Today is a big day for me: Little Victoria is 6 weeks old. Can you believe it?
But it is also a big day for another reason: It has been 6 weeks since I gave birth.
This means I am finally technically released from the 6 week "don't do anything" stage after childbirth. You all have no idea how long I have been waiting for this!
You see, pregnancy was not the funnest thing for me. Terrible to say considering how hard I prayed to get pregnant in the first place. Plus I had zero complications either in pregnancy or in labor, and I have a beautiful baby girl to show for it.
But you see, I am a pretty active person. I like to live an active lifestyle and keep fit. It was very difficult for me to not feel 100% during pregnancy. I had very painful round ligament pain the entirety of my pregnancy, and by the end I was walking so slowly I swear snails were passing me up!
So I promised myself through the months of aches, pains, and slowness, that I was going to do everything I could to make sure my next pregnancy (God willing) is not quite so painful or slow.
You see, I miscarried another pregnancy a month and a half before getting pregnant with Victoria. During that emotional time, I didn't go to the gym as much as usual and I gained 5 extra pounds. The result was that I was not at the top of my game when I got pregnant.
So the entire time I was cooking Victoria, I promised myself that I was going to get into amazing shape after I have her and get past the 6 week "don't do anything" stage.
So here we are!
I am so excited to get into shape and feel better again. Not to mention drop these extra pounds that are keeping my wardrobe pickings quite slim these days.
Technically, one does not need to wait the entire 6 weeks to get back to exercising if one had a vaginal birth with minimal tearing. I decided to play it safe though and make sure my body is totally healed before I kick it into gear. I have actually been feeling great for several weeks now.
So I'm going to outline my plan for the coming weeks and use you guys as my accountability partners. Expect a weekly update on my progress both in fitness and in weight loss. Feel free to work your own goals along with me!
***Now before I get lots of comments on this topics, let me address the part about losing weight while breastfeeding. I will be watching my calorie and food intake with the purpose of losing a little weight, but I plan to take it off slowly enough that it won't affect my milk supply or release toxins too quickly out of my fat. Losing 1-2 pounds per week will usually not have an adverse effect.
That said....
Long-term Goals and Habits:
-Lose 21 pounds --- (remaining pregnancy weight + additional 5 pounds I gained after miscarriage)
-Get my wedding ring back on! :( I can't wait for this one
-Go to the gym at least 3 times per week every week
-Go to Body Pump class --- I've seen this class at my gym and have always wanted to do it, but I was too chicken!
-Do 25 regular push-ups every day
-Do 30 lunges on each leg every day
-Do 100 squats every day
Those are the goals I'm willing to quantify, but in general, I want to be stronger and more fit, so I plan to do much more.
I know it will take me a while to build-up to this, so each week I will lay out weekly goals that will help me to achieve my long-term goals. These are the goals for this coming week
Week 1 Goals
-Lose 1-2lbs
-Get new workout shoes --- mine are several years old and gave me a blister when I went for a walk the other day :(
-After blister heals, go for a 2 mile walk with Victoria every day
-Complete week one of diastasis workout --- This is a precautionary workout I am doing to slowly get my abs back into gear after all that stretching they did.
-Do 25 modified pushups every day (THIS POST does a great job really showing you how to do one correctly, as well as some of the modified versions. I'm starting with the first modified version and will eventually move to the second)
-Do 15 lunges on each leg every day
-Do 30 squats every day
You'll hear my progress report and new goals every Friday. So if I don't do that I expect you all to be my accountability partners and call me out :)
What are fitness goals you are working toward or would like to begin working toward?
Will you join me in setting some fitness goals? What are they?
How many push-ups can you do? Sadly, I have never focused enough on upper-body strength.
I'm bad at push ups! I did a cross fit type challenge for 30 days and was pretty good at (girl) push ups by the end. I really liked it! This blogger lifted weights somewhat regularly before and during her 2nd pregnancy and she said she felt a lot better with her 1st. I had really horrible round ligament pain with my boy pregnancies and couldn't walk very far/fast either. I'm hoping to do more weight exercises before my next pregnancy and things will go a little easier for me too. I need to loose some weight too but I'm lower than I've been in a LONG time so hopefully I can keep it up!
ReplyDeleteYay! I imagine you are excited to become active again! :D
ReplyDeleteYou've set some really great goals. Some of my fitness goals are being able to run a solid 3 miles (currently I am running it in intervals) and dead lift 100 pounds ( at 85 now).
Have fun! You'll do great! :D
Angel
You're so inspiring! I hope your first week is going well. The closest I get to exercise since my little one was born is doing laps around the living room in the evening to get her to fall asleep :D I think this post of yours might make me rethink this, and I thank you :) I'll start with walking more, because my muscles are probably completely gone :) I used to have a really toned midsection pre-pregnancy, and my legs are still strong, but my upper body strength is nothing to write home about. The most I ever managed was 20 regular push-ups!
ReplyDelete