My Postpartum Health and Fitness Plan

Sharing my plan to get back in shape after baby number two!

I am 1 week out from finally being cleared for more intense exercise.  I’m doin’ a little happy dance over here friends!  After months of gaining weight during pregnancy, I am ready to get my body back in pre-pregnancy shape!  

I’ve never been one to embrace my post-baby body.  And this body that I’m currently in is no exception.  I know I should probably be all “I am woman, I just gave birth, I should give myself time…” But if you read any of my bump date posts, you know that’s not me.  Attribute it to my poor body image or self-consciousness or whatever you want, but being fit is something that makes me immensely happy and I’m looking forward to being able to workout like I’m used to.

Since having EJ, I’ve been walking nearly every day and last week started doing some body weight exercises (squats, lunges, leg lifts, etc.).  I still have about 5 pounds to lose, but I fit back into most of my pre-pregnancy clothes now so I can’t complain too much.

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I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I want my postpartum health and fitness plan to look like, and I think I’ve figured out how I’m going to tackle getting ready for bathing suit season.

Health

We’d fallen off our clean eating diet during my pregnancy, but we’d eaten clean for so long prior to it that I think it will be easy for us to get back into the swing of things when it comes to how we fuel our bodies.  Diet plays a massive role in getting in shape (isn’t the saying 80% diet, 20% fitness?).  Both K and I are going to be following the same plan, since he put on a few sympathy pounds during this pregnancy (shhhh…don’t tell him I told you).  We are big advocates of clean eating and following my tips to a health lifestyle will ensure that we stick to a clean diet.  We’ll also use my clean eating grocery list to ensure we keep the junk out of the house, but plan to cut out the pasta and replace it with zucchini noodles.  I will also continue to be caffeine free (sad face) since I’m nursing EJ, and no citrus fruits or gas inducing foods (like broccoli) to keep him happy.

What’s going to make us most successful is intentional planning.  Clean eating takes work.  We’ve also started our weekly meal prep again, which includes pre-made breakfast for me 3-4 days a week (usually overnight oatmeal) and pre-made and measured out lunch 5 days a week.  We finally picked up this food scale to measure out our protein.  One thing we learned about ourselves is that we will eat way more protein than necessary (mostly me..or I’ll eat none at all) so weighing it out is very helpful.  We also measure our veggies.  

If you’re looking for some clean eating recipes, check out my Healthy Eats Pinterest board.

Fitness

First thing I’ll be doing this week is getting myself a new pair of my favorite running shoes.  I’m really looking forward to getting back to running this spring and summer, on the days it isn’t 90+ degrees outside.  I’m also going to be getting myself some new gear because as we all know, new workout gear is a great motivator (at least for me it is).  Athleta is my favorite store for great workout gear.  I’m especially partial to these shorts (I already have 2 pairs) and these tanks (I may have a few of them as well).  Comfortable and quality workout clothing make me want to get my body looking fab in those clothes.

My plan is to workout 5-6 days a week, and on my days off still be active by taking the kids to the park and going on family walks.  I also want to take full advantage of the resources I already have, and try a few new programs as well. I’m going to continue to workout at home, like I have for the past few years, because I know I can get great results without a gym membership.  Most of what I like and enjoy doing is body weight and dumbbell workouts, and I have all that I need in our home gym.  Last summer, my holy grail was the Tone It Up girls’ book.  I went through the book twice and absolutely loved it.  I’m planning on breaking out the book again and incorporating many of their workouts into my weekly routine.  Those girls are a huge inspiration for me.  

I’ve also heard great things about Kayla Itsines’ Bikini Body Guide (BBG).  I follow Kayla on Instagram (HERE) and the results that her program gets are amazing.  One of my friends sent me the BBG and while it looks good, I probably won’t follow it exactly, but will incorporate some of her workouts with my TIU workouts.

I’ll be working out twice a day, 3-4 days a week: a short workout in the morning when I get up and a longer one in the afternoons after K gets home from work so he can watch the kids.  One concern I do have is keeping my milk supply up while burning as many calories as I can, but I’ve done some research on how to make this work and am feeling pretty good about continuing to nurse EJ throughout this phase.  Plus, when I was nursing Little A I was in the best shape of my life, so I know it’s doable.  If I ever do feel like my supply is dropping I’ll go down to 1 workout a day.  Once I’ve got a few months under my belt I may write a post about working out while nursing because I know some moms struggle with this.

And that’s my postpartum health and fitness plan.  Add in wakeboarding once a week, and the days at the park chasing Little A around plus our family walks and I think I’ll be feeling pretty good about my body in the next few months. 

What are you doing to get in shape these days?