Having a baby will sure put your body in check. Like, you are not in control – the baby is! I had a super rough go after my first baby and wound up WAY overweight and very unhappy in my own skin. With the news of “YAY, I Finally hit my goal weight and size” I got a positive pregnancy test…. like literally the next day!
So I decided to workout through the pregnancy, I tried to run with #1 but quit that as soon as I got to the point where my belly was bouncing with my run. Instead this round I did what I could and did low impact stuff and more muscle lifting and workouts targeting my arms and legs. It helped keep the fluffy fat at bay.
*Please ignore/excuse my silly husband – never a dull moment with him
I didn’t have issues with swelling this time around or feeling achy – just tired, very tired! But I seemed to feel better overall keeping up my workouts. Kept it light and basic but kept moving drank a TON of water.
*This is my hubby’s fav pic – this was us headed to the hospital for baby #2 🙂
After having the baby I lost ALL work-out motivation. I had c-section #2 (Jan ’18) and was feeling very down about having hit my goal weight pre-baby and now having to do it all over again. So I took a different approach – the first time around it seemed to help when I focused more on my nutrition than my actual workout. SO, at week 1 I started with my protein shake. I took 1 scoop of Muscle Milk (chocolate of course) and put that as 1 of my meals. As a new mom you need your energy and this totally did it for me! If I felt like I needed breakfast on top of this I took it light but ate some fruit or toast with it. The weight started disappearing FAST. And I wasn’t even cleared to workout yet, so I felt like I was getting a head start!
The pic above is me 2 weeks post baby – They do not tell you as a pregnant woman that when you get home with this beautiful bundle of joy, your body will still look like you have that baby inside you! I feel proud of this photo because it shows progress but at the same time it’s a real pic – I was post-baby and looked 5 months pregnant! This IS NORMAL! You will start to slowly get your body back!
I was on a mission, I wanted to get pre-baby weight! And for me since I hit my goal weight before the test meant a ton more work…. Getting back down to a size 4 seemed impossible. But I kept with my nutrition plan – muscle milk breakfast, avocado toast lunch, whatever I wanted for dinner (but smaller portions) and snacks through the day that were in the healthy category.
You can already see here that at month 1 My face started slimming back down.
In clothes I could hid my mom fluff already at month 2! The nutrition plan was working – as I had a C-section, I wouldn’t be cleared for working out until week 10-12. Which felt like sooo long but at the same time seemed ok because recovering from a C-Section is no walk in the park. Tip: WEAR YOUR belly band – If you had a C-section you get one in the hospital. Wear it! As long as you can all the days! You have to sit in a half laying position for it to be comfortable. And you can find a way more comfortable one online but the free (well the one you already paid for) one works just great! It will help slim! If you didn’t have a C-Section, GET ONE! They are amazing for pulling in the belly skin and getting the outside fluff in order!
By week 10 I was ready to start my workouts. I started slow: push ups (no situps), running (1 mile). The Key is TAKE IT SLOW! Do not burn yourself out! You over exert yourself in the first 1 -3 times you workout and you will have even LESS motivation to do it again! In the pic above I am wearing Zaggora hot pants – these make you sweat more when you work-out. These are my go to when I am trying to lose weight.
The next few months were just a lot of hard work – both being a Mom of a baby and keeping my motivation for getting in control of my body. I am here to give you tips and tricks on how I was able to fast track my loss but the fact of the matter is… You have to put in the hard work. I worked out 2-3 times a week. Most times I would do my standard, Run a mile – stop mid way and find a bench or a wall in the neighborhood I live in and do work mini workout (10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 wall jumps, lunges both legs – 3 sets of all) then run my 1 mile back home. I wasn’t pushing too hard but I was putting in the hard work.
By May I could wear a dress that I hadn’t been able to fit into since I was in my early 20s! I had the baby in Jan and by may I looked better than I had BEFORE baby #1!! What a shock to me!
I then added back in date night with the hubby – because this is VERY Important! Through out the years my husband and I have figured out that we need to spend time together having fun and not thinking about being parents. We decided to start having “fit” dates – where we would go and do something physical – like rock climbing or there is an Adult section at the Ninja Gym in Dallas (we took K to this one but we had adult time for part of our time). 
I also worked out with my baby! I want to raise both my kids to be strong independent women. Women that understand that healthy and fit are important and that they control that! 🙂 I LOVE working out in the mornings – most days you can see the whole family in the garage killing it in their own way!
By July I felt sooo good in my skin that I wore a crop top!! I am a mom of 2 girls…. and I chose to wear a crop top (which I have NEVER worn before) out in public! But look at that! I look pretty freaking good for having a almost 6 month old!
After 3 months I stopped wearing the belly band around the house and started wearing my “hot pants” or a sweat belt when I workout (I still do this). The one I wear is the TC1 with get – and you can look it up and watch it, it will go half off and they will send you a coupon. I got it for about $25 with the half off and coupon 🙂 This will raise your core temp when you workout – the area that is wrapped (the stomach in this case) sweats to the extreme which helps lose the fat layer faster. This also intensifies your workouts… There are days I am not feeling it and workout slow and this helps me feel like I went a little harder. And on days where I hit it hard it makes me feel like I sweated and went even harder! Which is never a bad thing.
Here is my timeline of progress. It is amazing how adjusting your nutrition and keeping yourself on a track can completely change your body. It can also change your mind, feelings better about yourself will make you more positive about everything! Don’t get me wrong, I have my days and my demons that get me but overall I feel good about myself and when I look in the mirror I feel proud of myself!
Here I am today – strong and lean as ever. Working towards new goals of toning and making myself look lean. But I still put in the hard work! Because we are Moms and I believe Moms can have abs too!!! I am still working on mine but they are coming along! You can do this!! You are your only obstacle! What are you waiting on?!
Steph's Lifestyle 