Getting Fit After Baby

Getting fit after having a baby can be really tough. These are some ways I have been able to stick with my goals and take care of my little one.

So, I have taken a little break. After getting a second nursing job and trying to get more active and fit. I found this to be taking too much time and not getting really any more in return was hard to continue to do. Although this is a money and time suck, it does help me get things out that I wouldn’t otherwise. Onto why we are here!

Getting fit after having a baby can be hard. You can be left wearing maternity pants for well after the “4th trimester” because the changes in your body are hard to accept. This is how I got fit after having a baby.

If you are new here you might not know that I am a mom of 2 beautiful girls and I have had issues with my weight most of my life. After having a baby this was no exception. There are some things that you just cannot get back. Your body undergoes some amazing changes to create life, and some of the things that stay you just need to accept as a part of you. Namely stretch marks, and sagging skin. All of these can be corrected with surgery of course, but I for one don’t have the time, money, or where withall to get plastic surgery.

Motivation

After having a baby it is very hard to try to stay motivated to take care of yourself. You are busy taking care of all the needs of another human being that is completely reliant on you. This often leads to a lot of fast food, take out, or relying on others to cook meals. They are not always healthy. If you breastfeed as I did with my second you can add another stressor onto your load.

I found that breastfeeding does burn a lot of calories and I had to have a special diet for my daughter. So getting off the baby weight right away was not really difficult for me. I did use a couple of “baby and me”s workouts along the way though. The real problem started when I stopped breastfeeding her I ate all of the things I couldn’t and my weight started to creep up again. After the new year, I tried to get more fit and healthy. I didn’t go on a diet but I made a commitment to honor myself. In honoring myself I needed to take care of my body.

Getting Fit

Another way to honor my body is by making sure I stay fit. I have been overweight for most of my life and I have had periods of time where I get into working out, dancing, yoga, and running. Inevitably I slip back into being sedentary. I recently read a journal article that said sitting is now the new smoking as far as health consequences. Fortunately, I don’t have a very sedentary job, so that helps with sitting.

Another thing that I use to help with the fitness piece is I own a Fitbit. I also use a C25K app for when I am running. Also, I have found that adding new music to my library that I am excited about and make me move also help when I am doing challenging runs or workouts.

I also have a Fitbit which helps to remind me to move and to reach my fitness goals on a daily basis. It also helps me with insights into my sleep, running, and relaxation. For the price you pay for it, it is well worth the price if you are interested in improving your fitness.

Persistence

This really is the difference between a fad diet or a lifestyle change. I talk more about that in my Healthy Eating Plan for the New Year. For me, the key to persistence is taking small meaningful changes in your daily activity and eating habits.

At the same time as your doing this, you also have occasions where you eat what you want and don’t give up the moment something arises. An example of this is getting a cold and taking a couple of days off from exercising. As soon as your feeling better you make the effort to go back to the gym, hit the pavement, or unroll the yoga mat. Just because you didn’t work out for that week doesn’t mean you are free to go back to being a sedentary lump on the couch eating whatever you want.

So, stick with it! Keep counting those calories, keep training to run the 5k, just keep going. Another way I remain persistent is I remind myself how hard it is to get fit. If you have had a long period of sedentary and unhealthy living moving up and down the stairs can be difficult. The effort required to get off the couch and move can seem incredibly daunting. If you continue to workout however much you can, try to make healthy decisions on a daily basis, and do what you can to stay on top of keeping yourself healthy those problems are a lot less.