As Boo recently passed the two month mark and we both continue to gain weight (wha?), I’ve started considering how I’m going to get back in shape post-baby. Now before anyone tells me to be easy on myself and reminds me that the baby is ONLY 2 months old… I know this. And if you know me, “get back in shape” mostly means “make myself stop eating Oreos for dinner. And lunch.” I’ve never been much for exercise – though I’ve long aspired to be one of those people – but something’s gotta give here.
I just don’t feel like myself and I want to start taking some small slow steps toward being comfortable in my body once again.
Being healthy, for me, has always been about much more than pounds on a scale. In fact, I could really give a damn what the scale says as long as I feel all right. But now, after giving birth to two kids, I have other issues to work on outside of the largely vanity-driven goal to “drop the baby weight.” For instance, my pelvic floor is a sloppy mess and my abdominal muscles good and separated.
If I want to do nothing about any of this, I can hang on to these 30 extra pounds, pee my pants every time I sneeze, and look forward to a future of chronic back pain, but that really doesn’t sound ideal. So welcome back, Operation Hot Mother. Nice to see you, old friend!
My first steps are to simply figure out what I want to do and whether or how it will be possible to fit it into this new chaos otherwise known as “life with two.” The diet stuff won’t require any extra time or logistical juggling, but it will require a lot of self-restraint. In the end, scheduling a regular run sans children might actually end up being the easier of the two.
Once I can get my eating under control (no more sneaking ice cream for lunch while the toddler naps, no more polishing off an entire bag of chips while dozing on the couch with the Little at 10 p.m., etc.), I’ll be in a much better place already. But I still need to get physical, whether I like it or not.
So, to start I’d like to do the following:
- Regular kegels (using this handy app to remind me as soon as Emma gets the iPhone version out – hint, hint, EMMA)
- My diastasis recti exercises 3-5x a day (only takes about 2 minutes each time, so this is just a matter of remembering)
- Some running, most likely starting up the trusty Couch to 5k program again. Y’know, if I can find a regular time to get out of the house without two small people glued to me.
If I can manage these small steps, I’ll start to add in some other stuff. A couple of people have recommended some exercise videos and I’d love to take some actual classes somewhere – maybe pilates or yoga – but time will tell. If I can’t manage to get out of the house alone for a 20-minute jog, I’m not sure how I’d swing 1+ hour for a scheduled class.
When I tried this a year and a half ago, I asked for your support and the pressure of public accountability to keep me going, and I’m doing the same again. I haven’t set any concrete goals for progress in an attempt to go easy on myself and give myself the time and patience needed to start to figure this all out. But I’m here. I’m starting. And I’m going to do my best.
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Tomorrow, I’ll be hosting my first ever guest post from my friend, Adrienne, on this very topic. I hope you’ll stop by and read it, and if you’re a mom who’s tried to meet fitness and health goals post-baby, whatever they were, I’d love to hear about your journey as well. Feel free to talk about it in the comments here or send me a short post of your own for consideration as a guest post. If I get a couple submissions, perhaps we can call this a series and help inspire each other for a little while.
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And because I like to remind others moms (as well as myself) that we’re all beautiful, flabby bellies or not, here’s a link to one of my favorite websites ever. Check it out. It’s worth it. Especially when you’re sitting at home, feeling sorry for yourself, and beating yourself up over “failing” at your unrealistic goal to fit back into those jeans you wore in high school.
