I share with you my real, raw and honest experience of losing my pregnancy weight after my second baby. . . 5 years later. What shifted in my mindset. How long it took me once I did so. AND what workouts I did, the food I ate, and the mindset work to return to where I personally feel my best from the inside out! This was MORE than a weight-loss journey.

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Brittney Long’s Before and After (in-progress) Photos:

First and foremost, I am NOT a fitness professional or nutritionist. This is my personal experience.

Now that’s out of the way. I had my second son in 2016. Honestly, leading up to getting pregnant I was at my most healthy physically and this remained true during my pregnancy. I worked out, went hunting and hiking up until the day before I went into labor. Which I do believe helped me lead to incredible delivery experience. P.S. I was able to do a V-BAC and push for only 15 minutes. I am no stranger to all of the factors that are involved and/or out of your control no matter how “prepared” you are.

After having my second baby. I seemed to bounce back fairly quickly. I got an IUD, it went through my uterus and had to have that surgically removed (another story for another time), got new hormonal birth control and my body seemed to “blow up”.

In 2018, I had HAD it. After going on family vacation, seeing those hard, real, honest, and raw candid photos others had captured. Realizing my clothes didn’t fit. My body was a body I had never seen. ABOVE all else, mentally I was breaking. I was hiding. In life: not playing with my kids because I was depressed and couldn’t keep up. My body couldn’t do what it use to. Not socializing. Not going on adventures. Not connecting with my husband.

I get real and honest on this episode about the feelings I was feeling and journey here!

I got real with myself. I was sick of my own shit and knew the only person that could move my body, decide what I put in it, and change it was ME.

There was A LOT of mindset work done through listening to The Ed Mylett Show podcast, his book and reading a few other books that helped me realize I had the power to change.

I continue to use and swear by the Superhuman guided meditations app. This is so helpful to help break through your thinking, set positive affirmations for life, biz, and wellness. I love that you can do it while walking, running, cooking, cleaning or just chilling. MINDSET is EVERYTHING. I go back to this on my “hard days”.

What changes I made to loose my pregnancy weight & get strong:

The first thing I did, got my hormones figured out. I knew something was off, could feel it and circumstances were leading to this.

Everyone is so different. I for example have endometriosis, because of this I worked closely with a midwife, doctor and our form of birth control was a good ol snippety snip! I personally feel amazing being off birth control. Again, work with a professional. Not everyone needs this.

I started to move my body. Nothing crazy: play with my kids and be present. Go on a walk or a hike even when I just felt like blah or self-conscious.

This gave me more energy. Having been a former athlete, it made my heart happy, and started to feel like it clicked again. It motivated me to start branching out to my old workouts: lifting weights, zumba: to dance and feel a little sexy. Swim. When my oldest saw me starting to do this, he immediately jumped in and joined me. Because this is what mom use to do and it was familiar and fun to him. I now had an accountability buddy that was non-judgemental.

I joined a functional fitness program and class.

My accountability buddy was about to be in school all day. I knew I wanted to really push myself, have a game plan, and get back to me. I wasn’t even looking to hit some crazy physic, I wanted to be ME again. I also work from home and was starting to shake my depression. Getting out of the house and socializing felt like a really good (and scary AF for this introvert) option.

I had done my at home workouts but knew if I had a class I just went to that had a coach, a designed program where I didn’t have to think about planning my workout, just showed up and gave it my all that day. Plus, my toddler could go socialize with the other kids. He became my new workout buddy/accountability because he loved to see his friends and “workout”. Having this made my routine and making it a habit, easy and not having to over think it.

I did this for 3 years. This was pivotal for me. It was the foundation to my success. I now have both kids in school full time and have a pretty decent home gym built out. It’s not fancy, but it’s functional. I do the powher.fit programs in my home gym but use the structure of going to the gym/class in getting it done. Ex: I get my workout clothes on before I take the kids to school, drink my coffee, and eat my carb (usually an apple) while I drive them, come home, grab my airpods, and head to my home gym. Knock it out and go on with my day.

Find something that works for you. That you enjoy and you can make into a routine. I highly suggest a program that you just log into and do. OR a class that you know you hit at the same time + have some friends that hold you accountable.

Worked with a nutrition coach.

Once I felt like working out and just fueling my body well (watching portions, being more mindful of whole foods). I was ready to really hone it in. Luckily my then coach of my crossfit class was also a nutrition coach, Britney Almer. I trust(ed) her whole heartly and had seen what she did for others. I DID NOT want to feel restricted! This was important for me as so many women who grew up in the 90s or early 2000s diet culture. We started to work together in November 2020. This is when I lost about 15-20 lbs.

I wanted to fuel my body from the inside out. Gut health, have a healthy relationship with food, while feeding it properly to do what it needs to in a day + hit my goals.

Our focus was to slowly start creating healthy habits, each week was something new. While tracking my food and taking my calories and macros (macronutrients: protein, carbs, fat and fiber) into consideration.

You can listen to how my nutrition coach and I work together here on the podcast episode! We break down macros and actionable steps you can take!

We also worked on reducing my alcohol intake. Ya know, so you aren’t two glasses of wine deep and need something to absorb the buzz or think “oooo, quesadilla sounds good right now! Imma make one real quick!”. LOL. Alcohol carbs are also measured differently, despite what the can says that hard seltzer is NOT 2g of carbs it’s closer to 25-30g.

I’ve also found personally, I have a lot more mental clarity, energy, and less anxiety with less alcohol intake. I usually save the glasses of wine for the weekend or special occasions.

A quick breakdown of what I eat to loose weight or maintain: (Whole Food)

• Vegetables galore – Beside root vegetables but this is only because I have an intolerance to them: especially potatoes/starch. If it’s green, it’s a GO! I keep fresh salad, salad kits, and frozen veggies on hand for easy access. I love little things like peppers and cucumbers for easy snacks or fillers.
• Fruit – All the damn fruit. This one was kind of mind game at first. Carbs ARE NOT BAD and neither is fruit. I love fruit, it’s like candy to me. I always have on hand: Apples, clementines, bananas, blueberries and frozen berries.
• Protein – Eating this much good for you protein took some time to build up to for me. My go-to’s: Egg whites. Wild game like elk, deer, bison. Seafood: salmon, cod, and shrimp. The usuals like chicken, turkey, pork and good quality deli meat. Occasional protein powder, protein treats like bars or cups. See my favorites here!
• Fats – Avocado. Goat Cheese. Nuts. So delicious ice cream bars.
• Grains – As I mentioned I cannot eat starchy foods, gluten, dairy or many grains due to intolerance and endometriosis. I do okay on occasional oats and make homemade buns. I do siete tortillas which are grain-free. I love corn tortillas. Again figure out what your body responds to. Keep rice on hand and quinoa if this isn’t an issue for you and whole grain items.

If you want to see all my exact shopping list, my recipes I use weekly for eating and my favorites for counting macros and working out, get your FREE eBook here! It also includes printable shopping lists to help you plan your next healthy grocery shopping trip.

If you want to see what I eat in a day, check out my IG highlight where I bring you along!

As you can see. My journey was slow and steady. When I started, I always said to myself “the time is going to pass regardless. So are you going to do something with it, when next whatever comes, are you going to be a better version of yourself?” I always want the answer to this to be, yes. Whether this is personally, mentally, physically or financially. I look forward to pushing myself in 2022 and taking my health and fitness to new heights, chasing and achieving new goals.

If you are any part of what I listed above. I’m feel you. I’d suggest doing what works for YOU. Don’t be afraid to have those hard conversations with yourself, re-evaluate what’s working and not working. Find your rhythm and groove. Do something that you can stick to and maintain. Something you crave or feel like a badass for doing.

If you have questions about any of this, please reach out – I am an open book. Have an experience or a journey you’d like to share? I found and still find it so helpful to hear about others weight loss or gaining strength, share it below!

-Britt

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