Postpartum Weight-loss Journey

Disclaimer: You should do what feels right for YOUR body and what’s recommended by YOUR doctor. 

Postpartum life can be really in depth (mentally, physically, and spiritually) for the sake of not rambling, this post is only about my journey maintaining my health and weight.

At 3 weeks, 4 days postpartum, I’m down 26 lbs from the 35 I gained without doing anything special. Once I do, it'll be tricky monitoring amount of food intake and exercise while breastfeeding because you don’t want anything to affect your milk supply. Breastfeeding also makes me even hungrier!

I watch what I eat as normal, I just care a little more since I’m not exactly in 'IDGAF what I eat' mode like I was my last 3 weeks of being pregnant. Nah, but really. I haven’t obviously been given the OK to workout yet at 3 weeks so I’m focusing on food more because that’s 80% of weight loss anyway.

I found this timeline for runners in one of my groups, which syncs with my plan to establish core strength before anything else. Even if I had been given the green light I would now follow this guide. That was more knowledge I didn’t have with my son's pregnancy...the need to strengthen my core before beginning running or anything else yet.

Back to the timeline I found online...

I’m doing weeks 2-4, which include squats, lunges, bridges, and walking. It’s boring but it's proving that my core is so weak. I tried a plank the other day and could barely last to the count of 10.

Here’s a few pics from the two days I’ve done so far.

 

This journey is going to be more mental this go 'round. My life is jam packed with LIFE events so I’m really going to have to be mentally tough and strategic in order to make sure I get my ME-time in. I cannot stress enough the importance of taking care of yourself before you can take care of others. It just goes hand in hand. Motherhood ain’t no easy feat, and I wanna be sane sooooo, my husband knows I need to workout, lol.

For that extra push and accountability, I’m going to be doing the Fall H.E.A.T challenge. It begins 10/21. I’m the type that has to have a plan. And although I’m back in my pre-preggo clothes, I know what weight I feel the most comfortable at. After these last 10lbs, I’ll have more work. I’m trying to be a “hot girl” by spring, lmao.

Not sure how often I will blog, per usual, but I wanted to make sure I documented this period some kind of way so I’d have something to look back on for myself. 

Pregnant Does Not Mean Powerless: Fit Pregnancy Journey

First Preggo Race - Atlanta Women's 5k

I was cruising along on my maintenance mode journey, had lost my “first year at a new job” weight and boom...found out I was pregnant. That was January 2019. We’d been trying but not trying to conceive (does that make sense? Lol), so I was still a bit surprised. Nevertheless, I had goals and figured this was my opportunity to see how far I could push myself this time.

My first pregnancy ended in miscarriage at 11 weeks. I wasn't active, overweight, and sedentary. Five years later, during my second pregnancy, I ran until I was 4 months pregnant. I was very nervous about miscarrying again. I also remember it becoming uncomfortable to run past 4 months. I didn’t have as many examples as I do now, i.e. the plethora of women who workout during pregnancy and post on Instagram. Now there are tons of resources, personal and professional for pregnant women who want to continue exercising. It was even recommended by my doctor to continue. So, with that being said...here’s a few snippets from my workouts during my pregnancy.

Circa Month 1

Circa Month 2

Month 2

Circa Month 3

Circa Month 5

Circa Month 6

Month 6

My personal rule was to go as long as I felt good. This round was already different, as I now had a 5 year old and worked full-time...as a Teacher 🤯. So continuing to exercise was a huge mood and energy booster for me if anything else. Thank God for the summer off!

I had no complications and stayed within the recommended 35 lbs weight gain recommendation. The only thing that almost threatened my ability to workout at the time was me having placenta previa, but that was resolved. 

Month 7

I was feeling good, feeling great, and stuck to my routine until my family’s Orlando trip and then a week later it was back to school. Now, non-preggo, those are enough to mess up a routine, but being pregnant and having that to occur? Yea, unfortunately I could never get back on the 2-3 day a week thing I had going on. I just made sure to focus on my eating habits. I didn’t feel as bad because being a teacher, I’m on my feet all day and I did walk around two major theme parks in Orlando. 🤷🏾‍♀️ I was also starting to experience major, MAJOR pelvic pressure that the support bands just were NOT helping with anymore. That was something else I didn’t have or know to purchase during my son’s pregnancy.

Universal Studios 2019

I had a healthy pregnancy, a quicker, problem-free delivery, only gained exactly 35 lbs, and a healthy baby girl! I’d say I reached my goal and would recommend any already active person to keep it up in SOME way because pregnancy does not equal POWERless.