Neha Gulati (My Journey from Sore to Soar)
To start with, I was diagnosed with PCOS, and I didn’t even know what that meant. Bad lifestyle choices apparently and no one to guide, but I somehow conceived myself after a few months and then started the real excruciating roller coaster ride. 10 years back when I extracted my son out of me (yes extracted ;as it was a c sec delivery), I weighed around 78 kgs as I had a pretty excruciating pregnancy and I was on a modified bedrest for 5 months; my husband used to call me a PREGASAURUS (imagine!?!?). Believe me, I had this box full of my pre-pregnancy clothes which I not so happily but in all hopes labelled “SOMEDAY NEHA BOX”
Going under the knife to deliver your bundle of joy is not a piece of cake at all as it does take a lot of toll on our bodies. Mothers who have had a C-section to deliver their babies, generally, have more difficulty losing weight and getting back in shape. C-section is a major operation that involves cutting through abdominal muscles, blood loss and a much longer recovery period. Not only do the abdominal muscles need to recover from being stretched out, the incision and stitches also require time to heal.
Weight loss issues can indeed be a depressing catalysts! It took me nine months to become a Pregasaurus but a whole year to get back to my before-my-bratie weight! And Blimey! I was there, opening my “SOMEDAY BOX” to get back into those clothes.
But something was still off, in clothes I looked pretty much in shape but I wasn’t that comfortable in my skin, I started feeling more like skinny fat, apparently I had lost muscle mass more than the fat. Wish I had someone to guide me through that, and before I could do anything about it, I was pregnant with my daughter who is 5 now.
Second pregnancy was again an ultimate experience albeit this time i enjoyed it to the hilt as my doctor had hardly put me on a bedrest. I decided to make a good use of that honeymoon period, and started educating myself, I did many fitness related certifications not to become a trainer but just for self and also to work on my PCOS. That is when I realized how I was screwing it all by blindly following long crazy cardio routines and eating mindlessly.
This time I wasn’t in a hurry to lose weight, In fact I started with yoga first, that’s when I took a deeper plunge into yoga and strength training, and had a good post-pregnancy diet as well. Before this I had never even followed a strict Diet because I was not at all a disciplinarian till my last pregnancy. But I used to try eating healthy without cutting the corners with a 45mins to 1 hour workout for 5 days a week which I started only after completing 6 months of rest post delivery.
I worked hard but smart this time to lick my body back in shape albeit with a lot of patience in my bag other than those good running shoes and my yoga mat! With so many high-profile celebrity moms snapping back from pregnancy with a model-perfect hour glassy curvaceous figure in almost no time, it sometimes seems as if they’re jumping right from the labor bed to the treadmill.
But is it realistic — or for that matter even healthy — to slim down after pregnancy at such lightening speed?!?!? Experts offer a resounding “No!”
We don’t have the kind of lifestyle that would allow for that kind of quick loss and the sooner women recognize that, the better they will feel about themselves.
First time ever when I started off my fitness journey, I had no plans and absolutely no goals in mind but in no time I discovered that the body is capable of anything that our mind feeds it with, you feed your mind with positivity, your body and behavior would just follow. From working on the macro details to reaching on micro ones, it was indeed a long road. Indeed it was a bit of a struggle too and I am still working on and reaching there everyday, taking baby steps daily.
I’ll never forget the first time I tried to stand up after my first C-section, cut to now, being able to walk on my hands,
One thing I tell myself every morning,
“Wake up beauty it’s time to beast”
And trust me if I can you can too.