My Weight Loss Journey Was a Failure - Until I Made These Changes

Losing weight after having a child can be difficult, and finding the time to take care of yourself as well as your family can often leave you feeling stretched thin. Tennessee-based health and lifestyle coach Natalie Wolff experienced this after the birth of her second child. Here’s what she did to lose the weight and make a positive change in her life.

She Stopped Fad Dieting.

“As a child and teen, I was slender and active,” Wolff says. “When I hit my twenties I began to pack on the pounds. I tried some crazy diets along the way, drastically cutting calories or entire food groups.” According to Wolff, none of those fad diets worked.

She Started Eating Real Food.

“After my daughter was born [my second child], I was appalled with my weight,” Wolff said. It wasn’t until a friend introduced her to the idea of whole nutrition, and she stopped relying on artificial foods, that Wolff started to see the weight come off. “Within the first week, I was down a size and no longer sleeping when my kids napped,” she said. “I woke up feeling like I had been plugged in overnight and was fully charged. Putting premium nutrition in my body made so much of a difference.”

She Dealt With Life’s Speedbumps.

Wolff and her family got a membership at the YMCA, where she fell in love with weightlifting. She went on to join a fitness program and later competed in her first fitness competition in May 2014. But after the birth of her third child, who was born with special needs and unable to eat, Wolff struggled to keep up with her weight loss. “My husband and I were doing our best to keep a brave face for our older two children, who were three and five at the time, while both terrified at the health scares our newborn was facing.”

“As we were able to get our son the help he needed, our crazy lives took over,” Wolff says. “I own two businesses, and my clients were ready for me to get back to them. I was always tired by the time we got our children to bed and often went to bed immediately after. It was a struggle for me to eat healthy, food-prep, and work out.”

“When my son was about six months old, he was eating on his own but still had therapy three times a week, in addition to various specialist appointments,” says Wolff. “The first few months of 2016 were a bit of a blur.” Wolff adds that as springtime rolled around, she made it a goal to start to feel like herself again. “How can I take care of everyone else if I was falling apart?” she said.

She Scheduled Time for her Goals.

In order to lose weight and feel like her best self again, Wolff said she started working out at 4 a.m. in her garage when her kids were still asleep. By meal prepping and focusing on her nutrition, she was able to shed the weight again and competed in her second fitness competition in fall of 2016.

As Wolff proves, when it comes to weight loss, it’s not about how many times you get knocked down; it’s about how you dust yourself off afterward and continue!

*Note to reader: In the interest of editorial disclosure and integrity, the reader should know that GlaxoSmithKline owns and operates this site. The results highlighted may not be typical and are that of one person’s individual experience. Always talk to your doctor before beginning any exercise or weight loss program.