Post Partum check in week of 2/8

Hallo everyone,

a new Catheist joining the postpartum check in here! Shortly - had a little baby girl a few days before Christmas, so going 8 weeks postpartum at this point. My first one is only 1 year 8 months (girl also), so I'm definitely kept quite busy:) :) . Anyway, life is starting to slowly settle, I've been able to get back to exercising pretty regulartly which feels great (boy, did I wait for that postpartum check to get the green light to doing all those harder Cathe workouts that were waiting on the shelf for weeks!). So here's my workout log for week 2 of February.

Mon 9: off
Tue 10: Imax2 + PS BBA
Wed 11: Step Fit + Power Max section 3 + PUB Abs
Thu 12: Step Blast + PS Legs, Abs
Fri 13: MIC + Cardio Kicks + KPC Abs (I was really quite done after this one!)
Sat 14: Imax 2 + PS CST + KPC Abs
Sun 15: off

I was loosely following Cathes january rotation, though I did quite a bit of modifying there. Did a few really heavy workouts which felt great, but balanced them out with two days off instead of just one. Feels great to get your body "back" slowly, though I still wouldn't dare go near my swimming suit, even though weight wise I'm back to my pre-prego weight (I didn't really gain much extra).

Anyway, congrats to ya all, you seem to be doing great, workout logs look really good there!

Til later,

Maria
 
Glad to have you both join Melanie and Maria - Welcome!

Maria, I am blown away at your workout last Friday. How did you find the time to do all of that? Are you nursing your baby?
 
Yeah, I was pretty blown away myself by Fridays workout... and I don't think I'll be keeping such a pace up, but it was quite a nice one-timer!

Yes, I nurse my baby, but I'm blessed with (a second) baby that's quite a good sleeper. She only wakes up 1-2 times per night to eat, and sleeps really good in general (has almost from the start). I've managed to exercise in the mornings before everyone else wakes up (though it means I've had to get up at 5 am to first quickly "fill up" the baby and then do a workout, and actually get done at around 7-7.30 to be able to hit the shower before my husband leaves for work). Even though I've tried to go really early to bed (around the same time with my first-born!:) , I've often napped in the afternoons when (if!) I happen to have both of the kids napping at the same time (which can really be a challenge, by the way!). Anyway, I suppose it would be nice to have some "kid-free" time in the evenings, but then again I've valued this exercise time as my own time at this point even more, so I'll keep going like this as long as it feels good. It also feels so good to start feeling comfortable in your body again.

I have to say, I only found Cathe last fall (when already quite pregnant:), and I've never felt this great about exercising and living healthy in general before. As a matter of fact, I've never felt this okay about my own body before (or myself in general,I guess those go hand in hand). So I'm really valuing this exercising thing quite high at this point, I'm sure it'll "even out" as time goes by, which is okay. Now I have to watch it so I don't overdo it:D (never thought that would be a danger for me!). At the risk of sounding repetitious, Cathe really is the greatest!

Hee, got to go, but really nice to meet ya all, back later, and let's keep up the great work!

Maria
 
I have to admit here Marie.....your post "smelt a bit of CardioHo" from a while back so I was extremely skeptical to respond (and I wouldn't put it past this party}( }( }( and you know who you are :p :p :p ). BUT, I will give you the benefit of the doubt and apologize if I'm wrong.

If you are real, you are either in Cathe heaven, which I can understand, and doing her workouts like a kamakazee (sp?) post prego or you are really a distant relative of Aquajock, or lacking the brain cells to know when to quit (sorry AJ didn't mean to group you in that catagory intentionally). And I'm hoping that if you are real you will have a sense of humor and return to our post prego site :7 :7 :7 you're amazing and hopefully will be flattered!!

Briee (either getting ready to eat her words or shoot an email to the guilty party }( }( )
 
Maria welcome to our group. i too am amazed at your workouts . Makes me feel my workouts are not enough. And you are back to preprego shape at 8 weeks, wow! How much or how little weight did you gain?
 
Hi there,

wow...I don't know what to say... I suppose I should just be flattered...but I feel awful if I make someone feel like what they're doing is not enough!!! That's the least thing I'd ever want to do!!! I wish I could tell you what a long road to fitness and healthy living this has been for me, maybe I need to make up for all that lost time now. I also think that more important than working out any specific amount is that you're able to listen to yourself and modify fitness into your situation at hand. I just read this book where it was emphasized that it is much more common to make the mistake of doing too much, than that of doing too little. The point being that when you demand too much of yourself (which I'm in the danger of doing) you'll do "great(?)" for a while, but then suddenly get tired or fed up and give it all up alltogether. So in the long run it's much better to go easy enough, and you are much more likely to keep it up for longer. I know I can be too hard on myself, I feel like I'm cheating (which I know is ridiculous...but it's hard to get rid of) if I don't do this or that in given situations etc. So there really is a down side to this "great" workout log, and you should really not feel like you're not doing enough if you're not as prone to exaggeration as I am! You're the one that has common sense, and can probably keep going for longer! Please feel great about what you're doing, and even if comparing ones stuff to others should never be the point, you can still rest assured you're doing a lot more than most people are anyway!

I'm definitely a real person here, but yes, I've definitely lost it for Cathe videos...that's for sure...

As far as my preprego weight goes, I only gained about 15 pounds during this pregnancy. During my first pregnancy I gained about double that, and had a real hard time getting rid of the extra (I only lost about 15 pounds with the baby; I'm 5'4, 120 pounds, so 30 pounds was quite a lot for me). I know some people lose the babyfat really easily afterwards, but I'm just not one of those persons. I know if I hadn't gotten hold of myself now, it would have been to easy to just let go and not care about gaining weight anymore.

Kiddos seem to be wanting my full attention (isn't that always when you're trying to do something by yourself for awhile... someone gets hungry oa...) so gotta go. But once again, please feel great about what you're doing, it's really not about the quantity, less can really be more! I suppose the grass always tends to look greener on the other side, but belive me, it's not all peanuts here either... You're doing a great job, whatever more or less exercise you can put in at this point! Wishing everyone a great week, hope to be back soon,

Maria
 
Maria,
Glad we didn't scare you off. I think all of us on this board have pretty high standards when it comes to exercise and weight, often setting overly high expectations and feeling crappy when they aren't reached. Please keep joining our postpartum check ins , we were all just awed by that mic plus day.
 
Thanks shopaholic for your nice answer. I did feel kind of bad, and thought of not posting anymore, but then I didn't want to leave everybody thinking I actually was a fakey. Anyway, I've been reading this forum and totally admired everybodys commitment to exercise, and like you said, everybody does have high standards plus a lot of knowledge about fitness in general. I'm just happy I'm coming close to that level (like I've said, this is really a pretty new thing for me), just a few years ago I was very far from being anything close to an advanced exerciser (which all of you seem to be).

And besides, I won't be able to produce much of a workout log this week, so nobody needs to feel bad :) . I got this pain in my lower left side of the back haunting me again (too much exercise???), and stepping is really out of it. It's okay except for when I put pressure on it, so all hops and jumps are the worst. I'm seeing a chiropractor today, hopefully that'll help. So everybody, remember to be greatful for being healthy, it's so easy to forget that when all is well!

Maria
 
Maria :)

Maria--don't leave! We enjoy having you--I was simply amazed at your ability to do so much:7

Your injuries may be due to doing too much too soon. I can relate--I have a knee that does not like a lot of high impact, which is unfortunate because I do. I have to hold myself back.

I hope you feel better soon and please keep posting in the mean time--we are glad to have you.

take care
Maggie:)
 
RE: Maria :)

It's Briee here ready to eat her words :9 :9 :9 . And I did shoot an email to the guilty party in question and it was not (THIS TIME!!). So sorry Maria, Keep on posting, just don't kill yourself or we might feel responsible!!

Seriously, I've had some days when I want to do it all, but sometimes regret it. Then again, I've had some days where I'd like to do anything, and the baby calls!! I too have a daughter who is close in age to yours, she is 22 months old and to say she "keeps me on my toes" would be an understatement INDEED. When was your baby born? Noah was born December 23, just before Christmas (two months ago).

So sorry to give you such a terrible welcome!! Please forgive me, I'm really not always so skeptical (or such a jerk!!) :7 :7 :7 .

Melanie....so you got your IS DVD's!!! I'm jealous, maybe we can still workout a deal. Don't do anything rash, like sell your terminator on ebay, before checking with me. Thanks!!

Briee
 
RE: Maria :)

Hi Briee,

and thanks so much for your nice post. My little one (still "nameless, christening is on Saturday, and we're still debating over a few namechoices...;)) was born December 21st, right on her due date, so very close to Noah indeed. Yes, I totally agree, two this little ones definitely do more than just "keep on ones toes"!!!:D :D It's a real hassle at times, and thank God the baby is a good sleeper, I seriously doubt I would be anywhere close to this sane otherwise. How are you doing?

Yeah, I don't even try exercising when my husband isn't home, cause isn't that always when the hassle will begin...;)) And it's really irritating to have to cut your workout short in the middle of your best sweat. How have you organized exercising?`

Like I told, I had this lower back/foot pain, saw a chiropractor yesterday, so I have had to take a break from exercising this week alltogether. The pain seems to be caused by a slight asymmetry in the pelvic bones, which was most probably caused either by delivery or the pregnancyhormones loosening all the joints in general. And this crookedness is of course causing undue stress to specific single ligaments, muscles and/or tendons. But the good news is that it was easy to fix at this early stage, and it should be okay within a few days. This as a warning for all of you there, the chiropractor said that it was very common for something to go a little out of place during delivery or nursing. He said that the hormones causing this looseness are present all through nursing. The worst case is if they get a little crooked when the hormones are still present, but then nothing to this til after one has stopped nursing when the body "tightens up" again. Then it's much harder to get the bones to stay in the right position. So if you have any suspisions about something like this, take care of it as soon as possible. Even if it doesn't act up right away, it will be much more susceptible to injury.

Okay, long story there, but do watch out for any pains that could be caused by babyhormones, and take care of yourselves! I will join last weeks check-in soon (when/if I get a quiet minute here again...;)).

Maria
 
RE: Maria :)

Maria, sorry to hear of your injury. A good video that discusses exercise during the postpartum phase is charlene prickett's return to slender. she actually describes what you are talking about with the losening of joints. As hard as it is return to exercise slowly, sounds like you are in great shape so you probably only need a 45 minute to 1 hour workout to maintain.
 
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