Post-Baby Body

So today I’m going to do something I have never done in the history of this little blog, share my opinion on fitness/weight/body after baby and the like. Single girls, this post is not for you. Sure, you can pin it or bookmark it in some hidden folder on your desktop to dust it off one day, but I want to be clear that all the body crazy comes after baby, and well, I don’t want to scare you. You see, I don’t even really remember what my pre-baby body was. Sure I have photos to look back on, but it’s as if I’m looking at a strange sister that never really existed. It’s almost four years to the month that I got pregnant for the first time, and sometimes I can’t even remember what tight skin on my tummy felt like or a time when I could get up without my lower lumbar area in pain (diastasis recti can do that to a girl). The other day I held up a pair of size 25 Hudsons and just chuckled and threw them in the will-sell-on-Instagram-bc-its-never-gonna-happen-again pile.

What I’m about to say might not be the popular choice. You might disagree with me. You might even be inclined to give me your unsolicited nasty opinions in the comments. Because after all, weight and our bodies are a sensitive issue. But let me warn you that you will be wasting your energy and the taps of your finger bc I reserve the right to delete any nastiness from my comments. Ok, let’s go.

Whenever I am searching on the internet or scrolling through Pinterest searching for post-baby workouts or meal inspiration or reading up on post-baby bodies, I see two types of moms. The “already insanely in-shape, all up in my face, beasting their workouts and surviving on a diet of kale” wonder-moms. Or the “my body is beautiful and created a life I’m just going to own my lumps and lay on the couch and eat Cheetos forever” types. I’m here to say I want to live in the space in-between. Maybe there isn’t a lot out there on the “fairly in-shape working towards a hot body” mom because it’s boring to read about, or perhaps I’m just looking in the wrong places.

This post is for the moms out there who are proud to be working towards a better and healthier version of yourself. You’re not ashamed to say you aren’t 100% pleased with your current level of fitness, and you aren’t afraid to give yourself some grace and eat the pizza or order the cheese dip. So if you want to be fit, have energy, lose a couple of lbs and look as damn near close to your pre-baby body as humanly possible, then sit down and stay awhile.

I don’t care about how much I weigh because your weight doesn’t necessarily indicate health, muscle tone, or overall fitness. Honestly, I think your weight doesn’t matter one bit. Sure it can be an indicator of health, but there are skin calipers and body fat analyzing scales for that. All weight does for me is let me know exactly how many people can fit into an elevator before I need to start having a panic attack. If you’re going to care what you look like, you should care about inches, not lbs. After all, inches are what lets you fit into those skinny jeans and what makes you look like you weigh less and are toned. You can be little and muscular or big and fluffy and still weigh the same. I choose little and muscular every day of the week.

I want to be fit, toned, and able to run 3 miles (run not jog) without feeling like I’m dying. I want to have hard abs again and feel great playing with my kids at the beach and not worrying about all the extra skin hanging around. Judge me if you want to, but I feel good when I look good, and I’m not afraid to say it.

So this is where my for real #BodyAfterBaby journey begins. Enough being lazy about it and being semi-motivated. I’ve paid good money to kill my fat cells, and now I need to back it up with a little hard work. I’m going to get serious and attempt to overhaul my fitness routine and body by Memorial Day completely. Yes, I am aware that it is six months away, but I want this to be a complete lifestyle change and not some fad diet or cleanse. And I want to do it while still living my life and not being an obsessive crazy person. Here are my tentative goals:

• To make working out a priority. That’s starting by forcing myself to get up early, and workout before my family gets up because that is truly the only time I have for myself.
• To be serious about tracking my caloric intake. And not just calories but, more importantly, macros. My daily macro goal will be to eat 40% of my calories from protein, 30% fat, and 30% carbs. I am going to eat as many natural ingredients as possible but also let myself live a little with two cheat meals a week. I say two because if we go on a date, and then go out with my girlfriends or go out with our friends, I want to have some prosecco and cheese, ok? Or maybe I will have a bad day and need some nuggets so that nobody gets hurt.
• To run a half marathon or do a sprint-tri sometime this spring. This sounds daunting, but I strangely like the idea of making myself do something that I hate (running) to get back in shape. I feel like I will have that much more satisfaction post-race when I’m all, “that was the worst thing I’ve ever done, and I did it anyway.” More on if I regret this later. Please send all your pointers.
• When I’m not working towards conquering this run, I’ll be doing my Nike Training App, Kayla Itsines workouts, or follow videos from Emily Skye.

And what is the point of starting a new fitness journey if you can’t look good while doing so? Here are some items on my fitness apparel wish-list.

If you have any running tips, favorite workout gear, playlists, or healthy recipes, please put them all in the comments! I need all of the help I can get.