One of my services as a doula is postpartum support, not only during those first few weeks after the baby is born, but in the months and even years following the birth. Often my clients ask me questions about weight loss and I find that it is a really sensitive subject for a lot of new moms.
I'm pretty sure society and the media are large factors in what causes postpartum weight loss (or the lack thereof) to be such a big issue for women. Daily we are bombarded with images of celebrities who have personal chefs and personal trainers to keep them on track. We also see headlines like the one recently in the news entitled "Gisele Bundchen Shows Off Her Post-Baby Bikini Body"... these types of images and news stories are extremely discouraging and quite honestly not helpful.
One of the biggest pieces of advice I have for these new mamas (during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum) is to "listen to your body." My guest blogger today, Michelle Hastie, has elaborated on that piece of advice with her post...
I'm pretty sure society and the media are large factors in what causes postpartum weight loss (or the lack thereof) to be such a big issue for women. Daily we are bombarded with images of celebrities who have personal chefs and personal trainers to keep them on track. We also see headlines like the one recently in the news entitled "Gisele Bundchen Shows Off Her Post-Baby Bikini Body"... these types of images and news stories are extremely discouraging and quite honestly not helpful.
One of the biggest pieces of advice I have for these new mamas (during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum) is to "listen to your body." My guest blogger today, Michelle Hastie, has elaborated on that piece of advice with her post...
The Art of Listening to Lose Weight
I hear a lot of my clients talking about procrastination and not following through on their promises to themselves. They set intentions and then they struggle to follow through on their intentions. They have a desire to change, they know the steps to take to change but somehow the implementation piece jumps in and stops all progress.
Business coach and speaker David Neagle says, “Your subconscious mind is insidious.” What this means is that every time you set an intention your subconscious mind steps in and gives you a list of reasons why you can’t implement towards your desired results. Your subconscious mind is so afraid of change it will actually block the solutions to your problems.
Now don’t worry there is an easy way to get over this hump. It’s very simple but I want you to get a pen and paper and write this down: Listen to your body! Yes, that is truly the answer.
People believe the reason why I stay thin is because I am disciplined. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, when I was the most disciplined in my life, I was also the heaviest in my life. What I now do is always listen to my body. Let me give you an example. The last week of April I was at my business mastermind retreat at a beautiful hotel on the water. When I checked in they mentioned a fitness center. I haven’t worked out in a gym in over a year, but for some reason my body said, “yeah fitness center let’s wake up early and take advantage of that.” So the next morning when my alarm went off at 6 am I got up and went to the gym. It’s not discipline, it’s listening. My body wouldn’t have given me the desire if it weren’t truly what I wanted, and I never question that, and it was awesome. The next day I wanted to jog by the water, so I went. The next day my body was really sore and I wanted to stretch by my bed, so I did.
When you turn up the communication between you and your body, you have officially warded off weight gain forever.
Remember, you can’t have the desire for something without the solution already being there, all you have to do is listen to your body to give you the solution and then follow through when the subconscious mind attempts to block you from change. If you feel your body never asks for a jog or healthy food you are not in your body, you are in your head. Take some time to relax and connect to your body. Figure out what you feel like doing as opposed to what you think you should be doing. Do whatever it takes to connect to the body and then you will be one of those people classified as “disciplined.” It will be our little secret that really it’s just the art of listening.
Business coach and speaker David Neagle says, “Your subconscious mind is insidious.” What this means is that every time you set an intention your subconscious mind steps in and gives you a list of reasons why you can’t implement towards your desired results. Your subconscious mind is so afraid of change it will actually block the solutions to your problems.
Now don’t worry there is an easy way to get over this hump. It’s very simple but I want you to get a pen and paper and write this down: Listen to your body! Yes, that is truly the answer.
People believe the reason why I stay thin is because I am disciplined. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, when I was the most disciplined in my life, I was also the heaviest in my life. What I now do is always listen to my body. Let me give you an example. The last week of April I was at my business mastermind retreat at a beautiful hotel on the water. When I checked in they mentioned a fitness center. I haven’t worked out in a gym in over a year, but for some reason my body said, “yeah fitness center let’s wake up early and take advantage of that.” So the next morning when my alarm went off at 6 am I got up and went to the gym. It’s not discipline, it’s listening. My body wouldn’t have given me the desire if it weren’t truly what I wanted, and I never question that, and it was awesome. The next day I wanted to jog by the water, so I went. The next day my body was really sore and I wanted to stretch by my bed, so I did.
When you turn up the communication between you and your body, you have officially warded off weight gain forever.
Remember, you can’t have the desire for something without the solution already being there, all you have to do is listen to your body to give you the solution and then follow through when the subconscious mind attempts to block you from change. If you feel your body never asks for a jog or healthy food you are not in your body, you are in your head. Take some time to relax and connect to your body. Figure out what you feel like doing as opposed to what you think you should be doing. Do whatever it takes to connect to the body and then you will be one of those people classified as “disciplined.” It will be our little secret that really it’s just the art of listening.
Michelle, founder of Total Body Health Solutions, works with successful entrepreneurs who are overwhelmed, over-worked and stressed out and their bodies have suffered. Her clients remove internal stressors that cause the body to store fat, find peace and serenity around food, exercise and their body image and ultimately remove their weight, once and for all. You can begin your journey with
Michelle by grabbing her free CD,
"7 Reasons Why Traditional Diets Don't Work" at www.totalbodyhealthsolutions.com.
Michelle by grabbing her free CD,
"7 Reasons Why Traditional Diets Don't Work" at www.totalbodyhealthsolutions.com.
RSS Feed
