Love Your Mom Bod

Postpartum body, where do we even begin?  Scrolling through social media you will find moms who after 3 months have already lost their baby weight.  This is amazing for them!  However, this is not exactly how everyone works. The mantra I try to remember when I see all that amazing-ness on social media is, "Every Body is different. " It's true and I'm going to share mine.

Fitness Competition-Nov 2014

 Most of the careers or hobbies I've chosen in my life revolve around my body's appearance.  This, I don't think, was done on purpose. From my pro wrestling days to the present health coaching, people look at you as an example.  In the middle of those crazy years, a huge hobby of mine was competing in fitness competitions.  This means standing on a stage in basically dental floss and asking, yes asking, a group of "judges" to give your body and stage presence value without even speaking to you. I loved the hard work that when into it and honestly, it saved me from a very dangerous life which would be a whole different blog.  Anyway, back to the point.

I am now at a point that my body again will be an example for my clients.  I am 38 years old and our baby isn't, at this point in time, a year old yet and I am rocking this postpartum mom bod.  That's right!  Rocking it!  Is it flawless like when I would step on stage? Absolutely not.  Am I fighting to get back to that body?  Absolutely not.  I am working on this body and whatever shape it wants to be.

Retirement Match

Guess what I've done this summer.  I WORE SHORTS!  That's right!  Shorts!  If you meet me in person, these poor legs of mine are beat up.  I have varicose veins, spider veins and scars from the surgery I had before I got pregnant with Ava to fix those veins.  FYI, ladies, they come back!  No one told me that but it's ok.

Majority of my life I have been called "bottom heavy" or people yell, "Oh my gosh!  Are your legs ok?"  I never was comfortable in shorts.  NEVER!  But this miraculous thing happened and changed my point of view.  I created (of course not by myself) and held life in this body.  Even with these beat up legs!  They carried my and Ava's body around even with the extra weight.  These beat up legs can still deadlift and squat some impressive weight and carry around our gorgeous baby when needed.  And to add to their resume, they can wear the s*&t out of some shorts!

Love Your Mom Bod

Ladies, I know it's hard to embrace and love this body after it's been stretched out and sometimes used as a food source.  You know what?  There is always someone who sees you as the greener grass. Someone will always use you as a measuring stick.

Mommy hugs

You know what else?  Your babies will be looking up to you as an example for self-talk and self-love. How do you want them to see themselves?  How do you want them to talk to themselves?

Lastly, this is your one body.  You do not get a redo.  Why not make it a happy home?  Why not love it so much that it begins to look the way you want?  This is a question I ask all my clients, moms or not.  Once the war of you versus you ends, the sky will clear and you'll see the same beauty everyone else sees.

So, You Don't Work Anymore?

I wanted to first thank everyone who was along for my epic blog posts about our baby warrior's journey.  I was so amazing to type and send out to the world so we could help, share and close that chapter.  It was pretty therapeutic.  Now, I would love to blog about stuff going on since then.  So, let's get this party started.

"So, you don't work anymore?", is a single question that could possibly make me flip out and unleash verbal fury like no other on a person.  Every time I hear this question my brain explodes and I can't really have that.  Since having Ava, I've lost most of my brain power to what is known as "Mom-Brain" and I'm lucky to remember my address sometimes.  It might be autopilot that gets us home when we're driving.  But, back to the sentence that makes my head spin like the exorcist.  To a person like me, this question is the same as a punch in the stomach.  Let me explain.

Pre-pregnancy Training and Body

Before we were blessed with our pregnancy, before I ever met Jimmy and for as long as I can remember I've been a workaholic.  I never go halfway when it comes to work and when I'm stressed it'll be 110% head down and work away any issues.  I know this isn't healthy but it's how I work.  I have trouble giving myself downtime.  I always have.  Even now when I'm not in the studio as much it'll transfer into housework or workouts.  You wouldn't believe it coming to our place but it's true!  Ava is the cutest tornado I know

Before I was pregnant 10-12 hour days were the norm for me.  My day revolved around clients and so did my social schedule.  If I wasn't in the studio I would be working with my clients via emails or FaceTime.  When I wasn't working I had to play catch up with housework.  When that was finished we would need to food shop and prep.  That left some time for our adventures. And I thought that was exhausting.

When I was pregnant I worked all the way up until my due date and Ava was gracious enough to wait an extra 8 days before popping out (you can read about that here).  I was in the studio at 5:30 am and demoing for my clients.  I know there are tons of fit mommies out there and I used them all as inspiration when I wanted to complain.  I wasn't working 10-12 hour days then but it was a good 6-8 hour shift on my feet demoing the whole time.  And I thought that was exhausting.

Our Client/Friend Michelle with Ava and me in the background

Now I work in the studio about 7 hours per week, remotely (FaceTime and emails) 6 hours per week and all the rest of my time is all Ava girl and Jimmy.  Yes, it is a significant drop from my 10-12 hour days but most times I'm training someone, whether it is in the studio or FaceTime, I'm chasing or holding our little.  Thank goodness our clients love kids or just love our kid because she is everywhere, climbing things or them and super vocal.  Just know you guys are appreciated more than you know!

The hours that aren't dedicated to working are feedings, nap and play time for Ava.  During the naps is the amazing debate in my "Mom-Brain" of whether I do something for myself or the house.  Usually, the house wins because I can't get the stuff done for myself without constantly thinking about the stuff for the house.  For instance, the table in front of my is cover with our stuff, there are dishes in our sink from the morning and laundry needs to be folded.  Strangely, creativity won in this battle.  Well done creativity!

Normal Day in the Life of Ava

Now, understand, I LOVE MY LIFE NOW!  I'm ok with being home and working part-time.  I am so grateful that I have a hardworking significant other and we worked together to build such an amazing business that this is an option for us.  I'm so grateful for our clients who work with all the cute chaos added to their sessions.  Know that you are a welcomed break in my and Ava's day.  Know that I'm grateful that you deal with my rambling because Jimmy has been working most of the day and the only people I talk to is our little girl, Jake the dog and our cats.

So, to answer this ridiculous question, yes I do still work.  A lot more than before and with less sleep and always a smile.  It's a beautiful chaotic balance that works on pure scheduling and lots of love.