DO THIS! How I got My Body Back after Baby

Fitness

Feb 4

The damn "hump". This is what I like to call that very stubborn, last 10 lbs of baby weight that was overextending it's welcome on my body. Looking back at my personal experience, I credit a few things to my post-baby weight-loss and I'm going to share them with you now.In my opinion, the changes I made to my eating after I was done breastfeeding my son had a lot to do with my weight-loss success. For more on this, read my last post EAT THIS! How I got My Body Back after Baby. Before I go into my weekly fitness routine I want be very clear that I wanted it SO bad. Keeping my drive alive and my motivation level high was something that also required attention. New workout gear always did the trick! But even a new playlist or song was sometimes all I needed to get motivated that day. Somedays my drive to workout came so natural, I didn't have to think about it, it was just another thing I "had" to do that day. But there were also soooo many hard days. One thing I realized quickly was that the longer I waited to get my workout in that day, the chances of it actually happening got slimmer. This wasn't always true, but I have definitely fell victim to it enough times to learn my lesson. It was a mindset adjustment — getting my workout in was part of my day like anything else was, sweating became mandatory, it was part of my daily routine like my morning coffee or brushing my teeth. Seeing results was also highly motivating. Results can become addictive and I used this form of gratification to help keep me persistent. Weekends were no longer "off days". In fact, weekends quickly became my favorite days to workout since my husband was home to help watch my son while I snuck away for an hour. Weekends gave me the opportunity to get some much needed "me" time in and workout solo. Whether it was a class I loved, a hike or just a simple run around my neighborhood without pushing a heavy stroller, I looked forward to these days.Traveling was no excuse to forgo my workouts either (depending on the circumstances and destination). Some of my favorite experiences while traveling have been when I am able to explore the area on a run or take a class that I couldn't find back home. If possible on travel days, I would try and get a workout in before our flight. Even if it meant waking up super early and getting it done before my son was up. Knowing how stressful and long traveling can be, I can't tell you how many times I have been saved by that morning workout.

CARDIO

I credit cardio for a lot of my success post-baby. I never enjoyed running and preferred just about any other method of cardio before I had my son. However, once Brock was born I didn't have much of a choice. Running was convenient, I could take my son with me and it didn't cost anything. The only catch was...I was not a runner. I was very skeptical at first, and to be honest, there were a lot of bad days. But I am here to tell you that I am living proof that it is possible to become a runner...when you are anything but a runner. It was the little wins. Tiny goals that I set for myself every time I ran. I began slow, a mile each way. Half walking, half running. Pretty soon that led to running both ways. I always stuck with a pace that I was comfortable with, it wasn't a race. The more I did this, the better I got, the faster I went and the easier it became. Running also became very therapeutic for me and I started to understand why people enjoyed it. Running was my time to be in my head, council myself and get some aggression out. Not to mention burn a ton of calories and get THAT much closer to getting rid of the post-baby weight "hump". On a typical week, I would do cardio around 3 days a week.

YOGA

I love a good sweat session! Sculpt Yoga has been a HUGE part of my workout routine for the past 7 years and it was the first class I took THE DAY I was cleared by my doctor after I had my son. When muscle meets yoga, Sculpt Yoga is born. It uses yoga postures, blasts of cardio and light weights to sculpt every muscle in your body. The class was intimidating for me, but like my running, it was the little wins. I set realistic goals for myself each class when I started back up. I would try to do as much of a particular exercise until I couldn't anymore, but then at the next class I would try to do a little more, and so on. Same with my weights, I would work my way up if I felt like things were getting easier. Yoga Sculpt is typically heated, the music is great and the energy is high. I love to take a Yoga Sculpt class at least once a week.

WEIGH-TRAINING

I have worked with a trainer for several years. Before I had my son we did bootcamp style workouts together, where he would incorporate blasts of cardio and light weights for 30 minutes. I always arrived 20-30 minutes before our workout began to do cardio on my own.Post-baby that all changed. We began focusing on heavier weight-training and he specifically asked me to stop coming early and doing cardio, weight-training required all of my energy. I could not believe how much this helped me lose that last bit of baby weight. It was stubborn at first, I remember having MANY frustrating days. But then, like he told me, my weight began to drop...and drop it did. I weighed less than I did before I had my son. Proud of myself was an understatement. On a typical week, I was weight-training at least once a week.PS - If you live in San Diego and want the info for my trainer, leave me a comment below :)

BARRE

I am a Barre believer! Barre has come a long way since I took my first class 7 years ago. Barre is a perfect fusion of Pilates and Dance. I would take these classes in addition to running, yoga and weight-training but I have a few friends that do Barre exclusively. I love to mix things up as much as possible. Barre enhanced my flexibility and strengthened and lengthened my muscles. I would do a Barre class at least once, every other week mainly because there wasn't a studio close to me at the time. And there you have it!I really don't think (actually I know) that I could not have gotten this far in my journey if I didn't have a clear focus of what was driving me to lose the weight. As much as I was sticking to my eating and working out, I needed to find ways to feed my motivation. I would look at my closet of beautiful clothes (jeans don't lie) that I wanted to get back into...and that drove me. As small or stupid as it may seem, that was the only motivation I needed on some days.I'm human, I got burned out, I still do. However, if I caught myself creating an excuse to not workout or half-assing my way through a workout, I would find a solution or create a way to overcome it. A lot of the time the hardest part was getting there! I have learned that it is a mind game JUST AS MUCH as it is a physical.My post-baby weight-loss journey was a very positive experience for me and I am vey proud of what I was able to accomplish.As always, thank you so much for reading!XOXO,Shawna