Six months postpartum

Six months ago I was sitting in this chair holding a tiny, precious, bundle of life with a spare tyre for a waist and eager to shape up.  So much has changed in half a year.  Here's my subjective assessment of my progress in the flab mum to fab mum quest.

I've given up measuring my tummy and the only scales we own are kitchen ones.  I've realised that life is so different post-children and my body has gone through such changes that it does not make sense to be measuring and weighing myself in an attempt to look as I did before I became a mum.  It is better for me to look forward and get in shape for our lives now and in the future, to acknowledge and accept my changing body.  That is my small backlash against the myth that beauty is eternal youth.

Although still sleep-deprived (when will she sleep through the night?) I usually feel generally OK and have enough energy to keep up with the kids.  I get a few aches and pains, usually in my back, but nothing too troublesome.  My neck and shoulders were often sore after a day at work but feel looser now.  My limbs are strong and well toned from walking and lifting.  Under my wobbly tummy I now have some muscle although it is a far cry from a six-pack! 

I used to struggle to get to sleep even when exhausted but now I'm frequently asleep within 20 minutes of getting into bed.  My complexion is remarkably clear and mentally I feel alert despite the tiredness.  In short, exercising is giving me all the benefits I hoped for.  I look and feel better than I have for ages.  I just have to keep it up.  Oh, and I have some lovely new clothes...!

Workout wonder

An amazing thing happened yesterday: I managed to do almost an entire workout in the park without having to stop to settle or feed a baby or reassure a toddler that I am just running around a basketball court and not running away from her.    As a result I did the best workout for ages and am really feeling it today!  Thighs, bum, arms... Ouch!  I do, however, feel really good.  Maybe those exercise endorphins are still floating around or maybe I'm just pleased to be feeling fit.    Getting started with exercise and getting us all together to go out is at least as much of a challenge as the workout itself but now I want to do more.  Am I mad?!

Inspire a Generation

As the Olympics and Paralympics finish and those involved concentrate on the legacy of London 2012 and their slogan "Inspire a Generation", I wonder how I can do the same at home.  

My toddler is going through a phase of mimicking the words and behaviour of those around her.  She feeds, winds, cuddles and rocks her baby doll (sometimes it also gets told off and put on the naughty step!), helps me with the housework, pretends to cook, tries to encourage me to eat.  Recently I have noticed that she has also been copying me doing my exercises.

I've often heard that the children of active parents, particularly active mums, are more likely to exercise.  In 2008 an article in the British Medical Journal - Early life determinants of physical activity in 11 to 12 year olds - looked at the impact of exercise in pregnant women and mums with young children on the same children when they got older.  Unsurprisingly, they concluded that there is some association between a parent's level of activity and their child's.  There are, however, so many factors to consider, not least genetics, that to me it seems like a nature versus nurture debate.

Nature is unlikely to have produced a top performing athlete in our daughter, but I will nurture her enthusiasm for having a go by involving her in my exercise routine.  I'm pleased to see her trying to join in.  I want her to see that being active is normal and exercise is fun.  Why drive when you can walk?  Dance in the kitchen if you like the music on the radio.  Run in the park and see if you can catch the pigeons.  

I don't want her to be turned off sport, as I was, for not being good enough.  If we are truly going to inspire a generation, a whole generation and not just the naturally able, then surely we need to encourage the gifted and motivate the rest.  To me, that is the challenge in the Olympic legacy and the challenge as a parent.  We don't need to be the fastest, we just need to be fit and healthy.

Reclaiming my body (part two) and my mind

Sorry for absence this month.  I don't really have a good excuse, I suppose I have just been trying to catch up with myself.  

We're starting a big clear out and it was with joy that along with the newborn and 0-3 month baby clothes I was also able to pack up not only my maternity clothes but also the trousers I had bought a size too big as I grew into and out of proper maternity wear.  I'm not back to my old shape but I am back in my old clothes.  Hurray!

Talking to other new mums I realise that we all have little things that we do to make ourselves feel better despite the sleep deprivation.  One friend always wears a bit of jewellery, another puts on mascara each day.  I have nice pyjamas, try not to wear exactly the same clothes two days in a row (maybe every other day though!) and paint my toenails (three coats so it last ages and I don't have have to take off the varnish until my nail grows).  These small things help to remind us that we are unique, individual women as well as mums.  For me, this little effort makes such a big difference to my sense of self and well being. 

Baby carrier exercises

This week I thought I would share some ideas for exercising while carrying a baby.

We don't have a double buggy and so for the last four months I have been pushing the toddler and carrying the baby.  That alone is pretty good exercise if I keep up a decent pace, but twice a week I try to do an all round workout with other mums in a local park.  The biggest challenge in these park sessions is keeping the baby settled during our session.  

Usually she falls asleep in the baby carrier on the way to the park.  When we arrive I get the toddler out of the buggy, lie the seat down and try to transfer the baby from the carrier into the buggy without waking her.  Every time I fail!  She is grumpy about her rude awakening and doesn't easily settle and I flit between trying to exercise and trying to calm her.

To avoid this difficult situation I adapt some of the exercises and do them while still carrying her.  Here are my suggestions for a baby carrier workout:

• Warm-up by power walking (never run with your baby in a carrier as their little heads are not supported and will shake about).  I stick to power walking while pushing the buggy for cardio work too.   
• I find that the baby carrier reminds to keep my back straight and hold my tummy in when doing squats and lunges.    
• Lots of floor work you can do against a park bench, including press-ups, an adapted plank and supported leg rotations.  You can also do tricep dips against a bench. 
• I find upper body stretches a bit harder to do but try to stretch out as best I can.  Standing tall with arms above my head helps me to stretch out my back from the ache of carrying the baby.
• The baby carrier and the buggy can be good aids for remembering your posture, and therefore strengthening your core.  The buggy is also a good prop for balancing exercises when the baby carrier alters your centre of gravity.

The extra weight can make a workout that much tougher, so don't be too ambitious!  If anyone else does baby carrier workouts I would love to know how you get on and what exercises you do. 

    

Olympic spirit

We've definitely got Olympic fever in our family.  We went to see the torch go through our area on Monday and the men's cycling road race yesterday, the TV is on  all day and we're channel-hopping between events, and we have tickets for rowing, canoeing and synchronised swimming.


The thing that really inspires me about all the athletes is their discipline, endurance, long-term vision and planning.  It is an attitude that I should try and adopt a bit more when it comes to exercising.  I exercise because I want to be healthy and I want to set a good example to my girls.  I can't really say that I enjoy it, although I do enjoy the benefits of it (social as well as physical), and so I can be easily persuaded to put-off a workout at home.  My reasons are mainly excuses: I'm too tired; I've only just eaten; I've got other things to do; I can't put on my workout DVD because my husband is watching TV...


Athletes don't become Olympians by skipping the bits of their training that they don't like and I will never be a truly fab fit mum if I continue to eat ice cream while watching Team GB instead of doing a few stretches.  Discipline, endurance, long-term vision and planning are words I could do with writing on a post-it note and putting on my mirror.  

The dress

One of my motivations for exercise was fitting into a bridesmaid dress for a hot summer wedding.  There would be no layers to hide under, I was going to be exposed in a navy blue summer dress with a fitted bodice and loose from waist to the knees.  Such a beautiful dress deserved a beautiful body and with the wedding date set for 13 weeks after the birth it seemed reasonable to set getting into this dress as a first challenge to be more fab than flab.  


I did it!  Unfortunately, with the busyness of being a bridesmaid, wife to a best man, and mother to two flower girls I didn't manage to get a photo, so here is one I pinched from someone else and a family photo from a few days after the wedding.