You may recognize Gwendolyn Osbourne-Smith as one of the lovely ladies alongside “a new car!” or some other goody on The Price Is Right. Just three weeks ago, the model and her husband, Kenny Smith, a retired NBA player and analyst for Inside the NBA on TNT, welcomed a new daughter, London Olivia. We chatted with her about how the new baby has changed their family dynamic, how she’s planning to slim down postbaby and what really goes on behind the scenes at TPIR.

The Bump: We love baby London’s name! Is that inspired by your English roots?

Gwendolyn Osbourne-Smith: Yes! I was born and raised in Bath, England. My husband is from Queens New York, and we named our four-year-old son, Molloy, after his high school, Archbishop Molloy High School, so we felt it was important to do something from my childhood this time.

TB: And you also have a sixteen-year-old daughter (Monique)! It obviously gets harder once you have two kids, but what about three — what’s the biggest change?

GOS: [Laughs] Thinking that I can manage three children with no sleep! I did not think I’d need help at nighttime because I didn’t with the others, but I might have to give in and get some. It’s so challenging. And it’s crazy to think that I’m looking at colleges and kindergartens for my kids at the same time!

TB: And you’re a model with three kids! Is there a lot of pressure to slim down after each baby? How did you do it, and how do you plan to do it this time around?

GOS: This time, I’m not even thinking about it yet. I think last time there more pressure, since I gained more weight with my second pregnancy than with my third. This time, the weight is dropping off very rapidly — I think it’s partly because I have a very hungry child and I’m breastfeeding. It may also be the lack of sleep and the stress of having three kids!

I don’t really diet — I’ll just try to eat healthy, but I try to do that anyway. Once I get back to exercising, I like to switch it up and make sure I work up a good sweat at least three days a week. I like to do Pilates, both with reformer equipment and on the floor. Sometimes I take a cardio barre class; a friend of mine teaches Zumba, and I love that.

TB: What’s the best advice you have for moms going through the newborn phase for the first time?

GOS: Take a deep breath and just relax. It’s going to be okay. It’s super challenging, but it gets easier and it gets better. Try to enjoy the moments because it goes so fast — I know; I have a sixteen-year old! You feel like you’ll be in the phase of no sleep and diapers and bottles forever, but it will be over before you know it.

TB: What about relationship advice? How do you and Kenny do it?

GOS: Our doctor told us in the hospital, “Look, this is going to be challenging. Be nice to each other.” We had to remember it one day. We were both so tired and doing so much, and we had to stop and say, “Remember, she said be nice.”

I have a great doctor, who’s very interested in psychology in addition to the physical, and my relationships with my husband with my kids.

TB: So how did you prep your older kids for the new baby?

GOS: For my 16 year old, I just spoke with her about it a lot. For my four year old, I prepared him by going to Babies R Us and showing him all the things for the baby, and I got him involved with packing the bags for the hospital. He also did a tour for siblings at the hospital, where they gave the kids a cap and a mask and they learned with dolls how to clean babies and put on diapers. I made sure to prepare him mentally by telling him how much I love him and that I’ll still be there for him and that Mummy will still play with him after the baby is born. It’s been challenging, but so far we’ve made it work.

TB: Is there mom talk going on behind the scenes at The Price Is Right?

GOS: Right now, I’m the only mom who’s a model on the show. There will be another one soon — Rachel Reynolds is expecting. But the hairdresser and makeup artist are both moms, and the other women are very interested in birth and the whole process. They are always asking how much it hurt and want to know about the gross stuff, and you want to tell them the complete truth but you don’t want to scare them off too much.

We joke that I’m Elizabeth Banks, and Rachel is Brooklyn Decker from the What to Expect When You’re Expecting movie. Nothing is a problem for her during pregnancy, but everything was a problem for me. Oh my god, I had so much gas!

There’s also a lot of talk about men and boyfriends and sex and all that stuff.

TB: And you have long workdays, right? How much of a challenge is that for a working mom?

GOS: Yes, we’re there from 8:30 to 6:00 — sometimes earlier or later — and I’ll probably go back to work around the time London is three months old. The biggest challenge will be finding balance. Because, you know, when I leave the studio, my work isn’t done. Working out is part of my job! With my first two children, I knew that once they were off to school, I could get a workout in. Now that there’s three, well, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll take one of those stroller exercise classes. I’ll have to figure it out as I go!

Watch The Bump baby-themed episode of The Price Is Right on Thursday, October 25 on CBS. Check your local listings for showtimes.

My weight has been going up (and up!) over the last couple of years. Here’s my history:

2009: Got engaged at my lowest adult weight ever
2010: Got married 10 pounds heavier
2011: Got pregnant 20 pounds heavier than that
2012: Delivered my son at 25 pounds heavier than that

After the birth of my son, I lost 22 of those pregnancy pounds very quickly — like in two weeks! I didn’t do anything specific; it certainly wasn’t my focus in those days. But the weight just fell off. Maybe it was the breastfeeding. Maybe it was because at the end of my pregnancy, I’d developed high blood pressure (and water weight to go right along with it), so I also lost a lot of weight when that water went away.

But after that, I started gaining again. And gaining. And gaining. I’ve always been a stress eater. And there were some stressful moments those first few months! I’ve also been a boredom eater. And there were some boring moments as well. (You can only stare at a sleeping baby for so long.)

So now, I’ve regained about 15 of those pounds. If I kept up this pace, I’ll be about 50 pounds heavier than I was in 2009 at my son’s first birthday. That’s not good! Part of me wanted to ignore the issue. Since we’re trying to conceive again, I thought it’s no big deal. I’ll just have a little more weight to lose after the next pregnancy. Part of me reasoned that I’m not as heavy as I once was (years ago), so it’s not time for panic yet.

But I came to realize that it isn’t something I can (or should!) ignore. Getting to a lower weight will probably make the next pregnancy easier. In fact, my last couple of menstrual cycles have been a little wonky and getting to a healthier weight may help with those, too. Plus, well, I don’t want to have to buy a bunch of new, bigger clothes! I am starting to ‘hide’ from the camera for fear of looking too heavy in pictures and I don’t want that either. I want to be in pictures with my baby, so that we can remember these moments.

So I’ve joined Weight Watchers. And so far, it’s been great for me. I didn’t realize the cost of each soda I sip. Or of the bag of chips I have while sitting at my desk. Or the extra portion of spaghetti at dinner. It all adds up. And it adds up rather quickly.

For me, it’s not so much the baby weight that I need to lose, but the mommy weight. And no, we won’t be putting our trying to conceive plans off until I’m at a goal weight. I think this will be good for me — and my fertility. You could say that I’m losing weight while I’m waiting.  Waiting for those two pink lines, that is.  Should I see them, I’ll have to give up the weight loss efforts, but I’ll still keep my healthy eating focus.

What have you done to lose the baby or mommy weight?

Photo: Public Domain Pictures

You’ve heard the terms: sympathy weight, fatherhood fifteen, paternity pounds, dad dough, child chunk (okay, I made that last one up). Whatever you call it, no cute little turn of phrase, play on words or awesome alliteration makes it more acceptable that most new dads pack on weight after they have kids. And you don’t need a psych degree to figure out why this happens.

Between the cravings you end up sharing during pregnancy (for my better half, it was Italian food, Swedish fish and ice cream), the stress, the lack of sleep and the lack of time to exercise after baby arrives, it’s no wonder some guys develop man boobs faster than their wives develop nursing boobs. The question is: As a dad, what are you going to do to stop this from happening to you? (And if you’re a woman reading this, what are you going to do to help your husband?)

For me, this wasn’t an easy question. As someone who has made a career out of writing for magazines like Men’s Fitness and Men’s Health, I’d always taken my workout time for granted. I lifted weights regularly, played basketball a few times a week, swam on a Master’s team, and more. I was probably naive to think that I’d be able to maintain even half of my activities after the arrival of my first daughter, but when it turned out that during the first month or so of being a dad, I was maintaining exactly zero of them, it was a shock to my system. Couple that with the fact that I had the sleeping hours of a first-year med student and I was eating fast food like I was back in college. I was in trouble.

I hit this point about three weeks after the birth of my daughter and that’s when I decided I needed to come up with a plan to somehow squeeze exercise into my new dad life. I needed to get my blood moving so I didn’t feel tired and weak all the time. In order to do this and have any success with it, my plan had to meet these criteria:

1)      It had to fit into my existing schedule.

2)      No equipment would be required.

3)      I would have to be able to get other things done simultaneously.

4)      I’d have to burn calories or build muscle and not burn any time.

5)      The exercises had to be simple and effective.

After examining my schedule, taking stock of my daily activities and poring over a bunch of the fitness articles (ones I’d written!), I developed a plan that worked for me, and that I think every guy can follow to stay in shape. It’s not P90X. It’s not the Insanity workout. It won’t rebuild your body. It is simply a common-sense fitness plan to help you bridge the gap between your “I’m in great shape and about to have a kid” days and your “my kid sleeps all night and I sort of have my life back” days. Ideally, this will help you avoid the “I haven’t worked out or slept in three months, I eat like crap and I’ve gained 15 pounds” days.

The exercises and workouts I came up with are practical and they work. For instance, when you burp your baby, don’t just sit on the couch, do some Burp Lunges across your family room. They’re slow, great for your lower body and core, and they might even help induce the belch you’ve been praying for the last 10 minutes. Or next time you have your child in your Baby Bjorn, do a set of 10-15 body squats as soon as you strap her in. Making these kinds of things habits will turn everyday activities into calorie burners and muscle builders.

I wrote about these ideas and literally dozens more (along with lots of advice) in a book called The Dadvantage: Stay in Shape on No Sleep, with No Time and No Equipment. The book debuted this week in the Top 10 of Amazon’s ‘Fatherhood’ section and it has been climbing every day. No hard sell here. Just thought it might help some other dads out there. If you want to give it a shot (it’s short, meant to be read in one or two sittings) check it out.

Good luck!

Turns out I have something in common with Beyonce and Jessica Simpson, and it’s certainly not singing talent or a sense of style. We all had a bunch of pounds to drop post baby, and we needed help to do it. Beyonce enlisted the help of a personal trainer, and Jessica Simpson just announced she’s joining Weight Watchers.

I had 65 pounds to lose after each pregnancy. I ate constantly to keep my heartburn and nausea just barely at bay (I never want to see animal crackers again). And because I was so swollen, hot and grumpy, I didn’t exercise much. The moment my son slipped out of my body, I was elated. I immediately felt as thin as I was on my wedding day. Oh, the blessed feeling of being so light after months of bursting at the seams! Sadly, one look in the mirror revealed I still looked 6 months pregnant, and giving birth didn’t magically get rid of the log roll under my chin. I think I deserved at least that after 36 freakin’ hours of labor.

I was an overwhelmed new mom, and it was too much for me to do on my own, so I tightened our budget and enlisted the help of Jenny Craig. I needed something that I had to be accountable for, where someone would tell me what to do, what to eat, and I’d essentially be guaranteed weight loss. It took about a year to get the baby weight off after both pregnancies and feel “normal” again. As normal as any post baby body can be, that is. (Hello, Bonnie Belly-Flap).

Plus, more from The Bump

10 Minute Workouts While Baby Naps

Sneaky Ways to Lose Baby Weight

Fun Ways to Lose the Baby Weight