Hi friends!  Happy Friday!  I haven’t been taking many food photos recently because everything I’m eating is for the top-secret special project I’m working on.  I also don’t have much in the way to share for favorites this week, so I thought this would be a good time to have a little chat about postpartum fitness.  Had I planned to do this update I would have gotten a better picture of me then this random IG stories photo from yesterday.  But I didn’t.

The answer was no. I did my workout at 9 am and showered at 8:15 pm. 

Postpartum Fitness At 7 Months 

 I shared a lot about how I was doing with fitness in my fourth-trimester postpartum updates, but it’s been four months since then.  I thought now would be a good time to do an update because I’m just now starting to feel strong again.  I’m modifying movements less and finally able to do core workouts.  I’m not sure if I had/have any diastasis recti, but I do know that until about a month ago, core work gave me stabbing pains in my abdomen.  Not like a normal sore workout pain, like stabbing weird pains.  

Aches & Pains

As far as workout pain goes, I’ve had my fair share of common aches and pains that I’ve been able to work through.  Hip pain, knee pain, shin pain, SI joint pain, shoulder pain, weird wrist/hand pain, etc.  … I’ve gone through enough physical therapy in my life. I can usually put together a set of rehab exercises and work through whatever it is in about a week or so.  (Maybe I should get my corrective exercise cert?) Recently I’ve had some weird, shocking pain in my right shin that has stumped me. I might have to see someone about that because it’s so strange.  It’s more annoying than painful, but I still want it to go away so I can keep on running!  I’m still loving our home treadmill and mostly do Aaptiv workouts on it.  

I kind of feel that in some ways pregnancy kind of “reset” my body.  I’ve just felt so much better in my workouts than I have in years and I’m more in tune with what my body is asking of me.  I’ve been able to complete exercises I used to be too scared to do, with no issues.  I have a ways to go to regain the strength I had a year ago, but that excites me more than anything.  

Weight Loss

I don’t workout purely for aesthetic reasons, but they are part of my motivation.   Right now I’m just about at my pre-pregnancy weight, which was about 10lbs higher than my normal weight.  It’s kind of hard to talk about weight as a Dietitian blogger because of the overwhelming movement towards intuitive eating and body acceptance kinds of shuns weight loss goals as a bad thing.  I think this is a beautiful movement, but I don’t have a problem with weight loss goals.  Just because I want to lose a few more pounds and be more confident and comfortable in my skin does not mean that I’m body shaming myself or don’t love my current self. I love my body, and I’m damn proud of it for what it’s done (grew and birthed a human.)  

Making The Most Of My Time

I share my workouts every week, so you guys know what kind of exercises I’m doing. In general, though, I’ve been sticking to 20-40 minute workouts including warm up and foam rolling.  I try to make each of those minutes count.  If I’m feeling overly tired or too sore, I skip a day because I don’t have the time to half-ass a workout.  I need to make the minutes count because the baby could wake up at any moment and I’m wasting valuable nap hours that I could be doing a million other things during (working, cleaning, sleeping, etc.)  

So that’s my update for now!  I’d love for you to share about your post-partum fitness journey in the comments!  

Workouts This Week

Fri (5/24) 

3 sets

• deadlift x 8 (#35)
• Arnold press x 12 (#30)
• pullovers x 12 (#25)

3 sets

• Chest press x 12 (#50)
• hammer curls x 8 (#40)
• leg curls stability ball x 15

3 sets

• skull crushers x 12 (#24)
• 60-degree bicep curls to hammer curls x 12 (#24)
• leg raises x 10 

Sat (5/25)- I did a workout similar to this by subbing kettlebell swings for deadlifts with an upright row. 

Sun (5/26) –  OFF

Mon (5/27) – 

3 sets

• Incline chest press x 12 (#50)
• dumbbell rows single arm x 10 (#25)

2 sets (forgot to write down weights and reps)

• rear del flies 
• lateral raises
• KB Single Arm farmers carry

3 sets

• rotational curls x 10
• dips x 20
• reverse crunch x 20

Tues (5/28) – OFF

Wed (5/29) – OFF

Thurs (5/30) – 2-mile run + aaptiv HIIT bodyweight workout