Postpartum Fitness

I’m officially four months postpartum and while I had hoped to write about all the things I am doing to stay healthy and fit while being a WAHM/SAHM to three children the reality is I am still working on finding my fitness. I always say that with most things it’s not that you don’t have enough time to do something it’s that you aren’t making time and over the past four months I haven’t been making time to workout out. So when I came across a list of postpartum fitness plans that I made months ago I thought it was finally time to share them and to actually follow my own advice. 

Listen to my body. This is the one plan I actually followed through with. I listened to by body during the first six weeks of postpartum and didn’t push my activity level. If I was feeling exhausted or any sort of pressure around my pelvic floor I took that as a sign to slow down and I did. I ended up with the quickest healing I have ever had and I really attribute this to taking things slow this time around. Allowing myself to heal. 

barre3 Online – 10 minutes/day. Okay so I re-activated my subscription at the start of this month and I have only done two sessions. So this is currently one of my top goals especially since I plan to attend The Mom Edit barre3 event in less than two weeks and I would like to make it through the entire workout. 

Find Mama & Baby Yoga Class.  This is one of those things that I think the time has passed. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a weekend class and since I am home with my bigs during the week I couldn’t attend a class. That’s okay though- can’t win them all! 

Daily Walks With Kids.  This is one that I feel like I am failing at the most. I really need to get outside and walk with the kids everyday (weather permitting). The fresh air, the time in nature is something we all need so this combined with the barre3 online are my two main focuses. 

Get A Gym Membership. Okay so technically I have a gym membership but it’s at my husbands works which takes me anywhere from 20-90 minutes each way to get there so I honestly just don’t go. I could go on swim class days but just haven’t – so that being said I should. I am considering getting another membership to a closer gym but I have my insecurities about this which I’ll share in a later post. 

So that is it. My November goals are to do 10 minutes of barre3 per day and walk with the kids most days of the week. I also want to spend more weekend time out in nature with my family. 

Health & Fitness Check-In | 11.16.15

Screen Shot 2015-11-17 at 7.46.54 AMWe are half way through the month, so I thought I would take a few minutes to update you on how things are going in the health and fitness department. I am a complete mixed bag of emotions on both fronts but I will start by saying things are moving in the right direction regardless of how I am feeling in the moment. 

Back at the beginning of the month I brought back the incentive program and I’m feeling a bit mixed about how I am doing this month. Just as I started the program, I got hit with a stomach bug and immediately following that a cold that has left me coughing, tired and extremely congested. That being said, my workouts have not been how I had originally planned. Neil is also taking on this incentive workout challenge and he is doing amazing with getting out for runs and going to yoga class and weight training classes and I am having a hard time not comparing our activity levels. 

The workouts I have been getting in are a lot of walks with the littles. I don’t think I mentioned this before but in conjunction with my own incentive workout I have also taken on the Hike It Baby November 30 miles challenge which is basically to get out for 30 miles in the month with your littles. So some walks I will throw them in the double BOB and off we go and other days we do a littles led walk/hike which means at a snails pace. So far we (the littles and I) have just over 16.5 miles and 722 minutes this month. 

The reality is I am feeling better and more active now but how active have I really been? I mean we get out everyday rain or shine, sick or well, but with being sick for the past 10 days I haven’t been active at the level that I had intended for this challenge. That being said I am reevaluating this months challenge. 

This month I was to do (at least) 30 minutes of activity for 21 out of 30 days this month. So far I have been active 11 out of 21 days with 14 more days to go. I see myself achieving this goal or even surpassing it but not in the way I had intended. That being said I won’t be taking the monetary incentive this month but I am not going to penalize myself either. 

Now you can see why I feel a mix of emotions around this situation. I feel like on paper I have been accomplishing my goals but my body and mind doesn’t agree. I am also considering that even though I haven’t been going out for a run or a class like Neil with how sick I have been this week that unlike the previous month I at least forced myself to get out of the house with the kids in spite of feeling like crap. 

So what do you think? Should I consider this challenge a wash and penalize myself? How do you deal with feeling like you haven’t accomplished your goals? 

Fitness Friday | FitFest 2015 from Title Nine #T9FitFest + Giveaway

title 9

Before Edith I never really felt like I needed a high impact sports bra and most of the time I wore just whatever I thought was cute. Once Edith was born this all changed because of nursing and because my boobs found themselves a entire cup size bigger. I can still remember that first run after having Edith; I only made it about 1/4 of a mile down the road before I had to turn back and put on a second sports bra. That’s when I knew I had to go shopping and buy something that would really support the girls. 
Title nine

Those sports bras I bought when I was pregnant with Edith worked fine until Alder was born. I actually didn’t go up a cup size but the band size changed so all of my sports bras were on the too a bit too snug side. That being said having a toddler and a baby doesn’t always leave time to go sports bra shopping so I have been either squeezing myself into one of my more supportive bras or wearing one of my low impact bras. That is until now. title nine #MyT9Portland

I was lucky enough to be invited to a media only Title Nine fit fest. At the fit fest I received a personalized fitting from a Title Nine “bravangelist” expert. First we went over what I was looking for in bra, what I thought my bra size was and we went from there. In my case I was looking for something for running that would hold everything in place. So after a selection of bras were chosen for me I headed to the fitting room to give them a try. 

I ended up finding a few bras that worked for me (one of them was the one above but it’s not the one I took home). Once I found my winner, the 2-In-1 Full-Support Adjustable Sports Bra (unfortunately in the mocha color) I went out and tried the bounce test. Now the bounce test was completely optional but I figured since I was there I might as well try it out. So I grabbed a jump rope, I’m not sure why since I haven’t jumped rope since I was probably 10, and I did a few embarrassing jumps and determined that yes this was the bra for me. I will say this I didn’t love the color option but the support was awesome so I went with it anyways. 

Title Nine #T9FitFest

I have to say thank you to the ladies working at the Portland Title Nine shop who were really amazing, so friendly and welcoming . I look forward to returning and stocking up on more sports bras and other cute fitness clothes/gear.

Title Nine will be holding FitFest events throughout the spring and summer that span cities across the country and include:

 Personalized bra fitting advice from a “bravangelist” expert

 An expanded assortment of bras

 Bras for sports, work-to-workout, everyday and date night

 A “Bounce-ath-a-lon” for those who want to put Title Nine’s bras to the test, with stations like hula hoop, jump rope, cup stacking, run around the block, hippity hop ball & burpees

Anyone interested in participating should RSVP at the local Title Nine Retail Location.

Visit www.titlenine.com for a full list of cities and more information.

WHEN/WHERE for the Oregon FitFest:

 June 3-4, 10am- 8pm

Title Nine Portland
1335 NW Kearney Street, Portland

 June 10-11, 10am-8pm

Title Nine Eugene
5th Street Market
296 East 5th Ave. #229, Eugene

Giveaway:

This giveaway is open to anyone in the US and will include a personalized fitting (either in-store or by-phone, depending on location) and one bra.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: Title Nine provided me with free sports bra as part of attending this event. I was not required to blog about the event, provide a giveaway or to write a positive review. I am just sharing this with you because I had a great time and I am excited to provide one of you with the opportunity to win your own sports bra!