Tuesday, November 27, 2012

This mum is back in shape! My recovery from childbirth

Today my 2nd baby Alaric turned 6 months old!

And I am back in shape :)

Here is how it went for me.

I decided to enjoy all the good bits of being a new mum and give myself a bit of slack when things went wrong. A few tears every now and again, a fat tummy, and rubbish sleep - hey ho. Most the time they're lovely (my babies) and "most of the time" is pretty good right?

I took every chance I had to be active, I ate lots (of healthy stuff!), and I slept as much as I could. I followed my personal training programme devised by my Virtual Personal Trainer. And with support from my fellow Ready Steady Mums volunteers and members of Local RSM, I've had the motivation to stick with it.

4 days postnatal!
In LEVEL ONE of my programme I worked mainly on my pelvic floor, balance and activating my core tummy muscles. I did lots of breathing exercises and stretching to relieve stiffness. My babies and I went on gentle walks in the fresh-air and I made sure to drink lots.

I was getting to know my new baby and in a bit of a daze trying to figure out how to manage two of them, but it really made me feel good to get active and look after myself while I did. I'm sure it made me a calmer, better mother as a result.

I moved on to LEVEL TWO at 6 weeks postnatal, since I had had a reasonable recovery from birth and my GP gave me the all-clear to exercise. This was when I began proper exercise.

Local RSM in Oundle
I worked more on my core and started to introduce some cardiovascular work. There was already lots I could do out in the park with my babies in their buggy, and my local Ready Steady Mums group of mums kept me motivated, especially early on. A few of us were in the same antenatal class so lots to talk about and stories to share. It is such fun to get outside with other mums at the same stage as me and build up our fitness together.

Open-water swimming
On 23rd July I took on a challenge. On reflection it was maybe a bit OTT but I do have a tendency to get over-excited about things, so I did an open-water swim race (at 8 weeks postnatal!). I had stopped bleeding and made it for a few swims in the local pool so I decided to go for it. I took it easy, and the cold water was quite a shock but, but loved it. And the swim really helped me to start feeling like myself again...

By LEVEL THREE, for me at 10 weeks, I was doing more tummy exercises and my trainer gave me special sessions to work my thighs and bum - which were priority areas for me. My weight was going down naturally, I was still breast-feeding (a lot easier second time round) and staying quite active, so I wanted to focus on toning.

How to get a bum of steel!
I moved up to LEVEL FOUR after 13 weeks and by that time I was working up a real sweat when I exercised. The cardio workouts recommended by my on-line trainer got tougher. And in the park with my local group of mums I was joining in with all the more challenging bits of the workouts, including jogging. I was especially enjoying the "5 minute mummy tummy workout" by now.

My best way to shed fat always has been running, and thankfully I am properly back to it now. After my first son was born I suffered a minor prolapse and couldn't get back to running very quickly. In retrospect it reminded me to take things slowly and rehabilitate my core really carefully.

This time round I was back to running on 11th August and all's well. Netball began again mid October and life is good :)

I promised to share the before and after photos so here you go.
Growing Bump... Shrinking Mummy Tummy


NB If you want to follow your own version of a programme like mine then create a profile on www.readysteadymums.com and you can get started straight away after giving birth.

2 comments:

  1. You are looking absolutely Fab Katy!

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  2. Thank you Rhian! This belly buster photo is cool too... wonder who's
    http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/179498_326132997476014_686353785_n.jpg

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