Getting Ready to Get Rid of the Weight
I am currently 10 days post-partum and starting to feel better. December 24th I took a trip to the local Target that wiped me out completely I couldn’t walk. On December 25th I hosted dinner for my parents and us in the house, again I conked out after dinner and didn’t get to say goodnight. December 26th I went to the mall for 6 hours and paid the price at night, again not being able to walk and being very sore in the psoas and transverse abdominals. Yesterday I went shopping because I hosted the last night of Chanukah for my family after the morning bris of my son and had a relapse of edema in my legs pretty badly. I have not been foolish enough like I was with the birth of my first son to try and do sit ups or workout. Why you may ask? Well for starters it is recommended women give themselves 6 weeks to recoup from vaginal delivery birth (longer for C-sections) – so is this necessary – I would say after hemorrhaging the last time from attempting crunches at 14 days PP, yes – yes it is definitely best to listen to the advice of the professionals on this one.
So instead of full swing meal rehabbing and exercising I am taking this time to focus my energy – and I have very little right now, getting only 5 hours sleep every two days and a crazy erratic eating schedule. I am deciding what to do about work – I have had several new job offers, most I have turned down because they start too soon for me – and I also have several jobs to go back to – the earliest starting at the Naperville Park District for Hatha Yoga on Jan 5th. I wanted to also get certified in Thai Massage and finish another yoga teacher certification – but I am balking at the massage training due to finances and the fact that it starts Jan 22nd and requires Thur-Sun once a month all day classes – not something that I normally would mind – but in order to accomplish this I would need for Chris and both our sons to be in the city for me to breast feed – something that the school is happy to accommodate but I am not sure the interruption will help my learning.
Either way here is my plan to get back in shape. I am going to share all of the nitty-gritty details too because why be ashamed? I birthed a 9 lb baby at home and he is super healthy.
- My final weight before the immense swelling set in was 191 lbs (200 lbs a day later when I took the dented leg photo right before baby was born).
- My weight prior to pregnancy was 147-149 lbs roughly.
- The lowest weight I have achieved since my 21st birthday was 135 lbs prior to my first pregnancy so that is my goal 135-140 lbs.
- I am 5’5 so this is an achievable weight for me I believe, though I am not too concerned with the numbers themselves since I prefer a lot of strength training and the look of muscle.
- I will only weigh myself once a month since scales and I have a tumultuous past.
- I will not be counting my calories because again, this is something I did religiously during my active eating disorder stage and I have found it is best not to mimic this behaviors.
- I will however be recording my meals and basing my meals on the Muscle and Fitness Weight Loss Challenge meal plan from several years ago – very easy to follow and I had great results after my first son was born.
As for the exercise – this will be harder than I thought since the gym does not take newborns and I really don’t want him getting sick anyway.
- Most likely I will work on learning new choreography for my cardio portion by going through the back log of Zumba ZIN DVDs that came while I was pregnant, and work with the stability ball and some light dumbbells I have in the house.
I will be posting daily about this so please feel free to comment on what works for you, or if you need a workout buddy, I promise to reply to all related posts – support and accountability are the keys to success in life.
I will be starting Monday Jan 5th, approximately week 4 post partum, with the meal plan and very light exercise such as walking. I am still interested in hosting a mom’s support group, if you are in the Westerb Burbs of Illinois.
