First off, I wanted to thank everyone for all the love and support I felt after my post yesterday on my AI disease diagnosis. I felt such a boost from all the comments and messages and texts–it was just what I needed!
With my recent health problems in mind, you can probably understand why my drive to lose the baby weight has been pushed to the back burner a bit. While mentally I’m raring to get back into full-on exercise again, my body just isn’t feeling up to it, so I’m definitely learning patience as I work through my current limits. Other than when I was pregnant, I’ve never had to really deal with limits on physical activity before, so it’s been an interesting and self-revealing process for me to see how I’ve handled this. Although I’m still hoping to be able to run in a race by the end of the year (hopefully at least a 10K), I know that I have to be careful going forward so as to not overexert myself.
It will be a process, I know.
However, I have been watching my eating habits much more closely this last month (since exercise was pretty much off the table), and I did *almost* make the weight loss goal I’d set for myself last post. But let’s do a quick recap first.
Last month, I set goals to:
– Lose 6 pounds
– Lose two inches off my waist
– Lose two inches off my hips
– Start back up into running and go out twice a week on some slow, short runs
– Continue weight lifting a couple times a week for about 15 minutes a time
– Focus not on counting calories, but in getting the most nutritious foods I can
– Cutting down my consumption of liquid calories (esp. from orange juice and chocolate milk)
Even though a lot of my progress was slowed down by my health problems, I was pleased that this last month, I could see some definite changes in my body. Not only has my midsection gone down quite a bit, but I’m happy to report that I’m finally fitting back into a few of my pre-pregnancy clothes! I am still wearing maternity pants (just because I refuse to spend money on jeans until my weight is more stable), but I’m slowly but surely finding my way back into more of the tops, skirts, and dresses from before. Woo hoo!
I’m also relieved that at the beginning of the month (before my muscle weakness started to really flare up), I was able to get my first postpartum run behind me. It was super short (less than two miles), but I was able to (very slowly) jog one mile without stopping at all, so I now have a baseline mile time to work with (12:44). Considering I could pretty easily run about an 8:30 mile before I got pregnant, I’ve got quite a bit of work ahead of me, but all in good time.
Now for the numbers:
Quick Stats:
Weight Right Before Delivery: 190 lbs.
Pre-Pregnancy Weight: 140 lbs.
Current Weight: 153 lbs.
Goal Weight: 130 lbs.
Measurements at One Month Postpartum:
Weight: 163 lbs.
Bust: 40″
Waist: 33″
Hips: 41″
Thighs: 24″
Arms: 12″
Measurements at Two Months Postpartum
Bust: 40″
Waist: 32.5″
Hips: 40″
Thighs: 23″
Arms: 11.25″
Measurements at Three Months Postpartum (aka, Now)
Bust: 38″ (what the wha?! I thought I wouldn’t lose anything here until the baby had started solids, but looks like I was wrong!)
Waist: 31.5″ (not the 2″ I was hoping for, but any progress is good)
Hips: 38″ (ecstatic I managed to hit my goal on this number)
Thighs: 22.5″
Arms: 11.25″ (I’m sure this will go down again once I can pick up weight lifting again)
My goals for the next month will be much less defined than they were this last time just because I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself considering my current health state. I’ll have a lot more answers about my condition after my appointment with the specialist at the beginning of August, at which point I should have a clearer idea on what kinds of exercise I can safely start with and what I should do about weight loss.
For now, my only focus is going to be on continuing to be more mindful of what I eat and of doing some light exercise (walking, light weights) when I feel up to it. I’d love to lose another five pounds by next month, but we’ll see what happens. I should have a much more definite plan at my next check-in point.
Any tips for some light exercises I could do going forward?
