Getting Myself Back.

As any woman who's had a baby knows, pregnancy wreaks havoc on your body. Unless you're super lucky, after giving birth you still look pregnant for several months and everything seems to have moved south over the previous year. I think it's very much like adding insult to injury to have to take care of a brand new baby while also feeling really crummy about yourself. You battle with yourself every day over the comfort (and mutual embarrassment) of wearing your old maternity clothes verses trying to squeeze into your pre-preggy clothes that seem to have shrunk since you wore them last. For months after Oliver was born our bed was constantly covered in clothes I'd pulled out of the closet, tried on, and then discarded because they were too tight or looked awkward on me. Once I was fully recovered from my c-section I decided enough was enough; I absolutely refused to go on hating myself when there was something I could do about it.

For half of March and all of April I trained to run a 5K, starting very slowly - I'd jog 30 seconds at a time, then walk two minutes. That little bit of exercise was about all I could do at that point, but I felt myself getting stronger every day and stuck to my routine almost perfectly. Like I posted about before, at the end of April and beginning of May I ran two 5K races. Unfortunately after that my notoriously unreliable knees were pretty much shot.

Luckily by that time the baby was pretty regularly taking decent morning naps, so I decided I'd just start working out at home while he slept. Here is my weekly routine.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday:
- 30-45 minutes on the elliptical machine (SO glad I bought this a few months ago. It's saved my life AND my knees!)
- 100 crunches, alternating between centered and side crunches
- 100 glute kick-backs and glute knee raises


Tuesday:
- P90X Kenpo
- P90X Ab Ripper X or Winsor Pilates Glutes & Thighs

Thursday:
- P90X Arms & Shoulders
- P90X Ab Ripper X

Saturday:
- P90X Yoga (Believe it or not this is the hardest workout of the week. I'm SO sore the next day.)


When Sean and I are watching tv at night I'll also do extra arm, glute, and ab work.

Between exercising daily and eating a low-calorie vegan diet I've been able to lose an average of 2-4 lbs. a week. It's so motivational to see the number on the scale continue to drop, and it feels even better to start fitting back into my pre-pregnancy clothes. I've still got about 17 lbs. to go to get to my goal weight (7 lbs. to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight), but I know I'll be able to quickly meet my goal by sticking with my plan.

I think sometimes - especially as a mom - it's easy to put everyone's needs before your own. It feels selfish to take any time for yourself when your kids and house are in need of constant attention. However, it's so crucially important that us mommies take care of ourselves too. I love this quote from Dr. Phil:

"The best thing you can do for your kids
is take care of their mom."