After the summer the focus of my blog and life (!) has been on my baby Maia and not on my fitness goals. In the last two months Maia has gone through big leaps in her development – becoming mobile, getting her first six teeth, eating proper meals of solid food, falling asleep independently – and it’s taken a lot of time and effort to help her reach these milestones. I have had even less time and energy for myself but I have tried not to neglect myself and have continued to stay active. Not that I even have the option of becoming a couch potato with a 10-month old baby! You could say that my goal has been to maintain the fitness level I achieved by the summer (in the first 6-months after having my baby) while I’ve been focused on getting through this current phase with my baby. Maia will always come first because she relies on me to look after her and it’s my most important job. That being said, she needs a healthy mummy to look after her so I’m trying my best to stay that way!
This time I don’t have any “fitness data” to share with you because I haven’t measured myself or my performance. All I have is photos which of course don’t tell the full story. I’ve included pictures from different angles, in different lighting, flexed and non-flexed to make the obvious even clearer – I don’t look the same all the time and definitely don’t parade around a six-pack. Also my cup size varies depending on when I last nursed my baby (all breastfeeding mums will know what I mean). 😄
I did weigh myself last weekend and so I know that my weight has been constant since July (in case you’re interested). I’m very pleased with this because when I was still breastfeeding exclusively and being active as I am now, my weight was in free fall which was not good. I don’t want to lose weight. I want to keep gradually strengthening my body, especially my core and pelvic floor, and improving my cardiovascular fitness. I keep repeating this (sorry) but it’s important to me to highlight this.
My motto during these few tough months has been to train at best effort basis. I have kept doing the home exercises from Kayla Itsines “Sweat”-app following the programme giving it my all. What “my all” means varies, but it’s always my best effort on any given day. Doing your best doesn’t mean setting new PBs. After diligently completing the workouts of the 12-week challenge of BBG 1 programme, I have spent already four months on BBG 2, repeating the weeks which I didn’t manage to complete. We travelled a lot during the summer (we got married in Italy) and I took the pedal off the gas in my training but I always continued when we got back home. If you’ve been reading my blog (or follow me on Instagram) you’ll know we didn’t sleep much in September and I was literally a shadow of myself. When I was too tired to exercise, I simply rested (if and when I got a chance – it’s not that simple with a baby!). It’s important to distinguish between physical fatigue and just feeling lazy and sluggish. The latter can be fixed by a workout but working out when sleep deprived is a bad idea (in my opinion).
It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being consistent and not quitting.
So all in all, I’m proud of myself for keeping up with my fitness even thought it’s been a bit tough lately. Thanks to the sleep training we are all sleeping again and I have more energy to be active. Ten days ago I reached a milestone on my post partum fitness journey as I attended Barry’s Bootcamp HIIT class. Before falling pregnant I was completely addicted to HIIT style classes and I love to push myself! After the positive pregnancy test however I stopped high intensity workouts to be on the safe side (I did continue exercising though). To be honest, I feared that the class would be a rude awakening and a reality call. After all, I’ve mainly been working out at home by myself with minimal equipment for ten months. Turns out it wasn’t!! Sure, I wasn’t as fast or as strong as before pregnancy, but I wasn’t far off! Home workouts really can work and you don’t need to be spending hours at the gym to achieve fitness results.
Doing the class was a big win emotionally as well because I really felt a bit more “me” again, doing something I used to love doing before becoming a mum. No, I’m not going to start doing six classes a week nor necessarily even go to a class every week, but if I get the chance, I’d love to go every now and then!
What has slowed me down a bit is the annoying wrist pain I still suffer from. I have soft wrist supports which help a bit especially when pushing the pram but they only give a slight relief… I had my wrists checked out by the GP but there isn’t much I can do. Most likely the pain will go away when I stop breastfeeding. Rest and ice packs should help – as if I could just sit around icing my wrists all day! So for now I’ll have to modify exercises which require being in the press-up position… But not all modifications need to mean taking it easy. For example press-ups or burpees on my fists are perfectly fine for me, but definitely harder than the standard versions.
I can’t write about fitness and ignore diet/nutrition. Confession time – my diet has gone down hill since summer!!! Especially when I was really sleep deprived, I definitely consumed too much sugar and caffeine. At the same time my husband has been eating very clean following a new diet and exercise regime and dropped 3% of his body fat in just over month! Lucky for me he cooks and so, even if I have lived on deli sandwiches and coffee during the day, I have started my mornings with a healthy veggie smoothie and finished my days with a home cooked dinner. And that has been good enough to avoid weight (read: fat) gain. That being said I keep thinking I must make more of an effort before I create bad habits for myself!
It’s grey and rainy today in London so a little throwback to sunny Ibiza in August – see below two comparison pictures! I was so happy on this day – it was my 33rd birthday and the views from our hotel were stunning and I was just really enjoying our first proper family holiday. I also felt happy looking at the pictures later because I truly feel comfortable and confident in my body! It doesn’t look the same as before pregnancy, I have less muscle and look skinnier now, but that’s ok because I feel good and energetic. Fitness is about so much more than just the looks!! When I post transformation pictures in social media I get very mixed comments which only highlight how people prefer different looks and beauty is in the eye of the viewer. Hence posting pictures online for validation is a bad idea!! I try to focus on how I feel about myself (good!) and what my body is capable of (to run fast, to lift my baby/groceries/dumbbells). Also knowing that my husband has genuinely adored me every step of the way, regardless of my weight, makes me feel good and loved. 🙏
And listen, we’ll all get old and looks will fade anyway. Health is what counts!!
Why do I post these pictures online then? I do it to, hopefully, show other new mums and mums-to-be that it’s possible to look and feel like yourself after having a baby even if you
- aren’t a fitness pro
- are over 30-years old
- and don’t have a lot of time, energy or money to throw at getting back in shape!
And no you’re not vain or selfish to be thinking about your looks when expecting or after having a baby! I loved being pregnant but I did dread a bit the post baby body. Most things about pregnancy are out of our control and it’s amazing but also strange to see the changes our bodies go through. What every mum will say that “it’s worth it” and it totally is. But even if you share your body with a baby during pregnancy and breastfeeding, you will get it back to yourself eventually. Taking care of the only body you are given in this life is not vain! It just means you are not stupid. 😊
xoxoxo,
Sini