By week two of my exercising excursions, I was ready to try something a little more difficult but still low impact.  I started switching off every other day with a total body toning and strengthening work (because of the stomach down mat work, I was not able to do this workout after week eighteen of my pregnancy).  It was a really hard workout and I was happy to only be doing it every other day! Two weeks into my new post partum workout routine and six weeks post partum, I started feeling a little more tone in my abdominal muscles. … Continue reading →

Now that it has officially  been an entire years since my daughter’s birth, I feel that my post partum period has come to a close.  This twelve month phase of my life has been rather incredible mostly because of the precious gift of my daughter’s life and the joys (and frustrations) of being a mother, but also because I seemed to have accomplished my post partum fitness goals.  I felt that it was fitting to bring my post partum journey to a close by divulging some of my fitness triumphs and defeats. I set out determined to get back into … Continue reading →

One year ago I was only fourteen weeks pregnant with my daughter (although I did not know I was pregnant with a girl). I was still wearing all of my pre pregnancy clothes and still in throngs of morning sickness. In a lot of ways I am in the same clothes wearing place now at six months post partum as I was a year ago. At six months post partum, I feel completely back to my pre pregnancy state. All of my clothes fit almost the same as they did before. A few more stretch marks make my clothes fit … Continue reading →

Today marks exactly five months since the birth of my second child. I am amazed at how quickly those five months have gone and how quickly my newborn daughter turned into a laughing, squirming, and very interactive baby. Gone are the days of healing and chilling. Life has returned to normal swiftly and without warning. It is rather difficult at this point in the post partum stage to recognize how my journey has progressed. All the signs of my pregnancy are pretty much gone aside from a few stretch marks and a few extra pounds that still remain. My clothes … Continue reading →

There is a lot to be said about post partum exercise. Whether the motivation is to lose pregnancy weight, get fit after baby, or to simply get back into the routine (all of these are my motivation to exercise post partum), there are a number of things that you can do to make your post partum workouts a success. First and foremost: mental preparation. You need to get it in your head that you are going to start working out as soon as you are physically able be it four weeks post partum or twelve weeks post partum. Based on … Continue reading →

I have reached another one of the post partum milestones. At twelve weeks post partum I have mixed feeling about my progress in the last six weeks. While change has definitely taken place, other aspects of my post pregnancy fitness seem stuck. Compared to my first post partum experience, I am leaps and bounds ahead the second time around, but in terms of my own self imposed goals, I am way behind. I am continuing to exercise at least five times a week. If I am especially motivated, I will get in a workout or two over the weekend as … Continue reading →

I lost twenty pounds in the first few weeks after my daughter was born. Of course I still had the ten pounds left from my first pregnancy. At two weeks post partum I was able to fit into a pair of my post first pregnancy pre second pregnancy jeans. Granted these particular jeans were a bit loose pre pregnancy and at two weeks post partum they were a little tight. Nonetheless, I was very happy that I could fit into these pre pregnancy jeans (which was very different from my first pregnancy; I bought jeans that were four sizes larger … Continue reading →

Our bodies go through numerous changes during pregnancy and subsequently after we have given birth. One of those changes for many women is a form of hair loss. In most cases, it is nothing to be concerned about because most women also experience a lack of daily hair loss during pregnancy (most people loose an average of one hundred individual scalp hairs a day). I did not really notice my hair falling out after my son was born. During my pregnancy with my son I cut my hair rather short. It is more difficult to be aware of short strands … Continue reading →