Shedding those extra kilos after giving birth will be easier with Sophie Falkiner’s proven tips.
When Sophie Falkiner gave birth to her lovely daughter Isabella, the weight she wanted to lose wasn’t baby weight. She needed to shift the extra kilos she’d put on while leading an “indulgent” life as a reporter for The Great Outdoors.
“I would spend six months of the year eating out, having wine with dinner and eating desserts often,” she says of her pre-pregnancy life. “I love my food so much, if it’s put in front of me I can’t say no. So I put on a bit of weight when I was travelling with The Great Outdoors even before I fell pregnant.”
But when Sophie, who is married to Pepsi marketing director Tony Thomas, realised she was going to be a mum, she slipped into a body-maintenance routine she hoped would help when Isabella arrived.
“It’s important when a woman is pregnant to concentrate on getting out there and walking,” she says. “It’s really easy to put on a lot of weight very quickly. Do some of the work while you’re pregnant, because you’re too tired when the baby comes.
“I spent 20 minutes walking every day of my pregnancy. I went to a trainer once each week just for half an hour and I did fit-ball exercises where I concentrated on working my core. I would do some arm weights as well.”
Sticking to a well-rounded diet with plenty of healthy fruit and vegetables and all the good oils from food like avocado and nuts helped Sophie to understand the need to feed when you’re pregnant.
Stay in control
“By all means eat, because you have to eat for two,” she says. “But remind yourself how big the second person is — it’s not as big as you.
“Just try and keep yourself nice and healthy if you can. And try not to put on any more than 15kg. I put on 14kg. I’ve got friends who got up into the high 20s and 30s … quite slim girls … and they struggled to get the weight off.
“If you try and put on just those 15 kilograms, 11 kilos is purely baby-related and it’s quite easy to lose those extra four kilograms when you finish breastfeeding because the rest just falls off you.”
After waiting two months for her caesarean scar to heal (she didn’t want to risk a hernia), Sophie joined a group of local mothers for Pramfit, pushing Isabella around Centennial Park in inner Sydney.
“It’s really good for your sanity and your baby’s health to get out there every single day,” she says.
Sophie, who is the face of Berlei, is thanking her lucky stars she didn’t feel pressured to get back into top shape straight after giving birth to Isabella, who arrived some three weeks early.
Don’t rush yourself
“All these Hollywood people who have got down to a size 0 a month after giving birth, I think it’s just ridiculous,” she says. “Be kind to yourself. I was lucky I found it easy. I didn’t push myself.
“The weight just fell off me, thanks to a combination of the fact that Isabella arrived early, that I was recovering from a C-section, that I was stressed about being a good mother and that I didn’t have the time to snack between meals any more.”
By Leigh Reinhold
