Theory

Before I became pregnant, I thought I would be "that" woman that only gains a small amount of weight, would be able to work out the entire time, and would lose the weight quickly after delivery. Wow, was I wrong! My neighbor has a theory about women who lead us to believe this actually happens... these women are evil. They tell you they only gained 19 pounds, they were in labor for 5 minutes and they left the hospital in their size 2 jeans! I don't know about the rest of you, but that certainly wasn't the case for me. I gained a good amount of weight, was in labor for 18 hours, and still can't fit into my jeans!

Exercising and a proper diet are absolutely essential for getting back into shape after delivering your baby -- they are BOTH necessary, so don't think you can have one without the other! I was reading a book the other day that discouraged weight training because it "made women big" -- I stopped reading the book, and will not finish it because of the bad advice. Weight training is one of the best things you can do for not only yourself, but your baby too. Adding additional resistance to your training builds muscle that will ultimately increase your metabolism. Make sure you're using a challenging weight (at the end of 12-15 reps, if you feel like you could do more, add weight), do a fair amount of reps to reach fatigue, and you'll build "hungry" muscle that requires more calories to function.

Exercises for today:
Props used -- a resistance band with handles
Bicep curls - both feet on the band, curl lower arms up toward shoulders, slowly lower back down... repeat
Overhead presses - one foot on the band, press both hands up toward the ceiling, alternate when tired of using both at once.