I have to admit, I was unprepared for the “aftermath” that is my body right now. Yes, I find my body beautiful for what it did. I carried two babies full term and managed to gain the same amount of weight (40lbs) as I did with my singleton. (There will be lots of exact number in this post. I am using this post to make myself accountable for my goals so if numbers make you uncomfortable, you might want to skip this one). So, as I was saying, yes I do love my body for what it did. I am a rare unicorn that had two kinds of birth within the same hour (vaginal and true emergency caesarean). I love that I kept my babies safe in my womb and I am not ashamed of my current body. I will say that again so that perhaps I will believe it this time. I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THS POSTPARTUM BODY! I truly loved my naked pregnant body. It was amazing to me and beautiful….the hills and valleys that made up my baby bump were truly a marvel. And there is something so sweet about bulges that have babies beneath the surface. But what happens once those bulges deflate? You are left with what appears to be, well, a deflated balloon of a belly and while that is not the ideal, that doesn’t really bother me as much as the areas that are still, well, inflated. So while I love and appreciate my body and all it has done, I would like to fit into my whole wardrobe eventually so I decided that if this is even a possibility, I need to commit! Here are my stats for the whole cyber world to see. (all about being accountable for me).
Prepreg weight: 132lbs
Current weight: 138lbs
Goal weight: 130 (ambitious, yes but I was able to lose 10 extra pounds after Elijah so I am just aiming for two this time!)
So what is the actual plan? Well here it is!
1. Modified crunches (150/day working up to 300). I have a condition called Diastasis Recti which is separation of the stomach muscles. This is common in twin pregnancy and mine is pretty moderate but something I would like to go away eventually. You have to be careful with what abdominal and core exercises you do because many make it worse. My crunches are basically me laying down with my legs stretched out flat on the floor and curling my head to my chest then back down.
2. Squats (150/day working up to 300). This exercise has replaced kegals in the natural birth community and I am glad cause I HATE kegals! This is suppose to help strengthen the pelvic floor….very helpful when dealing with incontinence…another surprise this postpartum body. I never had this problem with Elijah but for some reason I am having a really hard time with this now and it is very frustrating. It seems to be worse when I get stressed or irritated like if I have to holler at Wrigley for going after Elijah’s food, I pee myself. Not fun. I am really hoping these squats pay off eventually but the good news is the benefit is twofold because they are also great for your legs!
3. Walks. I try to get out with the kids for 45 minute walks most days. This will get harder as it gets hotter but we do our best
4. Signing up for an end of summer 5K. This give me a goal. I will run a 5K by the end of the summer. I ran one once before and actually placed 3rd for my division. This time my goal is just to run it in under 30 minutes. Then maybe I will try a 10K (something I have NEVER done!). Chip has agreed to help me train for this and maybe do it with me so I am looking forward to lots of 20 minute runs in the evenings when Chip gets home from work.
Well, there you have it. I am always open to suggestion that would help meet this goals so if you have any, please feel free to share! To close, I am going to share my photos of where I am at right now as well as a fun one of where I started.
Love my pregnant body
I’ll check back in in about a month!
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