Kelly Ripa gained an amazing 80 pounds in her last pregnancy and was back to her svelte physique in weeks. I gained more than 80 pounds in each of my pregnancies, but I kept that weight and more on for eight-plus years -- topping out at 290 pounds before I finally lost 130 pounds.
Despite old wives' tales to the contrary, pregnancy weight gain isn’t always easily lost after the baby is born, and breastfeeding isn’t an absolute way to lose the weight either.
I remember thinking when I was pregnant that a huge NFL linebacker of a son must be in me. It never dawned on me that the 80-plus pounds were actually part of “me." Alas, a tiny 6-pound daughter was what I had; the other 74 pounds were left for me to contend with.
I recently met an amazing woman who like Kelly, me and thousands of other women gained a great deal of weight in her pregnancies, too. What makes her unique is that prior to getting pregnant and gaining so much weight she was a competitive body builder and had an amazing figure.
Crystal Andrus, author of Simply Woman, has a remarkable story -- one that should inspire any moms-to-be out there, as well as the rest of us who battle our weight and self-image.
Crystal grew up in Canada, the daughter of a woman who was so beautiful and possessed such a great figure that boys had her mom’s picture on their lockers when Crystal was in high school. Talk about pressure to stay fit!
This familiar focus on weight and body image was a very confusing one for Crystal. Fat was the enemy, but she also began to think of her grueling hours in the gym as a love/hate relationship.
When she got pregnant, she tossed her nutritional upbringing aside and dove headfirst into the comfort of food. Shortly after her second child in a little more than 24 months was born, Crystal took a good long look at herself and wondered where “she” had gone.
Being a mother was a joy and dream come true for her, but she also missed the fit, toned and healthy body that she once had. Determined to get back in shape, this former fitness buff laced on her tennis shoes and started running. Like Forrest Gump, she just kept running. Today, she not only has reclaimed her pre-pregnant frame, but also has come to terms with her body image. She no longer allows food to control her or fitness to torment her -- it is all about health and being simply: a woman!
In her book, she touts a unique way of looking at one’s diet; she calls it “Red, Yellow and Green Light Foods” -- a traffic signal to fend off unhealthy eating.
Red is obviously those foods that we should STOP eating if we want to be at an optimal weight -- things such as barbecued ribs, ice cream, white breads, etc.
Yellow foods are those that we should proceed with caution before consuming -- like salmon and avocados, the things that too much of is no longer a good thing.
Green foods are those that we can eat -- GO! These foods, she says, break down to energy quickly and help burn body fat: whole-wheat pasta, tuna, pumpkin seeds, turkey and all veggies and fruits. There are no fats in the green grouping.
To learn more about Canada’s most dynamic health and fitness expert, visit www.simplywoman.com or check out her book, Simply Woman. You are sure to enjoy from what she has to say, and learn from it.
