Archives for December 2015

December 31, 2015 By fitnessfatale 8 Comments

2015 in Review

I always like to write a post at the end of the year to sum up a year of racing. This year was certainly not about racing, PRs or hardcore training, but it was a very eventful year on its own as we welcomed Siena into the world. I literally spent the entire year pregnant or taking care of a newborn and while at times it felt like time moved slow and I couldn’t wait for the next pregnancy or baby milestone, in a lot of ways it moved too fast! I’ve been trying to focus on enjoying every stage with Siena because she will literally NEVER be the same baby she is today. I will never be pregnant for the first time again and we’ll never be new parents again. Time to soak it in, including those very early morning nursing sessions!

January

Wrapping up our 31 runs and 31 planks in 31 days challenge with Asia at the end of Week 5

Asia and I started the year with 31 runs (of at least 3.1 miles) and 31 planks in 31 days to celebrate turning 31! We did a lot of our runs in the morning or at night in the dark so it was great to have Asia there to motivate me. I’m glad we did it before we both moved away from Moonlight Beach. I remember thinking 3.1 miles was such a short distance back then and now it’s pretty much my go-to distance for a run. We also went to the Carlsbad 5000 kickoff event which was a ton of fun!

I found out I was pregnant in January which was pretty freaking exciting and scary!

February

Surf City Half Marathon Finishers – we told my Dad and Step Mom the good news right before the race started!

Mike, 6 week old Baby Doby (as she was called before we knew she was a she) and I ran the Surf City Half Marathon. My Dad and Step Mom also ran and we told them about my pregnancy at the start line! We also saw our baby for the first time on the ultrasound at our 8 week appointment. Morning sickness also started at the very beginning of February and I spent 8 weeks feeling pretty miserable and non-stop eating every carb known to man to help ease it.

March

We went to Zion for a long weekend to run the Zion Half Marathon with Mike’s sister Claire, her husband Josh and our friend Brooke. Morning sickness finally started to wane after this trip and a couple weeks later we made our big baby announcement after taking a photo at the top of the scariest hike I’ve ever done, Angel’s Landing in Zion. I also ran the Carlsbad 5000 with Asia.

I became an ambassador for Wildfire (sadly, they aren’t in business anymore) and started going to Xtend Barre and yoga classes on the regular. I started coaching Girls on the Run. I was featured in the San Diego Union Tribune’s Active San Diego section!

April

I ran two 5ks and continued coaching Girls on the Run. I visited my friend Shahara in San Francisco and we found out that we were having a girl!

Heading into dinner to open the ultrasound findings

May

Asia and I went to the Wanderlust yoga, running and meditation “triathlon” and Mike and I traveled to Yosemite to visit my parents and hike over Memorial Day weekend. I ran the Girls on the Run 5k with one of the girls from the group I coached. I ran 10 miles of trail on my last Mother’s Day as only a daughter. I had my first DNS at Rock n’ Roll San Diego Half Marathon after coming down with a 24 hour stomach bug. Mike was a groomsman in his friend Mike’s wedding.

June

Babymooning in Catalina

I went to Newport Beach for a weekend girls trip with college friends. Mike and I went to Catalina for our Babymoon, just as I entered the 3rd trimester and went on a fun food tour and accidentally hiked 10 miles. Mike and I started our Bradley Method natural birth classes. I completed my first month of the Squat Challenge.

July

Beautiful Torrey Pines

We completed our Bradley Method natural birth classes and continued our tradition of going to the Fish Shop for fish tacos after every class. I wore a bikini at the beach pregnant on 4th of July and did another 30 days of the Squat Challenge, this time adding 100 squats a day! I started hiking with my friend Brooke at Torrey Pines more regularly.

August

I had both of my baby showers – a friends shower hosted by my friend Allison and my mom’s side of the family shower hosted by my aunt and mom. I discovered CAP Wellness and their amazing prenatal yoga classes and started going regularly.Mike was best man in his friend Stephen’s wedding and we spent a weekend in LA celebrating. Asia and I went to the Taylor Swift concert at Petco Park.

September

We patiently and impatiently waited for our baby to arrive. I stopped working on September 18th, one week before my September 25th due date. I enjoyed my pre-baby maternity leave to the fullest and exercised and met up with friends daily and checked off the final things on our baby to-do list. We celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary and willed the full moon to bring our baby out.

October

Our first daughter, Siena Jade, was born on October 3rd after 45 hours of labor. We spent the first two weeks of her life in a sleep deprived daze, not realizing she wasn’t getting enough to eat due to a lip and tongue tie. Luckily we solved her eating problems shortly after and she became a much happier (and bigger!) baby. Mike took four weeks of paternity leave, most of which we spent at home but we did go for a lot of walks and had a lot of visitors! I discovered that everyone isn’t lying to you when they say that all the sacrifices of having children are worth it.

November

Siena smiled and slept longer at night which made everyone even happier. I made a lot more social plans once Mike was back at work and Siena and I had an outing or two per day. I got cleared to exercise and started running again! I bought a package to Yoga 6 and started doing Hot Yoga (I only managed to get there once a week, but so worth it). My dad and step mom stayed with us for a weekend and my mom came and stayed for 4 days. We hosted a Friendsgiving party at our house and Mike refinished a dining room table. Siena had her first Thanksgiving. I decided to take 3 more months of maternity leave.

December

We started P90X on December 1 and Siena met Santa. I started weekly runs with my friend Allison and continued to meet up with my friend Amber and her daughter Kairi, born just 17 days after Siena, for walks, lunches and Dailey Baby classes. Mike and I bought a Christmas tree, went to the Encinitas holiday parade, and listened to a lot of Michael Buble’s Christmas album. Siena’s personality really started to shine and she had her first Christmas! I celebrated my 32nd birthday on Christmas Day.

This year was like no other and I’m pretty sure 2016 is going to be an even wilder ride.

How was your year? What was the highlight?

December 29, 2015 By fitnessfatale 18 Comments

P90X – We’re Doing it AGAIN!

I can hardly believe that it’s been nearly 5 YEARS since we started our first round of P90X in January of 2011 (and I started this blog!). My results far exceeded my expectations and I was able to maintain the 11 pound weight loss (and then about 5 more) from the program up until my pregnancy in January of 2015, although I definitely lost some of that muscle.

My P90X Results in 2011

Well, we started P90X again on December 1 and I’ve already been thrilled with the changes I’m seeing in my body. I started the program with 19 pounds to lose to reach my goal weight and with holiday treat temptations threatening to make it 20 or more, December 1 was a great time to start the program. I’m hopeful that setting a foundation of strength will also help me get my running speed back safely once I start training for longer distance races again. Mike was the one who suggested we conquer P90X now and I was initially hesitant to jump back into a demanding program, but I think that given how active I stayed during pregnancy (including strength and flexibility training with barre and yoga), I am not starting from scratch (with the exception of core strength, which I’ll address later in this post).

Workouts:

The P90X Classic workout plan consists of 6 workouts per week and a rest day. Workouts are 1 – 1 1/2 hours long. As we did the first time we completed P90X, we’re skipping Kenpo and replacing it with a run (we actually ran 3x/week including a long run up to 14 miles during the first round). This time I’ve been running 3 miles two times a week but plan to bump that up a bit as I train for the Cardiff Kook Race (4 mile race). I also have been doing the Dailey Baby workouts with Siena, although she doesn’t always behave enough for me to get in the full 45 minute workout.

Dailey Baby Wednesdays!

We have been doing two P90X workouts on the weekends (including Yoga which is 1 1/2 hours long!) and three during the week. So far we’ve successfully done all the workouts together (with the exception of yoga because I’ve been going to Yoga 6 to do Hot Yoga instead) which means I’ve been getting up with Mike at 5:30 to do the workouts before work. Siena either continues to sleep, or wakes up and we bring her down in to the garage with us where she either watches us or falls asleep, sometimes both. A few times she has demanded to be fed before we finish and I wrap up the workout later (or not) and a few times we’ve incorporated her into the workout in lieu of weights!

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Mike doing one of the final moves in Legs and Back with Siena in his arms

The first couple days of getting up at 5:30 was rough but luckily it’s only a few days a week and Mike has taken two weeks off around the holidays so we’ve been able to sleep in lately! We go to bed around 9:30 and I take a few naps a week which helps. Siena usually wakes just once in the night which also helps!

Ab Ripper while Siena Sleeps

Diet:

The diet is going to be the key in my weight loss, just as it was last time. Last time we followed the 3 diet phases – the first of which cuts WAY back on carbs and includes a lot of meat and dairy. Since we are following a more “flexitarian” diet, meaning we don’t eat a lot of meat (though recently we’ve been eating fish regularly), we aren’t going to follow the plan the same way we did the first time. Instead, we’re loosely following the 100 Days of Real Food diet which emphasizes whole foods (you should not eat anything with more than 5 ingredients on the package) and absolutely no processed sugars or artificial sweeteners (honey is pretty much the only sweetener allowed which we use in our coffee). That means no diet soda too!

A P90X friendly meal - Salmon with mango salsa, green beans and spaghetti squash

A P90X friendly meal – mahi mahi with mango salsa, green beans and spaghetti squash

We have been eating organic eggs, fish (tuna 1-2x/week is safe for breastfeeding women) and organic greek yogurt as sources of non-plant protein and lots of lentils, beans, tempeh and whole grains, plus a VegaOne Performance Protein supplement, for plant-based protein sources. We planned to allow ourselves one cheat day a week in which we can literally eat whatever we want, but it can only be one day (we did not allow any cheat day in the first two weeks). Without cheat meals, diets can seem pretty daunting, especially when you aren’t eating any delicious sugar!!! Over this last week there have definitely been more cheats with Christmas and my birthday celebrations, but we’re doing our best.

I’m really focusing on weekend food prep to make the diet possible, including making two soups, chilis or bean or whole grain based salads on Sundays that we can eat with salads for lunch. Whenever I can double recipe for leftovers, I do so. I’m also chopping veggies and making salads the night before during Siena’s late afternoon nap so that we are never scrambling to make lunch in the mornings before Mike goes to work. Unlike P90X Phase 1, I am not putting a limit on fruit, especially since I’m not allowing myself any dessert at all on non-cheat days. I’ve actually been very surprised at how easy it has been to give up the desserts (the less sweet coffee has been the hardest). But, as soon as I started making Christmas cookies the cravings started coming back – eating sugar makes me want to eat even more sugar!

Modifications for Postpartum:

The biggest modification I’m going to make to P90X for postpartum is that I skipped the Ab Ripper for the first two weeks and then modified it after that (and am still modifying). It’s important to focus on strengthening the inner core after baby and Ab Ripper is mostly focused on the outer abdominal muscles and obliques. Instead, I either did the postpartum core workouts that I found on YouTube or did a few planks while Siena was doing Tummy Time. The pull-ups and push-ups have also been a good core workout and I have been very careful to do them with the best form possible. As soon as I can tell my form is going, I do the push-ups on my knees.

I’ll be sharing my results for each phase so stay tuned. We actually already finished Phase 1 (I started this post 4 weeks ago…geez!). Given how fast time is going now with a new baby, 90 days seems like a short time to commit to get fantastic results!

Have you ever done P90X? Have you ever given up sugar?

December 22, 2015 By fitnessfatale 9 Comments

Christmas Fun & Signing Up for Races

It’s almost Christmas! Christmas has always been my favorite holiday, and not just because it’s my birthday (yes, this is true and yes, it does kind of suck in some ways but I try to look on the bright side like the fact that I always have the day off of work and I always get to spend my birthday surrounded by my family!). This year has been extra special because we have Siena to celebrate with! Although she’s totally oblivious to the holiday season, I like to think she’s enjoying how festive we’ve been.

It started earlier this month when we took Siena to a breakfast with Santa event put on by our friends Amber and Kirk’s real estate agent. Amber and Kirk had their little girl, Kairi, just 17 days after Siena and I meet up with Amber regularly, therefore Kairi has become Siena’s best friend! Both of them weren’t too impressed with Santa, but it made for some cute photos. That night we made it a big day by taking Siena to the Encinitas Christmas parade. The parade is probably Encinitas’s biggest event and all the largest organizations and pretty much all the schools in the city have a float. We met up with our friends Vicky and Kelly and their little boy Cam for the parade. Siena didn’t love the noise though and is terrible at napping in the Ergo so we ended up only staying for about an hour but it was festive!

The next week Siena came with us while we picked out our very first Christmas tree. Mike and I used to live in a tiny apartment near the beach and we didn’t have room for a proper tree, so despite spending five Christmases together, this was our first tree! Siena also slept through this but she stayed awake for the decorating, which took place 2 nights later because we prioritized sleep over decorating. The very first ornament was the one I had custom made for her, and we started our family tradition of letting her put the star on last!

Since then, I’ve been keeping Siena in the Christmas spirit by singing her Christmas Carols (she gets equally excited when I sing the ABCs) and dressing her in festive fleece Christmas sleepers. We decided not to spend a lot of money on gifts for her this year given that she has nearly everything she needs and won’t know the difference, but I did wrap up a few gifts, including the Elf on a Shelf that I got at my work Christmas White Elephant exchange.

Another exciting thing that happened this month is that I signed up for TWO races! Yes, two! the first is the Cardiff Kook Race which is held on Super Bowl Sunday every year. The race is essentially the same as the Turkey Trot we just did. I chose the 4 mile “kook” distance which uses the kook as a turnaround point. I’m excited for an automatic PR on my first race back!

I also am excited to announce that I’m an ambassador for the inaugural San Diego Craft Classic Half Marathon! The race will be on July 17th and is a point-to-point and ends at one of the best breweries in San Diego, the Green Flash. A delicious craft beer is included in the entry and sticking around to indulge in more wonderful beer is highly encouraged. If you’d like to join me, use code FITNESSFATALE for $10 off the half marathon or $5 off the 5k. Prices go up on January 1, so hurry!

Do you celebrate Christmas all month long? Do you want to join me for delicious craft beer and running next summer?

December 16, 2015 By fitnessfatale 12 Comments

Dailey Baby

I love barre & I love babies so what could be better than the thigh shaking workout that is Dailey Baby!? Barre was one of my favorite workouts throughout my pregnancy, so I’m no stranger to squatting, tucking and squeezing with extra weight and Dailey Baby does everything right. Today was my third Wednesday in a row joining fellow moms of infants at the Dailey Method Carlsbad for this calorie torching strength training workout and it’s safe to say I’m addicted.

Dailey Baby is a 45 minute “Mommy and Me” class held at the Dailey Method Carlsbad on Wednesdays at 12:15 (it’s also taught at other locations so check out your local TDM if you aren’t in San Diego). All moms of a baby between 6 weeks and 7 months are welcome to join and the first class is absolutely free! TDM Carlsbad also has childcare so moms of more than one child can enjoy class with the baby while the other children are looked after by professional childcare staff.

Even as someone who has tried countless new fitness studios over my lifetime, I was a bit apprehensive to bring Siena to this class. Historically she hasn’t LOVED the baby carriers (we have the Moby and the Ergo) and I was worried about her crying and creating a disturbance. Allison, the teacher and a friend of mine, reassured me that it’s totally ok for babies to cry and that it happens without fail at every single class. Breastfeeding during class is totally fine if necessary as well. After hearing this, I decided to face my fears and come to class!

mommy and me san diego dailey baby review

With my friend Amber and our babies who are only 2 weeks apart!

Class begins with all babies in the carrier. The warm-up involves squatting or another movement that is bouncy and helps the babies calm down or fall asleep. After the warm-up is an arm series with light weights, followed by 8 minutes of thigh work at the barre, stretches and then another 8 minutes of seat (aka glute) work at the barre. After this, babies come out of the carriers and we do planks, push-ups and abdominal exercises that incorporate baby into the moves (such as planking over them, kissing their foreheads as you do push-ups). Depending on the size of the baby, the baby will be more or less involved. Some babies just end up crawling around the room during this portion!

Siena was 8 weeks old at my first class. I decided to use the Ergo and ended up not using the infant insert since she is so long (you should be able to kiss the top of their head). Despite being on a feeding schedule, I made sure to top her off with some more milk right before class so that she’d be fed and happy. Luckily it worked and she fell asleep in the Ergo and then was a happy girl once we got to the mat for the final 15 minutes of planks, abs, push-ups and stretching. I used the moby wrap for the second class and it didn’t go as well. I ended up having to nurse her in the wrap during the leg and thigh series and she cried during the floor series so I pretty much had to skip it, but it was still a great time to be with other new moms and I didn’t feel judged at all for having the crying baby !

The workout itself is beginner friendly but also intense for anyone really wanting to feel the burn. Allison is a great instructor and doesn’t take it easy on us, encouraging us not to give up or take breaks during the moves (the 8 minute of glute work is seriously brutal!). The result is that I leave class feeling like I had a great workout and I get to have some skin to skin and bonding time with Siena. Not to mention the benefit of meeting up with fellow moms who are all going through the same thing are you. It’s a win-win!

If you’re planning on coming to class, remember to bring a pair of socks (any socks will do, though most will have barre socks), your baby carrier and a blanket for baby. And get ready to sweat!

Have you or would you ever do a mommy and me type workout class?

December 9, 2015 By fitnessfatale 10 Comments

Getting Ready to Train Again After Baby – Part 2

How is it already December!? As I always say, time is flying and it is even more apparent when you’re raising a baby who changes overnight at times! First, I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who reached out and/or commented regarding my Body After Baby post. It is very reassuring to know that I’m not alone in my feelings and that there are probably good reasons why our bodies hold on to some extra fat after baby to sustain breastfeeding. Not to mention – I’ve got plenty of time to lose the weight and I’m probably being a tad impatient. These are all things I basically knew, but hearing it from you guys made it easier to swallow. I have already made some great changes to my diet and exercise in the last week (more on that later) and I’m already feeling SO much better. I also ordered some leggings and bought a few sweaters in a larger size so I can survive the winter feeling cute and comfy (I’m thankful I’m not going back to my office job for a while!).

I started the first part of this blog post a few weeks (er….a month!?) before my 6 week postpartum check-up, where I was cleared to exercise and then it got so long that I had to make it two parts…and then life got in the way! My OB-GYN had told me in the hospital that I was fine to walk and do some light yoga moves before the 6 week appointment, given how active I was leading up to Siena’s birth. Around 4 weeks postpartum I started doing the pelvic floor exercise DVD I wrote about in part one of this blog post and also some postpartum friendly core exercises from Moms Into Fitness.

We all know that we’re not supposed to do crunches during pregnancy, but I think a lot of people don’t realize that it’s not a good idea to jump right back into crunching after pregnancy either. A lot of damage was done to our abdominal muscles, not to mention they are pretty weak since we haven’t been doing ab work for nearly 9 months! Before starting ANY workout program after baby, not just an ab workout, be sure to have your doctor check you for diastasis recti at your 6 week appointment (or check yourself using this video if you already had your appointment and didn’t ask).

Diastatis recti is the separation of the right and left halves of the rectus abdominis muscle and affects about 30% of pregnant and postpartum women. It is measured in finger widths and if you have separation 2 finger widths or more, you’ll have to do special exercises to get it back into place. If you jump into exercises like crunches, planks, and push-ups, you’ll just make it worse. Learn more about it here. I was pretty sure I did not have separation but I had my doctor check and she told me that I only had a fingertip of separation and was fine to continue with normal exercises.

No matter what the condition of your abs post baby, it’s smart not to dive in quickly. It’s important to first work your transverse abdominus, the inner layer, before working the outer layer (which is what crunches are for). At about four weeks post-partum I found Moms Into Fitness YouTube videos. Lindsay Brin, a certified personal trainer and pre and post natal expert, designed her Moms Into Fitness videos to be quick and efficient. I haven’t tried any of the other videos outside of the ab series but I would definitely give it a try!

I started with Lindsay’s Postnatal Core #1 workout (8 minutes long) and then advanced to Postnatal Slimdown Core #2 (8 minutes) once I felt comfortable with the moves in number 1. The moves are all very subtle and focus on the inner abdominal muscles.Now i’ve moved on to Postnatal Slimdown Core #3 (7 minutes). I love the videos because they are simple and short so I can fit them easily during naps. They don’t require any equipment and are FREE! The Core #1 workout includes modifications for diastasis recti (the others aren’t safe for it however).

These videos were also helpful for making my own modifications in the yoga classes I’ve taken postpartum. In the hot yoga class, there is a bicycle ab exercise that I knew without even trying would be too intense for me. Instead, I did some of the moves I learned in the YouTube videos and I was confident that I was doing them correctly. You can’t always trust instructors to know how to modify for pre and postpartum workouts so it’s great to have some knowledge before stepping into class so you don’t end up doing more damage than good!

What is your favorite core workout? If you’ve been pregnant, how long did it take you to get your core strength back?

December 3, 2015 By fitnessfatale 6 Comments

Dear Siena – 2 Months

Dear Siena,

I never want to forget how easy it is to make you smile. Sometimes I just tell you what I’m eating or what I’m doing and you are the happiest baby in the world. One day it won’t be so simple, so I remind myself to soak it all in. Speaking of smiles, this month you learned how! You started smiling around three weeks old (we marveled at how advanced you were of course) and a week or two later we really believed they were real smiles because you only would do it when you were engaging with us. Now you smile all the time and it makes me smile every single time. You bring us so much joy!

So happy!

You really grew a lot this month! Not only physically, but mentally and even emotionally. Physically, you’re now out of pretty much all but one or two of your bigger newborn clothes and wearing all 0-3 month clothes (although Baby Gap brand is still a little big). Your head seemed to expand significantly this month and you are still SO long! You really don’t like tummy time. At first, you were ok with it but I think you wised up and realized as soon as I put you on your tummy that you’re going to be uncomfortable. But, we keep doing it because we know it’s good for you. We joke that you’re going to walk before you roll over because you love to push really hard against us with your strong legs and often push into a standing position on our laps.

Mentally there has been a big change. You no longer gaze around somewhat aimlessly, instead you really focus on things and take them all in. You really love to look at your mommy and daddy’s faces and you follow us around the room and even up the stairs! You love when we sing you songs and I started to read you books this month as well. Your favorite song is “Old McDonald Had a Farm” and your daddy likes to change it to “Baby Siena Had a Farm” and add in lots of non-farm animals like elephants. You pretty much love it either way. I put you on your play mat at least once a day. At first you would just gaze up and around but now you look intently at the hanging toys and even try to grab or swat at them! One time you actually did grab one of the rings and held on to it for long enough for me to take a video of you. Your life is certainly going to be well documented!

On the emotional side, we see quite a spectrum of emotion from you on a daily basis! But mostly, you’re happy. You really love your mommy and daddy and are now showing signs of separation anxiety when we leave your sight. It makes me happy that you love me as much as I love you! When you smile really big, you throw you head back to one side like you simply can’t contain your happiness. You make lots of little noises and grunts and we’re slowly figuring out what you mean by them, although I doubt we’ll ever really know! When you’re overstimulated or tired, you cry, but we can usually rock you until you calm down and then you’ll fall asleep soon after (your favorite is when we swing you in your car seat).

You sleep pretty well. Around five weeks old, you started consistently sleeping for a five hour stretch for the first half of the night. Mommy put you on a loose feeding schedule starting at around five weeks and as time has gone on, she’s enforced it more, especially your first and last feedings (of course she always feeds you if you are acting very hungry before a scheduled feeding). Your first feeding is 7 a.m. and last is 8 p.m. and we put you to bed sometime around 9 p.m. every night. Mommy and Daddy also get in bed at this time because they really like sleep! Now you sleep 5-6.5 hours for the first stretch and sometimes even 4 more hours on the second stretch! Recently you’re starting to only need one feeding between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.! You usually fall right asleep at 9 p.m. on your own but usually need help getting back to sleep in the middle of the night via some rocking and shushing by mom or dad. You still sleep in your bassinet and we can’t really imagine you in your own room yet. However, your getting pretty long and are almost too big for it!

With Grandma Christy

I still take you to the lactation support group every Wednesday so you can hang out with your baby friends and get your weekly weigh in. You consistently gain 6-10 ounces a week, which is right on track. You had more visitors this month including a weekend stay with your Grandpa and Grandma Woyski. When your Grandma and Grandpa were here, your Dad and I had our first outing away from you – our friends Allison and Tim’s housewarming party. We were gone for about 2 1/2 hours and you just slept the entire time. We also left you with your Grandma Christy a few times during her four day visit so that your mommy could go for a run or go to a yoga class.

Slept like a champ at the Turkey Trot!

You do a pretty good job at outings and with visitors. Now that it’s just me and you at home all day, we try to get out for a walk every day and most days we meet up with a friend or run an errand – one outing a day is pretty much our max outside of the walk.Your dad and I take you out to lunch with us and this month we even took you to dinner with us a few times! Your mom and dad even hosted a Thanksgiving themed potluck party with over 20 guests for dinner and took you out all day on Thanksgiving day to see both your dad and mom’s families. You also slept through your first 5K race (er, walk) – the Encinitas Turkey Trot. And your dad refinished a table we bought on Craigs List. Who says you can’t have a life with a baby!?

Our new kitchen table! Mike did a great job.

One big development this month is that I’ve decided to take three more months off of work to spend more time with you! This time just seems so precious and it was hard to imagine putting you in day care so soon. I can’t wait to spend every day with you and watch you grow and learn!

Love,

Your Mommy

December 1, 2015 By fitnessfatale 25 Comments

Body After Baby

With Mike’s Family on Thanksgiving

There’s no denying that women’s bodies go through a lot during pregnancy and childbirth. I had read about the ways my body would or could possibly change during all of it, but you never really know what it’ll be like until you experience it yourself. If I said that I’m happy with how my postpartum body looks, I’d be lying, but as cliche as it sounds, it’s all worth it for my daughter.

Throughout my pregnancy, a lot of people kept telling me how quickly I’d bounce back. With my healthy eating and exercise mixed with breastfeeding, the weight would just “fall off.” While I can’t truly reflect on postpartum weight loss yet given that I’ve only been cleared to exercise for two weeks, the weight thus far has in no shape or form fallen off. I gained 45 pounds during pregnancy, which I attribute partially to being on the thin side to start having come off of marathon training, partially to my overwhelming nausea in the first trimester when led me to eat a lot of foods that I don’t usually eat, and partially to the extra indulgences such as my nightly ice cream habit that I allowed myself (don’t regret that ice cream one bit!!!). I did, however, exercise at least 5-6 days a week throughout pregnancy, but in no way was it as intense as the exercise I did before pregnancy.

Pre-Baby Hiking in New Zealand

After the baby came, we were in a state of survival mode. Before the baby came, I promised myself I wouldn’t think about weight loss or dieting at all during the first six weeks. Although I lost 23 pounds in the first week (as expected since I lost baby, water, blood, placenta, etc…) and two more by the end of the second week (water), I actually gained back two pounds after five weeks of eating toast, cereal, pizza, lasagna and any other carbolicious and sugar-filled treat that friends and family would bring us or that we’d order or pick up for ourselves in a state of sleep deprivation and exhaustion. Although I did make and freeze some healthy meals before the baby arrived, the junk we ate in addition to that countered any healthiness. We had some issues with breastfeeding in the beginning due to our baby’s lip and tongue ties, so although I was feeding her around the clock, I wasn’t producing quite as much milk as I thought. That, combined with little to no exercise outside of a daily 20-40 minute walk, meant that I wasn’t able to burn more than I was taking in from all the goodies. The result – weight gain AFTER baby. Not exactly what I expected.

Walking with Siena at about 2 weeks postpartum

I’m not going to lie and say that my weight gain doesn’t bother me. I’ve struggled with my weight for most of my life (I’ve never considered myself someone who is naturally thin) and these last 4 years I’ve finally been proud of my body and I’ve worked hard for it. While I am VERY proud of my body for being able to create a healthy little baby girl and deliver her naturally into this world, I must admit I cringe when I see full body pictures of myself. Those extra 22 pounds I’m carrying aren’t my friend. And worse than looks, most of my clothes don’t fit which means I’m still wearing some maternity clothes, but mostly workout clothes. Since being cleared to exercise, I’ve also tried to eat healthier (without being on any sort of plan or diet), while also allowing for indulgences, but the scale hasn’t moved despite these changes.

I’ve done research on diet and exercise and it’s effect on breastfeeding mothers and from what I have read, dieting is not recommended before the baby is 2 months of age. It’s also not recommended that you lose more than 1.5 pounds a week and don’t do any crash diets for risk of hurting your milk supply. As Siena approaches her 2 month birthday (Thursday! Wow!), it’s time to get back on the horse and keep myself accountable when it comes to diet and exercise. While I tend to be really good at the exercise part, my diet has really taken a turn for the worse in the last year or so.

Why am I sharing this with you? Partially, because writing is my outlet and partially because I’m sure there are other moms out there who are in the same boat. Probably a lot more moms than are in the “the weight just fell right off of me” boat. I want to lose this weight in a healthy way – with a slightly reduced calorie diet (I won’t go below 2000 calories a day) and exercise so that I can still provide food for my baby. I want to do it in a way that allows me to indulge a times but to also feel good about the foods I’m putting in my body. I’ll be writing about my plan for weight loss in another post. My husband Mike also gained weight after the baby was born and we are working on a plan to get back in shape together.

To finish, I have to say that although the weight bothers me I really wouldn’t trade it for the world. I was lucky to have an relatively easy pregnancy and a healthy baby girl, and the weight gain is an easy sacrifice for those things. It’s also a temporary change to my body and certainly not one to lose sleep over! I do, however, enjoy fitting in my clothes and feeling confident in how I look. I also feel much better overall when I’m eating food that is good for my body. I really love a challenge and shedding this weight is my new focus (outside of parenthood of course!).

Did you struggled with the weight after the baby or did you have an easy time bouncing back?