In the months following the birth of her daughter, Erica’s pregnancy weight seemed to just fall off—and then she hit a weight loss wall and the pounds started trickling back on. “I’m ready to get pumped and lose the weight,” she wrote before starting her program.
We paired her with Anytime Fitness in Colonia, where Erica met with a personal trainer twice a week for circuit training-focused workouts (think rounds of squats and core-strengthening exercises) and took regular measurements to track her progress. Thanks to her supportive boyfriend, who was always on hand to watch their baby, Erica was also able to sneak in pre- or post-work workouts once a week. “Since I've been working out my energy is great,” she said. “Yes, I have my days where I'm really tired, but when I go to the gym I feel so much better. It drives me to keep going.”
On days when Erica couldn’t make it to the gym, she headed outdoors, taking Audriana on long walks in Newark’s Weequahic Park whenever the weather allowed. “The park is full hills, so the walk is hard, but feels so good,” she wrote. Erica also organized Friday post-work exercise sessions with her coworkers. “It's always good to change things up or have others to workout with,” she said.
Erica also invested time and energy into changing her diet, like prepping a week’s worth of healthy meals and snacks. “I wanted to get my food prep and intake under control before I started working out, so I would be able to balance things a little better, instead of doing everything at once and feeling overwhelmed,” she wrote. Erica stopped eating red meat, replaced heavy carbs with brown rice or quinoa and added lots of veggies, chicken and water to her daily intake. She also used her NutriBullet to make smoothies, using water instead of the fruit juice she usually used, for the liquid.
In addition to facing food challenges at work and various family events—where donuts and desserts were everywhere—over the course of the eight weeks Erica overcame life/work balance issues. “I feel overwhelmed and stressed,” she wrote one particularly busy week, when she had a job interview, a business trip and deadlines for benefits enrollment and daycare applications. “All this extra stuff explains why some people give up on working out and eating well.”
All together, Erica lost more than 16 pounds. Throughout her journey she had the support of her family and her boyfriend, who “does notice the change and loves the fact that I’m getting my figure back.” “Keep trying no matter what,” she says to other moms who are dissatisfied with their weight. “No one is perfect and we all have those days where we want to eat junk. It’s okay—indulge and then go right back to the healthy lifestyle you switched to.”
See how the other Baby Weight participants did on their journey.