15 Months Post Partum

I know that I said here that my 9 month post partum update would be my last, but lately I have been telling a lot of new mommies out there how much has happened to my body since that time. It took me 9 months to lose and keep off all of my baby weight, and I think that having it off by 9 months is a good, attainable goal. However, I now would advise most people to wait until 12 or 15 months post partum to expect to have their "old body" back.

 (3 days vs. 15 months post partum)

 Something has happened in the past few months and all of the sudden my tummy is flat, my face isn't chubby, I have more energy and my hormones have leveled out. I now feel so much more like my old self. Some things will never return to normal, but in general I look in the mirror and feel like me again.

 (8 months vs. 15 months post partum)

Around 13 months post partum I did Best Body Bootcamp, which I think helped move things along, and I also believe that extended breastfeeding has continued to keep my weight low (and in fact some days I still struggle to eat enough, depending on Lydia's preferences). But beyond the number on the scale I am finally seeing muscle tone again which was something I wasn't sure would ever come back!!

So in short... just be patient. Having a baby is a huge thing for your body to handle and sometimes I think we are too hard on ourselves and on other women. Some things just take time - and getting your old body back after baby is definitely one of them.

Best Body Bootcamp

On January 1st per recommendation of my friend Holly I signed up for Tina's Best Body Bootcamp - an 8 week program that I am hoping will whip me into shape. It was only 25 bucks, and to be honest I kind of signed up on a whim, but today I did the first workout and I LOVED it.

Basically Tina does a ton of work in organizing workouts for all 8 weeks, and all you have to do is open up the email and start. If you are new to working out you may need to follow a lot of the links which bring you to videos of the moves, but that part doesn't take too much time. The structure of the workouts is a circuit structure (so do 10 of these, then 10 of those, then repeat all of it 3 times). She also adds in some cardio circuits which I am in desperate need of, and the best part is that I can do it all at home!

I haven't written recently about fitness or my post-partum progress because, well, there just isn't much to say. Weight-wise I am pretty comfortable and I have a lost a few more pounds than what I gained while pregnant. But, I am still soft, get out of breath easily, and worst of all I am unmotivated. I am currently teaching aerobics twice a week and although I love that it makes me get out to the gym even the classes that I teach are becoming a bit boring. I have been feeling that I need something new; something to get excited about fitness-wise; and something that is challenging.

I hope that these 8 weeks is all of that for me! One thing that I really love about the program is that she encourages you to make 2 health goals a week. This week mine are to take a daily multi-vitamin and go to bed by 10pm each night (since I have to wake up at 5:45 for work!). I like that Tina focuses on overall health rather than purely on exercise, diet and weight.

I took some before pictures and measurements, and as the program progresses I am hoping I can share some positive results with you! I would highly recommend you check out Tina's blog, and that you keep an eye out for her next round of bootcamp.

Post-Partum Update: 8 Months

I have been putting off writing this post for about a week. For so many months I was able to proudly say how much baby weight I had lost and how I was fitting into more and more of my old clothes. However, in the past 2 months I have gone from being a little bit discouraged to being very discouraged at times. Not only am I not getting into better shape - but I am gaining some weight back again. And it really isn't all about the weight... I just don't love how I look and feel these days. I have definitely plateaued in getting back into shape after baby and since I am all about honesty on this blog I thought I should share this side of things too.

For a while I was getting good at making excuses - We were on vacation, Lydia started nursing less so I wasn't burning as many calories, I was starting jobs so I was stressed. But the truth is I have developed a terrible diet. When we moved to NKY I was in the glorious stage of being able to eat whatever I wanted and still losing weight. Up here we have access to a lot of junk food via our parents that we never kept in our own apartment. We also eat out a lot more (again, with the family) and this is another habit which David and I stayed far away from when we were in Lexington. So the combination of a huge appetite, super fast metabolism and access to junk food led to some bad habits for me. Just to clarify, I don't eat fast food every day or anything, but I also don't eat as much fruit or yogurt that I used to, and the amount of salt, sugar and ice cream that I consume has drastically increased from 4 months ago.

In the past few months I have come to terms with the fact that my eating habits aren't great and just like any other time in my life when I wasn't happy with my body, I just decided I would work out more. And I have been! I teach aerobics 2-3 times a week (which includes classes from weight lifting to circuit training to Zumba), and then usually I walk or jog at least twice a week. I feel my body getting stronger for sure, and my cardio endurance is getting a lot better too. About a month ago I decided to randomly go for a jog one day - and I ran 2.5 miles no problem! Since then I have been working on running this same distance and trying to increase my speed a little bit, but I have been so surprised that something which I hated so much pre-pregnancy is now a workout that I really enjoy. It is crazy how pregnancy and birth can change everything about your body.

So this is where my frustration comes in, I think. In the past working out more has always worked. It has always gotten me in better shape and helped me to lose any weight that I wanted to. But this time, it isn't working. And no wonder! I know that I can't have a flat stomach if I eat ice cream 4 times a week and choose to drink Coke instead of water. The change has to come in my diet, along with my exercise routine.

And that is where I am now. For the first time in my life (other than when I returned from Chile and had gained 20 pounds...) I am going to intentionally improve the way I eat. Mainly for me this will mean restriction from empty calories and trying to add in the foods that I know are good for me. What I mean by this is that I am not going to go on some crazy diet where I count calories and take out all of the carbs in my diet. I know that I can eat things that are higher in fat and carbs (like cheese, milk, and cereal) as long as they also are nutritious and get to a healthy weight. What I can't do is eat Oreos, Fritos and white bread. I also want to make yogurt a staple in my diet again, as well as make sure that I eat fruit and vegetables twice a day. I plan on still eating the things I really enjoy (ice cream! pizza! Skyline!), but limiting the frequency of these treats. Another thing that I am really going to try is cutting out all red meat (with the exception of the aforementioned Skyline chili), because I know that chicken and fish are much healthier alternatives. Also, David is up for me experimenting with some vegetarian dinners which I am excited about.

All of this is common sense, and I am sorry if you are bored. But maybe after you have a baby you will struggle with the same thing. Everything changed about my body, and for a while I had to just focus on consuming as many calories as I could for nursing purposes. But now, Lydia's needs have changed and so have mine. I am left with some bad habits, but just like all habits they can be changed and transformed into good ones again. It is hard to be in a place where I feel so distant from being pregnant, yet still dealing with the affects that it had on my body. It has been difficult to not compare myself to other mommies (she only had her baby 6 months ago, and she is so skinny already!!) because I really do know that all of us are different. All I can do is focus on being healthy again and regaining a perspective on food which is right. And of course remember that in the end my body is awesome and I am so thankful for all that it accomplished.

July Abs Challenge: Lower Abs and Back

Darn, it's August 1st. As I explained in the previous post I have been kind of busy enjoying my non-studying husband and packing for the trip(s) that we leave for tomorrow morning! But since we are leaving tomorrow morning I figured I should get this up - I plan on trying to write while in Detroit for a wedding and then in Florida with my family, but I guess I'm not making any promises.

So, here it is. The last abs post all about the lower region of you abs. Here are a couple exercises to help strengthen them:

1. Leg lifts

Instructions: Lay on your back and place your hands underneath your tailbone. Start with both legs lifted up at a 90 degree angle to your body. Inhale as you slowly lower your legs toward the ground, then exhale as you raise them back up.
Modifications: You can do these at all different speeds. I usually start by doing them slowly, and then do them double time, and then end with quickly alternating individual leg lifts on the left and right side.
Common Mistakes: Don't let your lower back rise up off the ground as you lower your legs. Also, try to keep your legs straight and your toes pointed - the idea is that you want your legs to be as "heavy" as possible.

1. Reverse Crunches

Instructions: Lay on your back and bring your legs up at a 90 degree angle to your body. Bend your knees and flex your feet so that they are parallel with the ceiling. Exhale as you curl in your lower abs and try to make a "footprint" on the ceiling with your feet.
Modifications: Add in a standard crunch for more of a challenge. Then you will focus on squeezing the upper and lower parts of your abs together.
Common Mistakes: Don't swing your legs forward and then up - you want to minimize the amount of momentum and instead focus on control.

That is all for the abdominal exercises. There are obviously a ton more, and I am sure you can find a lot online and on YouTube. Just be sure to be careful as you try new things and always focus on having good, safe form.

Before I end this series I have to mention that as you work your abs you should also strengthen your back. These are opposing muscle groups, and a general fitness rule is that when you exercise one muscle group you should also work its opposing group. To work your back planks are an great option. You can also lie on your stomach and slightly lift your chest off the ground (with your arms extended out to the side) or gently lift your legs off the ground. At first, do not put these two movements together, but as you get stronger you can try them at the same time.

I hope that this was relevant and helpful to some of you. As I said, I am no fitness expert but it is something that I am interested in and I feel I have a little bit of wisdom to offer. Let me know what you think of the series... I like to hear your opinions out there!

Have a great night and wish us safe travels (and a happy baby in the car... please Lord!).

July Abs Challenge: Inner and Outer Obliques

Sorry for all of the time in between these posts! On Monday or Tuesday I will get the last one up since by then July will be over. Where has the summer gone?

Even though I haven't been consistent with posting about the abs challenge I have been consistent in implementing it. I haven't missed a day of 10 minutes of abs (other than July 4th) and I am pretty proud of myself. I can't say I am seeing many results yet... but it has to be doing some good.

Onto our abdominal lesson: Surrounding the main part of your abs are your obliques. Your inner obliques are the muscles on either side of your belly button and your outer obliques are toward the side of your stomach, right around the "love handle" area and your waistline.

Inner Obliques 

1. Modified Crunch 

Instructions: Modify the standard crunch by lifting up and then twist over to one side, then repeat on the opposite side. Think about taking your shoulder up and over the opposite hip. 
Common Mistakes: Make sure that you lift your body up before twisting slightly to the side. Don't pull on your neck as you turn and don't let your elbow draw inward toward your head. 
Modifications: To make the exercise a little bit more difficult you can raise your opposite foot up onto your knee, making the shape of a "4". So, if you are working your right obliques, put your left foot on your right knee and then lift your right shoulder up and over toward it.

1. Bicycle

Instructions: Lift your legs about 45 degrees into the air and pull one knee in toward your body side to side bringing your opposite shoulder toward it. Repeat to the other side.
Common Mistakes: Again, think about bringing the shoulder to the knee, not he elbow and don't pull on your neck.

Outer Obliques

1. Dumbbell Side Bends

Instructions: Stand with your legs slightly apart and hold a dumbbell in your right hand. Bend over to your right side and then slowly return to a straight standing position. Repeat on your left.
Common Mistakes: Don't collapse your rib cage and slouch forward. You want to think about continuing to stand tall as you bend over to the side.
Modifications: To make this more challenging you can place your left hand behind your head as you bend over to the right.

1. Heel Touches (I made up this name because I am not sure what they are called...)

Instructions: Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Lift your shoulder blades up off the ground and tuck your chin into your chest. With you arms by your side bend side to side trying to touch the back of your heels with your hands.
Common Mistakes: Relax your neck. Once you get the hang of the motion you can return your hands to the back of your head to support your neck.

That is all for tonight! I love working my obliques and it is important that you don't forget them as you establish an abdominal exercise routine. As always, let me know if you have any questions or any good references/ideas of your own.

July Abs Challenge: The Main Event

We will start our little abdominal lesson with the main part of your abs i.e. the muscles right under your rib cage and on top of your belly button; the part that we all wish were a 6 pack - or something close to it.

A great exercise to work this part of your stomach is the class crunch. I linked you to the wikipedia article because it is actually pretty good and has a nice picture of how you start and finish a crunch. Instructions: With your knees bent you put your feet flat on the floor, fingers behind your ears, and eyes up to the ceiling then lift your shoulder blades and upper back toward the ceiling with your abs. Exhale on the way up, and inhale on the way down.
Common Mistakes: It is important that the hands behind your head only serve to support it, not to help pull you up. Also, don't use momentum on the way up and down - just take it nice and slow and use your stomach muscles to control your body.
Modifications: There are lots of ways to modify a crunch. You can vary the tempo and range of motion to contract the muscles more or less often. If you lift up and over with your shoulder to each side you will be getting a good inner oblique exercise, and if you let you knees fall to one side you will work the outer oblique (I will go over these parts of the abdominal later). Also, if your are preggo, or if you just want to mix it up, crunches may feel better while lying on a big exercise ball.
My routine: In my normal routine I start our with basic crunches. Since I am used to aerobics, I do everything based on an 8 count. So I do 8 slow crunches to begin (really focusing on my breath) then I do 16 pulses (speeding up the exercise, double time). This is one set, and I repeat it for 4 total sets.

Another effective exercise for the middle of your abs is a plank. The link will take you to another very helpful article that explains how to do the exercise.
Common Mistakes: Don't let your butt sit up high in the air, or sag too low to the ground. You want your body to be completely flat, hence the name of the exercise. Also, don't hold your breath! Be sure to breathe in and out regularly as you hold your body up.
Modifications: If planks are too difficult at first try to let your knees rest on the ground rather than holding yourself up on your toes. Once you get good at them you can add some movement to your plank by letting your hips drop side to side, or by pushing your body weight front toward your shoulders and back toward your toes. 
My routine: I always do a warm up plank, holding it still for 32 counts. Take a rest. Then hold a still plank for 8, drop hips side to side for 16, hold still for 8, move front and back for 16, and then hold still for 8 to finish.

There are lots, and lots and lots of ways to work the main part of your abs. The crunch and plank are just a couple to get you started and they are so easy to do at home and incorporate into your routine. Hope you got some good instruction/some new ideas, and stay tuned for the inner and outer obliques.

July Abs Challenge: Intro

I have been saying it for months and months so it is time to do something about it... I need to work my abs everyday! Seriously, it takes all of 10 minutes to really fatigue the muscles and it really is the only part of my post-pregnancy body that I am not proud of. So starting on July 1st I made a commitment to do a 10 minute ab workout everyday, and so far I have only missed July 4th (and I honestly forgot since we were running around all day!).

To help motivate me to achieve this goal I decided that I should write about it. I am not at all obsessed with fitness, but in my experience as an aerobics instructor and studying for my certification I definitely picked up some basic knowledge in the area. So as I go on this journey I thought I would take the opportunity to maybe inform you a little bit about the basics of abdominal exercises. Again, it probably won't be anything groundbreaking, but if you are interested in getting stronger tummy muscles the information could be helpful.

I want to start by stating the sad, sad truth. For most people muscle tone, especially in your stomach, depends about 10% on exercise and 90% on what you eat. I wish I could eat pasta and ice cream everyday and make up for it with crunches, but the truth is I can't. As always diet and exercise must work together to help anyone achieve their fitness goals, so on a daily basis I just try to focus on eating healthy and remember that treats are okay in moderation.

With that being said, doing ab exercises really can make a difference too! It is amazing how quickly a 10 minute routine can help you to develop tone and strength throughout your core, and how much a strong core can improve the rest of your strength training.

I am a routine oriented person, so my ab exercises stay pretty consistent from day to day. What I want to do is inform you about the 4 different muscle groups you should focus on when doing abdominal exercises, and show you a few effective ways to work these groups. I will also talk about how to strengthen your back since you should always work your back when you work your abs (in general you should always work opposing muscle groups together). I hope to include pictures, tips and the mistakes that I see people make most often when they are doing each exercise.

In the end I hope that you can build your own ab routine from the exercises that you like and that we can make our tummies tighter and stronger together :)

Post-Partum Update: 6 months

I had to pause as I began to type the above title... should I still be thinking of my body in post-partum terms? But then I decided, yes. I will take a piece of my own advice that I give to anyone trying to lose weight or get in shape: Give yourself as much time to get the weight off as it took to put it on. Thus, I will be doing a post-partum updates for another 3 months, because even though I feel very much back to "normal" I know that my body is still recovering from both pregnancy and birth.

I just read my 4 month post-partum update and got a little down. I remember writing it and can recall how I felt awesome about my body at the time. I was eating a ton, losing weight quickly and feeling bad to my old self again. Things have changed over these past 2 months in both good and bad ways I think. In the past few weeks I have found myself being critical of my still-flabby tummy and my chubby-ish arms. David commented that he thinks I am just getting my old eyes back, and I think I agree. Soon after having a baby I felt awesome! I mean there were pains and swelling and things like that, but I left the hospital feeling like I had lost 20 pounds... because I pretty much had. But being 6 months away from carrying my ginormous belly around I think I have forgotten what it felt like and I have started to crave how my body used to feel... pre-pregnancy. It is a somewhat difficult place to be. Again, I am giving myself more time before I expect to be back where I was, but at the same time it feels like it was forever ago that I was pregnant, and surely by now I should be comfortable in a bikini.

Diet: My appetite has decreased over the past 2 months although I still eat a bunch! My breakfasts consist of coffee and cereal, but most days I don't need a snack before lunch anymore. I am very hungry by noon, and most of the time for lunch I eat a sandwich, yogurt, and fruit.

I do still need an afternoon snack at about 4. Usually I each chips and salsa, a granola bar or some crackers with cheese. At dinner time I continue to eat the same portion as David, and I am trying very hard to make an evening snack an occurrence only 2-3 times a week.

I eat a lot more than I used to, but there are times when I feel full! I am not kidding when I say that between 3 and 5 months post-partum I never felt full.

Exercise: This month I have started teaching aerobics and it has been a reality check. I have lost strength and endurance, but I do feel like I am quickly getting it back. Teaching aerobics has given me the motivation that I needed to get serious about getting back into shape, and now that I don't have to worry about graduate school I also have the time. I have loved teaching weight lifting, and circuit training and every once in a while I can attend a class. However, the one thing that I have really been missing is a good cardio workout. During these beautiful days I really want to take long walks, but Lydia has developed a strong hatred toward the jogging stroller. This is posing a big challenge to getting into a daily routine of walking which is my ultimate goal.

I am not sure what to do about this issue. Any advice from you out there? For now I hope to try and take a walk in the evenings after I put Lydia to bed. That way David can study for a little bit more and I can sweat a little. This obviously cuts into the time that I have with David, which is far from ideal, but even if it is just 2 good walks a week it would be better than nothing. I am also considering (I can't believe I am saying this) trying to jog again. In the past I have truly, truly hated it. But it would give me a way to get a good cardio workout in less time. This where I really need advice... any runners out there, how do I start??

Mostly I think that I need some sort of goal to get me motivated and keep me accountable. I thought aerobics would do the trick, and maybe next month when I have more classes it will, but if I find something I will let you know.

In general I really do continue to feel better and better and honestly sometimes I can't believe that my body went through all that it did!

Seven Snapshots "Sunday"

I plugged my camera into my computer today expecting to find 0 pictures and instead found 21! We forgot the camera over the weekend when we traveled to NKY, but it looks like taking pictures of our little girl throughout the week is a habit for both David and I these days.

 Sleeping with her bear :)

 Headbands finally fit!

 

 David's last day of class!!! Compare to his first day of class this semester...

 And here is another picture that we can compare to an old one. She is getting so big!

After a bath! She is very sleepy..

Post-partum Update: 4 months

It is hard to believe that I gave birth to Lydia almost 4 months ago. It is really bizarre, but the whole pregnancy and birth thing (that lasted for more than 9 months) seems so far away now. I was thinking today about how I don't remember what it felt like for her to move inside of me... and it wasn't that long ago! I also feel the details of birth getting fuzzy too - how much it hurt, the emotions that I had, etc.

If you read Lydia's 2 week update you will remember how amazed I was at how quickly I was recovering, and I truly continue to be amazed at how my body is bouncing back. I am within 2-3 pounts of my pre-pregnancy weight by now, and more importantly I am really starting to feel like my old self again. I have energy, an appetite,  and it feels great to sweat and get my heart rate up during exercises. Don't get me wrong, things are still a work in progress, but I am way closer than I thought I would be after 3 months.

Diet:
So I am not "dieting", as in restricting what I eat, in any way. However, I wanted to give you an idea of what I eat on a daily basis. I like to read other mommies' stories and ideas on how to stay healthy but also nourished after having a baby. When I had milk supply issues when Lydia was about 2 months old I really had to take a good look at my diet. Mostly, I had to greatly increase the amount I was eating in a day. When school started back up and I had a 3-week-old baby there was very little time for me to fix myself meals, let alone snacks, but I just decided that it would have to be a priority for me. So I added in quite a few good fats, and a lot of extra calories, and I know it sounds crazy, but doing so helped me to drop weight quickly again. As soon as I started eating more, my body began producing more milk, so Lydia ate more everyday, and therefore I burned a lot more calories. You probably hear it all the time, but if you are a nursing momma, take advantage of it! You will never be able to eat like you can when you are nursing.

Here is what I typically eat in a day:
I wake up with a cup of morning coffee and a bowl of cereal. I have switched to 2% milk to incorporate some more fat.

In between breakfast and lunch (usually around 10:30) I will eat a snack. Most of the time this is a granola or protein bar, a Carnation Instant Breakfast, a muffin or some toast with peanut butter. I try to have protein in this snack.

I eat lunch between 12 and 12:30. Lunch varies a lot - I will sometimes have leftovers from dinner or fix myself a baked potato and a salad. Either way, my old cheese, crackers and fruit staple is no longer enough for lunch. If I do just eat cheese, crackers and fruit I will eat a snack of yogurt and almonds an hour and a half later. No matter what I eat, I try to incorporate a fruit and a vegetable (or fruit and yogurt) into this meal.

Sometimes I will have an afternoon snack of yogurt, almonds, or another bowl of Special K. This just depends on how big my lunch was.

David and I eat dinner sometime between 5:30-6:30 most nights and we are always hungry! Dinner varies a bunch, but this is the meal where I have drastically increased my portions. I used to eat half as much as David and now I serve us equal portions. With all of our dinners we have some form of protein and I really try to always have a veggie.

After dinner is where I splurge a little bit - we have eaten ice cream 3 times this week! If it isn't ice cream, I will have some form of a snack around 8. Usually it is a glass of milk with some chocolate syrup.

I know... I eat a lot. But the key for me is to eat often and always have healthy things around to snack on. Some items I would highly recommend incorporating into your diet if you are a nursing mom are: yogurt, 2% milk, cheese, almonds, oatmeal. All of these things are easy to prepare and are really good for helping your body to make good milk!

Nursing:
One day last week I woke up and realized that it didn't hurt to breast feed anymore! It was glorious.

I don't think I realized how painful nursing still was for me. It legitimately hurt for a good 3 months and I think that I just kind of got used to it and decided that it was just supposed to feel that way. But just in the past week or so it has gotten so, so much better. I know a lot of people who had no trouble breastfeeding, and even though my journey has been a "successful" one it has definitely not been easy. So for anyone out there who is having troubles or pains, try to stick with it! It is normal (or at least it happened for me) if you are still hurting after 3 months. I really think that eventually the pain will subside and then it will become so much more enjoyable.

For a while breastfeeding presented me with so many other challenges beside the pain. What can I wear that makes nursing easy? How can I breastfeed in public while being modest? How do I plan my day around this almost full time job?

All of this issues have really become non-issues as of late. Again - breastfeeding is definitely a lifestyle adjustment, but you will get used to it if you stick with it.

Exercising:
 Hmm... do I have to write about this??

This is an area where I am definitely still struggling.. a lot. I simply have no free time. I have been writing this blog post for almost 2 weeks now - that is how little free time I have.

I am staying active but I am not doing well at reaching any new fitness goals. I walk every day (as long as it is not raining) for 30 minutes to an hour. My speed is definitely increasing and it feels great to break a sweat as I push Lydia in my awesome jogging stroller and pull my pup along too. I feel that cardiovascularly I am about where I was pre-pregnancy. The area where I am really struggling is strength training. I knew I wouldn't be making it to the gym this semester, but I told myself that I would do pilates, weights and abs at home. That just isn't happening. I know I have a ton going on and I shouldn't really feel guilty.. but I really miss working out in this way. Weights and abs were always my favorite thing to do because it always felt really satisfying to push my body in these ways. Plus, I think that for my body strength training makes the biggest difference in how it looks.

Starting today I plan on trying to do abs at least 4 times a week. They take like 10 minutes! I really should be able to fit in at least this exercise and since my tummy is the only thing I don't currently like about my body abs should take first priority. Once homeworks are over and finals are finished I will worry about the other stuff. In June I start to teach aerobics again (I am so excited!!), so if nothing else that will definitely whip me back into shape.

In general, I feel great about how things are going. I now fit into most of my pre-pregnancy jeans comfortably, although shirts are a different story. There are definitely days when I miss my flat stretch-mark-free stomach (when will they go away??), but anytime I even start to get down about it I look at my beautiful baby girl and her perfectly round belly and am immediately proud again of what my body did. Our bodies are truly amazing and are made to do much more than just look good. I love what having a baby has done for my body image and my appreciation for this gift I have been given.