6-Week Plan To Get Your Body Back! Get Your Body Back After Baby! Easy Ways to Get Your Body Back!
Since when did having a baby “ruin” a woman’s body? Since
when is the word “change” synonymous with “destruction”? When people say “Get
Your Body Back Post-Baby” I think: but your body hasn’t GONE anywhere. It’s
exactly where you are right now, and it’s been with you every step of the way.
Coming from a bodybuilding background I learned some time ago that our bodies are in a constant state of flux – when I am dieting for a show I'm a lean size 0; when I’m off-season I’m a softer size 4; clothes from 6 years ago no longer fit because I have put on 10lbs of muscle since then, and my dimensions have changed because I have grown my back and tapered down my legs. We won't even get into what kind of annoying implications this has for my wardrobe....
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| First show 2010 |
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| Fourth show 2013 |
When
I am pregnant my belly gets bigger, I accumulate fat on my hips, and my pelvis shifts; in the
weeks immediately following birth my tummy is soft, my breasts are large and I
still have that fat on my hips; as time passes my uterus shrinks, breasts
deflate, I lean out because my training and diet intensify, and my butt looks
smaller because I always seem to lose muscle in that area during pregnancy. The skin on my stomach will forever be softer than anywhere else, and my spine is noticeably (likely permanently) altered. Change
is the name of the game of both bodybuilding and life: your body is a
reflection of what you are doing today, and what you have done in weeks and years
prior.
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| 1 week postpartum with baby #1 |
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| 1 week postpartum with baby #2 |
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| 37 weeks pregnant with baby #3 |
Let me ask you, when you say “get my body back”, to which
body are you referring? The one you had immediately before becoming pregnant?
The one you had in college? The one you had on your wedding day? Your body has
looked different at all these stages (even if the differences have been minute ones)
and I’ll be totally honest, it’ll never look the EXACT same as it did at any of
those points again. You have lived since then - you got older, and you have
changed. You would never hear a grown woman say “I want my prepubescent body
back”, or a 60 year-old say “I’m going to get my 40-year old body back” No! Because
we all know there is no going back after such big life events. Now that’s not
to say you can’t look BETTER than before (I have seen some rockin’ 50-year old bodies, and I
personally feel I look better now than I ever have)…. but you will not look the
SAME. And that's ok! You were never meant to.
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| University 2005 |
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| Heaviest weight 2011 |
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| Wedding Day 2012 |
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| Fall 2015 |
Perhaps a better thing to say would be “I really want to regain
my lost muscle mass after I have the baby”, or “I'm going to match my pre-pregnancy fitness level”,
or even “I want to lose the weight I gained with the pregnancy”. At least these
statements take into account the fact that you’ve just had a freaking BABY! But
saying you lost your body is not
giving dues to the incredible thing you have accomplished – a thing that is a
very normal part of life, and which in fact the female body was designed for.
You haven’t lost your body, you’ve actually fulfilled its highest purpose! All
you can do now is work with the changes.
To fitness professionals, we need to stop saying “let’s get
your body back” and start asking “so what would you like to accomplish with
your body now?”
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