Latest / SAY GRACE | Weight Loss + Health for Overwhelmed Women- Stress, Busy, Consistency, Realistic, Motivation, Starting Over, No Restrictions / Breastfeeding, Motherhood and Weight Loss with PFN Plus Client, Lacy Pace and Former PFN Team Member, Candace Smith

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Breastfeeding, Motherhood and Weight Loss with PFN Plus Client, Lacy Pace and Former PFN Team Member, Candace Smith · SAY GRACE | Weight Loss + Health for Overwhelmed Women- Stress, Busy, Consistency, Realistic, Motivation, Starting Over, No Restrictions

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Music.
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On today's episode, I have a special treat for y'all.
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We are talking all about breastfeeding and weight loss with PFN Plus member
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Lacey Pace and former PFN team member, my sister, Candice Smith.
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I know that so many mamas look forward to getting their baby weight off and
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are hopeful that breastfeeding will help.
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But when we are met with all the new and sometimes overwhelming things that
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come with a new baby, the weight loss can begin to feel impossible.
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So on this episode, Candice, Lacey, and I talk about the ins and outs of breastfeeding
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and mama struggles, and how to look at and achieve your weight loss in a new
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and realistic light. So let's jump in.
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Welcome, Lacey. Welcome, Candice. We're so excited to have y'all on the Say Grace podcast.
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Happy to be here. All right, y'all. So before we dive off into this breastfeeding
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podcast, I do want you to kind of know who you are listening to.
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And so as I mentioned in the intro, Candice is a former PFN team member,
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and she is also my sister.
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And so I'm going to give her a minute, though, to just kind of give you the rundown of her life,
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which you will quickly understand why she is a former PFN team member when you
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hear a little bit of what she's got going on. So Candice, just tell us a little bit.
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Hey, y'all. So I'm married to my husband of how many years? Let's see.
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Eight. Eight. That's pretty bad.
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I have two daughters. One is 10 months and then the other is two years and 10
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months. We had both of our baby girls in the month of July, and so I work.
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I work normally. I'm an accountant. I work from 9 to 3, 3.30 every day. I went part-time.
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Once I had my second daughter, we are in the middle of an addition on our house.
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So it is my life is chaos.
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Refrigerators in the middle of the kitchen. Our washer and dryer moves regularly.
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Yes. It has been on the front porch, but we have moved it into the future laundry
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room for now until we have to do the floor in there.
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So that's good. my husband travels for
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work so I am
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momming it by myself some of the time what
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else Constance I think that's good I
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mean yeah momming it by yourself with I
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mean the girls don't love to sleep through the night right
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no they did not sleep neither of them all of
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last night yeah yeah but and
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your part-time job you're you're very needed
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there like yeah yes this is true and I
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say part-time it feels part-time but it's
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just more flexible than it was before so but I'm very thankful for that she's
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got a lot of responsibility at work a lot of responsibility at home and has
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She has been breastfeeding for 10 months with Piper and then breastfed her first
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one. How long did you go with Hazel?
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Was pumping for a year. Yeah.
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A little over a year. Yeah. Exclusive pumping, y'all. Like it was wild.
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Yeah. It was wild.
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I made myself miserable, but I'm determined.
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Okay. So that's just a little bit about her, but I think she under exaggerated.
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Like, she's got a lot going on. And, you know, it's a lot right now for her lifestyle.
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Imagine, like, an addition with half the house is blocked off,
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you know, with two young kids, you know, working a lot, sleeps a struggle.
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Like, it's just a lot going on over there. But it's a season,
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right? Yeah, that's right.
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I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for the addition, at least. For sure.
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And yesterday with Piper, I was thinking she's like about to turn that corner, I feel like.
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I mean, yeah, they still need you, but they don't need you like every breath. You know what I mean?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, Lacey, give us the rundown on you.
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Okay, I'm Lacey. I've been married for three years to my husband. We're both nurses.
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I work in the pediatric ICU, and he works in the blood transfusion department at our hospital.
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And we have an eight-month-old little boy who is just the best part of our lives.
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It took us not that long to get pregnant, but about nine months total.
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We had to use some fertility drugs.
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Some people struggle way more and way longer, but we're just really thankful that he's here.
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We've been exclusively breastfeeding since he was born. I only pump when I'm
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at work, and he is with me most every other time, so that's really the only
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time I need to pump. Pumping is so hard.
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I can't have so much respect for doing it for a year.
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That is so hard, but it's a huge and beautiful,
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sacrifice so that's right yeah it's
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it's the best I love it yes okay so we've got an eight-month-old a 10-month-old
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and a almost three-year-old right and so I also I'm I mean I think I've talked
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about it I talked about on the podcast about a year ago my breastfeeding journey a little bit and,
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I feel like my oldest Sarah Mason was kind
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of how Candace I know had some struggles with her oldest so it was just like
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they didn't want to latch both of our older kids were so small it was like their
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mouths were like not even thinking about all I mean you know like it was just
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crazy and so I had some struggles with Sarah Mason we got we got thrush like,
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more times than I can count. Astitis, so many times.
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But I, and then with her food allergy, right?
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Like I wouldn't let myself quit breastfeeding because I was afraid that like
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she, because we were so restricted on what foods she could have when it was
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time to feed her solids. Like I felt like my breast milk was required, you know what I mean?
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For her to be able to survive and thrive for a long time.
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And so I went with her 16 months.
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Yeah, I feel like she was actually closer to 18 months. I can't exactly remember.
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So I'm saying 16 to be safe. That was nine years ago. Like, oh, Lord. Oh, my God. I know.
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And then Glory, you know, she is five now, but I did go with her for 16 months.
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And so she was an easier child to breastfeed.
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Like, I don't know if I was more relaxed or.
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How much did Glory weigh? She weighed 6'13". And Sarah Mason weighed 6'6".
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So, yeah, they weren't that much bigger than the other.
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But I don't know. It was just a whole different experience. And probably very
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much because of me, right?
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Like, I was more comfortable as a mom. I did not have a section with Glory like
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I had had with Sarah Mason.
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And so everything just felt easier. And it felt more comfortable from the beginning.
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And so, I don't know. And she slept. I don't know. She was just like,
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if I ever had another kid, I would probably not get so lucky,
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you know, again, because she slept and we had no big problems.
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But I did get mastitis a lot.
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And I got the stomach bug a lot with her. And Candice, I know Candice has been sick like a lot lately.
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Lacey, have you been sick? I feel like you have been off and on sick a couple
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times when I've talked to you.
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Yeah, definitely more often than before becoming a mom.
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And so when you told me one time that your immunity is down when you're breastfeeding,
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I was like, oh, that makes so much sense because I've never been more sick in my life.
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Well, and if you think about it, it's kind of the same thing as like when you're
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pregnant, but like even more so, right?
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Like your body's job is to do whatever it's supposed to. If you're carrying
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the baby, it's doing all the things it does to keep that baby in and keep that
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baby fed and all the things...
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But it's the same when the baby's out and you're still breastfeeding.
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Like your body's primary.
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I don't know if y'all listen to the metabolism podcast where I was talking about,
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you know, your body trying to go back to homeostasis.
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Like that is its homeostasis while we're breastfeeding, right,
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is to make sure we are getting the nutrients in the milk, make sure you are
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producing enough milk, like all the things.
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And so who gets, you know, the leftovers?
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The back burner. You know, you're put on the back burner. And then throw in,
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you know, if they're at daycare, they're bringing home extra germs or,
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you know, you are depleted of nutrients. And so you're, you know,
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because you're giving it all to the baby.
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And so you're just your immune system is down because you got to make sure the baby's up.
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And when you think about it, right, you wouldn't have it any other way. Definitely not.
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But it makes sense to why we're like all so dang tired and sick and all the things.
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So tired. I've never had the
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stomach bug or food poisoning in my life and after
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having children I have that's so weird crazy and y'all I will never forget like
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I had Sarah Mason she was probably three weeks old and Jess and I both got the
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stomach bug at the same time and I mean she was not eating, not sleeping.
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Like, I think she had a mild version of it. Right. And like,
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but Jess was just not, he has come a long way as far as how he,
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how he like can handle sickness and illness. But at that point he just was not like able.
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And I just remember like being in the bathroom, sitting on the pot,
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breastfeeding, because like I could not, I could not like move. I could not been there.
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I remember walking through Krober sick, like trying to get Gatorade for us too.
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I don't know. It was just awful. And so I sympathize with that because I just
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remember how you felt like, what am I even doing here?
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Why is this my life right now?
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Okay. So let's talk about the pregnancy weight gain.
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Okay. And I want to kind of just talk about this from a mental struggle because
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I very much remember, I mean, this is on my like homepage,
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you know, just about how when I got pregnant with Sarah Mason,
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I felt like I've got to eat, eat, eat because I got to feed this baby,
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you know, I got to grow this baby.
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And then it turned into, you know, I don't think the baby needed Sonic chocolate milkshakes every day.
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Like, I don't think she needed that, you know what I mean? But that's kind of
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where my mind was. And then I thought I'd just be able to like lose it.
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Like it would just fall off after I had her and it didn't.
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And then you throw in the exhaustion and the hormones and then it really didn't. You know what I mean?
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And so I'd love to hear both of your experience with that.
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I'll go first. So my first child, Hazel, I gained probably 45 pounds.
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Candice is barely five foot tall for the record. It was short.
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Really short. It was a lot, but you know, I guess I took after my older sister
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and thought I needed donuts every morning on the way to work.
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You really feel like you do. Yeah, right. I'm pregnant.
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I got to feed the baby. but yeah that was I actually
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loved being pregnant so I didn't mind the weight gain during
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pregnancy but after it was a struggle to
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come off of that which
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I had my babies pretty close together so
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I did not lose all that weight but with Piper I only gained 25 pounds I started
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a little bit heavier but I gained 25 pounds and I'm still not back down to pre-hazel
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but I'm to pre-piper so that's pretty good that is good yeah,
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I started out heavier and then like I was in the process of like,
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man, I could stand to lose just like a few pounds, maybe like 10, 15.
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And then we got pregnant and I gained 60 pounds. Yes, girl.
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That's me. And I was like, I can have whatever I want because I'm the giver
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and grower of life and I deserve all of these treats and just didn't care because
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I also thought I'm going to be breastfeeding.
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And everybody says that the pounds just fly off breastfeeding.
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And so that's totally going to be my case.
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So I can eat whatever I want and gain all the weight and it'll be fine.
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And that has been the opposite of the case.
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I know that some weight gain in pregnancy is normal and appropriate and should happen, it's healthy.
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But I hope that with our next babies that I can try not to, just for mobility's
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sake and for recovery's sake.
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Like it was so hard to, I'm still at work.
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Like when I have to like squat down and look at something, I'm like,
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man, I'm so thankful I can just like get down this low.
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Like, so I just hope I can at least try and keep some mobility next time.
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Yeah. I remember, so I gained 60 pounds with Sarah Mason and y'all,
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oh my gosh, I remember I was, when I was in the room, like about to deliver,
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or I guess go back to deliver her I had a scheduled section
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with her and I remember my dad it
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was no god like okay
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it was one of those beds where it said the weight on
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the bed and my dad looked at the weight and he was like baby I didn't realize
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you had gained so much weight I'm like literally you're not supposed to say
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that to people like never but also you're correct you know like also um and
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so yeah I I gained 60 with Sarah Mason and I did,
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I had lost it all, but I mean, between her and Glory was.
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Almost five years, you know? And so with Glory, I will say I learned my lesson,
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right? And Candice did, too.
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I did, too. We learned our lesson with that second one that,
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like, oh, the weight is going to come on, especially in the third trimester.
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Like, I thought, oh, I'm gaining, but it'll be fine. No, the third trimester
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is when the weight gain is out of your control.
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You know what I mean? Like, it is just what it is.
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And so— And I didn't deprive myself at all. I just did not have donuts every
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day. I didn't open. Okay. Yeah.
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This is when I was working in an office y'all and I would drive down to McAllister's
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and get the full size muffaletta, which is like the highest calorie like, oh my God, it's so good.
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I mean, and I just thought I needed it. We would go get popsicles.
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It was back when the, those gourmet popsicles were so popular.
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We would go get a popsicle like every day in the summer. It was, it was wild.
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But so yeah, I just didn't deprive myself or I just didn't overindulge, right, with Glory.
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And I gained about, when I delivered Glory, I had gained probably about 32 or
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33 pounds. And I think that was like a really good weight gain on me.
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I don't think I could have gone any less, you know, with her.
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And they got that all off too. So it is, it is possible, you know,
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but I think one of the misconceptions, right, is you think, Lacey,
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like you just said, you know, I'm going to, after I have this baby,
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I'm going to breastfeed and it's just going to fall off.
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And like, while that is the case for, for some lucky ladies out there, it's not the case.
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Right. It's not the case for most of us, you know?
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And then again, like we just talked about throwing in the exhaustion.
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Cause you know, we talk about rest and, and lack of sleep and all these things
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affect our, our weight loss.
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And then the hormones just kind of being out of absolute control,
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you know, for a while you, you mix all that together And it's,
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it's, it's not, weight doesn't just fall off when you're breastfeeding.
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Also throwing in the breastfeeding, like cravings that I mean,
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I could have just eaten sugar by the spoonful with both of my girls and been
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so satisfied or, and the hangry that you get when you're breastfeeding.
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Like mix all that together. And it is not, it's not the easiest.
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And so I think one thing that I know you're learning, Lacey,
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she is down, y'all, she is down 28 pounds with
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us since she started pfn she's down what'd you say 35 since
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since delivery delivered and 28 with
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us yes which is such a such a
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success we've had those conversations where
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it's not coming off fast enough for you some weeks right like it's
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frustrating and so i think the most
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important message to get out today is patience
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you know it it is it sucks and i know Candice has her own like her own you know
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do you want to talk about just like your supply and and how that has played
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a part with your weight loss yeah that's right thing so with hazel.
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I had really low supply. We had to supplement with formula.
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And I think the main reason of that is because of stress.
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I wanted to breastfeed. I wanted to nurse her so bad.
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And she had a bad latch, wouldn't latch.
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So she was losing weight. I mean, she got down into five pounds something. It was so bad.
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And so it was so stressful my entire maternity leave.
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And I had a c-section too so it was it was
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the recovery of all of it was really hard and stressful um so I had very little
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milk supply I mean well I probably made like 20 ounces a day or something and
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I had to supplement the rest and then so I did that for an entire year for her for piper,
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just enough-er.
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So it's hard to try and lose weight fast when you're barely making enough milk.
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So it's slow and steady.
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Or even just like not even hard to try to lose weight fast.
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It's hard to even get your mind to weight loss, right?
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Like I think it's just now you've been like, all right, I got to be thinking
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about, you know, getting the rest of this weight off.
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Because up until recently you're like
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that's not the priority right your your
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body and the way it looks yeah sometimes we're like oh you know we don't love
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the way we look or feel in our skin but like when you're talking about your
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baby's nutrition providing yes right like you those are two they're not equal
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you know and so for a while I know you were just kind of like Like,
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I cannot prioritize my body in losing weight or whatever fitting back into my
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jeans because I know my milk supply history.
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Like, I know how we roll. And so there's no way I'm going to even reduce my
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calories a little bit and risk not making three or four extra ounces today,
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you know? That's right. Right.
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And so I think it's just such a thing where like we expect like nobody nobody's
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telling you about what's behind what's behind the lines.
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Right. What's happening at home? Like we expect to lose all the weight like
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the other person who's breastfeeding.
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But like she may be an oversupplier.
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She may be donating her milk to the milk bank and not scared to death that she
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doesn't have enough to send in a bottle with her baby the next day to daycare.
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Like, so I just think, you know, we can't, it's so hard, but you cannot compare
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yourself, even one breastfeeding mom to the other, because it's not the same, you know? That's right.
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And so I'm proud of you. And I don't know if I've told you that,
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but like, I'm proud of you for just kind of putting, because I know all three
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of us, we put, we put a lot of, like, we like to be physically active.
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We like to eat right. Like we put a lot of effort into our health and like for
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you to be able to just say, nope, I can't do that right now.
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You know, like that's tough. It's not my time. That's tough,
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Candice. It's not my time. I don't know. Thank you, sister.
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Okay. So Lacey, how's your supply? I don't think I know this one.
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It's really great, honestly. Very thankful.
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We've never had supply issues. In the beginning, the first six weeks were just
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so hard because Nathaniel was also underweight.
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He was born at 6'3", super jaundiced. We almost had to get readmitted for hyperbilirubinemia.
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And we were readmitted afterwards because I was preeclampsic after delivery.
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So oh my gosh that was I don't even like remember
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parts of those days because I was just I
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guess I just blocked it out but my
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supply was never the issue it was always like this is not working he's not latching
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he's getting exasperated because we were supplementing with my milk after he
22:25
would breastfeed to try and like amp up his calorie intake and help him gain
22:29
weight and clear out the jaundice and Billy Reuben. You were triple feeding?
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Yes. Oh, girl.
22:37
So we, like, I remember for a couple weeks, I was only sleeping like 30-minute increments.
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Like, that's it, for weeks.
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Oh, my gosh. That was, you know, it was so hard, but that was the Lord,
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like, gave me His Spirit during that time to just sustain me. Like, it was so hard.
23:04
And I wanted to prioritize sleep for myself, but I was hellbent on doing this
23:08
and breastfeeding and making sure I could provide this for my son.
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Because I'll never get to—I will never get this opportunity again for anything.
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I'm like, hopefully I'll get it for my other babies. But this is something so
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beautiful that God created my body to do, and I'm so excited to get to do it.
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I know that I'll be able to sleep sometime. I know I'll be able to take care
23:28
of myself sometime soon. It's just not right now.
23:33
So that was so hard but I even like while it was hard I loved it and I enjoyed
23:39
it and I'm thankful for it so we it's a good we have a good supply and I'm I'm
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thankful that to answer your question,
23:47
yeah he he does good now we're like we've hit
23:50
our stride yeah I mean
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literally like they can feed for five minutes and
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be good yeah it's great i really am
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i'm so i'm i'm i remember
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it right like being able to just pop them on and
24:05
be done in no time but kina's i was thinking yesterday you were
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like last night we were together last night and she's like let
24:11
me just see if she'll eat a little bit more and then it was like three minutes
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later and they were leaving i'm like my god she ate fast but i mean that's how
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it happens when they get older like that but it's so crazy because I feel like
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it was just yesterday that you she was latched for like 45 minutes trying to
24:28
nurse you know in the early days it was so long right and so I feel like.
24:35
In the early days, there's different struggles, right, than there are maybe
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right now for both of you.
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And so, but I think for both, right, in the early days and probably now as well,
24:48
because when we talk about weight loss, right, weight loss is highly connected
24:52
to food and how we eat and what we eat, right?
24:55
And one of the things that I remember the most, like being the biggest struggle
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for me when I was trying to lose with both kids, while breastfeeding,
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while working, while trying to tend to the home, you know, with a baby that
25:06
literally wanted to be on me all the time was what I ate, when I ate, right?
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Because you're like, okay, I'm starving. Like I'm hangry.
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I must eat now. My body is demanding I eat, but also I don't have time to get
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up and meal prep or like chop anything or whatever.
25:28
And so I'd love to hear kind of both of you, how you are,
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eating like what you're eating like and there's no there's no right or wrong
25:35
like I think other people would just love to know like what are other breastfeeding
25:38
mamas doing okay so I have really been into overnight oats when I have time
25:46
at night I home make them oats milk protein powder.
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Peanut butter honey but when I do not have
25:54
time at night I use the brand I think it's called overnight oats or night oats
26:01
overnight something like that you just mix it with milk and then I add extra
26:05
protein and I love it I love both I love overnight oats and then my other go-to.
26:13
Lately is go macro bars they're protein bars
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that are really good I like the ones with oats in them
26:20
and for lunch
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i mean i do not meal prep so i'm making frozen
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annie's lunch in the
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microwave at work what's your favorite annie's right now uh
26:33
my favorite is the ravioli like the
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cheese ravioli with the red sauce i don't know why oh no no
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i like the pesto tortellini okay but
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that one has like 500 something calories so you got to be careful with
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that yeah yeah that and then I you
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know we just kind of throw together dinner so yeah
26:53
what about you Lacey while I
26:56
was like figuring out how to keep my appetite at bay I listened to a ton of
27:02
your podcasts like Ears and Krista's protein episode and your breastfeeding
27:09
one and so y'all had given a lot of good ideas that I took I can't remember
27:13
which specific ones, but I also, like.
27:16
I wake up craving overnight oats.
27:18
Like, I love them so much.
27:21
I don't know where that came from, but I use, I'll eat, like,
27:26
the peanut butter jelly and
27:28
PFN, Overnight Oats, almost every single day. Love that. So good.
27:32
Candice, have you tried any of the Overnight Oats on the app?
27:35
I haven't tried the jelly one, no. Oh, my gosh.
27:38
I also crave peanut butter and jelly. Like, those are two of my favorite things to ingest.
27:44
I'll have to make that one tonight. Yeah, it's so good. That helps keep me full.
27:50
You had given, Constance, the recommendation of eating, like,
27:53
I think I was trying to just eat straight protein, like some chomps.
27:58
Or eggs, and that helped keep me full, but not as much as, like,
28:03
some fat protein, like cottage cheese.
28:06
So, I love, like, cottage cheese mixed with some kind of dip mix with some crackers,
28:11
and then when I'm at work, the Lean Cuisine protein cake pizza.
28:16
It's so good, girl. Oh, yeah. That one's in my rotation, too.
28:20
I love frozen pizza. That might be gross, but I love it.
28:25
I ate pizza entirely too much. I feel like to be out here on a podcast that
28:30
way lost. It's so good. I love pizza too.
28:34
Everything in balance. That's right. Okay. And what about dinners?
28:38
I cook a lot. So I'll usually cook most of the nights that I don't work and
28:44
then we'll have enough leftovers for when I do work because I work 12 hours.
28:49
So I can come home and my husband can just like have reheated something that
28:52
I'd made a night or two prior.
28:55
Yeah, that's great. I remember when I had both my girls, because Glory was a COVID baby.
29:01
Like, so I had her in December and then COVID hit in March. And so we were home
29:05
a lot while, like right when I was getting back into my routine of sending her
29:10
back to the sitter, we were about to start another weight loss challenge.
29:14
All the things, right, is when COVID hit. And so yeah,
29:18
I had to figure out how I was going
29:19
to navigate work and home and them all being home and all the things.
29:23
And so I also had Sarah Mason home and she was four and a half. So that was a lot.
29:28
I ate y'all straight out of the fridge. Like it was, I would just open the fridge and drag stuff out.
29:34
Like, and I still do this to this day. Like I will just pull things out of the fridge.
29:37
We'll pull out grapes, pepperonis, cheese, cut up slices of cheese,
29:43
Ritz crackers or pretzels, or, you know, we just kind of pull,
29:46
we have, oh my gosh, we're obsessed with those Costco.
29:49
What are they like? Caramelized pecans or something. There's so many.
29:53
Olives, my kids, we love olives and pickles and things like that.
29:56
And so that's what I survived on literally back when I was breastfeeding.
30:01
Cause I knew I could just go grab a handful of grapes or I could go grab,
30:04
you know, a couple of slices of cheese.
30:06
Those just crack an egg things from the grocery store.
30:10
Do y'all remember that? They were all the rave a while back,
30:14
but they're still there.
30:16
And you just literally crack an egg and pop it in the microwave for a minute.
30:19
And it's your breakfast.
30:20
And you can eat it one handed, you know, or those Kodiak cups, same thing.
30:26
You can just eat it one handed. Peanut butter crackers, I literally lived on
30:33
and I still do to this day.
30:34
Like y'all come at me if you want to tell me about how unhealthy packaged peanut
30:38
butter crackers are because I will tell you about yourself you know like because
30:43
they're just I mean it's so much better than what like.
30:46
Something else right and it's yeah it's something
30:49
to grab and so yeah and then I did
30:52
the same as you guys with dinners like we would just try to I
30:55
would try to make enough and we would you know have it multiple times but I
31:00
don't know I love I think people love to hear like food ideas just you know
31:03
definitely that was me yeah yeah I and it it made like I forget about the early
31:10
days since I mean, not that it was that long ago,
31:13
eight months ago, but even like trying to do like what you'd said on your breastfeeding
31:18
podcast prior to this one,
31:21
like having stuff that you can just grab really quick.
31:23
It's just really hard when like you have a newborn asleep on you and like you're
31:30
home by yourself and then I'm starving and I'm so thirsty and I don't have my
31:34
water cup near me and I don't have a snack near me because I forgot.
31:38
I just forgot. And so you just starve and sit there for a few hours until the baby wakes up.
31:42
Like, I just don't know. I don't know. There wasn't really any way around it
31:46
sometimes. That's right.
31:48
It's just a hard season. I did make sour day bread.
31:52
I was eating that a lot in the early days because I had made some before,
31:56
like when I was pregnant and praise it.
31:58
And that with cottage cheese on it. Ooh. So good. Yeah. I just really don't
32:03
like it with cottage cheese on it. I don't know why.
32:07
Yes. I just, I don't know why. I mean, I do cottage cheese the other ways.
32:10
I don't know why I don't like it with cottage cheese on it. But I do eat sourdough
32:15
bread currently, like almost daily.
32:17
I was about to say something, Lacey, to what you were talking about in the early days.
32:22
The baby on her. I know. Oh, I can't remember now.
32:26
I don't know. Well, we can come back to it. But I do think, you know.
32:31
Oh, oh, I know. I know, I know, I know, I know. Okay. Right.
32:34
Like what I was wanting to mention is just how it can be so easy.
32:40
Right. Like I've picked up on you said you listen in the earlier days,
32:43
you listen to a lot of the podcasts and you were just trying to digest information. Right.
32:47
And so it's because. Right. We think.
32:51
I'm trying to lose weight and I, and I know how you're supposed to lose weight, right?
32:55
You're supposed to have all the healthy foods. You're supposed to exercise all the time.
32:59
Like, you know, you, you kind of revert back to what does weight loss mean to
33:03
me prior to, you know, birthing a baby.
33:07
And so it can be really hard. It can be really conflicting in your mind to be
33:11
like, okay, I literally cannot get up to put this baby down to go work out right now.
33:17
And like, also, I don't freaking want to, you know what I mean?
33:20
Like I am not going to sacrifice those snuggles to go, you know,
33:25
take a walk or do a HIIT workout on the TV or whatever, you know,
33:30
that, that some people feel like that's the only other option.
33:34
You know what I mean? To lose weight, if I want to lose weight while I have
33:37
a newborn, while I'm breastfeeding, I have to meal prep instead of holding my baby.
33:43
Go exercise instead of holding my baby. Eat vegetables and fruit instead of
33:49
the candy I'm constantly craving, you know what I mean?
33:53
Like, and so I think it's just so important too, to hear you guys saying.
33:56
You know, like I'm eating lean cuisine pizzas daily, you know, and I'm down 28 pounds.
34:05
I'm eating, you know, overnight oats and frozen meals and we're winging it for
34:09
dinner sometimes and I'm down, you know, 25 pounds or whatever.
34:13
And so I just, I commend you guys for, for taking that approach because I know
34:17
that doesn't come, that didn't come naturally, especially in your desperation
34:22
to lose after having the baby.
34:24
And especially, especially when you're sitting there looking at a stomach that
34:28
used to have a baby in it and you're like, what is this?
34:31
You know what I mean? Like it makes you want to go run 10 miles or starve yourself
34:37
or, Or, you know, like it makes you want to do things in desperation for the weight loss.
34:43
And so the fact that you guys can come here and just be like,
34:46
you know what? I'm realistic about it.
34:48
It's such a good thing. So I hope you realize that, both of you girls.
34:53
Well, you kind of cultivated that for me because I get eight weeks, 10 weeks.
34:58
I can't remember when I decided to join Perfect Fit after having my baby.
35:03
You know, you send those little voice memos out to each of us.
35:06
And you like knew I had just had my baby and like what this season probably looks like for me.
35:12
And in the voice memo, you were like, maybe like your weight loss journey right
35:18
now isn't going to look like.
35:20
Tracking every single day and it didn't because like what was priority
35:23
wasn't losing weight like we talked about like it was soaking up
35:26
every single second I had with my baby because
35:29
I was yeah and so
35:33
like you had given those ideas of like think about
35:36
just quick things that you can grab that can
35:41
make things easier like like I don't know that's
35:43
just what I love about perfect fit is like what does
35:46
your life look like right now and what things can we put into practice where
35:50
you're at like instead of trying to do all these insane interventions that are
35:54
not going to be attainable for more than maybe like a week right love it okay
36:01
so with that being said Lacey let me ask you,
36:06
what is your favorite thing or like maybe the most impactful thing about your journey with us so far.
36:14
So down 28 pounds, still breastfeeding, still just kind of navigating it.
36:19
And again, I know that hasn't been like a consistent weekly thing for you, right?
36:24
Like we have had some frustrations and some struggles because hormones and oh
36:28
my gosh, we think weight stalling is a thing when we're just regularly trying to lose weight.
36:32
But y'all, when we're trying to lose weight while we're breastfeeding,
36:35
that weight stalling ain't no joke sometimes.
36:37
And so after all that you've been through what would be just like the one thing
36:42
that stands out about your time with us.
36:46
Probably still just like i said a second ago
36:48
just eat not that weight loss
36:51
is ever easy but to make it as simple
36:54
as possible like that's my favorite thing like i
36:58
there's just this concept that everyone i
37:02
talk to and all my friends have about losing weight like you have to
37:04
do restrict this like you have to fast for
37:08
18 hours and like I'm
37:10
not gonna do that like I'm not gonna well you
37:13
can't do that right like okay five years out from breastfeeding I sure can't
37:22
I want to listen the only time I have fasted is in prayer and it's still hard
37:28
you know what I mean But I'm not asking in no weight loss mindset. Okay? Right.
37:33
So I just love, like...
37:36
I love that PFN is like, let's think about where your life is and meet you where
37:43
you're at. That's my favorite thing.
37:45
And just the fact that so many of the people are like me, like moms or nurses
37:49
or wives, just like by same age range.
37:53
Like it's just connecting with other people who are very similar to you and
37:58
realizing like I'm not the only one going through this, like breastfeeding,
38:01
trying to lose weight. I'm definitely not the only person trying to go through that.
38:05
Right. And you've brought a lot of breastfeeding friends lately. Yeah.
38:09
Yeah. Because it's, yeah. I'm just glad to know that they can see that it's
38:13
doable, too. Right. Right.
38:16
Candice, what about you? So, y'all, Candice has been with us. This is hilarious.
38:21
But, like, so before I had an online presence, even really, right,
38:27
like before I was, when we first started Weight Loss Challenges,
38:31
they were eight weeks long.
38:33
And we would it was
38:36
only local people and we would meet at
38:40
my best friend's gym for weigh-ins
38:44
so we would weigh in at the beginning of the challenge we would weigh in midway
38:48
and then we would weigh in at the end of the challenges and so Candice Candice
38:53
was like my spreadsheet queen like she would set up all this was like we had
39:00
two scales we were working in tandem like weighing people and,
39:03
you know, encouraging people.
39:04
And so she has been with me definitely since I've had a full-time job.
39:09
And since she's, you know, she's like, she's been with me for how long?
39:14
It was almost 10, eight years or something like that.
39:18
Yeah. I would say probably eight years ago. So I would just,
39:22
I'm just curious, like what, what is your favorite part? Because yeah,
39:25
you don't work for us anymore.
39:26
Obviously we understand why, but like, Why do you still keep coming back to our ways?
39:32
Well, especially like postpartum, this isn't like bounce back culture where
39:38
I feel like that's like on Instagram and on social media, like after having
39:43
a baby, it's like time to get back to it.
39:45
And it's not like that here. It's full of grace.
39:50
And especially when, you know, like we were saying with the milk supply, like the.
39:55
Yes, I am trying to lose weight, but I'm not going to kill myself to do it.
40:00
So there's so much grace here and the accountability with, you know,
40:05
all the ladies and especially youth clients.
40:07
And there's like not this heavy pressure on my shoulders.
40:13
You know, like we need one more thing to add to our plates. Yeah.
40:17
But yeah. Stacey and I worked really hard to like find that balance between
40:22
like the people that need a little extra pressure.
40:24
Right. Like, because that's how they thrive versus like, we don't want you to
40:29
feel like I can't do this. So I'm going to run.
40:31
You know what I mean? Like, and it's a really hard balance. And I think that's
40:35
why we're always saying to our ladies, like, Lacey, you've never had a problem with this.
40:38
But like, reach out to us. Like, if you want to talk about it,
40:41
because sometimes we, you need to be told to sit down.
40:45
Like, you know what I mean? Like, you need to calm yourself down.
40:47
But then sometimes people need to be told, okay, girl, if you want to cry about
40:51
not having lost any weight, like, we're going to have to track.
40:54
We're going to do something about it.
40:57
You know what I mean? And so it's very different based on the person. Right.
41:01
And so I appreciate that. You know, the pressure thing, because we do,
41:05
we work really hard to kind of meet people where they are because everybody's
41:08
emotions are different and the way they handle things are different.
41:12
OK, and then I've got one more question for both of you, and then we can roll into our Q&A.
41:20
We do, you know, bring the random questions, as we always do with our interviews.
41:24
So if you guys were talking to someone who is breastfeeding and trying to lose
41:33
weight, what would your number one tip be?
41:35
Okay, just off the top, if you're thinking about weight loss and breastfeeding. Lacey, you go first.
41:41
I would say to remember why you want to do it, why you want to lose weight,
41:47
why you want to take care of yourself.
41:49
Because that's been the most motivating thing for me is remembering like I have
41:55
a baby and I hope to have more babies who I want to show.
42:00
I want to exemplify, like, it's okay and you should take care of yourself.
42:05
Like, you're worth taking care of yourself. Like, God didn't die for us for
42:11
nothing. Like, we're worth putting healthy things in our body and,
42:15
like, working to be active.
42:16
Like, those are all things that we can feel like we're worth doing for, if that makes sense.
42:23
And, you know, I love that so much because that is such a—I know we're really
42:28
talking about breastfeeding here, But as a mama, that's such a mom struggle, right?
42:32
Like when you have a baby, a lot of times we in our minds are like,
42:37
we need to die to self and like, you know, only serve everyone in our lives.
42:43
And like, y'all just as a mom with older kids and I know my,
42:47
they're not older kids, but you know, they are getting older.
42:49
And I know moms, you know, with other kids, my kids age, by this point,
42:54
you can lose yourself. Like, and you can wake up one day and be like,
42:59
who even am I and what am I doing here?
43:01
Because there's a point where your kids don't need you as much anymore.
43:05
Both of your babies all need y'all so much right now.
43:09
But like, if you don't make an effort to take care of yourself,
43:13
even during that, there comes a time when your kids don't need you as much.
43:18
And then you're just like, what do I do now?
43:21
Like, I don't even know what it feels like to have time for myself.
43:24
I don't even know what self-care is, you know what I mean, at this point,
43:27
because you've trained yourself to just be at everybody else's beck and call.
43:32
And so it's really important for you to have something to be proud of.
43:36
You can be so proud of all the mom things you do, right?
43:41
Like breastfeeding being one main one, right? You can be so proud of that,
43:44
but it is really important to do something that makes you proud of yourself that serves just you.
43:50
You know, that makes you feel good, period. you know so I love I love that answer
43:56
thanks okay Candice what about you,
44:00
Well, mine's not as deep and sweet as Lacey's. No, you can't.
44:06
But I was just going to say, like, the number one thing, the first thing you
44:11
need to do is drink your water.
44:13
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely.
44:16
That's the number one tip. Like, you got to get the water in first.
44:21
Have you noticed, have y'all noticed, like, we all talk about the hunger,
44:24
but I have no issue drinking a gallon of water every day because I'm so thirsty.
44:31
Like nobody talks about, I don't know, I'm just, I have to have water near me
44:36
at all times or else I'm going to die.
44:39
Yeah. Like before even having a baby and before breastfeeding,
44:43
I would drink like over 100 ounces of water a day.
44:45
So now it's just like, I don't even care.
44:48
Yeah. I know every single day I'm hitting my water goal. Like I don't have to
44:53
track it. I know I'm getting my water.
44:56
Yes i remember what you said earlier when you're talking about the baby being
45:00
asleep on you like i and you not be able to get up to pee or eat or whatever like i vividly remember,
45:06
hunger okay yes pee okay yes but if
45:09
i did not have my water and i was sitting there that's when
45:12
i would get up y'all that's when i would say i'm gonna wake up
45:15
this baby yeah so i
45:18
get that and candace too i think you i think something
45:21
that was that was interesting about you especially during
45:24
with hazel was you tracked
45:28
to make sure you were eating enough right
45:31
like there was a point where you were like okay am i
45:34
under eating and that's why my supply and you know that if there is a supply
45:38
issue for anyone out there i do encourage that because sometimes like we've
45:42
just been talking about right food is not the priority and it can go the whole
45:46
opposite way where you don't even realize you're under eating but you are for
45:50
your breastfeeding needs Right, and I did gain weight.
45:54
During that time because I was like, okay, well, maybe I'm not eating enough.
45:59
After I went back to work, I definitely gained weight with Hazel just because
46:04
I was worried about my supply.
46:06
That's hard. That's like triggering a little bit.
46:09
Yeah, it's so hard.
46:12
You think after you push the baby out, you actually birth the thing that life's
46:17
supposed to get easier and it doesn't. That's just the beginning, right?
46:21
But nobody really talks about it, you know, hormones and just the mental struggle with your body.
46:28
And then like, am I doing this right? Am I feeding this baby right?
46:33
Does she have an allergy?
46:34
You know, all the things that just mom guilt, mom guilt, for sure.
46:40
You know, wife guilt, right? Because you're so dang tired by the end of the
46:44
day. And it's like, I don't have it in me to serve not another one of y'all. You know what I mean?
46:49
And so it's just so much. And so I think, again, it's just so important for
46:55
other mamas to hear that.
46:56
They're like, even though Facebook's, you know, pictures may look like this
47:01
other mom has it all together and she's breastfeeding and she's got multiple kids or whatever.
47:05
Like she may have actually lost her absolute mind before this photo was taken and we'll never know.
47:11
Right. But I think everybody goes through struggles and some,
47:16
some of us in different areas but it's never easy like weight loss and managing
47:21
the you know the newborn and your sleep and getting all the responsibilities
47:26
done is never easy for anyone,
47:28
okay so do you guys have anything to add before we move into our questions i don't think so.
47:36
Okay it's all worth it it's all worth it for these babies it really is that is right That is right.
47:46
Isn't it though?
47:48
Okay. So we're just going to each ask two questions and the others are just
47:52
going to answer the questions. Just something fun. We always do at the end of an interview call.
47:57
So Candice, what's your first question? Okay. So my first one is what is the
48:01
craziest thing you've ever eaten?
48:04
I feel like someone else asked me this on a call or something.
48:10
I don't eat anything crazy.
48:18
Like i feel like we had something in costa rica
48:21
right ceviche or whatever
48:25
that's not crazy yeah like that's my level
48:28
like the craziest thing
48:31
i'm ever eating or i'm ever gonna eat is we just booked
48:34
jess and i were going to tulum for our anniversary and we're staying at
48:36
this restaurant okay are we staying at this resort that
48:39
has like a only one restaurant on the resort it's
48:42
a small boutique resort and i
48:45
was showing candace the menu yesterday it's all thai food and
48:48
like i don't eat thai food so that's gonna
48:51
be the craziest thing i've ever eaten you know
48:54
you don't eat thai food no but i'm taking all suggestions we're gonna practice
48:59
jess and i are gonna go practice before we go on our trip oh my gosh yeah it's
49:05
so good i love thai food and it's delicious yeah um i didn't do good on that answer, but go ahead.
49:12
I honestly don't have a good one either because I don't think I've tried anything
49:17
crazy. Maybe like fried alligator, but that's pretty southern. Okay. Yeah.
49:25
I didn't like it. Okay. I changed my mind. I've got one.
49:31
Fried chitlins. Do you remember when dad used to bring those home?
49:36
Me it was awful I could
49:39
probably throw up right now talking about I cannot believe you have
49:42
actually tried that I was so young I was probably Sarah Mason's age I was so
49:45
young so I do remember that the alligator thing got me made me remember yep
49:49
yep yeah that's not good okay Lacey what's your first question okay when y'all
49:57
were little what did you want to be when you grew up,
50:01
Okay, so I think, gosh, when I was really small, I wanted to be a vet.
50:08
But then I think it turned into a nurse. But then I got a C in chemistry.
50:13
And I was like. It's safe for me.
50:16
I'm not happy. I do remember you wanting to be a nurse when you were little. That's funny.
50:22
I wanted to be a teacher, like probably my whole childhood.
50:26
I mean, I used to make my sisters play school all the time. And I loved it.
50:31
I loved the idea of it. I don't know when that changed.
50:34
Oh, I could see that for you. I saw the other day you posted,
50:38
like, all your little laminated things for the summer.
50:40
I'm like, oh, she's organized.
50:43
She's in her element. We'll see how it goes. That looked like a very teacher thing.
50:48
We're recording this on the first day of summer. My kids are downstairs right
50:52
now. We've had fights and tears.
50:56
And it's not even fairly bad.
51:00
I wanted to be a dance teacher. And my sister-in-law owns a dance studio.
51:07
So I just feel like in another life, she's living out my dream.
51:13
Yeah. Okay. My first question is, what is something you wish you had known 10 years ago?
51:25
Who's going to go first? Ten years ago, it was 2015. Mm-hmm.
51:34
I guess that it all works out. Yeah, and take the pressure off yourself.
51:40
You're going to be so proud of the money in your life.
51:46
Yeah, that's a good one. That's your answer too, Lacey?
51:51
Yeah, just try and take off all the pressure.
51:55
Just be yourself and enjoy your life. Your use.
52:00
Yeah, while you can.
52:04
All right who went first Candice what's your second question
52:08
oh yeah what's your favorite thing to do
52:10
with your family so I'll go
52:13
I y'all this garden has
52:16
just got me hooked like we
52:20
I just love being out there with them I love watching
52:23
Sarah Mason she is so
52:26
into it like going out there checking on
52:29
her flowers pulling weeds like watering
52:32
things like she was just so into it and so too Jess has
52:35
really gotten into it and it's so funny because like
52:38
we built this space for it to be mine right like my little getaway my little
52:43
like oasis and now everybody's all up in my garden all the time but you know
52:47
but I love it like I love that on Saturdays it's expected that we're going to
52:52
be in the garden there's going to be something to do out there and so like that
52:56
is just my favorite thing lately.
52:58
It's so sweet. It is. I told you you've influenced me and I'm looking right
53:03
out at my little raised bed vegetable garden.
53:07
My favorite thing, I think, is just like,
53:12
chilling at home like sitting on our swing on
53:16
our tiny little porch and like we have our baby
53:19
and his swing and just yeah sitting
53:22
and talking just chilling up yeah we
53:27
like to be lazy around here all right what about your second question like my
53:33
second question oh yeah if y'all could have a personal stylist to your hair
53:38
makeup like perfectly every day would you want that Or would you want a personal chef?
53:45
Definitely chef. I would agree.
53:49
I would agree. And I think that I'm conflicted on it because,
53:52
you know, I would probably be like, get out of my kitchen. Like,
53:55
what are you doing? That's not how I do it, you know.
53:58
But I think I would love to just have somebody cook for me.
54:03
You know what I mean? And not have to worry about anything. So, yeah. Yeah.
54:08
It would feel, I think it would be nice, like, to have my hair and makeup.
54:12
Like, every day, like, I can at least count on, I'm going to look,
54:15
I'm going to be put together in this area. So maybe the rest of my life, I can get it together.
54:22
So that would be a pro, too. That is true. Okay.
54:27
And my last question is, what is your morning routine?
54:31
This is so interesting for, like, moms. Oh, okay.
54:38
When was the last time you washed your hair? That kind of thing. Yep. Yep.
54:46
Or you go. It doesn't matter. I'll go.
54:50
When I get work, when I work, I literally run out of bed and just get ready
54:55
and drink my coffee and head in.
54:58
But when I'm off, the baby will wake up around 6 or 7, and we get up and nurse
55:02
and sit outside probably when it's still early.
55:07
And then we take a nap, and that's what we do in the mornings right now.
55:11
It's a very slow pace, and I'm loving it.
55:13
Yeah, that's so good. so mine is
55:17
we all wake up probably around six
55:21
and we go and sit on the
55:23
couch and watch the news and drink coffee
55:27
oh my god we do not watch the
55:29
news in the morning yes we do this morning
55:33
we did not because kyle was not there so we
55:36
did watch the minions but normally when kyle's
55:39
there we watch the news and drink coffee and i'll nurse
55:42
piper and kyle hold hazel
55:46
and we just we try to start slow
55:49
like we chill because like you know then we have to get ready for daycare drop
55:55
off and get ready for work so get the girls dress for potty training so we're
56:04
doing that making all the bottles for daycare, get them out the door.
56:09
Normally Kyle takes them to daycare when he's home.
56:14
And if he's not home, then I am taking the girls to daycare in my pajamas.
56:18
I do not even attempt to get dressed while they're there.
56:22
And daycare is only like a mile away from our house. So it's very easy,
56:25
but I get them out the door and then I get dressed for work and I don't put
56:31
too much makeup on that's why i did not want the personal i guess i should have i should have.
56:40
But yeah. And then so I don't go to work until like, you know, nine ish.
56:46
I do the laundry and stuff to pick up the house.
56:49
So it's a productive morning. Yeah. And what a blessing.
56:55
I've not thought about this, but how you can just go drop the kids off and then come back. Yeah. Ready?
57:00
Yeah. Like, oh, my God. But I remember when I was, so for Sarah Mason,
57:05
I worked for what, six or eight months before I quit and became a stay-at-home
57:11
mom and then eventually built the business, right?
57:14
But I just remember those months. Like it was so hard to like breastfeed,
57:19
get my makeup on, get ready, get all, get my lunch pack, get her bottles packed,
57:24
get like everything done to be at work by 8.30, right?
57:27
Which meant I had to leave the house by 8 o'clock, you know?
57:30
Like it was, I can't, I do not understand how other people do it like on a tighter
57:36
timeline or like, I don't know.
57:38
But to Jess was traveling. So I don't know. Just, it was a lot.
57:42
So yeah, that's, that's a blessing. Yes. Yeah. Do not take it for granted.
57:46
I've tried to, to get myself ready and then all of us leave at once. No way.
57:52
Too much stress. I'm like, I'm not even going to do it to myself. For sure.
57:58
All right. Well, this is a good one. Thank y'all for taking time out of your
58:02
busy mama lives to be on the podcast.
58:06
And I know we'll have a lot of breastfeeding moms that listen to this and just
58:10
like resonate and really appreciate your honesty and your realness here.
58:15
So thank y'all. And as always, remember to say grace.
58:21
Thank you.
58:22
Music.