POSTPARTUM FITNESS JOURNEY: STARTING BBG

---

Okay, guys, if we're friends on instagram, you will have seen that I started the first week of BBG (aka Bikini Body Guide by Kayla Itsines) A lot of you had some questions, so I thought it would be easier if I did a post about it!

But before that here's a little back story on my fitness journey....for the past 10 years, running has been my main form of fitness (you can read more about it here) Back in 2014, I ran a half marathon and I'm hoping to do another one in a couple years but back in 2015 when we were trying to get pregnant, I wasn't as diligent with my running..I still worked out, I just was about 5lbs from my goal weight (135lbs...and I know I shouldn't get caught up in just weight but for me, I know that is a healthy weight with muscle, so I use it as a guide!) We then got pregnant with Luca and I continued to workout/run/walk up until I delivered him! In that pregnancy I gained 45lbs and got up to 185lbs. 

I didn't lose a whole lot breastfeeding so at about 5 months pp I got a bit more serious and joined a gym and made a few diet changes...I got down to 150lbs with 10lbs to go until my pre-Luca weight but then we got pregnant again! With London, I was not as diligent with exercise but I guess I ate a bit better because I only gained 35lbs instead of 45! In the fall and winter, I was superrrr lazy with working out but I managed to lose most of my pre-London weight so I'm now currently hovering around 160...so that being said, 20lbs to lose and a whole lot of muscle to gain!

So this time around I wanted to try something a bit more programmed. I had done a bunch of Bikini Body Mommy videos on youtube but I wanted something more challenging so I decided to do BBG! There is an app that looks amazing but it costs about $25cad/month soooo I'd rather save that money and just figure it out with the PDF!

Here's what a week of the program looks like:

• Day 1: Legs + Cardio. 2 circuits that you do twice. Each circuit is 7 minutes long so the workout will take roughly 35 mins with warm up + cool down.
• Day 2 + 4: Cardio. 35-45 minutes. She suggests power walking
• Day 3: Same jam as day 1.
• Day 5: Full Body Workout. Same jam as day 1.
• Day 6: Sprints (15 minutes of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off) + Stretching.
• Day 7: Rest

Here's how my first week went:

• Day 1: did it! sooo challenging but so good!
• Day 2: I ran/walked the golf course near my house. It's super hilly but felt good to do!
• Day 3: So many ab exercises...which killed me because I haven't touched my abs since pre-Luca lols
• Day 4: Didn't have time to run/walk :(
• Day 5: It was an optional one so I didn't do it because I was super sore from previous days
• Day 6: Did the sprints and almost puked, ha!! I only did 10 too but man, they killlled me. I didn't do the stretching, whoops.

Okay, so it was a pretty good week 1. I ate waaaayyyy too much Easter chocolate which probably made me almost puke during the sprints, ha. It sure feels great to have my muscles sore again!! I feel like my body was saying THANK YOU for working out again, ha.

If you do the PDF, I'd suggest getting an interval timer app to walk you through the workouts. Here is what I set up:

So all in all, I am sooo happy I started it. I planned this week out and don't know how I'm going to fit in the cardio (I have some night commitments this week, and James is out the two nights I don't have commitments, ha....I wish we had a treadmill!!) but I'll try!

Have you done BBG? I'd love to hear how it worked out for you!!

XO, 
Laura

POSTPARTUM FITNESS GUIDE PART 2 (WORKOUT PLAN)

---

Hola! While I'm away, I am soooo stoked to have Emily from The Mom Grind share about getting your body back postpartum! This is something I plan on doing once I get back from Mexico!! Thank you so much Emily for sharing!

Hi I’m Emily from @themomgrind, and I’m so excited to be guest posting here for Laura’s blog! I’ve read her blog for a while now, and couldn’t be more thrilled to be talking about one of my favourite subjects- getting your body back after having a baby!

I’m excited to share with you all of my tips & tricks that helped me achieve and maintain a healthy relationship with food & exercise. I’m going to give you the literal guide book for how to lose that baby weight (healthily) while still finding balance in your life as a Mama.

CHECK OUT PART ONE (THE MEAL PLAN) HERE!

 

Working Out

This is where I’m also going to ask you to change your mindset, this time about exercise. Working out is meant to be hard, the reason we get stronger and leaner is because we’re putting our muscles under stress- making them rip and tear to form bigger ones, challenging our bodies to keep up to what we’re demanding from them.

Once I accepted that I was going to be uncomfortable in a workout- I kind of enjoyed it. I even noticed that my mindset changed in other situations of my life to being able to handle hard and stressful things outside of working out. So when you exercise, choose to make it a challenge (don’t hurt yourself, or puke) but make it difficult. How I know it’s a tough workout for example: when I get halfway or 3/4 of the way and my mind is telling me to shave down the number of reps, fudge the amount of reps I’ve actually done, or tell myself “ah, that’s good enough”. This is where the magic happens, where you prove to yourself how badass you are & this is where you will see results from- so push through to the end!

**unless you’re in actual physical pain, don’t do that! Know when it’s injury pain vs. tough mentally.**

Another thing I’ve noticed that as a Mom there’s no way to measure your success- so I take weekly pictures, weekly fitness tests, I see results (not always huge) but it’s nice to see my efforts rewarded. So remember to measure yourself in either capacity so you can see progress that isn’t a number on a scale.

I’ve gone ahead and actually given you two workouts to do at home below. However, I’m going to challenge you to find an activity, class, or workout that you love! Carve that time out of your schedule, get a sitter, coordinate daycare, get hubby to do kid duty. You time is incredibly important, and if you’re wanting to see results from working out you’re going to need to commit to a minimum of 2-3 times a  week of working up a really, really good sweat!

The Workouts

W/O 1 - Test Yourself
AMRAP 10 minutes
10 burpees
10 incline push ups (off couch or coffee table)
20 Jumping jacks
20 Russian twists

Count how many rounds + reps you can complete in ten minutes.

W/O 2 - Booty Burner

4 Rounds
20 good mornings
20 squats
20 glute bridges
20 step ups onto chair or sturdy coffee table

These workouts are ones you can re-do to see improvement. 

Putting it all Together

Meal Plan: Do this for at least 2 months, you will start to notice a big difference! Even better if you can do 3 or 4- but make it realistic for your life! I don’t meal plan so much anymore but I eat a diet that’s 80/20. When it starts to fall out of whack, I kickstart it with a strict meal prep cycle again!

Workout: find something you enjoy, commit to it. Make it your passion, your hobby, be consistent with it and most of all let it challenge you. Commit to doing this activity 2-3 a week!

Most importantly: find balance in your nutrition & exercise. It has to be realistic for your life- this is why so many New Years resolutions fail. They just aren’t maintainable year round, especially for us Mamas who have a pretty demanding lifestyle.

If you have any questions I’d love to answer them! Feel free to check out my Instagram @themomgrind for workout inspiration & Mom life!

Wishing you a successful, nutritious, and rewarding journey of weight loss.

You got this! 

XO

Emily

POSTPARTUM FITNESS GUIDE PART 1 (MEAL PLAN)

---

Hola! While I'm away, I am soooo stoked to have Emily from The Mom Grind share about getting your body back postpartum! This is something I plan on doing once I get back from Mexico!! Thank you so much Emily for sharing! -Laura

Hi I’m Emily from @themomgrind, and I’m so excited to be guest posting here for Laura’s blog! I’ve read her blog for a while now, and couldn’t be more thrilled to be talking about one of my favourite subjects- getting your body back after having a baby!

Backstory

I didn’t have a fit pregnancy the first time around- I think I worked out mayyybe 4 times. I walked a lot, but with terrible morning sickness, and a massive belly causing back pain I really had no interest in working up a sweat. I didn’t watch what I ate- so I ended up gaining just over 40 pounds. I also wasn’t a lucky Mom that lost weight from breastfeeding either, I ended up putting more pounds on!

So weighing my heaviest in my life I was desperate to lose the weight and feel good in my body again. I was successful, and now even 3 months pregnant with number 2 I am the strongest I’ve ever been in my life!

BEFORE (roughly 4 months postpartum)

AFTER (Roughly a year and four months postpartum)

I’m excited to share with you all of my tips & tricks that helped me achieve and maintain a healthy relationship with food & exercise. I’m going to give you the literal guide book for how to lose that baby weight (healthily) while still finding balance in your life as a Mama.

Nutrition

I think there’s a lot of information out there for “dieting, cleansing, and detoxing” etc. But lets take a step back from that all for a minute. Your body just did the most amazing thing! It grew a human, it birthed a human, it may even still be feeding that human. The last thing we want to be doing is depleting this amazing machine of what it needs, so instead let’s think of rewarding it with the best fuel we can get our hands on. Delicious, satiating foods. Meat with some good fats, cruciferous vegetables, fruits, good carbs. Stuff that makes you feel awesome, and if you’re honest with yourself you’ll know what that is and isn’t.

A common mistake people make while trying to lose weight is upping their exercise and lowering their calorie intake. That’s unfortunately a recipe for disaster- they should be upping their calorie intake (just slightly, with nutritious foods) so that their body has fuel to match the extra energy output. If you’re not eating enough it will actually send your body into a panic state where it will hold onto fat- because it’s freaking out that you’re in a “famine.” That’s just something we don’t want to do, because lots of other nasty things can happen to our bodies when we do that.

Here’s what TO DO:

Step 1)

Meal Plan- Sunday afternoons sit down and pick two healthy meals and double or triple the recipe.

BONUS: Pick a yummy snack to make, healthy energy balls, nice cream etc. For those snacky or sweet craving times.

-Write down your ingredients then get hubby, grandma, or auntie to watch your baby (or babies!) and go grocery shopping.

-Come back home, do up your meals and put them in containers for the week!

This whole process usually takes me 3 ish hours to do from start to finish (the efficiency of a Mom without kids I tell you!) You now have healthy meals for the week. I’ve actually gone ahead and given you two recipes to use that I love to meal prep here

A day of eating for me usually looks like:

Breakfast- 2 eggs on 2 pieces of spelt bread, or an egg scramble with a whole bell pepper spinach and maybe some sausage or bacon or mushrooms, or you could also do a smoothie bowl with handful of granola & chopped fruit.

Lunch- Prepped Meal #1

(Maybe an apple with peanut butter, hard boiled egg, handful of nuts etc. between meals)

Dinner- Prepped Meal #2

After dinner treat- dark chocolate, nice cream etc.

You should be eating until you’re full! If you’re hungry then you probably need to be eating more. 

Step 2)

Cut out sugar. In a lot of cases most people lose 2-5lbs from doing this alone. But it’s easier said than done- cutting out sugar is hard, pay attention to what’s in your food & sauces.

-You’re still going to need “cheats” so allow yourself dark chocolate, smoothies, nice cream etc. Eventually your body won’t crave the refined sugars, and when you do have a “cheat” snack with refined sugar you won’t be able to have much without feeling sick.

Come back Wednesday to catch PART 2, the Workout Plan!

And in the meantime, be sure to follow Emily on instagram!
XO!

GETTING FIT THIS FALL

---

image via

It's time for me to get my fitness on. There are two times of the year where I am motivated to get fit...fall and January (of course). I don't know why but I've never been motivated in the summer...(must be from dying on super hot runs or my love for ice cream.) But I always have been motivated to get fit in the fall time. I was just chatting with my friend Chenoah yesterday how fall is the PERFECT running weather. Cool air but sunshine...ahhh it's the best.

But this fall I'm extra motivated. Mainly because part of my 20 goals for my last year as a 20 something included: 5. Eat healthier, 6. Join a gym and 4. Go on a fancy vacation somewhere hot !

Let's consider two of those goals being accomplished :) James and I have booked a fall vaycay (conveniently right after conference)!!! We're flying down to Austin to see Joy & Ryan (!!!!) and hopefully some Friday Nights Lights pleeeeease and then we'll fly to Florida and embark on a 7 day Caribbean cruise because we're senior citizens and my bedtime is 9:30pm. #SOEXCITED and now I have a reason for a couple fitness goals!

So I signed up at Good Life and have been loving it. I hired a trainer for 3 sessions to teach me how to not kill myself with a barbell and man, I wish I could do their one year program but OHMYGOSH it costs a billion dollars. So I will be my own trainer after my final session today but I'm okay with that. They have some great classes which I'm hoping to try out this week.

So here's my gameplan (or at least the start of it):

• Exercise 4x per week. This could include a run or going to the gym (which I hope to be at least 2 of the 4). Sadly, my half hour walks to work will not count.
   
• Drink at least 2L water everyday. Before I started my training, my trainer made me step onto this magical machine that measured my weight, my body fat %, how much of my weight is muscle, how much calories I normally burn in a day, a bunch of other things AND how much water I drink!!! It was insane. She told me that I was very dehydrated which makes sense because I'm horrible at drinking water and really good at drinking coffee. So I'm gonna change that...not the coffee thing, because that is just crazy talk.
   
• Don't eat after 7:00pm. Now this is gonna be hard because I am a late night snacker. A bowl of cereal before I go to bed is one of my love languages!! But I'm going to try and also make sure I eat plenty of healthy & balanced meals in the day so I'm not starved at 7pm.
   
• Cut back on sweets. Sweets are my weakness. I didn't say never eat sweets because it's fall and I'm gonna bake pumpkin everything so I can't deprive myself!! But I need to cut back a lot...which will be hard, but so good.

So there's the start of the gameplan! I'll be back in a week or two with an update for you. I did take pictures and have measurements of waist and thighs and all that jazz. I don't think I'll ever share that with you BUT I'll definitely tell you if what I'm doing is working!

Happy Monday!

XO,
laura

DELICIOUS POST WORKOUT SMOOTHIE

---

One of my favourite things about long distance running is- the post run meal….yes. I'm Italian and I was raised to be OBSESSED with food. I can't help it, it's in my blood.

In some past fitness posts (here, here + here) I've shared with you some tips that help me keep fuelled in those long runs…but…I've been holding out on you. There's one more strategy that really gets me going in my final kms... ENVISIONING MY POST RUN MEAL.

 When I'm tired and sweaty and cranky with two km to go, I just start picturing what I will be devouring as soon as I'm done my run and BOOM! all of a sudden, I have way more energy to complete the run! It works every time....every time. 

But I've been realizing you just can't down anything when you finish a run. You need to put some protein back in your body! But guys...for years I've had a love hate relationship with protein powder. I know it's good for me but every one I tasted has been all ewh. ewh. ewh. 

Until I got my hands on Bodylab's Decadent Chocolate Fudge protein powder. YOU GUYS. This stuff is goooood. And it's not like other protein powders that are designed to bulk you up. In Bodylab's protein powders are a bunch of awesome ingredients that help fuel lean tissue, rev metabolism and do lots of other great things! Bodylab was created by women and for women and JLo runs the show..HELLO! Sign me right up to get a booty like JLo's.

Because of the length of my run, I added a couple things to this smoothie, but the powder is good enough to have with just water!

POST WORKOUT SMOOTHIE

ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 1 tbsp natural peanut butter
• 3 cups almond milk
• 1 scoop body lab decadent chocolate fudge protein powder
• 5 ice cubes

instructions:

1. blend all ingredients in blender. pour into two cups and enjoy!

And I have some GOOD NEWS! The good peeps at Bodylab are giving you a discount code to receive 25% off your order AND free shipping! Just use the code ssheart25 at checkout. #booyah. 

(Bodylab kindly sent me their products to try out but all opinions expressed are my own.)

Happy post run future smoothie eating!

xo,

s.s.♥︎.