I thought today I would share my post baby bod experience after having Blake, as I'll be documenting it again after this baby also..
Being pregnant with Blake was wonderful, I had a few rough weeks initially but after that 12 week hump I was on top of the world. I felt really energetic & relaxed, and also healthy & fit. I had continued my fitness regime right up until the day I gave birth. This mostly consisted of climbing Mount Maunganui (a 2km hike with 800metres of stair climbing), as I was living right underneath it so it was more about the convenience. This might sound extreme but it wasn't to me as my body was used to tackling that beast, and all the advice I ever got re; fitness whilst pregnant, was keep doing what you're used to doing pre pregnancy. I also went to the gym once or twice a week and did some light weights to keep some upper body strength, aswell as my yoga class once a week. All of this combined kept me physically & mentally strong and more than capable to give birth naturally -which was my ultimate goal. As for my diet- I didn't really change much, I'm usually always hanging around 70/30 with what I eat, 70% of the time being good and 30% not so good... I should be aiming for 80/20 but it never works out that way. I made sure I ate my leafy greens, good carbs and healthy fats 99% of the time though & tried to keep the fast food to a minimal. However, I did go through a phase of eating potato top pies through winter, I don't even like pies? But those really hit the spot. As usual, there was far too much chocolate intake- I distinctly remember eating an entire packet of mint slices one night. Yip, all to myself. So as you can see, my diet wasn't perfect but really, who's is? I did try though and would normally have chosen the healthier option.. Normally.
My belly never grew to be overly large- I remember seeing some heavily pregnant women when I was around the halfway mark & being petrified of sprouting to that size, but it never really happened. I don't know whether it was the exercise/ eating combo or whether it was simply luck or genetics. My mother only gained around 10kilos with each of her three kids so I could have just picked up on her genes... Either way, I was pretty happy with not having to deal with being a blimp at the end of it all.
This was me 3 days before giving birth at 38 weeks;
I ended up having a relatively short labour & a natural birth in water (yay goal achieved)! After giving birth I remember looking at my belly in the hospital & thinking it wasn't so bad.. It just looked bloated & slightly saggy. But I wasn't bothered by it at all, infact I expected a lot worse. When my milk came in I couldn't even see past my boobs to my belly anyway so I think they kind of helped the appearance of a 'slim tum' as they were so ginormous.
This was exactly 1 week after giving birth;
As soon as I started breastfeeding my hunger was through the roof- I felt like a lion who hadn't hunted in weeks, devouring everything & anything I could get my paws on. It was insane! I wasn't giving a shit what I ate either, I certainly wasn't making any of it, my mum & mother in law were all over it. Endless baking, sandwiches, risottos, stir-fries etc... I was spoilt for choice.
Those first few weeks were really all about settling in with the baby & figuring out what the eff I was supposed to be doing with this breastfeeding business etc..so keeping track of what I ate was so far down on the priorities list. All I knew was I needed food, a lot of food- all the time.
After a couple of weeks I started climbing up the mountain again. Blake was only 3kgs at birth so she was hardly a big load to haul up there. My midwife did recommend waiting a few more weeks but I felt ready & we were getting enough sleep so I just trusted my instincts & went with it. I didn't feel like I was pushing myself at all, we just took it slowly & it was amazing to get out of the house and into the fresh air too, it did me wonders.
This was week number 4 post birth;
Everything was shrinking except my boobs which I think were a GG at this point. I know... I felt like I was going to topple over with the slightest push. At this point I still wasn't eating very healthily, although I was starting to be more aware of it. Slowly making changes like porridge for breaky again instead of half a loaf of bread.
It was around the 4 month mark when I started to be more mindful of what I ate. Cutting back on the starchy carbs and welcoming spinach & sweet potato back into my life. I also started up back at the gym again when we moved to Australia at the 5 month postpartum mark & that was when I started running again too.
Fast forward a few months & this was me (half of me) at 6 months post birth;
This was the only photo I could find, I'm not even sure why my upper half wasn't in it but I do know my legs were always my 'problem area' and I recall being quite proud of how far they had come, aswel as starting to see some ab definition (ever so slightly).
All in all, I give 100 % credit to breastfeeding & exercise for bouncing back the way I did. I had never eaten so much in my life in those first 6 months of feeding yet I continued to lose weight rapidly. By the time I was 4 months postpartum I was 4 kilos lighter than pre pregnancy. Go figure? I definitely think this needed to be teamed with exercise though in order to have some muscle tone & definition.
Now I do realise that this isn't the case for everyone, not everyone's bodies bounce back that quickly & I'm not at all trying to show off because mine did. I'm simply sharing my experience and I also wanting to compare it to round 2 to see what differences occur..
I can already tell things wont be as easy this time, I'm already a lot bigger at this stage than I was with B and I'm finding it a lot more difficult to fit in all that exercise (for obvious reasons). I'm also so much hungrier?? Maybe because he's a boy? I'm not sure. But it will be interesting all the same to see how I get on and also documenting it all and looking back later on to see how I feel about it then too.
I actually have no idea how I will
ever exercise again with 2 babies? But we will see! Where there's a will there's a way!
Anyway, hopefully that interested some of you- pregnant people / mothers? Or just anyone intrigued by the female body post birth..
Have a lovely hump day
Gemma
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