Belle's Postpartum Fitness Journey

Oops! Meant to post this in the dieting journals lol. Oh well

I am seven months postpartum and need to get back into some kind of fitness routine. I have lost the baby weight, but I'm left with a body that is very deconditioned, weak, slow. I've lost a lot of my functional fitness ability (things like yoga, riding my bike, walking, etc.) are difficult for me now. A large result of this is the fact that I experienced pelvic organ prolapse after delivery. I have completed months of physiotherapy and have improved the prolapse by a whole grade. Incontinence is becoming less of an issue thankfully. Still I'm finding it hard to motivate myself to exercise and hold myself accountable to do the exercises needed to heal my prolapse and diastasis recti as much as I possibly can. Ergo this journal!

I'm going to endeavor to do HIIT in the mornings before getting my baby up. I always used to love fasted HIIT first thing in the morning. I'm also thinking I should get a gym pass again and bring my daughter "A" to the gym daycare. She will eventually be in daycare full-time when I go back to work, so it would probably be a good idea to start getting her used to being away from mom for short periods of time now. I'm not sure why I feel so resistant to going back to the gym. Maybe it's the leaving the house piece? It seems like monumental effort

 

Nice to see you here Bevz

I'm endeavoring to go to a yoga class this evening. Then tomorrow, I will go to the gym and set "A" (my daughter) up in the child minding service, and hopefully get in a short workout. Writing it here will help to keep me accountable.

I got rather emotional today. I've been feeling very frustrated this past month about my bladder prolapse. The physio told me that it has improved by a whole grade, but that it's unlikely to improve further and that the goal going forward is to prevent it from getting worse. This was really devastating for me to here. Since then I've really struggled with being motivated to do my exercises (hip, ab work, and kegels). Then I ran out of benefits for physio entirely and I really just let myself slide the last three weeks. So I had a little cry today, and have decided that I need to change my mindset. It doesn't matter if the bladder doesn't heal 100%. What matters is that I improve my ability to participate in functional activities by strengthening those areas that are weakened and by stretching those areas that are tight. I know what I need to do, I just need to start putting the work in. I thrive on routine so if I can get into a routine of going to the gym again and going to yoga I should be able to stick with it. I'm no stranger to the gym as some may have seen on my old fitness journal on here.

So. Going forward I will foster a healthier mindset and I will go to the gym and go to yoga. If I can get into the gym 3-4 days a week and yoga 1-2 a week I will consider that meeting my goal.

 

I didn't make it to yoga on Monday but I have gone to the gym two days in a row now! I'm limiting myself to half hour workouts because A is struggling in kids den (the child minding area). It will take a bit till she adjusts. But otherwise I'm feeling really good about working out for any amount of time! I feel like this is a routine I can be consistent with!

 

Last week I went to the gym three days. I was sore allll over. This week I meant to do three days again, but my daughter got sick so we had to miss a day. She's feeling better now and we went today and plan to go again tomorrow. I'm still keeping my workouts under 30 minutes because A struggles in the daycare and truthfully I am very deconditioned. I did a leg day workout today and what I did was basically the warm-up of what my workouts used to be before I got pregnant. I think I need to stop comparing myself from now to then. I was in the best shape of my life pre-pregnancy, and truthfully I don't know if I'll ever be that fit again. But I want to continue working out for health reasons. It's also good for me and A to have a little break from each other during the day.

Yoga has been a no go recently. Truthfully I'm so exhausted in the evening that a 9pm class just isn't realistic for me anymore, and A needs me for her bedtime routine so I can't make it to the 7:30. I was thinking I might try taking a class on Saturdays and then A and my husband will get some special father daughter time together. I'm also thinking that I'd like to start doing HIIT in the morning at 6 before getting A out of bed at 6:30. Just a quick 15 minute routine of jump squats, mountain climbers, and plank side steps (could maybe even try Russian twists, but I'm not sure if that is a diastasis friendly ab workout or not). My diastasis is functionally recovered but is still present, so I do have to be careful with it. I also need to get back to doing my kegel routine. My pelvic floor could barely tolerate the squat routine I did today, but I didn't pee myself, so progress.

 

Thanks Bevz!

Nothing like numbers and pictures to motivate a person. So I took my baseline measurements today

Waist- 28"
Hips - 35"
Bottom - 38.75"
Weight - 134.4lbs

I'll get DH to take photos tomorrow. I know the last time I was doing the fitness challenges that I found photos and measurements to be very motivating. I'm not expecting huge changes right now as I'm not changing my diet currently (don't want to bother with the holidays upcoming lol). My goal is mostly to improve my strength and fitness level, but also wouldn't mind if I trimmed up a little! At my leanest my measurements were 26, 32, 36 and my weight was still about 134. So not too far off! I feel like this is a good starting place.

So maybe I should actually be tracking my workouts more?

My numbers yesterday were pretty poor, but its a good start!

donkey kicks - 20/20
fire hydrant - 20/20
Crab walks lvl 1 band - 20/20
Barbell back squat 20 lbs - 15/15/15
jump squats - 15/15/15
hip thrust 20 lbs - 15/15
split squat 5 lbs - 10

At one point in time I would have considered that my warm up. As it was I hobbled out of the gym on legs that were shaking, and my butt is pretty stiff today lol.

But I did get up and do HIIT this morning! Only 10 minutes worth, but it was enough to get my blood going!

I keep reminding myself that this is a good starting place. I'm only 7 months post partum. This is a good starting place.

 

Okay, I'm marking today (Nov 16) as day 1.

I've uploaded my starting photos

Weight -132.2
Waist - 28"
Hips - 35"
Bottom - 38.75"

I'm not expecting changes to happen too quickly as I'm not changing my diet right now. So I think I'll do another weigh-in and photos in a month.

I didn't feel like it but I did make it to the gym yesterday! I wanted to do yoga this morning, but it rained overnight and the roads are very very icy today, so I'm staying put. I'll take a rest over the weekend, the Monday morning I'll start the day off with HIIT, and then to the gym in the afternoon! Here's to getting fit!