Postpartum Fitness: So Much More Than Just Losing Weight

The doctors cleared me at 4 weeks postpartum to begin exercising and I was so excited. I had gained 44 pounds during pregnancy (when I was already 10 pounds over my "comfortable" weight to begin with) and I was hurting. Hurting from ligaments being stretched, my knees hurt from the weight, and my back was struggling. Oh, how I ached everywhere. I was consuming too much and not enough of what I should have been focusing on. More importantly, I was not working out like I should my last trimester, but I was in pain and having to run after a toddler. My heart hurt the most because I didn't like what I was seeing in the mirror, it just didn't look like "me". This was the toughest for me because I respect my body so for what it has had to go through to get pregnant, carry a baby and give birth.

What I needed was to get back in the pool, but lugging a newborn and a toddler to the pool just was not going to work. So I joined a local fitness program that in the end I know I would've loved to continue but I don't like shuffling my kids around and to be quite honest I didn't have the strength yet to do it. My last day with the program I was exactly 6 weeks postpartum and I felt great. I was excited about attending my third fitness class, things were slowly getting back to normal...a new normal! It was halfway through the workout when running up and down a hill doing jumping jacks that I knew something wasn't right. It didn't physically "feel" right. Let's just say I thought my uterus was going to fall out. So I backed off. Then on to burpees, I felt fine and I didn't push myself too much. I left feeling great, unfortunately, I didn't feel great later that day. I had strained muscles and all of a sudden my chest was cramping and I couldn't catch my breath. It physically hurt to breath. Fortunately, I was not having a heart attack. It was a muscle spasm in my chest but it felt like I couldn't catch my breath...I thought I was dying. Seriously it was that bad. So for three long weeks, I waited for my muscles to heal and finally, I felt like I was ready to exercise again.

I decided to take it slow and take my kids to my pool with me. PK is 2.5 and she is an ISR baby so I knew having her right there with me she could swim and play, as well as join in some of my aquaBaby workouts. CL is only 3 months and he could sit in his bouncer and watch! First full workout...amazing! I was in tears because I felt great, it was what I needed all along and I felt at peace. This was the beginning of my fitness journey! It's been almost two months now and I've lost over 10 pounds. I realize now that slowly increasing exercise over time is more important than starting right away after childbirth. aquaBelly respects that time period and the in water workouts feels as if you are being fully embraced and protected. Pounding the pavement that soon was unkind to my body and that's never happening again!

Postpartum fitness is so much more than losing the baby weight. Our aquaBelly classes helped me to feel refreshed and confident in my post-birth body. I can safely focus on pelvic floor health and bring my muscles back to where they belong. My time doing aquaBelly is between me and the water, nothing else. The moment the water encloses me, and I begin my warm up I am, grateful and truly blessed.

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