Where's my body after baby?

It's been 4 months since I had my 2nd baby, Yay!,  but I haven't lost anything after the initial 20lbs most moms tend to lose right out of the hospital. "What?!" you say.  A Personal Trainer who hasn't lost baby-weight and who doesn't look PERFECT and back to normal mere months after a baby? I'm so guilty of scrolling through newsfeeds and seeing these fitness people who've had babies around the time I did and they are SO lean, and skinny and bounced right back...or worked super hard to get there, buckling down right out of the hospital.  Well, I didn't....and it's for a few good reasons....  (besides the fact that I'm human!) ((My "before" is at the bottom,,,if you're wondering))  Here are my reasons:

1) Healthy adrenals/thyroid. I had adrenal fatigue just over year ago...right before I got pregnant, and that can come from stress on the body. Having a baby is stressful on the body enough, but pressure to lose weight is stressful emotionally, and eating in a caloric deficit (to lose weight) is a stressor on the body. I want to keep a healthy body, hormones and mind and not "dieting" is the best way to do that for me.

2) Milk supply. I had a great milk supply last time and I do this time too but I'd like to keep it that way. So eating in a healthy range, and in a surplus of calories can help that. It's usually established by 6 months, about the time I'll start "cutting" fat.

I'm using those last two as reasons for this one-

3) Building muscle. You cannot build a lot of muscle if you're trying to lose weight (and many will say you can't do it at all while losing body fat, but I'm not here to debate this). I am already a "hard gainer" when it comes to muscle, so that means I need to eat a lot to gain some muscle. I figured, why not use the excess energy I have stored from pregnancy in addition to the excess calories I want to eat, to stay happy and healthy and to build some great muscle going into my next competition...it works out perfectly!

Top is 1 month PP, bottom is 4 months PP

 NOT trying to lose weight after having a baby is such a weird thing... it's always in our heads, in our faces and in our fat cells  that we need to lose it fast and bounce back and get our pre-baby body back.   What about this; how many moms do you know that have thyroid problems? or adrenal fatigue (linked to thyroid or eventual thyroid issues)?..... What if it's not only the stress of a pregnancy, labor and delivery, recovery, a baby, work, life, husband and on top of that we have to look PERFECT in 3 -6 months ...that is leading to the thyroid issues many moms have?  But this is a whole 'nother blog post, I'll get to sometime.

I am at my heaviest I've ever been...I'm lucky and I'm a genetically naturally thin person, but I also can gain weight...just ask my pics from the days I lived in Europe! (over-indulgence anyone?).
         I did lose weight initially, like most do, but then when I began on my goal of building muscle I gained some weight...as happens sometimes because you increase your calories to build muscle.
Mine also went up because I'm nursing and that's what my body does (it did it last time too...6 months later I was way bigger than 6 weeks postpartum :( ). I gain weight when breastfeeding and, guess what, so do many others! They just don't tell you that...it's a secret...you might gain weight when breastfeeding...I did, Google it, you'll find you are in the company of many here.   That, too, is a whole 'nother blog post.

       Anyways, I'm here to say that it is frustrating to have not gotten back to my normal walking around weight by 4 months simply because I know people are watching for it. When I'm getting dressed and I have zero pants that fit it's maddening. When I have no underwear that's comfortable it's sad (tmi??.. sorry.) But then my loving husband says "You know why it's like that, you have GOALS...you'll be back to YOU in just a few months." And I love that he understands. And that he takes me shopping while on vacation at the beach to get all new summer clothes :) (now that's love! Or that's him trying to get me to stop whining about my jeans...)

This is where I started, my "walking around"

             And he also is a realist, he reminds me that I made this choice to do it this way and I can't complain...he's so right... and really, I'm not that much far off from where I began, I'm in a place many would love to be. But I'm gaining muscle (love those GIANZ coach!) and I'm eating, not dieting, not stressing and having fun postpartum rather than restricting and I'm enjoying my baby and family. I still eat on "plan" according to what's healthy and what my macros are for my current goals and body but they are HAPPY macros (thanks to my coach from All or Nothing Fitness!)...because I get to eat and fit in all that I want to. So here's to being postpartum...and being happy with whatever place in life you're in.

In the end, don't compare yourself to me, or any other pregnant or postpartum woman out there. You are you, you have your own genetics and your own life to live.

*cheers* to all us moms out there.

Be happy and healthy friends!

After the baby bump...fit plan

The baby is here! She turned out to be a girl :) She went exactly 1 week past her due date, that was one of the longest weeks of my life! But Cecilia Crimm Howard is here and Gianna, Steve and I are excited to have her here. It's still a learning process for me, learning to have two kiddos around, but it is a fun one. In the words of Gia "having a newborn around is hard..." and yes, it is. But we know that time will fly by and I'll soon be able to put her down and we can be more free.

This is from 38 weeks, I went to 41!

Now it's time for me to get this healthy body back. It's important to be healthy as a mom. You have to play with your kids, keep the baby happy, bouncing and clean and you have to make milk to feed your baby...it's very taxing on the body and if you aren't full of energy you won't make it! It's also important to be healthy and fit for YOU. I dealt with postpartum depression last time and I know it had to do with my first snowy winter ever, being a new mom, moving to a new state, not having local support in the beginning and all of the other changes.  I had an active pregnancy last time, so that helped but with the winter I wasn't able to get right out and walk or be as active as I wanted....it was a very emotional and interesting time.  Then what did we do? Had another winter baby!

This time...my goal is to avoid the depression... I had an equally fit pregnancy (I chronicled it on Facebook and Instagram).  You'd think that would make for an easy delivery...nope. I did it natural again (I'm NO hero... I did it this way both times because i'm terrified of long needles in the back and pain meds make me out of sorts!) Last time it was 17 hours and this time...19 all ACTIVE labor hours...hard work!  So here is the 1 week postpartum pics. NO body/belly binding/wrapping and no exercise. Just GENETICS at work here:

1 week postpartum

Now it's time to work... What's my fit plan???    I'm back to the studio and training clients both online and in person so I'm jumping in 6 weeks postpartum. I also got an awesome sponsorship for my next bikini competition...yep it's happening at the end of the year! I'm part of Team All or Nothing Fit!! My coach waited for my go-ahead and now we've begun the off-season fitness plan that will help me build back any muscle I lost, and hopefully put on even more... then we'll begin a competition prep towards mid summer.  The one thing that is most important to me is my milk supply. I will not do anything to compromise my baby's health during this process. I will drink tons of water and eat oatmeal (though my supply is good for now, I will keep an eye on it) I'm not cutting calories since I'm not trying to cut fat, I'm building muscle. Once milk supply is established it will be  cutting time. I will also be doing protein powder, fish oil and vitamins (and a cup of joe for preworkout) no other supps at this time.....

I'm stoked to focus on building muscle! I may not lean out and thin down like many want to do right after having a baby, and that is going to be a tough pill to swallow, but I may do just that when lifting heavy. This is why I love fitness and lifting, it's like a science experiment, trial and error every time. You get to see how your body responds to your hard work and dedication and change it up as needed. Here's some pics from home, just a few days past 1 month postpatum:

I'm pretty sure it's a slimming mirror since it's at an angle in my room and I am a bit more flabby than the pics show but this is my "progress mirror" for now. I don't have stretchmarks (thanks mom!) but I've heard they can come later so we'll keep fingers crossed. I have been on my macros (protein, fat and carbs) for a good few days now and I worked out a couple of days but beginning Monday I'm all in, on plan, ready to see how to change my body. I expect to see the scale go up...with MUSCLE...so we'll see. I will post daily pics on Instagram and I'll update the blog as best as I can so stay tuned.

Physique bikini competition November 7th, 2015...there. It's in writing. Join me on the journey to change.

Pain in the butt...literally!

So I haven't posted in a while. Mostly because I need to get. it. together. and stop taking naps..lol. I need to workout, then I do a great one, and then I get tired and my back is unbelievably sore! So much so that I could barely walk a few weeks ago. I had some crazy butt pain (sciatica that was located smack dab in the center of my butt cheek, no joke) and lower back aching.  I have been seeing my chiropractor (shout-out to Dr. Showers!) and that has been nothing but amazing. With all the heavy squats and deadlifts I do I guess I (as many do) neglected the minor muscles in my hips and lower back. So I'm strengthening those all over again with some simple band exercises and icing regularly.

This is the eggplant...I love this color

But to relieve the pain on a daily basis.... I found something that has worked wonders. I'm on my feet all day, almost everyday. I'm up at 6am in the studio with clients, Monday, Wednesday and Friday I'm in the studio for almost 6 or 7 hours, depending on the day. If I'm not in the studio I'm trying to entertain my 3 year old by playing on the floor and walking around the park or our yard. And then I want/need to get my own workouts in...so yeah, long days on my feet.

This belly is growing (I'm into my 3rd trimester now) and wow, my body has changed. Every pregnancy is different and this one has given me more pain than the last. I have such lumbar lordosis it is painful (a curvature in my lower back). My abs and glutes were pretty strong to begin with so this is just a change from my pregnancy. (The stretching of my abs is a whole different story...wow has that been uncomfortable. But bearable since my doc says it means I was pretty tight to start :) )

As my Chiropractor put it "it doesn't matter if you were working out before or not, pregnancy will get you". There are Many things that working out before/during and after pregnancy can help, but not this! So what did I find? BaoBei Maternity support bands. After the first day of wearing it in the studio, I also did a normal leg/glute workout in the gym with weights...I was walking the next day! I was not even in as much pain as I was the week before when I wasn't even working out.

This one is turquoise, my fav!

I have worn it every day since I bought it and won't take it off. I have to say, that for me they may not be for running since I'm super low and it seems pretty heavy (I can even lift my belly! couldn't do that last time) but it works for my lifting, cycling and walking around the studio.
...check them out here

note *I bought one, they did not pay me to do this nor did they ask for a blog post..I just feel so much better with it I thought I'd share it with everyone :)

Half way there! Fit pregnancy update:

So this blog is about healthy lifestyle, and I said it wouldn't be all about pregnancy and so far so good...because I've been so tired I haven't really done much! lol.

Here's an update though. Just for the sake that I'm half way done and there are many pregnant moms out there who are curious about how it works, how to stay healthy and fit.

How I feel:  Extremely tired! My morning sickness went away about week 14 or 15, so it stuck around a pretty long time, but the exhaustion hasn't left. I'm just learning to deal with it now. I started out this pregnancy coming off a month of random stomach sickness that we were right in the middle of diagnosing (probably low stomach acid or a gallbladder issue...ruled out some other stuff already). So the sickness was pretty intense in the beginning and I think it was compounded by the other GI issues I was already having. Those are under control since I'm eating smaller meals and much more consciously of what I eat.

Workouts:  They are back. I literally took 3 months of very limited activity because all I could do was lay around trying not to throw up (but wishing I was to see if that would make me feel better).  Because I was already a bit sick prior to the morning sickness (see previous comments about GI issues) my workouts were already not as intense or frequent. I still got in 5 days a week but I limited them a bit.
     I tried running early on in the pregnancy, that was NOT comfortable! For some reason everything felt crammed in there and running caused my bladder to bounce (or that's what it felt like at least). So I limited that to just what felt good...and you all know I'm not a runner, I just do it to challenge myself randomly, so this was not disappointing in any way for me :)
       The weird thing is that lifting weights made me nauseous. How ironic is that? It was just frustrating. So I lifted till I felt sick and then I rode the spin bike for a while. Now that is gone and I'm back to regular lifting, and that is a good thing for my mood!

Weight gain: Who cares :)  No, really, I have gained weight. A lot from my personal perspective. But this happened last time too...it's mostly swelling, yay. About a pound a week is what I'm at (i'm 21 weeks and have gained 15-17 pounds). My dr. is cool with it, I'm not worried. I don't even like to look at the scale, the only reason why I know is because she told me how many pounds I've gained at my last appointment, which I sighed about but have moved on. I just know that personally it is not important for me to focus on the number on the scale because it's about growing a healthy baby and being healthy myself. I workout as I can, I eat healthy but don't count and don't focus on calories too much. I had weight to gain when I started and that has certainly been accomplished. I know that by leading a healthy life and pregnancy everything will be good to go when I'm done and able to get back to working out post-pregnancy.

How it compares: Well last time I worked out just like I do now. I didn't watch what I ate, I ate everything in sight (which was still healthy choices since I don't really eat that poorly to begin with) and I still gained the same amount and grew about the same pace. Here's a pic:

Cravings: I'm not really craving anything weird, mostly just meat for the protein. I think I could eat a burger every day! But I do feel that I want to indulge in things a bit more with the excuse that "I'm pregnant, so it is ok" just like everyone else. But I don't really indulge because I know that I only need 300 extra calories a day and that is just one simple snack. But I do want french toast All. The. Time. and I haven't even had good FT in years since I'm gluten free and it was always too dense.
Well, here is a great breakfast or snack or dinner recipe for flourless pancakes that end up tasting like the inside of french toast...delish!:
1 super ripe banana
2 whole eggs
cinnamon to taste

mash banana, mix in scrambled eggs, sprinkle cinnamon, spray oil on pan and cook like pancakes (keep the pan pretty oiled). Only put about 1/4 cup of batter in or they won't cook all the way through. Enjoy! they should be sweet enough with the banana that your don't need syrup, but you could add honey if you really need anything.

Fit mommy, fit baby!

Hi everyone! I hope Spring is going well and you're as happy as I am to be out of the cold and into the (already) sweltering heat! It makes me happy :)  Guess what?! I was a featured blogger on For Two Fitness! They sell some pretty cool workout clothes for pregnant moms but also provide great advice on staying healthy and working out. Check out my blog here!  Then stop in and check out the rest of their website.


On another note:
We just finished a "Spring into Summer" 6 week lifestyle challenge at the HeartStrong Fitness studio and the winners were announced!

All the final check ins done and the winner was announced in our private facebook group but I thought I'd let everyone know that Michelle Leaf was our grand prize winner of the Spring into Summer 6 week challenge! She has done amazing! Such a great inspiration!
*EVERYONE lost inches (and that's what we want...smaller and tighter!) 
*not everyone lost pounds but I always say it's not about the scale in the grand scheme of things  next time we'll change it up for the final results. But I am so proud of everyone who did this challenge and I hope you all keep up the workouts and healthy choices! Thank you!

This challenge gave me some grief a little bit. See, I always say that it's about the inches lost not what the scale says....but for this challenge sake, to make it fair, we had to do percent of total weight lost. This is an easier one that will be most fair across the board. I'm thinking I'll rearrange the way I do the next challenge because inches are certainly much more telling of body change than just the scale. I mean, I'm all about gaining muscle, and that's just what everyone did! yay!


Hope you have a happy and healthy weekend!