Time sure flies. My son is now 9 months old and already walking! I feel like I am playing defense all day just trying to keep him off of the bookcase or eating whatever he finds on the floor.
As far as my fitness goals are concerned I am doing pretty well. I have been exercising 3 times a weeks and eating healthy most of the time. I have been thinking about laying out exactly how I exercise and what I eat on a daily basis. This would not be something that anyone else would need to follow but just so you can see an example of what someone does to stay in shape. I will do that in another post. So you will have to wait 🙂
This does not mean everything has been great and easy. It is easy for me to get myself to exercise that is not a problem. Sometimes finding the time can be an issue. Luckily I have been able to squeeze enough exercise time in more recently.
The biggest challenge for me is the snacking. I just want to eat all the time and really have to keep myself in check. For those of you who are new moms I’m sure you know exactly how I feel. With two little ones and a job I rarely have time for myself. So when the kids are finally in bed and my husband and I can have a bit of alone time (There is still only a bit because that is when I can get some work done. Either for my business or around the house.) I just want to snack. The other issue is sleep deprivation. When you don’t get enough sleep you are more likely to overeat. Since my son still wakes up at least 5-6 times a night and my daughter is newly potty trained I don’t get enough sleep. So being stressed and being tired equals food! And not just any food, it equals carbs and sugar and chocolate! My favorite is ice cream. I love ice cream! My husband and I mix it with either cookies or brownies. Yum! So this past week was particularly difficult and needless to say I gained a couple pounds.
So my first reaction is to overreact. I think, “Okay I need to cut out all snacks and eat perfectly healthy.” Then I stop and relax. I remember the fact that I already exercise regularly and eat healthy most of the time. Because of that I really only need to back off a little bit. Which basically means giving up the ice cream for a short time until my weight is back on track. I did this this past week and I am already on my way. I wanted to make Halloween cookies with my daughter this week so I wasn’t sure if it would be possible but it is. A cookie once a day doesn’t spoil anything.
Overall, I am very happy with my progress with my body. I have more muscle tone than I did before my pregnancy and feel good despite the lack of sleep. The only thing that still is hanging around is the baby belly. I have been holding off on ab exercises because I still have a gap in my abdominal muscles. Now I have decided to slowly work in post pregnancy abdominal exercises. The fact is that the deep stomach muscles are really the ones that need to be worked so I am going to also concentrate more on those. An easy exercise to do for the deep abs is breathing. I perform slow exhales and think about my abs growing closer together while I do them. I make sure that I perform everything slowly and really listen to my body. Going too hard too fast can lead to unpleasant abdominal cramps.
It is so important to to get our abs in shape after having a baby.The “core” is the foundation of your body and your strength. Without it the rest of your body will not function like it should. Not only that but you will feel pain in other areas that try to take up the slack from weak abs.
Well, I need to get some sleep now and keep concentrating on positive goals!