I was having a great conversation with a girlfriend the other day, and she encouraged me to write about it. I was hesitant because I truly wanted it to come off right, and not have anyone take my words the wrong way- so that is my hope and prayer here.
You see that girl below? That is someone who just decided to ditch the Scale and not weigh herself for the rest of this pregnancy.
Let me explain. With Braylen’s pregnancy, I went in to it with no real expectations on weight gain. I had no idea if I would gain 60 pounds or 25 pounds. I knew that I wanted to keep myself healthy for him and myself, but the numbers on the scale were uncharted territory. As someone who has never fluctuated weight that much, it was a little difficult to swallow watching the numbers rise week after week, but I knew that meant I was growing a healthy babe- so it was all good! I didn’t struggle much mentally with the weight gain with him.
I also should add that I never truly consistently worked out until right before trying to get pregnant with him. I would work out for a week or two, and then nothing for months. That was my routine. I used to have pre-workout protein shakes beforehand to try and get my body prepared for exercise but once I got pregnant, that all stopped. I desperately wanted my body to be as healthy as possible- so I started and just stuck with it. All my workouts during his pregnancy were super light- easy cardio, body weight only, at home style workouts since I never had belonged to a gym before.
After having Bray, I really got in to running and ran my first half marathon! It was SO amazing putting my mind to something I NEVER thought possible- and totally doing it! I felt like “MAN, I had a baby naturally AND ran a half marathon, there is NOTHING I can’t do!” It was super empowering! I hurt my knee right before the race so afterwards knew I would need to take a break. I then started up Orange Theory Fitness. That workout was like nothing I had ever done before. I was using weights, doing HIIT, and loving every second of it! I even began thinking about taking some supplements that could help with my post-workout recovery because I want to make sure that I can do these types of workouts again. I’ve heard that somewhere like steelsupplements.com is meant to be pretty good and efficient, so I might start my search there. I just couldn’t believe how well I took to this particular workout in the first place. I was doing Orange Theory actually when we got pregnant with Winston, and shortly after switched to a regular gym so I could have the child care for Bray. It was around this time I really tried to get serious about it and remain as active as possible, I also invested in some high quality tracksuits to ensure I looked good while I was trying to feel good!
With Winston’s pregnancy, I remained super active, working out 3-4x a week consistently, and eating like normal {usually about 70% healthy 30% not}. I gained less weight with him than I did Bray. I think it was just the fact that I was doing a totally different style of exercise. Many people also recommended that I try to fit in some yoga practice in my routine, maybe take a few classes with someone teaching restorative yoga. It apparently lets the energy of the workouts flow through my body and allows me a deeper relaxation after an intense workout. I never got around to trying it, but I’d love to dive into it sometime.
Fast forward to this pregnancy. Prior to getting pregnant I was working out around 3-4x a week still, lifting heavy weights {heavy for me at least!} and eating like normal. I was SO nauseous the whole first trimester that I didn’t workout at all. I tried once or twice but felt like death, so kinda just resided to the fact that I would pick it back up when I felt better. Since then, I have continued on with normal workouts. Eating normal too. But guess what? The weight was coming on faster. Each week I would step on the scale and be like WHAT the heck!!!??
I was doing everything normal like I did with Winston, and yet the results were totally different. My body shape is also totally different this time around. Shorts that I could wear with Winston till I was around 28 weeks, now don’t even come close to fitting by 24 weeks.
And today- well today was the most comical clothing mishap of all. I called Jeremy on the way to dropping Bray off at VBS and asked him to pray for my middle back. I thought I must have just slept on it wrong, and it was pulsating and in a ton of pain. I applied my oils, stretched and just prayed it would go away. It took me about an hour to connect the dots- but I realized it didn’t start hurting until I had put my sports bra on for the day. You see- I knew this bra ran a little small, but I had worn it just last week totally fine. But today- well either my boobs or my mid section has grown SO much in a freaking week that the bra was literally giving me back PAIN! Within 20 minutes of taking the bra off, pain gone. How embarrassing yet hilarious!
With each week that I step on the scale and the numbers keep rising more than I was used to, I kept getting discouraged. I kept thinking that I must be eating too much junk {because lets be honest, I love me some ice cream and donuts, and cookies, and other junk!} I would have a thought like ‘ok Adrianne- maybe you need to reign it in’. But then when it came time to take the kids out for an ice cream treat, I would always decide to participate in the fun rather than not. Because I don’t want to miss out on fun things like that. Or have to try and explain to them why Mama isn’t eating something that they KNOW I love;)
SO- from here on out- the scale is OUT!
I am still going to exercise like normal, but that has always been for the reasons of 1-it keeps us both healthy 2-I enjoy it 3-its my ‘me’ time. I am still going to eat healthy for the most part, but not say ‘no’ to my normal treats….
But instead of fretting over that damn scale week after week, I am just going to enjoy this crazy-beautiful miracle of life growing in me. I am going to take that time that I used to spend worrying about the weight gain, and instead praise God that He chose ME to be this girls mama. That He gave ME the blessing of growing her in my womb. That He made ME healthy enough to do so.
We all have such different pregnancies. Everyones body truly handles it so differently. While I never struggle with comparing my pregnant body to others {thankfully- I think its something that God has just always protected my heart from}, I know some do. So if you have ever felt anything other than positivity from my weekly pregnancy posts, I am SO sorry. I hope that you can truly enjoy each and every moment and body change from your pregnancy. That you too can ditch the scale, ditch the comparison, ditch anything that isn’t healthy for your heart and mind.
I hope you guys hear my heart in this.
