Well lets start by DONT WE WISH LADIES that above photo was us post baby! Lets just say for me THE STRUGGLE WAS REAL!

I thought in my head that after baby it all just melts off, your body just goes back to normal or some magical body you had in your 20s. Well, I’ll start by saying don’t I wish that I had a “night nurse” a “nanny” and unlimited funds to make this easier, but I’m just a normal girl with just as many struggles that I assume everyone faces post baby, even the lucky ones with unlimited help. Struggles including body, body image, and feeling back to normal even when you have a small creature(that you love so much and is adorable) attached to you 24/7. I think for me my brain was shouting at me to refuel my sprit and body by getting out being active. I am a very active person and you face so many changes between pregnancy and right after birth that can lead to negative feelings and even the happiest person can get stuck in a rut. I am super happy and positive, but even I started to had a hard time adjusting. So for me getting into a routine and schedule has really helped and being active even just feeling like I have accomplished something has made me feel so much better and made this a more exciting and positive experience. I also want to state that I didn’t do this because I wanted to loose weight I did this because I want to be healthy for me and baby, and mentally healthy. It makes me feel good. I think its important for new mamas to do what personally makes them feel good and happy we need to take care of ourselves too ladies!

Back to baby, for the first 2 weeks after baby I couldn’t even think about working out all I thought about was when can I get an hour to sleep. Then I got used to the schedule and things maybe started to feel like I could get back into a work out routine. At around 3 weeks, my legs were so sore from sitting on my bed and not stretching I KNEW if I didn’t get back into the gym soon or have some sort of athletic activity I would be done-fur. Have you ever felt so lazy and cabin fever so bad you start to feel like you just want to go for a marathon run, yes well I felt like that. I was tired but I just needed some sort of activity in my life. So my amazing hubby and I worked out a schedule I pumped as much as I could and I went to the gym. It felt like a day at the spa! NO REALLY I KNOW YOU THINK IM cRaZY but for me it felt like a day at the spa. I decided to take it easy for my first day back 10mins on the stair master and 20 minutes on the elliptical 15 minutes of yoga and head home. I made sure to drink extra water because I am breast feeding and I brought a snack for right after the gym incase I felt sick. Let me tell you, the energy I felt right after was so amazing also. It was so nice to feel so good and so normal and healthy!

This was at the one month mark! YAY!!! Working out at the gym for about a week every other day and walking at least a mile every day. I accomplished the walks by baby wearing.

MY DAUGHTER LOVES BABY WEARING!  You can baby wear and exercise with your little one, you can baby wear and walk. They even offer workout classes while baby wearing with other mamas. I call baby wearing the second womb, they are close to you and they can hear your heartbeat and nurse when they want. Its like its the 4th trimester, yes this is a thing, new moms you know what I’m talking about! The 4th trimester is the time outside of the womb with new baby, and apparently it lasts for the first 3months!

YOU CANT PUT ANY EXPECTATIONS ON YOUR SELF … ITS CALLED WORKING OUT BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO WORK AT IT!

So back to working out- Well I have been back to the gym now for about 2weeks. Mostly working out at the gym. I bump up my workout each workout and try to push myself a little more. I tried doing the firm one day and it was so hard. I really think when I used to tell myself it wasn’t hard that was a lie to myself. Also when I was doing the weights and the stupid butt lifts I thought my body was going to fall apart. So I tried running, new mamas I peed myself, like a lot. It was awful I was out running over a mile in and it got really bad… it was bad before a mile but I thought it would stop… nope it didn’t! I peed myself so bad I had to turn around and it was dripping down my legs oh my! I was like this junk didn’t even happen when I was pregnant, but now of course when I want to start back at running. I get the motivation to go run and the energy and this happens. What a nightmare. Well I guess I gotta do more keegles before I venture back out onto the open road. For now its just elliptical, stairs, yoga and some light rowing. I’ll keep you posted on my routines. New mamas have you had issues or did you wait to workout?

In conclusion working out is a process post baby. You can’t expect to have the energy or drive you had pre-baby. You can’t put any expectations on yourself or your body. You will firm up and you will get better every workout but remember its not some sort of challenge or some sort of immediate thing. Its a process and its called working out because you have to work at it. On the days you don’t feel like working out then you don’t have to mamas, we are working out by not sleeping and breast feeding but if it makes you feel better to workout then do what you can put it in your calendar and try to make it happen. If your like me most of the time you can make it to the gym and you’ll love it! However, if your like me you may have days when baby won’t stop crying, you can’t pump enough milk to fill a one ounce bottle or even you think you would rather spend an hour sleeping then walking, eating or doing anything!

GOOD LUCK TO YOU MAMAS! WE HAVE A NEW LIFE NOW LETS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT-DO WHAT YOU CAN AND DO WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL HAPPY-DONT PUT EXPECTATIONS ON YOURSELF AND ENJOY THIS NEW LIFE! THE MOMENTS GO BY FAST BEFORE YOU KNOW IT WE WILL BE BACK IN SHAPE AND OUR LITTLE ONES WILL BE A LITTLE OLDER SO LETS APPRECIATE OUR AMAZING SELVES CHEERS TO US NEW MAMAS!!!!! 🙂