Hello Fitfam! It's been a while I blogged. I have been meaning to share a post-natal weight loss update with you. Getting myself to write these days is a major challenge. I do love writing however and should try to create time to write more . The picture collage below was done in February, the picture on the left was taken eight months post and the one on the right was six weeks post. I am currently more toned and trimmer, but that would be shared in another post.
At six weeks post, when the picture on the right was taken, I had just been cleared by my doctor to resume exercising.
I was so excited that the very next day I had all my Zumba Fitness videos out and was ready to go! Ten minutes into my workout, I was already out of breath and finding it difficult to cope. "What!" I thought to myself. Being a Zumba fitness instructor, I was used to taking back to back hour long classes and now I was struggling to survive ten minutes! I could not believe it and to say the least I was discouraged at that point. I had a Cesarean section, so in addition to the exhaustion, I felt slight pains in my tummy after the workout. There is this underlying pressure as fitness instructors that we must impress with our bodies/progress and sooner than later, I had to snap out of that thought or risk falling into depression. I found myself hopping on the scale every week and that feeling of discouragement each week when I found out that I had not lost any kg was really not necessary.
What had happened was I was paying too much attention to losing weight, rather than enjoying my workouts. I was comparing my progress with other fitness instructors who had snapped back one month or less after delivery, forgetting that every woman has a different journey. In summary, I forgot my story and was trying to live someone else story.
Once I fixed my mind, I started to enjoy my workouts again and though these pictures were taken six months apart, it did not feel that long to me. I have continued to make progress and currently I can fit into all of my clothes again, Hallelujah!
Best of all is that I achieved this doing what I loved and what I am about. To be honest there were days when I contemplated taking a quick fix fitness program/diet just so that I could impress and let the world know what a bad*** fitness instructor I am. But I had to stay true to the program I teach, Zumba Fitness/Barre. What kind of person would I be if I advise clients to be patient and be consistent to see results, yet I could not be patient to see results. Patient, I was and Consistent I was, and with each zumba routine daily, I snapped back beautifully!
Let me also add that before I saw the weight drop, I achieved other fitness goals. For example, I instructed my first class in October (4 months post) and I really struggled to cope through the hour. By January, my stamina had improved and I could go the hour and an extra thirty minutes. A second example was my core strength which was no where to be found at 6 weeks post. At five months post, I saw great improvements in that department!
To all the beautiful mums out there struggling to snap back, you are definitely not alone. Keep at it, one day at a time and before you know it, you would be right where you want to be.
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