You've seen the story over and over again in the media.
'Personal Trainer shows off her 6 pack abs weeks after giving birth.'
They make it look so easy so I honestly thought that I was going to breeze it. I thought that if a woman can get back in amazing shape after giving birth, I can do it even easier because lets face it, all I had to do was hold my girlfriends hand and say things like "You're doing so well darling."
Well I couldn't have been any more wrong.
I'm going to be brutally honest here.
The first eight weeks with my baby were the worst eight weeks of my life.
The lack of sleep and a baby that cried all of the time meant I struggled to get through the day never mind thinking about what my next healthy meal was going to be.
Why would I care about my waistline when I was struggling to look after my own baby? It was the last thing I was bothered about at 3.45am in the morning when I was crying my eyes out because of sheer exhaustion.
I felt like such a failure.
Not only could I not stick to a healthy diet, a thing I've told so many of my clients to do over the years after having babies, I was barely coping as a Dad.
You see, when I was 22, single and lived alone, it was easy for me to tell new mothers and fathers to eat healthy with a baby. I was sleeping 10 hours a night, I could cook healthy food any time I wanted and most importantly, I didn't have this little helpless baby depending on me to be there every second of every day.
"It's simple, just get your meals prepped and stay focused." was something I said to parents on a regular basis.
If any of them are reading this now, I couldn't have been any more wrong and I apologise for how out of the loop I was.
If your baby is not letting you sleep, eat or have a second to yourself, the very last thing on the list of things you care about is healthy food. Yes I know, healthy food and exercise is VERY important but when you're a walking, talking, baby caring Zombie, you have 100 things that are more important.
I think a lot of parents, including myself as a trainer, feel a huge pressure to get 'back on the wagon' straight after childbirth but in reality, being the best parent you can be to your baby is far more important.
Relief came for me at the 10-week stage as Olivia started to sleep better and her screams turned into laughs and smiles. This little girl who made my life hell was fast becoming my world. Her smiles started to make me forget how tired I actually was.
I could then start thinking about myself and do what I do best, make some tasty/yummy/exciting healthy food.
I was still short for time so prepping my food and making big batches of food was key. Healthy Chilies, Curries, Soups and Stews became the corner stone of my diet.
A few hours of cooking once or twice a week made sure I didn't have to cook daily which when you have a baby that wants your attention all day, is essential.
Exercise wise, I didn't put any pressure on myself to start doing big lengthy gym sessions. I done little workouts in the house when I had a second and I made sure I eased back into it slowly.
Within a week or so, I started to feel healthy again and with that came the weight loss and the energy I had lost over the 8 weeks of hell.
I would love to know what you think. Have you had a similar experience? Or did you breeze through it and get your abs back in just a few weeks?
I look forward to hearing from you on this.
Oh and make sure you head over to my Facebook page to get some of them tasty recipes I was talking about. Here is the link - https://www.facebook.com/joesextonfatloss/
Thanks for reading
Joe 'Daddy Cool' Sexton