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Before and
After Baby #2 |
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Before-Side View
Before-
Front
6 Months
After Baby |
The pregnancy pictures on the left were taken two days before I delivered
Kyle on April 15, 2002. They were actually taken late at night, a tired
mommy just before bedtime, with a little humor for my sister who lives
in Florida and had not seen me pregnant yet. At first I hesitated to
post them, being as they were not taken with the intension of being open
for public view. But then I thought about it and decided that while
they are definitely not professional glamour shots, they are true to
that moment, and that's nice too. I'm hoping these pictures will help
inspire and motivate both pregnant and non-pregnant exercisers and
remind us all that setting and reaching goals will happen if we
remain focused, committed, and determined to make them happen. As you
can see I was pretty much all belly and therefore my abs were my focus
while getting in shape for the last round of videos. During my
pregnancy, I gained 39 pounds, and had a few inches to lose in my hips,
thighs, and most particularly in my abdominal area.
I did not really do much fitness wise for the first 7 weeks after
delivery. This was special bonding time that I thoroughly enjoyed with
my newborn Kyle, and Eric, who will be three this month.
Once getting the clearance from my doctor, I returned back to work at 7
weeks postpartum with still another 15 pounds of baby weight to lose and
much strength, muscle tone and stamina to gain back. My abdominal
muscles were very weak and the skin around my belly was still very loose
and overstretched. My core area in general was very weak from the
natural anatomical stresses placed on it during pregnancy. The rest of
my body, while just about fitting in my regular clothes, had very little
muscle definition and overall strength. I started back with only my
regular weekly teaching schedule at first ( 1 Kickbox, 2 Body Pump, 1
Interval Class, and 1 Step). I modified very much of each class. After
about three weeks I was feeling much stronger so I pushed myself a
little harder in each class. At about 14 weeks post-partum, I decided to
add additional weight training to my program. I did one body part per
week in addition to my two weekly Body Pump classes plus I included core
training sessions of about 15 to 20 minutes each, two times per week.
Overall, I was pleased that I was getting much stronger in all muscle
groups, plus I was feeling good aerobically. But I was a little
disappointed with how slow my body was reacting to shedding the last 10
pounds of body fat. It seemed to come off rather quickly after having
Eric, but was hanging around much longer with Kyle. I decided that I
needed to really shock my body and came up with a plan. Since I was
already teaching Kickbox, Interval, Step, and Body Pump, I rearranged
these workouts to provoke a new response. The members were game for this
change so I spent the next 6 weeks changing many of my current workouts
into circuit style blasts. I created circuits by doing the following: 1)
weights with cardio, 2) high intensity cardio mixed with low intensity
cardio, 3) cardio, weights, high and low intensity all in one 4) all
weights high reps and moderate weight, 4) all weights, mixed poundage,
pyramid style. Wow, what a difference; not only did the time fly by, but
my additional stubborn 10 pounds flew off in a matter of 8 weeks.
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While these changes were in progress, I was motivated to create more
videos, and thus came up with the foundation for the Intensity Series.
After posting the poll to all of you and listening to your feedback, I
tweaked the workouts to reflect the majority of the requests along with
what I was currently doing in many of my classes.
By the time rehearsals started I had reached my pre-pregnancy goals and
lost inches in my hips, thighs, waist. I was also very pleased with how
far my core training had come. I tried not to stress about the thickness
of my core region because I knew that would be expecting too much for
this area of my body to return to pre-pregnancy state in such a short
time. It took over a year to get my pre-pregnancy waistline back with
the first pregnancy so I did not expect it to happen this time either.
Rehearsals lasted about a month. It was exciting to see the cast
members come in all excited about how sore they were from previous
rehearsals. Then they started noticing how their weight was coming off
too. By the time filming ended, we were all so inspired with how strong
and fit we had become. It was a feeling of true accomplishment. I know
for myself I had lost even three more pounds plus tightened up my core
far beyond what I thought was possible at this point in time.
As for my diet, I can tell you right after having the baby, I put no
restrictions on myself since I was still breastfeeding. It was very
important for my body to have adequate fat stores for the production of
breast milk. After switching to baby formula a couple of months later, I
still ate a varied diet and tried to slowly cut back on my noshing. When
we were about 8 weeks away from filming I got much more focused and
really cut out my snacking (except for occasional treats here and
there). I also broiled and baked just about every meal. My protein
sources, which I increased slightly, came mostly from chicken, fish, and
peanut butter, although I had red meat once or twice a week. This is for
no specific reason other than I enjoy these sources of protein. I
cut back on starches about 85%. I ate a lot more dark leafy green
vegetables, had a variety of fruits ( I favored the citrus family), and
increased my water intake. During rehearsals I was unable to sit down to
a meal so I would have a protein shake to hold me over until I could
relax and eat. My overall meals were small and more frequent so that
they were easy to digest. I never really counted calories but ate just
enough nutritious food to be satisfied and ready to eat again in about 2
hours. That about sums it up for me. Good luck everyone, and I hope you
enjoy the Intensity Series!
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