New mom and exercising...

If you incorporated exercise into your day once given the go ahead by your doctor postpartum, how did you fit it in? Especially if/when you went back to work?

Thanks!

Re: New mom and exercising...

Exercise? What's that? lol

Today is the first day both DH and I are going to work now that squish is home from the hospital. The "plan", once I get the ok from the doc (yes.. i'm still healing..sucks!) was for DH to work out in the am and I'll work out in the pm so one of us is with the baby.

Ha! I've been up since 4am and between pumping, getting the baby ready and getting myself ready it took about 3 hours lol. I'm going to go home and pass out!

Anyway, that's the plan. Once I get more organized.

Or, now that i'm thinking about it, if there's something that keeps your LO occupied for a short amount of time there are a ton of short30 min workouts online. I know I can put DS on his playmat and he's good for a good 30-40 minutes. Maybe i'll do that if DH isn't around.

Re: New mom and exercising...

I tried lots of things.
Only thing that worked was waking up 30 mins early & doing it before work & before kids wake up.

New mom and exercising...

Honestly it took me until my DS was 15-16 months to really stick with it and make sure I fit it in my schedule.

I work in the city so 2 days during the week when I get home I go to kickboxing. Then on the weekends I try and go to the gyma dn do cardio and weights.

Its not easy.

Re: New mom and exercising...

I would wake up insanely early to workout, be home with DD until 4ish, then work at night til 9 or 10. It sucked, but it was important to me so I sucked it up.
I work less now so it's a lot easier.

New mom and exercising...

When I was on maternity leave, I would run (well, walked at first) on the treadmill for 20-30 min while DD napped. Sometimes I would lift weights, do sit ups, push ups when she was on her activity mat. Then I went back to work.

Five months after going back to work, I joined a gym. I go on my lunch hour 2-3 times a week (and sometimes not at all, if I'm sick, or DD is sick and doesn't sleep, making me exhausted). It's hard to stick with it, but I'm a happier, better person when I work out.

DH gets up before work and works out at home. During the summer, we both ran on the weekends too, but since the weather has turned colder, we haven't found the motivation to bundle everyone up and head out there.

Re: New mom and exercising...

When DS was first born I took lots of walks! Good exercise and it helped get him down for naps.

I haven't exercised since I went back to work, though. And I used to go to the gym a minimum of 2-3 times per week before DS was born. Now I just prefer spending my free time with him. Hopefully this will change when we get a house and I can get a machine at home. But for now, it is what it is. I walk to/from the subway and around during lunchtime so it's not like I never move.

New mom and exercising...

Took walks with DS whenever I could.

When I would come home from work I would run a quick mile (although for me just getting back..it wasn't very quick- more like 11/12 mins lol). But I was able to get a super quick run in this way before dinner. Just around the block.

And then I got pregnant again. Let's see how this works out with 2!

New mom and exercising...

It's not impossible but sometimes you just have to get a little creative with your workout schedule. I usually get up early in the morning before work or I'll go when dd is in bed at night. There were times I also workout during my lunch hour; that doesn't always work but sometimes it was a great strategy.

Re: New mom and exercising...

Thanks everyone. The last few days have been easy to get out and walk/jog a bit with DS, and I did a quick HIIT workout this morning. But I go back to work Wednesday and I'm nervous about fitting it in.

Has anyone exercised regularly while breastfeeding?

Re: New mom and exercising...

Re: New mom and exercising...

In the morning, before I get the kids up. I can not fit in any more than 30 minutes during the week because I can not seem to get out of bed before 5. So 3 days during the week I get up, and then DH and I take turns running on the weekend. I have been running and BFing for over a year (did it with my first also). In the beginning, I just tried to run right after nursing so I wasn't too full.

New mom and exercising...

I joined Stroller Strides group. In the summer I went 3 times a week. Now that I am back teaching I can't go as often. But she now has Sat classes so I go to them. Baby comes along and sits in stroller. She incorporates them into workout to keep them interested. Nice way to get to meet other moms too.

Re: New mom and exercising...

Re: New mom and exercising...

DS will be 5 and I'm finding myself in a huge rut right now.

I have no desire to go out anymore bright and early and when I get home from work, I'm tired but even more so, feel guilty leaving DS.

And he goes to bed later, like 9PM.

It's tough also working out that late because of the 2nd wind factor.

Home workouts do not do anything for me either.

I will bite the bullet again eventually, I have to.

Re: New mom and exercising...

Re: New mom and exercising...

For the most part we wait until they are both in bed (8pm) then do a T25 workout (25 mins - highly recommend this!!) every night right in our living room. Run on the weekends (sometimes during the week with DD1 in the jogger), and try to do a 5k once every 2-3 months to keep my motiviation going.

ETA: I am not a morning person, could never get up earlier than I need to for work lol

Message edited 12/3/2013 10:55:33 AM.

New mom and exercising...

Taking a long walk every day helped me drop the baby weight.
I was also able to go to the gym 3 nights a week . Now that DH took a new job and works insane times, I have started T25 which is 25 minutes of HIIT and I love it. I pop in a video when DS is napping . My only option was waking up at 5am which I am certainly not disciplined enough to do!!

Re: New mom and exercising...