Happy Birthday Baby!
I am very happy to say that I now have a beautiful baby boy! I feel so blessed. He is asleep in my arms as I type right now. My family is so important to me and keeping everyone strong and healthy is a top priority. It is a reminder of why I am doing this site. For my family and yours!
So here is the beginning of my post pregnancy journal. This is where I will keep you updated on how I get my body back into shape. I am so excited! I know getting back into shape will be harder this time around for a few reasons. First, I have a two year old. Need I say more. Second, my daughter was born in the summer and I could go out for walks every day. Now it is the middle of winter in Minnesota. It is more of a challenge to get out and exercise. Last, my business has grown a lot in the past couple years and I have much more to do. There are more obstacles that I am facing now but I am not going to use them as excuses!
First I will start with my goals.
Goals are essential to get what you want in life. When my book is finally available on this site I will go into more about how goals are necessary to getting fit and how to choose the right goals. You will be surprised that not all goals are created equal and some will not help you at all! It is really what is behind the goal that makes all the difference.
1. My first goal is to lose the weight – I am going to do this as quickly but also as safely as possible. I am not going to over do anything for my body’s sake. I will also not pressure myself to much for my mind’s sake.
2. The second goal is to gain back my strength – Because I was doing some strength training during the pregnancy as far as push ups etc. I don’t think it will be too difficult in some areas. My legs, hips, back and abs are another story. I go back to teaching in two months and I would like to be able to keep up with the kids and demonstrate all steps asap. This is very important to me.
3. Regain flexibility – This is also for my comfort level and wanting to keep up with my students when I return to work.
4. Increase my fitness level – This is a long term goal. Now that I am finished having children I want to challenge myself to go further with my fitness level. I don’t want to just maintain like before I want to see how strong I can be! This is what I am most excited about!
5. Be excited and stay positive! – Can you tell that I am excited about this journey? I look forward to the future and what my body will be able to do. I don’t look at the journey as a chore. This is so important.
Basically I want to look good and feel good. Doesn’t everyone?
How am I going to achieve these goals?
Read the pages that I have about exercising and eating healthy after pregnancy. They will go into more detail about what is recommended for the post pregnant woman. We need to make sure that we take good care of ourselves so that we get back into shape but also not over do anything and hurt ourselves.This is what I am doing now.
1. Eat well – First, I am going to make sure that I eat healthy 80-90% of the time. That has been successful in my life so far so I will keep with that. I make sure that I eat whole foods most of the time but allow treats every now and then.
2. Exercise – Next, I will start exercising as much as I can. Right now that is not very much. I pretty much do the same things that I did when I was pregnant. One, because I don’t have much time and two, because my body is still healing. Right after baby was born I started with the Kegel exercises. A couple weeks later I added some light squats and calf raises that I performed while I brushed my teeth at night. This week I have added back in my push ups, yoga poses, pelvic tilts, leg raises and deeper squats. I always listen to my body and if something doesn’t feel right I stop. Again I don’t have much time so I try to do these before bed or when I am awake in the middle of the night. I know that sounds crazy but being fit is a top priority. When I want nothing else but to sleep I tell myself that I can wait 10 minutes for my health’s sake. It is so easy to just ignore your body. But over time non activity accumulates and we feel awful all the time. I must attack it now!
3. Sleep – Try to get as much sleep as I can. Ha ha!
4. Drink water – This is so important. When we are distracted or tired we often forget to drink water. Especially if you are breastfeeding you need to be hydrated. It not only helps you lose weight but helps to keep your energy up.
5. Breastfeed – Breastfeeding helps you to lose weight much faster after having a baby. You need an extra 500 calories a day when you are breastfeeding. Read my page on the benefits of breastfeeding and your body. But remember I am not judging anyone that doesn’t want to or can’t breastfeed. I know how difficult it is. I was not able to breastfeed my daughter and had to unfortunately just give up breastfeeding my son as well. It just didn’t work for either of them for whatever reason. But I pumped for my daughter and I am pumping for my son. I do this mainly because of the health benefits for them. However the weight loss is just too good to pass up for me as well. I remember when I pumped for my daughter it was hard to keep the weight on! I had to feel like I was overeating just to stay the weight that I wanted and not lose too much.
6. Look for new ways to challenge myself. – This will come later. Right now my body is healing and I am breastfeeding. I already have a lot to do. I will not push too hard and jeopardize my body. But eventually I am going to push harder. I will let you know when I start that journey.
7. Again, get excited and fascinated about my body! – As women it is amazing that we can carry a child and bring it into this world. I never appreciated my body as much as I did after having my first child. If I can do that I can do anything!