Postpartum Weight Loss Workouts: Week 1

 

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It’s time to lose the baby weight! Or maybe your babies aren’t babies anymore but you still have some pounds to shed. Either way, there’s no time like right now to get in shape and get back into your pre-pregnancy clothes!

I’ve already given you the rundown on the diet, click here to go to that post. Even if you’re not ready to workout you can begin the diet–in fact there’s no point exercising if you aren’t eating clean. I started the diet 6 days after giving birth and didn’t start working out until he was 2 weeks and 2 days old. I know that is much earlier than the typical 6 weeks you are told to wait but I had an extremely easy pregnancy and an uncomplicated and unmedicated childbirth, and I also have my doctor’s permission. Just do what’s right for you, there’s no rush to exercise before your body is ready!

I had to make a few modifications to the diet because it just wasn’t possible to follow my own instructions to the letter. Here’s what I modified:

one: timing. If you can eat every 3 hours on the dot then you are doing amazing! But that’s not working for me. I don’t always get to finish my meals in a timely fashion. For example, the other day I started preparing my salad at 11:45am and didn’t actually get a chance to eat it until 1:00pm. I still aim to eat every 2-3 hours but I count it from when I began eating, and I take opportunities to eat when they come (like when both babies are napping!).

two: meal combining. Because I’m not able to eat every 3 hours, it’s impossible for me to get all 6 meals into my day. I’m not getting up at night to eat even though I’m awake breastfeeding like I thought I would be. So I’m combining pieces of the snacks into the meals. For example I’m adding 100 g of cucumber and two of the egg whites into the salad. Also, I’m not eating 10 oz of bell pepper, I’m just cutting one in half and using that for the day.

three: perfection. No, I am not perfect. In the first week I had this block of Asiago cheese in my fridge that I just couldn’t bare to waste, so I had a little slice everyday. I’ve also eaten a couple of Baby J’s arrowroot cookies. That’s it though, I have followed the diet to the letter otherwise. Do I think those cheats have cost me anything? Maybe they have…but I am still human and I am not in bikini contest prep, I am trying to change my life not just do something extreme and temporary. So I don’t have guilt over it. Today is my second rest day and I’m looking forward to the cheat meal, that’s for sure, and next week I vow not to have any arrowroot cookies!!

That’s it for modifications, it’s going well so far. In the six days after Baby C was born we had company so I didn’t start the diet but I eliminated sugar. Holy smokes was that a shock to the system! I got a couple of really bad headaches. But by a week later my body had adjusted, thank goodness.

Here’s a breakdown of my postpartum weight loss so far. It’s not what I expected:

24 hours postpartum: down 16 lbs

6 days postpartum (eliminated sugar but not following the diet yet): down 22 lbs

Diet week 1 (no exercise): no weight loss

Diet week 2 (started exercising at the end of this week, have done 3 workouts): lost 1 lb, down a total of 23 lbs

So you can see I lost a LOT of weight in the first few days after giving birth. Now since starting the diet it’s slowed way down. I’m ok with that, I’m willing to give this some time, especially now that I’ve begun exercising. My body is in a crazy state of adjustment and I’m not sleeping as much as someone trying to lose weight should, so even half a pound a week is plenty good enough! So long as the scale isn’t going up than I am happy. Also, I can see some drastic changes in the mirror, even without a change on the scale. So I’m not too bummed about only losing 1 lb since starting the diet. I’m pretty confident that with the exercise it will get moving.

Total weight loss so far: 23 lbs
First goal: get to my pre-pregnancy weight, need to lose: 4 lbs
(Not too bad for 2.5 weeks postpartum!)

Ok, now to get to the workouts! Here are the videos for Week 1. Remember, you do each workout three times a week (for example workout #1 you do Mon, Wed, Fri and workout #2 you do Tues, Thurs, Sat) and you do each video twice per day, preferably back-to-back. Underneath each video is the pdf of the exercises so you can print it out if you wish.

Week 1 Workout 1, Burn Baby Burn Turquoise Toffee

Week 1 Workout 2, Lunges and Crunches and Burpees Oh My Turquoise Toffee

Don’t forget to subscribe here and on YouTube to stay updated with next week’s workouts!

Let me know in the comments what you think–too hard? too easy? too much baby crying in the background?!

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Black pants: Lululemon (No longer available but just keep your eye open for flared yoga pants)

Aria Bra in Dip Dye Seaweed: Liquido Active

Aztec leggings: Liquido Active (no longer available but they get new colours every month!)

Turquoise Nike Free Run 3.0 sneakers: no longer available but I found similar ones at Nike and Zappos

BKR 1 Litre glass water bottle in Sunday: BKR

Gaiam Studio Select Dry Grip Yoga Mat: Gaiam

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