Friday, August 29, 2014

Getting Fit After Baby #3

As you can imagine after baby #3 there are some extra jiggles and smooshiness (yes that is a word) about my body. I do love the roundness of pregnancy and post partum and the giant breastfeeding boobs. However, I had embarked on a personal health and wellness journey in 2012 that started with the C25K and ended with the Tough Mudder. I say ended because I got pregnant with Josephina Marguerita (JoMa for short) 2 months after that epic event. I was in the best place mentally and physically of my life. I wanted that back.
June 2013

April 2014

 Beginning of June 2014

August 2014 (Need a better photo)


So here is how I've gotten back into my clothes, (minus the shirts that don't fit the boobs. Those didn't shrink with the rest of me) and most importantly gotten my strength back. I also really want to be STRONG like, pick up anything my husband can, kind of strong. Am I worried about bulking up? Nope I have girly hormones so that's not going to happen. Am I nervous in the weight room? yep but that's getting better. Do I worry about my milk supply? Sort of... I know I need to get enough calories and that includes carbs, plus enough water, and I probably can't drop my body fat too low but I'm a ways from that.

1. At the 8 week mark I started walking my 10,000 steps a day using my fitbit to track this. Fitbit also lets you put in your personal profile that you are nursing and it gave me a fairly accurate representation of my calories burned. I used sparkpeople.com to track my calories and macronutrient breakdown. I walked and watched my caloric intake for a week and a half.

2. The next week I went to the gym twice and lifted some little weights, as well as upright TRX and did a walk/run on the treadmill.

3. The third week I did some slooooow 5K's and lifted a little heavier, maybe 60% of my max. I am still watching my calories at this point but drinking too much wine and eating too much sugar. Running again felt AMAZING and crappy all at the same time. It's so hard to go from running 13 miles easily to 3 including walking. #2lbsdown10togo

4. The next week I start HIIT on the bike and stepper in addition to weights. I also tried out the keto diet (high fat low carb). I also ran a 6K with Chris and the kids. The baby screamed the last kilometre so I sprinted it. Felt a little burnt after that. I lost 5lbs in a week and a half, probably not the best thing but I got to do it eating bacon, full fat cheese, cream cheese, steak etc. My milk supply took a dip and I also got my first postpartum period. All in all not the best week. I was CRANKY.

5. The next three weeks were more of the same workout wise with some carb cycling. I lost another lb so #down9lbs3togo. I still couldn't fit into some of my clothes so my waist wasn't back to where it was and neither was my bust circumference. The carb cycling was hard for me and my workouts felt shitty. I felt jittery after every one. Oh and I started doing yoga once a week since it was free outside in the park next to my house.

6. We went on vacation and I ate and swam a bit but not much. Basically I just relaxed. 12 days with no hard workouts just some occasional swimming. I got home and thought for sure I would be up on the scale but I had actually lost another pound (2lbs to go but I'm sure the breastfeeding boobs themselves account for at least a pound of that weight).

7. Right now I'm not worrying about that last 2lbs. I've made some performance based goals: Doing an unassisted chin-up, Doing 10 real pushups (not the knees down kind), squatting 3/4 of my body weight, learning to clean and jerk, getting back up to a 10K run. I'm eating more carbs since this seems to affect my milk supply and my performance at the gym. I'm still trying to cut the sugar and avoiding gluten because it hurts my belly. I'm only doing HIIT once a week and running a little longer. I still have some belly fat and the pooch that hangs over my belly scar but I am feeling balanced and strong.