Getting back the pre-mommy body

March 16, 2015

 Until you've experienced the miracle of carrying a child, you can not fathom how difficult it is to motivate yourself to get back to the person you once were. (Physically speaking) Before I became pregnant with our daughter, I was skinny fat. That's skinny, with no real definition or toning of the muscles.

Skinny fat

Doctors always said I was healthy but I knew I could be better. I never had those 6 pack abs or those really beautiful biceps that Jillian Micheals or Jackie Warner have thought I've always wanted them.
Flash forward, I'm 8 months pregnant, and weighing in almost 30 pounds more than my pre-pregnancy weight and I'm bawling. My husband walks into the room and can't possibly understand why I'm so upset. Didn't I know that pregnant women were supposed to gain weight? Didn't I know that my clothes would have to change and I would lose sight of my feet and my southern lady parts? What happened to my V-Jay??? While I understood and knew these things would happen, nothing prepares you for that day when you look at yourself in the mirror naked with a bulging belly and swollen breasts and you think oh my god!
Then came the guilt. Oh how I knew there were so many women who couldn't have babies and would probably tell me how much they would give anything to be able to carry a child. It's the miracle of life I should be enjoying every single moment of my growing body. I, however, wasn't. I also discovered that I wasn't the only one. I held discussions with other mothers who couldn't stand the sight or look of their growing bodies. We felt the same. I also realized, that it was okay to feel that way. It didn't make me a horrible person or mother.

9 Months pregnant

After I gave birth to our daughter, I knew that two things had to happen before I could get back to the person I once was. I had to heal for at least 6 weeks, and be given the all clear by my doctor to exercise after having been in labor. So, during those 6 weeks, I rested, enjoyed the new life I had been given and read up on fitness and nutrition. I used our daughter as my motivational drive. When I told people that I was going to start working out, they laughed. (I had to unexpectedly wait until January due to surgery to start my new journey. That was 3 months after I had given birth.) The reason for laughter, everyone starts a new fitness journey in January. It should be dubbed fitness month. Anyway, I took pictures of myself on January 4th, weighed in and set a small goal of getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight. At first it was hard. I remember not being able to walk correctly the next day because I pushed myself so hard. I learned after a week of jogging everyday and working out everyday that I was doing too much and I needed to scale down my plan and rest. So I took out a calendar and on it wrote what I would focus on on each day. I even wrote in my rest days. I posted it on a cork board which has now become my goal board that I look at everyday, several times a day. It's located in the hallway from our garage to our kitchen. We enter and leave from that hallway multiple times a day so you can't miss it. I started changing the way I ate. I tossed the junk food out, I only purchased food from the store that had very little to no processed junk and sugar intake per serving less than 5 g. If it had more, forget it. I looked up new recipes and tried things like beet hummus. I guess you could say I became obsessed. I put down soda cold turkey and haven't touched it since watching a you tube video of a Russian, boiling off the water in the bottle and showing all of the nasty corn syrupy tar that we ingest. Believe me, it's disgusting. I also started following other baby mommas on Facebook who refused to give into society's acceptance of the post baby body.

I guess the reason for this post is to show you that it is possible to look even better than you did before you conceived your new chuck of love. I still have areas I'm working on and I've never felt better physically or sexier in my life. I'm now 3 months into my workout and nutrition routine and I've lost all of my pregnancy weight and inches in my waist, hips and thighs. I'm proud of where I am and I know I can be better.

Post workout shake

Building my abs after baby

Here are my 6 ways of getting the post baby body I want:

1) Create a motivational board and look at it everyday. Keeping track of where you are and where you want to be.

My motivational board

2) Set realistic and measurable goals. (I changed mine from a set number on the scale to body measurements. When you build muscle, you gain weight. Measurements like hips and thighs help motivate you to target those areas and it's easy to measure and see the results.)
3) Slowly change your diet. Don't cut every junk food out cold turkey. Still to this day, I have items in the house I eat and shouldn't, however, I also don't feel guilty about it. Slow and steady helped me transition better to healthier foods. Doing too much at once with a new exercise plan and nutrition plan can cause you to slip backwards.
4) Try new recipes. I found this fun.

Body measurements taken monthly, with photos and weight

5) Reward your hard work with something other than food. I use new equipment or clothes as my reward.

My goals and rewards

6) Workout with your child or children. My chunk gets strapped into the jogging stroller every other day, and then when I've completed my jog, she gets strapped into her Jolly Jumper and I tell her we are exercising together. She jumps to my workout tunes and I workout right beside her. After 20-30 minutes, we're both done.

Here is a top 10 list of items I use from equipment to websites:

1) free weights and dumb bells 8 lbs to 25 lbs....check Craig's list.
2) Exercise ball...the only equipment I purchased new.
3) Jogging stroller.....purchased on Criag's list and got a steal of a deal on a Jeep Jogger used only twice.
4) Yoga mat
5) My martial arts training once a week
6) a yoga dvd (the only one I own is P90X)
7) Running shoes
8) Jackie Warner's Book, This is Why You're Fat. (Amazing tips, workout circuits and recipes.)
9) Subscription to Strong magazine
10) This is a wonderful blog written by Sia Cooper.  fitmommydiaries.blogspot.com/ 





I can do it, you can do it, we ALL can do it!

 Like what I post? Then leave a comment, subscribe to my blog or join me for coffee, tea, or an outing at the park!