30 Day Postnatal Challenge-Week 1

If you were not aware of what happens to your stomach after having a baby, I'm here to tell you that it can be rough. I loved being pregnant and in fact thought I looked super cute while pregnant. I was very lucky and had very very little swelling (only in my feet once) and only gained weight in my stomach. Throughout the pregnancy my goal was to not gain more than 30 pounds and the last week I hit 30 pounds.

Watching what I ate wasn't a huge priority for me, but I also didn't splurge. The "I'm eating for 2" mentality is not accurate and can be very unhealthy. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of times where I had an extra slice of pizza or another cookie or two just because I wanted to. Also, I don't think I had ever eaten fast food so much before.

The key for me at not gaining a ton of weight was staying active. I coached our Varsity Girl's Volleyball team which kept me active through week 37. I even continued to do little hops when spiking the ball at them until week 30, but still would rally back and forth with them during drills until the very end. This helped not only with my weight gain, but prevented me from getting swollen. Another thing that is a must throughout pregnancy is a pair of comfortable, sturdy shoes.

Within a week of having the baby I lost 20 pounds (one of the perks to having an almost 10 pound child), but have not lost the last 10 pounds to get back to pre-pregnancy weight. In my case, I would like to lose a little bit more than that to get back into better shape. After my 6 week postpartum checkup and I got the thumbs up from my doctor to be active again I decided to get myself back into shape. As a coach I hated being limited in what I could do with my players. So, I am getting back into volleyball shape so I can keep up with a bunch of teenagers.

My original plan was to attend regular classes at a local yoga studio because I've never been in better shape than when I went to regular vinyasa yoga classes. Unfortunately, I can't afford to do that--babies are expensive! So, I began to peruse youtube for free postnatal yoga. I came across a 30 day Postnatal Challenge by MomsIntoFitness. You just have to sign up for it here and they email you the calendar with youtube links. Most of the workouts are about 30 minutes 5 days a week and 2 rest days.

I started this challenge on Tuesday, January 12th. My plan is to post at the end of each week my progress and what I think about it so far. This will also give me some accountability to actually complete it. If you would like to follow along with me, I'd love to hear about your progress too. Even if you didn't have a baby, this is a great way to start off the year getting healthy after indulging over the holidays.

After the first week for me, I started off strong. I was really enjoying being active again and enjoyed the modifications since I was just getting started. They suggest using weights, but since it's been so long for me I chose to not do any weighted exercises. My biggest confusion was with the cardio days. She has you bouncing around keeping your heart rate up, but if you're breastfeeding like me you either need a very good sports bra or hold those puppies down! By day 5 my body was exhausted. I wasn't able to do much at all after 5 straight days of exercise. My body was so sore I really enjoyed my 2 days off.

What worked for you post pregnancy? What is your favorite way to workout?