Post Partum Shape Up: Month 1

Fitness & Food

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This month was full of some ups and does in my weight loss journey, which is pretty typical of the first month of any new health plan. Overall I’m fairly pleased with the progress I saw (-2 pounds and -2.5 inches) but honestly, I’m just grateful for any kind of improvement! I can’t see much of a difference in pictures from last month, but when I wore this dress from Alice’s blessing again this Sunday, it did feel a little bit looser. Woot! My friend has also took up regular exercising too and has also started to lose weight. But whilst she takes part in her exercise routine, she has decided to use a waist trainer for workout to help her lose weight. I think I might give it a go too!

I lost just 2 pounds this month but I feel so much stronger than when I started. My exercise routine is by no means exceptional or even very regular but I make an attempt most days to do something. And I’ve gotta say, the first 2 weeks of starting regular exercise are always SO hard! It’s not until I start feeling muscles under my flab again that working out becomes even a little bit enjoyable. So if you’re new to a workout regimen and hating it, you are TOTALLY normal. I actually might be a little suspicious if you liked it. 🙂

May 19, 2017: 12 weeks postpartum

Current weight: 160
Goal weight: 140-ish

Current measurements: (last month’s in parentheses)
Bust 39.5? (40.5″) – Waist 32? (32.5″) – Hip: 41? (42″)
Goal measurements:
Bust 37? – Waist 29? – Hip: 39?

Successes: I had some really good days which sometimes included a trip to the gym where I’d run for 15-20 minutes and do another 20-30 minutes of strength training. But then again, some days all I did was 15 minutes of Blogilates Youtube videos while locked in my bathroom before showering. Those days felt particularly successful because they were the crazy ones where I had all but given up on any exercise.

My biggest success this month was starting back up on the My Fitness Pal app (a super popular calorie counting app). I started out aiming for 1800 calories (the app recommended 1200 for my goal weight but I added 600 for breastfeeding) but most days get around 2000. Even that is often hard to hit without going over; I bet I easily consume 3000+ calories when I’m not paying attention! Pretty eye opening for sure.

Setbacks: I went out of town twice this month which always equals no exercise and lots of restaurant food. No bueno!! I also had some not-so-good days at home: no exercise, eating mindlessly (for example: pancakes for breakfast, ham sandwich for lunch, pasta for dinner) with little produce and too much refined flour &/or meat.

 

This month’s goals: continue to write down (or track in the app) what I eat most days so I’m eating consciously. I also need to write down when I’m exercising because it doesn’t happen as often as I think! I’m sticking with a goal of 4x weight training and 2-3x cardio each week.

I also failed miserably at my 1 weekly treat goal, so instead I’m following a friend’s advice and cutting down sugar to 10 days a month. That’s still plenty of treats but it will get me used to saying “no”!

Ok, now your turn!! What goals did you hit this last month? Are you changing anything this next time around? I wanna hear!

Thanks so much for following along. I thought of this post often when I was tempted to eat ice cream! Ha!

UPDATE: See the end of my postpartum weight loss journey HERE, as well as links to my other progress posts!

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3 Comments

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