Welcome back!
I have decided to start a series of posts that are fitness based. I have frequently gotten questions regarding my pregnancy and postpartum diet and fitness routine. I started off my pregnancy at 176 pounds, and am now at a healthier 134. I wish I could say it was all luck; which some of it was, with good pregnancy genes (thanks mom) but I truly did work hard and put lots of research into taking better care of myself.
For my first post I decided to just list a few simple but effective things I do. These don’t even have to be for fitness, they’re just things that make me feel good. But they are things I try to do constantly and do help.
Get Inspired
How cliche, right? But how many people drool over the lithe girls of IG or maybe have a friend that you are envious of? I wish I could say one day I just woke up and was motivated and birds were chirping and dressed me in workout gear like Cinderella and that’s all I needed, butttt no. Humans are envious by nature, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re insecure. Use it as fuel, in a positive way. I remember I used to often say these words, “Pinterest makes me feel like shit about myself” and then laugh it off. But truly it did, I saw “perfect” people and thought I’d never look that way and then would spend all night pinning exercises and diets I’d never do. Sound familiar? There’s different types of inspiration for different times in your life. When I was pregnant, I wasn’t looking at skinny girls in bikinis and doing sit ups. I started researching different foods and what they do for your body and what kind of exercises I can and should do pregant. A fantastic fitness based person to follow if you are pregnant (or not, she’s genuinely a well rounded person) is Alexa Brown. She has great pregnancy tips but is also very open about her new mom body and her emotions. What inspired me? I knew who I wanted to be for my daughter; I wanted to be able to keep up with her when she was walking. I wanted to put good foods into my body when I was pregnant and then breastfeeding. I wanted to be at my ultimate health so I could enjoy the fun but short years of her childhood. Is that corny? Probably. But that was the first push I needed to turn my lifestyle around. If you’re anything like I was you have a Pinterest board filled with things from 5 years ago. Or follow people you don’t even have interest in anymore. So one night, I went through them all. I went through all my boards and just erased them and started over. Went through all my IG followers and got rid of the ones I’m only mildly interested in. So, basically I’m giving you a reason to sit and scroll for 2 hours. Find your inspiration.
2. Track it
Inspiration. Goals. Progress. Food.
I’m very visual, so I write EVERYTHING down. Marcus thinks it’s funny, but I really need to do it. I recommend the My Fitness Pal app for food tracking on the go. It gives friendly reminders, not in your face get out of my grill reminders; just occasional log in and track yo stuff girl reminders. I also have a composition notebook that I write everything I did/ate that day and details. I’ll write what I ate, and if I liked it, what could change. Same with what exercise I did; if I lifted weights I put the specific reps/weight and such. I also have a planner; and I live by it. Baby brain just turned into mom brain and I would probably forgot my name if I didn’t write it down. Some people prefer apps; but I try to be “unplugged” because I feel like everything is on the phone these days. Write down your goals, where you started, where you want to be. I do weekly and daily goals. One of my goals was to get below a 10 minute mile. I’m sure you runners are laughing at me, but I was never a runner. I was skinny in high school; but I usually walked the mile day or laid on the mats in the sun. I now run a mile under 8 minutes and every time I finish I am filled with pride. Your progress may not be physically evident, but you will feel the mental clarity and satisfaction immediately.
3. Drink Water
Once again, throwing some old school advice in here. But really, I drink a glass of cold water every morning. Before I do anything. I usually feed her first thing so I’ll have that glass finished before she’s done. It helps me be more of a morning person by waking me up and it jumpstarts your metabolism. Plus, if you (and you should) eat breakfast, drinking water before will help you realize you’re not actually starving and should eat a feast of pancakes and eggs and maybe a small family of squirrels. I also drank water everyday through my pregnancy. I was pregnant in the summer, and I felt large and hot and plain gross, but nice cold water helped. To be honest I used to hate water, I made myself drink it, and now I love it. Don’t like water? Put some fruit or mint leaves in it. Or just drink it because it is good for you. Try some watermelon; when I had horrible morning sickness but needed water and couldn’t hold it down I ate watermelon. Just drink your water, mmkay?
4. Shop By Recipe, Not By List
I can’t stress this enough. Especially if you are pregnant, and especially if you live with someone. I used to grocery shop once a month; I would buy stuff I thought looked delicious. When I was pregnant I made this kale/feta/olive salad with balsamic. The first few days I thought it was so good, the next week the thought of it made me want to puke. So I ended up throwing half of the ingredients away, unfortunately that happened often. Fast forward to after having her and having a few false starts of clean eating. I bought every vegetable, every gimmicky “diet” food. Basically, I bought everything. Then 75% of it went bad, my boyfriend got frustrated (with good reason) and it took him awhile to take me seriously. So, the solution? Meal plan. I decide on Sunday what we’re having that week. I will buy non perishable snacks and such in the beginning. But other things, such as bananas, kiwis, stuff I would typically snack on, I buy one at a time. Then, nothing goes bad and everyone is happy. Nothing is worse than going into your fridge for a green pepper you forgot you’ve had and it is rotten soup in your fridge. Food waste is bad, and also doesn’t help you keep on track.
5. Make a Routine
I live by routines. I love having my “chores”, I love my planner, I love the stability of it. So, when it came to the gym that was also a downfall. I had experiences in the past going to the gym, I would run on the treadmill until I felt like a winded wildebeest, then do some machines. Completely random ones too, probably some leg press, lat pulldown, and then some situps just to spice it up. No order, just wandering around. So I advise figuring out what you want to do. Are you trying to lose weight? Gain weight? Just get out of the house so you don’t watch Netflix 47 days in a row? I started the 8 Week Body Program. That’s a direct link to my board on Pinterest; there’s days missing because when I finished one I deleted it. This helped me see how far I had come and what was next. Everyday I screenshot that day’s workout so I don’t have to spend half my precious gym time on my phone looking like a total noob.
6. Get Over Yourself and Just Do It
Sounding like Nike here, but really. I used to think I needed nice workout clothes, or needed to enjoy my time, or just other random reasons to avoid any responsibility basically. Half the time I go to the gym, I have my 1 of 4 worn down sports bras and one of Marcus’ old shirts. They’re comfortable, and usually hide the obscene amounts of sweat I somehow produce. I had to get over my own inhibitions and fears of basically looking like an idiot and go. There tends to be lots of men who know what they’re doing at my gym; lifting heavy and in groups. In the beginning I was wandering around trying to figure out how to work these machines and debating if my struggle was worth it. It was. I’ve only had a few mishaps, (one involving hitting my face on a mirror after falling off a medicine ball), and if I can survive that and go back, you got it. If you think that you’re going to get made fun of; people are more impressed by someone trying to figure it out and help themselves than you may think. Or just put on loud music and pretend no one is there. I laugh at myself daily, because I mess up constantly and there’s no better solution than laughing at yourself and getting over it.
I am not trying to imply you need to be in shape to be happy. BUT it is science that the more you take care of yourself, the better life outcome. I am so much happier than I have been in recent days. I want nothing more in my life than to be able to give my daughter a fulfilling life. To me, that implies memories and experiences that need me to be in good health; mentally and physically.
Are these the most amazing pieces of advice you’ve ever received? Duh. Just kidding. But they are things I swear by. If you are trying to start fresh, or just need some new ideas for a current routine, or you have absolutely no interest in fitness at all these can benefit anyone. I will admit, I used to always read articles on how to “jumpstart your life” and would always roll my eyes when it didn’t tell me exact details on how to be flawless in the next 36 seconds. But baby steps, people. Slowly, but surely you will start to feel an immense difference.
Happy Friday, take the weekend by charge!
XOXO
Shayla