Recently, I’ve been reflecting on how my perspective on my ‘mama body’ has evolved since having Bub and wanted to share some hopefully helpful lessons.

Reading my first mama body post, I remember how before Bub, I was so focused on exercising x times per week, eating ‘clean’ and being so fit. Why? Because I thought if I looked a certain way, I would be ‘good enough’. I didn’t have much self love and would internally criticise myself when I couldn’t meet my unrealistic physical standards.

After having Bub, I really started trying to practice self love. I still had some of the previous mentality in place though and wanted to get back in shape quickly. After doing Kayla Itsines and the adrenal reset diet, I found it hard to maintain. I started getting pain in and behind my knees. The physio told me as you get older, your body doesn’t recover as quickly anymore and how important it is to let your body rest. Also as I was still breastfeeding at night, one the of hormones produced called relaxin, results in your body needing to use more to hold yourself together when you exercise. I started foam rolling and focusing more on good stretching post workouts.

In Oct 2019, my work had a mental wellness month and I attended 2 sessions by wellness gurus. They emphasised the importance of going back to basics with food and exercise, listening to yourself and how intermittent fasting may be a good way to help your cells regenerate and reset. I’ve been trying that and also been meditating everyday for 20 min for some months now and doing a lot of internal growth work.

So now I have a wellness routine rather than a fitness routine:

-I do HIIT swimming twice a week: this is low impact and a great workout. I love being in the water and enjoy getting into the sauna afterwards

-3 short sessions of strength training to help keep my body strong and especially to help alleviate the pain behind my knee. Apparently it’ll take at least 6 months for the muscle to recover (lucky for me don’t require knee surgery) and it’s a combination of foam rolling, targeted stretches and strength training

-Food wise: I fast from after dinner to lunchtime most days during the week. For me, it really feels like my body does get to properly digest the food from the night before and I feel more ‘cleansed’. Also I don’t count my carb/protein intake and choose to eat whole foods where I can (fruit, veg & meat). I am still working on eating mindfully though as I tend to eat quickly and then feel too full haha

So my biggest lessons learned:

1. Practising self love is hard, but worthwhile. I’m still on the journey, but as a result of the above (especially meditation), I feel more at ease with who I am, confident in my self worth and kinder to myself. As I’m more relaxed and do things out of enjoyment rather than pressure, I feel like I’ve actually lost weight – taking away the need to tick the ‘fit’ box has helped me get to a comfortable, happy state.

2. Take the growth opportunities that arise from challenging situations (ie having a baby) and make the most of it. I honestly believe I never would have gotten this far without having to go through the baby journey. It’s still and always will be a work in progress, but very grateful to keep a growth mindset and power on.