I have an over sized cup of water, both at work and in the office. Before any meal I first of all take in a full cup of water, it fills you up on time so you would nothave to eat much. Please remember you have a foetus growing in you who requires essential nutrients to develop as well, do not starve yourself, you can have up to six healthy portions of food per-day and of course try to exercise portion control and eat right.
Working out: This was so much fun for me, no matter how little, try using the stairs when you can and when your extremely tired, do not push it, use the elevator. Taking aerobic classes in my living room via Tracy Anderson work out DVD “The Pregancy Project” probably had the biggest impact on my weight loss journey; I try to work out there about three times a week. For all those TTC and those expecting, I recommend Tracy Anderson “Pregnancy Project “ DVD. You can never go wrong doing this. You can also purchase Tracy Andersons post pregnancy work out DVD as well.
Child birth: Pheeeewwww…… To God be the glory, after nine months on the inside, I gave birth to the most adorable creature on earth, a healthy 4kg baby by natural birth. God is indeed faithful is all I would say, I had loved him unconditionally right from the first time I felt him kick. That brought tears to my eyes. The amazing journey of mother hood began. Sleeplessnights, adjusting to the lil ones sleeping pattern, circumcision, immunization (especially the most dreaded rotavirus vaccine). But in all, nothing compares to that indescribable feeling, “The joy of motherhood”. Sometimes I find myself lost in thoughts stiring at him for more than an hour, isn’t that just amazing? :-) .
Post pregnancy: Now its time to examine yourself and see how much you have gained and how much you lost, that’s the toughest part, but if you had a healthy life style during pregnancy, that will not be much of a problem, the only trouble area I had was abdominal fat (visceral fat). I would not say my tummy is back to its pre-pregnancy size, but I can say with all confidence that it is almost near perfect. Abdominal fat is one of the toughest to lose post-pregnancy. Drink lots of water and pepper soup, get yourself a girdle, I wore mine even to sleep because I was determined by all means ready to get my tummy back to pre-pregnancy size. Most importantly strength exercises would help a great deal, sit ups and push ups. Eat healthy, eat less, work out more = weight loss.
Bobo's dedication. Ignore the gele jooor, i'm still a learner. Lol
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