I have just finished the first four weeks of my postpartum fitness journey. Due to an unexpected family death – it took about five weeks to finish. For those of you who do not know, I found at home workouts a couple of years ago and just fell in love with it. Personally, I get super intimidated by gyms and classes + now not having to worry about child care is an even bigger plus for me.
Also, I suffer from moderate scoliosis and sacroiliitis. Due to this, I had to stop working out most of my pregnancy. So when I was finally cleared by my doctors at the six week check up, I was beyond thrilled to jump right back in. I was ready to do my favorite program barre blend. This was the last program I did when I found out I was pregnant and I had great results from it. Side note: This was also the first program I went all in where I followed the workout calendar and was on point with my nutrition. This program is also low impact so it was perfect for my back problems. I was told after having Sweet Girl it was going to be a long time before I started feeling good in regards to my back issues and grace was definitely going to be needed. Sweet Girl is three months old right now and although I am feeling better I am still in pain (this has nothing to do with working out).
So here I am, week one day one of Barre Blend so eager and ready to go! I press play and guys when I tell you I was out of breath in the first 60 seconds I am NOT exaggerating! I quickly realized, and humbled myself, this was going to take more grace on myself then I expected. If you want to learn more about my journey the first time around click here. At the end of those first 30 minutes, I was worn out. I couldn’t breathe. I could hardly work. However, I knew although it was going to be a hard 8 weeks, I knew mentally I was already feeling better. Personally, working out is so much more than getting in shape. Although, it’s a nice perk, don’t get me wrong I find it helps my anxiety, my stress, it’s a great way to release negativity. It’s my escape for 30ish minutes a day. In regards to my nutrition, at this point in my postpartum journey I still did not have an appetite. I had spoken to a few other moms who experienced the same thing. So I would force myself to eat heavier foods because I could not go without eating. So naturally I went with my kodiak cake, chocolate chip pancakes and pasta. Although I knew my nutrition was not where it needed to be I didn’t care. I was giving myself grace and taking each day as it came.
Week two roles around and guess what y’all, I found myself out of breath at the end of the warm up! I know it’s small, however, it was a win I was willing to take. Those thirty minutes ended each day and I was still out of breath, sweaty, could barely move but I felt good. That is all that matters, make progress and be happy! At this point, my nutrition still wasn’t where it needed to be but I felt myself starting to have an appetite which I was also happy about. One of the biggest things I learned prior to my pregnancy and postpartum journey is we have to listen to our bodies. That is so critical! Pushing yourself on a day you should rest is not going to help you. It could very well have the reverse effect.
As I begin week three, I am happy with pushing myself. I am happy with the progress I feel during each workout. I am happy that I am feeling my appetite come back even more. The schedule of this program is Monday – Friday with rest days on the weekend. These last three weeks I took rest days when I needed them and kind of shifted the days around. Again, it is about listening to your body and what I felt like I needed to do.
At the end of week three, we got a phone call no one wants to ever receive. Unfortunately, a family member near and dear to our hearts passed away. As everyone knows, the chaos that unravels for any death, especially unexpected, is something no one truly understands until it happens. We spent that next week arranging plans, learning about 12 people were flying into town and a few others driving down. We were planning a celebration of life, BBQ, dinners, service, you name it. Needless to say, it was a crazy and emotional week. A week where working out for me would have been a nice escape each day. I was tired, we all were, and I knew I needed to give myself grace and I would pick back up once the week was over and we could try and resume our life as well as we could.
Although it was week five, I was doing week four on the workout plan. By this point, I felt my appetite was coming back even stronger – maybe to the point of meal prepping. Although I didn’t meal prep completely I did start to eat a balanced half way through the week. That alone was the win I needed for the week.
Stay tuned to see how the next four weeks go! I am a little bummed I did not take measurements as I do notice a difference overall. I just took before photos and have been using a smart scale. What has been your biggest challenge as a mom trying to find the balance between carbs and salad?
