the only thing i can think of, is that i breastfed, that really helped.

i had PND and post labour complications, walking around the block with a pram never happened for me, i was too unwell to do that. leaving the house was really hard. physically and emotionally.

i realised that i was not going to look slim quickly, like the celebs on the magazine covers do, as that is not realistic. i kept wearing my maternity clothing, until it was falling off me, then i started wearing my pre pregnancy clothing again.

but i didn't put pressure on myself to 'Hurry up and fit into skinny jeans' or anything.

with sleep deprivation, recovering from complicated c-section that went pear shaped and caring for a nb who didn't believe in sleeping for more than two hours 24 hours a day, weight loss was not huge on my agenda. i knew it would happen sometime, and it did. (took about eight months for me).

i know other people who were walking their baby round the neighbourhood in the pram, days after giving birth.

we all experience labour differently, our recovery times are different. some of us get PND, some don't.

just don't let those unrealistic celeb photos get you down. we'd all look like that, if we paid gazillions to all those personal trainers, etc.

the other thing is, my child's father did not put any pressure on me, to look a certain way. i think if i had to listen to him criticise my appearance, after just having had a bub, that would have made things awful. we are our own worst critic, but it's the pits when relatives/loved ones make jibes about "baby fat" etc.

oh yeah, something i thought of to do AFTER i should have been doing it for myself (i was too tired at the time to think straight really) was this
i wish i had
packed a divided lunchbox, full of snack type / eat with one hand type things each morning.
like packing yourself a lunch for the day
so when you have a spare moment to yourself, not long enough to prepare anything, but long enough to eat a few mouthfuls, you can just reach your lunchbox in the fridge and have a pick at something healthy.

i ate SO healthily from 4 - 9 months of pregnancy (when MS had stopped) but when baby arrived, my healthy eating stopped. i didn't go food shopping (too ill to drive), i coudln't stand up long enough to prepare a sandwich, so therefore ate rubbish food, anything i could grab quick.

in hindsight, i should have grabbed a carrot, stick of celery, cucumber, cutting board, knife
sat at table and cut it all into sticks
container of dip for the veggie sticks
made a sandwich, even if only vegemite
a bowl full of fruit would have been fantastic
so i would have had a lunchbox of healthy snacks in the fridge for me to graze on thru out the day
esp when on the couch breastfeeding

when visitors said "do you need anything", i should have asked them to go buy me a week supply of fruit (i would have given them the money for it)
apples, bananas, grapes, stuff that doesn't need cutting up and can be eaten one handed (so you can eat it whilst feeding baby). then i would have filled up on good stuff, instead of the crap i ended up eating, due to desperation.