After I had my first baby I wasn’t stressed about losing weight or getting my muscle back or fitting into my old clothes. I knew I wanted another baby in the next couple of years so working that hard to “get my body back” just to lose it again didn’t seem worth it. I still exercised and ate right because that’s the lifestyle I live and all the weight slowly came off but I still had a “mom bod” and I didn’t care.

 

After having my second and last baby I was so excited to “get my body back”. I know you aren’t supposed to say get your body back because you won’t truly get it back but I don’t know what else to call it . It had been over 3 years and 2 pregnancies, I was ready to get back into it. I started right away with kegels every night before I went to bed. I went to pelvic floor physical therapy after my first so I knew what and how to do them. I didn’t focus on walking like I did in my first pregnancy because I had a toddler to take care of as well. I was walking so much around the house I actually had to hold myself back from walking too much in the beginning. Once I hit 4 weeks postpartum I went on walks and hikes like it was normal. I also lifted some light weights that just engaged my arms while I waited for my abs and pelvic floor to be ready for more.

 

At 7 weeks postpartum I started going to spin class. That is pretty early but with this being my second pregnancy I knew my limit. I tried spin class a few months after I had Ryden and I loved it but I struggled to fit it into my schedule. This time I was determined to make it work. I picked the studio that was closest to my house and that had free parking so that it wasn’t an excuse. I figured I am so busy and tired because of my kids I wasn’t going to exercise unless it was fun and scheduled. Now I sign up for lots of classes because it is fun and I want to go and because I can’t cancel last minute I go to the class no matter what, even if I feel gross. If I go into class feeling gross I come out feeling better or the same but not worse. 

 

I am so impressed with Pace Spin Studio, I was a little nervous at first because spin classes are hard even if you go all the time and I had just had a baby. It was amazing though, they encourage you to follow your pace, they explain and preach that it is your workout and you do what is best for you. They encourage you to take breaks when needed but push you to your limit at the same time. I didn’t feel any shame for skipping an ab exercise or pressure to keep up with the rest of the class. In the beginning I did skip a lot of the exercises and struggled to keep up  but after 3 weeks going 3 times a week I started to be able to keep up and slowly started adding in more engaging ab exercises. 

 

I also started playing softball at 3.5 months postpartum. This was part of the reason I started exercising so soon so that I was fit enough to play fall ball. I felt pretty good playing, the first game I only caught(back catcher, this is my position) half the game to ease myself into it but after that I felt good. I just wore a pad while I played and peed a lot to keep my bladder empty. All the running and squatting is very hard on my pelvic floor and I would leak when it got tired. I learned from my pelvic floor physical therapy that it is very normal for you to start leaking as it got tired and because it just went through a trauma it got tired quick. During playoffs I was playing my fourth game that weekend so my pelvic floor was getting very tired and I had to pee so every time I threw the ball I leaked quite a bit. After the inning I went and peed behind a truck because there was no bathroom around and then I stopped leaking and could focus on playing again. 

 

As for eating I didn’t feel that now was the time to limit myself by counting calories to lose weight faster. My body is healing and I am making milk and I figured if I was hungry I should eat. I also didn’t want one more thing to worry about while taking care of a toddler and newborn. I made sure that when I was hungry I ate proper meals instead of just snacking all day. It meant I ate 5 full meals a day but I figured that was healthier than eating bagels and granola bars. I also ensured to drink lots of water instead of living off of coffee. Breastfeeding makes you so thirsty. I am still losing weight and getting fitter. It’s hard mentally to not be hard on myself about not looking like I did before I was pregnant but I just remember that it is a work in progress and I will get there. It’s just so frustrating that the results aren't immediate and my pre pregnancy clothes still don’t fit right.