So I'm back after a looong hiatus. What have I been doing? Working full time and raising my vivacious, precocious, hilariously funny son. Plus the usual committments.
Right before I fell pregnant with my second son exactly one year ago, I embarked on the Michelle Bridges' 12 Week Body Transformation. My husband and I knew that it was time to start trying for our second child, and I knew that losing weight would help me to conceive. With our first it took 11 months so I was prepared for a wait, plus I was confident that I could complete my 12 week challenge in plenty of time. Right?
Wrong!
At my seventh week of the program, having lost 10kg, I discovered that we conceived from our 1st cycle! Yikes! Exalted, I immediately changed to the 12WBT Pregnancy an Breastfeeding Plan but lasted only another couple of weeks as exhaustion and morning, afternoon sickness overwhelmed me. Ho-hum. Well I put on about 12kg during my pregnancy, gave birth to another beautiful son and here I am, back and committed again to 12WBT. But a few things have changed:
- I now have an almost three year old and a 12 week old baby who is exclusively breastfed
- I know that the 12WBT works
- I am fitter that the first time I joined even with a 12 month period off
- I am on maternity leave
According to: http://weightloss.answers.com/calories/what-to-know-about-the-calorie-count-for-a-big-mac-meal a large big mac meal is over 1500 calories.
On 12 WBT however, eating whole foods, fresh and prepared myself 1500 calories is suddenly too much food to fit into my distended stomach! Here is a picture from Google images of a healthier 1500 calorie meal allowance, spread throughout a whole day of meals and snacks:
But take it from me, the 12WBT are a helluva lot more appetising than that!
I love the recipes, I love the shopping lists and meal plans and I love the planning and organisation. I love that my husband enjoys 90% of the dinner meals and is willing to support me by joining me in eating the same thing each night (the exception being the addition of meat to his plate for any vegetarian dishes lol and he refuses to eat yummy lentils and chick peas)
My challenge is to fit the exercise in around my kid's needs. I am a morning exerciser. Yesterday was perfect. My baby woke at 4:45 for a feed and was settled back into bed by 5:20am. I was out the door by 5:30 for my run, back by 6:10 for ab work and cool down and showered by 6:30! Success! Husband and babies slept through the whole event!
This morning was not so great... baby's last feed was at 4am, my alarm woke us both at 6am. I settled him as best I could but was downstairs doing my warm up when I heard BOTH boys screaming at my husband from their beds. Poor man's man-boobs were not cutting the mustard for the little one while his brother just joined in because he could hear his little sibling. So I was back in bed feeding the baby in my workout gear by 6:15. That means that this workout will have to happen in the precious little time between 4 and 7pm when my husband gets home from work, the babies get bathed, fed and put to bed and we have some family time. BUGGER!
To be clear it wasn't all because of the breastfeed mis-timing. Having exercised for the first time the day before I was IN PAIN this morning. Ever tried to tiptoe with tightly strung hammies? Agony! I was tired as are all mums with the broken sleep that comes with caring for a newborn, and I ran into everything, bumbling around like a drunk until I'd had a drink of water and eaten a tiny apple. I then went downstairs and found that I'd forgotten to tidy up the toy room yesterday that doubles as my workout space so I had to silently put all sorts of signing buzzing contraptions away to clear a space. I hadn't retrieved my yoga mat and fit ball from upstairs since using them to labour with my recent child. In short? I was disorganised.
So organisation is the key. For future workouts to happen I will:
- Set up this afternoon after my workout. Fit ball, yoga mat, workout clothes, heart rate monitor, running shoes all laid out with a copy of my workout plan, my apple and my water.
- Express breast milk to have sitting beside my husband ready to go in case our little one is otherwise inconsolable and I'm off halfway across town pounding the pavement.
- Leave straight after bub's early feed if possible, or wake him for one before I go.
