It’s been an entire month since kicking my bottom into gear and getting stuck into my postpartum weight loss journey. I have started this journey at the heaviest that I have EVER been and feeling like a rather large sack of potatoes, weighing in at 107.8kg after Harper was born in August 2017. Yikes!

With all the fluid retention, baby, and everything else that goes along with pregnancy gone, my weight dropped down to 99.8kg, leaving me feeling very frumpy and wobbly with a bit of extra cushioning.

I’m a girl who used to frolic about in crop tops and high wasted jeans, but I’ve since traded that for leggings and baggy cover ups, which I keep reminding myself is only TEMPORARY, until I get to where I want to be.

At the start of this journey, I reminded myself that I have done this before. I have been in this exact place of wanting to lose 30kg, and that I will get myself to where I want to be AGAIN, but this time with a bit more patience.

I was completely aware that I had put on weight while I was pregnant, but at the same time, I was also in denial because I didn’t want to ACCEPT what needed to be done to get myself to where I WANT TO BE. The thought of being super healthy and exercising all the time for the next year just seemed exhausting and difficult to do with a baby. Talk about an EXCUSE of note!

This, my friends was an example of my demotivated attitude, BEFORE I had even tried to get myself going. This is also an example of previously setting myself goals and unrealistic expectations to reach before I was pregnant which I failed at a few times. Setting these unrealistic goals and failing at them created a dark space towards my attitude for what I wanted to achieve because I associated my weight loss aspirations with failure and not being able to achieve this. Not the healthies mind-set, now was it?

So, I decided to take a different approach. I started looking back at pictures of when I was in my best shape, and compared it to where I was at my heaviest. Comparing pictures of MYSELF and not someone else’s body really got me motivated, knowing that I have once been in the shape that I want to be in, with my OWN BODY, and not looking for inspiration from a fitness icons body, who might have a completely different figure to my body shape.

With my motivation now back in a place where it was about 3 years ago, I decided to give my postpartum journey a go – because I was ready!

I have started this journey with a positive outlook. Having a baby is a HUGE thing! Especially to our bodies, which REALISTICLLY isn’t going to leave you at your pre-baby weight a month after giving birth. My approach has become a lot gentler and balanced compared to my pre-baby fitness regime and so far, I am loving it!

How have I managed to keep myself going on this journey for the last month, you might wonder?

Well, I have allowed myself a little more room to breathe, and I have traded strictness for balance. Not only does it allow flexibility, but not having that huge target over my head of wanting to reach an unrealistic goal doesn’t put as much pressure on myself. Yay to realistic goals!

As for exercise, I am not diving into a hectic fitness schedule. Not because I don’t want to, but because I LITERALLY have no core strength after my C section. Boohoo! For the last month, I have focused on uphill cardio 4 times a week to try and strengthen my core. I normally try and get between 20 – 40 minutes of cardio in 4 times a week. This is normally broken up into 2 sessions a day as Harps can sometimes get restless watching me walk on a treadmill – I mean, I don’t blame her!

Combined with that, I am doing 2 to 3 sessions of bodyweight training a week of 30/40 min. These are basic and simple movements, nothing fancy. I am not doing any direct core exercises yet. I am still trying to figure out where to begin with that. My legs were killing me after my first few sessions, which made me realise how unfit I am. These simple exercises which are my best achievements now, were once my warm up. This motivates me to get myself back to where I once was.

Being a newbie in the land of mumming, I’m learning that patience is key to wanting to achieve my weight loss goal and that I don’t have the freedom that I once had to exercise whenever my heart desires. My exercising schedule has to fit in with Harpers, which can sometimes be a little tricky. I am grateful to be able to exercise at home, and to be able to just put harps on her play mat or bouncy chair in front of me while I get all sweaty.

 

JANUARY’S WEIGHT LOSS TOTAL

 I weigh myself every Saturday morning in order to eliminate the temptation of wanting to eat take out on a Friday (because let’s face it, that’s what we love weekends for). I know that there are so many pros and cons to weighing yourself, but I will be doing this until I have dropped around 20kg. After that, when I start looking into rebuilding my muscle mass, I’ll be going by measurements only.

This month, I have lost a total of 4.85kg, and I am super proud of myself. It’s been difficult, but I have been consistent. I have had bad days, but those put together with the good ones have got me this far.

I took measurements at the beginning of January and again in Feb to compare my results. I was in for quite a surprise when I realised just how many cm I’d lost in total.

The main difference was my postpartum pouch that hangs under my belly button -lovely visual, I know. This pouch has gone down -7 cm in a month, -3cm on my butt, and -5.5cm on my waist.

The purpose of this monthly weight loss blog series is not to be sassy with a “Look at me, I lost weight. I’m so fabulous” attitude, but it is to hopefully motivate some of you to also hop on this goal reaching wavelength and join me with pushing through workouts that you thought you couldn’t do, to feel yourself get stronger with each workout, to control your meals and learn how to indulge in smaller portions and to just smash one goal at a time.

I am super excited to compare my results at the end of Feb and to see where I’ll be.

Here’s to reaching our goals one day at a time!

Stay tuned for monthly weight loss updates at the end of each month.

Until next time,

Mycaila-Jade

XXX