I hope EVERY mom out there got to enjoy some part of their day, how they wanted to.
♥Motherhood brings as much joy as ever,but it still brings boredom, exhaustion, and sorrow too. Nothing else ever will make you as happy or as sad, as proud or as tired, for nothing is quite as hard as helping a person develop his own individuality, especially while you struggle to keep your own.♥ Of all our rights as women, being a mother is indeed the greatest.
Now something that was recently said by a famous fitness expert about pregnancy was brought to my attention. And it not only made me lose a lot of respect for this person, but inspired me to finally get around to my blog about getting in shape after baby. This IS, I have to say one of the NUMBER ONE questions I get from women. Is it possible, will my body ever be the same?
Jillian Michaels said she plans to adopt because she can't handle what pregnancy will do to her body, she went on to say it RUINS the body. Not only will I say this is a horrible statement for a women who is considered a role model in health to say, but it also to me shows she still carries strong body image issues from her youth of being heavy. While I will be the very first to ADMIT that pregnancy will indeed CHANGE your body... RUIN it? NO. You are growing a human being inside of you, and if your only concern is what your stomach will look like after, than yes you indeed should not have children. This mentality though as a role model is very dangerous because again are we promoting that women's bodies after babies are ruined? Are we saying that any over a certain size is ruined? As much as I PROMOTE healthy living, fitness, and bodybuilding. I also PROMOTE realistic goals, and REALISTICALLY, NOTHING is ruined! Anything can be worked with. You have to work at it, and adjust your mentality and confidence accordingly.
Put me next to an 18 year old with perfectly taught skin, not a mark, blemish or discoloration, and do I feel ruined? NO! I am PROUD of what I have, I work hard for what I have. Although stretch marks annoy me because they're not something I can really control, I would never trade my "ruined" body for motherhood! So for every fabulous Mommy out there who takes pride in her body, and takes pride in the fact that it not only can don a two piece with the best of em, but can grow and feed a baby!! This blog is for you!! So how did I do it? How did or do I recommend getting into shape after baby?
Number one... focus... a new baby is one of the biggest most rewarding challenges of your life. And the number one way to succeed at both being a happy mommy and a fit mommy is SCHEDULE and ROUTINE. It's best for you, best for baby, and best for your body. It does not come easy. It takes some time to get into it, so give yourself some time. But getting routine with eating for you, feeding for baby, sleeping for you, sleeping for baby, playtime routine, story time routine, the more routine, the better the planning, the easier your life will be.
Number one NATURAL CALORIE BURNER... BREAST FEEDING. Not only can it be one of the most beautiful experiences between you and baby, many added nutritional benefits, cheaper than formula, but it's just an added bonus that it burns TONS of calories, and helps your uterus to contract faster helping you get back to pre pregnancy size sooner. Now I am pro breastfeeding BUT ONLY if it works for both mommy, baby, and family. It is a PERSONAL choice and sometimes it's not the best depending on the situation and circumstances.
Next your nutrition should be of utmost concern. Not only getting balanced meals, but eating often throughout the day. Plenty of water, and calcium. The best rule of thumb without even going to much into nutrition is KEEP IT NATURAL... the less processed the better.
And finally exercise. I say finally because having a newborn at home this may be the last thing on your mind. You can start with simply shooting for 3 hour long stroller walks a week. Once you've conquered healthy eating and the 3 hour cardio sessions for 2 weeks, move on... next would be some type of resistance training. It doesn't have to even be the gym yet... start with a basic body weighted routine you can do at home 3 times a week for about 30 minutes. Pushups, lunges, dips, squats, crunches, plank (10 - 12 reps each) repeat 3 times. Once you conquer this for two weeks in addition to the food, in addition to the 3 walks, add on some higher intensity plyo type exercises (jump squats, jump lunges, burpees, mountain climbers).
So you did the nutrition for two weeks, added the cardio for two, added the body weight exercise for two, and then added the plyos. 8 weeks in you should be making progress, feeling good, on somewhat of a routine, and ready to rock to the next level. This can mean joining a gym, and going from there, OR making a educated researched purchase of something resistance based you both CAN and WILL do at home consistently. Did you hear that? CAN AND WILL. Do not purchase something and "hope" you will do it. Determine HOW BADLY you want to first.
When I first wanted to start adding in resistance, the gym with my schedule and the kids being so little was out of the question. So I did THE FIRM videos and made some progress with them. CONSISTENCY is the key. I'm not saying these videos are the holy grail, but they are a good start and definitely better than NOTHING.
This was my journey...
I'll start by saying I was on bed rest and hospitalized on and off for most of my pregnancy with the boys. So not only was working out not an option while I was pregnant but simply walking around wasn't either. But I was determined to eat what the babies needed and not much more... I did boost energy drinks to get the calcium, vitamins, and extra protein and I tried to eat a lot of fruits and veggies. Surprisingly I despised meat while I was pregnant but forced in chicken on my salads and I loved eggs... I also lived on cheese sticks and almonds. I only gained 30 lbs BUT my belly was GINORMOUS!!!!
Then I had the boys by c-section in July of 07, so that meant no more exercise for another 6 weeks!!!! Immediately after delivery I started cleaning up my nutrition - my boys were preemies so I was still going back and forth to the hospital everyday to see them, feed them, bathe them and bond with them, plus my older daughter was home, and missing us - so we were spread very thin...
There was barely enough time to eat, never mind cook and plan out food, but I knew I needed to get focused. So I ordered nutri - system to get me started. It's mostly pre packaged and you can just heat stuff up. It's on the medium protein, low glycemic carbs idea. It's higher processed and sodium than I would have liked, but it was more balanced than I would have had time to do, and price wise it was affordable and convenient. I would only recommend it if you had absolutely no choice, as whole natural foods ARE MUCH BETTER. But again sometimes you need to improvise instead of miss the boat completely... I lost 12 pound in 3 weeks so it sent me in the right direction. Once the boys came home I honestly kind of floundered around on no particular food plan and kind of kept putting it off until I could go to the gym.
Once that 6 week mark came I was back in the gym (only 3 days a week - lifting)and even that was sporadic so I was supplementing with the FIRM videos at home when I couldn't get there and starting doing the basic 40% protein - 40% carbs 20% fat style nutrition. Very balanced and average calories with dairy, fruit, and some processed foods, but I started slowly dropping. I didn't have a goal weight I just wanted to get back into routine and shape.
After the holidays I decided I was ready to push and get back on stage. 12 weeks out I started on my pre- contest plan and weighed 130. Diet was 7 meals a day - 20 - 25 grams of protein in each meal, starchy carbs in the first three meals and post workout, then fibrous carbs in the rest.
Weights five days a week
Cardio 4 mornings for a half hour
About 6 weeks out I went to add in some double cardio sessions and starches in only the AM meal and post workout meal
Supplements:
Multi- VIT
Glutamine
Vitamin B - complex
Vitamin C
Hot rox
And for my first show on April 14th
I weighed in at 118
This was something I wrote for a message board after I competed when someone asked me HOW I COULD DO IT with 8 month old twins and a 6 year old...
I TRULY believe my patience and positive perspective comes from my attitude with training and competing... Plus the constant healthy fuel and energy I get from working out gives me the energy I need to make it through our crazy day! We said when we decided to have another baby (which ended up being two more), we were gonna keep family and fitness our focus no matter what! And honestly after being home and being MOMMY all day - I so look forward to the gym time where no ones calling my name, I don't have to clean cheerios, and I can't hear Barney in the background - lol - plus I get to spend alone time with my hubby!
This is a typical day training and home life schedule - Haha... when I type it out it seems worse - lol
I wake up at 4:45 am AM cardio, tanning,
Dad leaves for work at 6:15 ish.
6:30 - Boys are fed, changed, and up in the playpen
6:30 -7:30 Bianca wakes up and starts getting ready for school (shower, chores, breakfast)
Bianca’s brought to school at 7:45
8:00 – 9:00 - Come home playtime with boys
9:00 – feed & change boys
9:30 – 11:30 naptime for boys – clean house, make phone calls, check emails, cook food etc.
11:30 boys wake up – get them ready for the day
12:00-12:30 – feed & change the boys
12:30 – 1:30 – play time
2:00 – pick up Bianca from school
2:00 – 4:00 - Naptime for the boys… Mom & Bianca do Homework, Snack time, more chores, start getting ready for Gymnastics
4:30 – feed & change boys (Dad’s usually home right around 5)
5:00 – Bring Bianca to gymnastics (she goes every week day from 5-8,except Thurs - she's on a USA gymnastics team
5:30- 6:45 – Mom & Dad Workout together at the gym (boys go into gym playcare)
7:00 – dinner and start bedtime routine
8:00pm – One of us feeds & put boys to bed, while the other picks up Bianca from gymnastics and starts dinner for her…we spend alone time with her while she eats dinner and talks for a bit then bedtime for her at 8:45 ish
9:00-10:00 – we relax, unwind, check emails, clean-up, shower and usually try to be in bed by 10:00, 10:30 (the boys usually wake up once, maybe twice in the middle of the night, usually feed them around 2:30am)
This is our schedule mainly Monday through Friday, now of course we adjust a little for doctor’s appointment, must do errands, work meetings, PTO meetings, school events etc. In between all that I eat 6 meals and drink a gallon of water!
But we pretty much don't waiver from that schedule... it doesn't always work but most of the time it does... we just look at it as if you want something bad enough you find a way to do it all... we want a family and we love bodybuilding/fitness/figure so we feel lucky enough to be able to experience the best of both worlds!!! Whenever we start getting stressed I always say that famous saying "WE ARE TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED!!" <<<<<<< haha I wrote this in 07!! lol
So to all the mommies out there it CAN BE DONE... nothing ruins your body! You are in CONTROL! Motherhood is a blessing that many cannot even grasp until they experience it!
So Happy Mother's Day to ALL THE FABULOUS MOMMIES OUT THERE!!! And a Special HAPPY MOTHER"S day to the mommies who make an effort to take care of themselves too, it does take effort...we're so busy taking care of our families, it's so easy to forget about us!
Some pics of my journey...
Helllllloooo BELLY
♥ Being a mother has made my life COMPLETE♥
This was in October (the twins were 3 months old) me and my Mini ME were going to the Circus. Now remember... this was only 3 days a week back in the gym, focus is ON NUTRITION... the thing we can control that doesn't necessarily take time, just self control and planning.
This is where I started 12 weeks out
This was 8 weeks later
And this was a DAY before my show... which I will also mention I got the stomach bug and threw up for 18 hours straight a day and a half before stepping on stage
ANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD the result My first OVERALL FIGURE WINNNN BLNPA PRO CARD and my twins were 8 months old!!!
Would I love a body of an 18 year old with perfect skin? OF COURSE, who wouldn't? But one it's not realistic forever, and two I will take my stretch marks ALL DAY LONG for what I got for them thank you...
I will have my cake (my family) and EAT IT TOO (my two piece) lol
And all of these pics were 8 months POST TWINS :) I am proud of my "ruined" body!!
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