[elisagamal]

patience, patience, patience, girl! it took you nine months to build that baby; cut yourself a little slack, here! your body just did something dramatic and amazing - give it time to recover and thank it for what it did for you. :)

all of your weight will drop off. soon. especially with the nursing and surfing. I PROMISE. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT IT. women's bodies are made to bear children, and to recover from it! and if you were trim and fit beforehand, that is what you will bounce back to.

I didn't work out after either of my children (sami just turned one today, hooray!). with both, I was 10 pounds below my prepregnancy weight by 6 months. with both, I gradually got back into dancing, and by 6 months felt like my body looked great again, but didn't feel like I had my core muscles and my "snap" back for about 11-12 months. this was just with casual dancing - no crunches or gym or anything like that.

what helped me the most this second time, is that any time I hold my baby, I concentrate on flexing my core muscles to lift my pelvic floor, pull in my lower abs, and keep my lower back straight. I do this partly to spare myself the wicked back pain I suffered with my first (all of that bending and twisting getting a baby in and out of a crib!), and partly to get myself back into shape. for me at least, when I hold a baby my body wants to push the pelvis forward and roll my shoulders up around the baby to keep him over my center of balance. ow. fighting to keep the pelvis aligned has really shaped my body up, and I haven't had the back pain this time around.

once you're up standing on your surfboard, you'll be back to ripped-abs hottie so fast you'll laugh at how you worried about it. but seriously - it's not a race. enjoy these early months, respect and honor your body, and trust that it will go back to normal very soon. :)