My Fitness Journey | Month One

I just finished week 5 of my 12 week workout program. 

I will be honest. I have been dreading this post. I have contemplated  sharing my progress photos. But I have come to terms with things. I am proud of my body. No, I am not where I want to be, but I have made much progress and I am happy about it. 

So here are all the feelings and thoughts I have gone through over the past 4 months:

I do not remember being so frustrated and embarrassed and annoyed and all the words with my body with Finley. This time around I could not WAIT to start working out, but I had to. My body was a lot more sore and sensitive with my second delivery and I definitely tried too much too soon. I had to remind myself (and still do) everyday to take it slow, ease back into it. It took 9 months to make this baby, so it takes time for my body to recover. But man, I am just so impatient. My clothes don't fit the way I want them too, and that is hard. 

I would just look at myself in the mirror and be grossed out, honestly. I was unrealistically comparing my body to others, others that didn't just have a baby, or have any babies for that matter. I felt stuck. Every time I would try to workout or walk for exercise the first month or so I would have pains or feel sick and get so frustrated. It didn't matter to me how many people said I "looked good" and I thought my husband was only telling me that to make me feel better. I just wanted my clothes to fit. 

I knew I was being too hard on myself, and I knew I needed to stop putting myself down. I made a baby for goodness sake. I knew I needed to allow my body to get the proper rest and recovery. But, let's be real, all of  these things are easier said than done. 

I have tried to love my body at every stage of pregnancy and now post-pregnancy. It is not an easy thing to do, even if you want to. It takes practice. I am still not the most positive about my body, but I am getting there. I am trying to focus on the things I love about myself and seeing other areas as room for improvement. 

I love my legs. They are probably my favorite thing. Growing up I played soccer, so I had pretty strong legs. SQUATS ARE MY JAM! I could do them all day. It is much easier to push myself to do the leg workouts. I quickly regained my strength and tone in my legs since working out. I am so happy about it. I got my soccer legs back. 

Upper body has always been a struggle for me. Push-ups are the bane of my existence. Modified push-ups are hard. But y'all, I can do like 6 modified push-ups in a row now. Progress. 

My core. I love ab workouts too. I love feeling the burn, for real. My stomach is what I am most self-conscious about and I know it is going to take the longest to get that where I want it. I know when I start focusing on my diet I will start to see more results.

I have been doing these workouts for a little over a month now. I now know why they encourage you to take before and after photos. I would not have been able to see the progress I have made without them. I took photos on day 1 - week one and day 1 - week 5. I have not really altered my diet or eating habits yet. I do drink a ton of water. It is really hard in the summer to eat clean while living at camp. Dining Hall food is not the healthiest, but it is free. Kell and I are going to attempt to do a month of strict paleo in August to kind of detox from summer food and to get back on track to cleaner eating. We have never really been hardcore about eating clean, but I would say we enjoy eating healthy. But anyway, I expect to see more results and for exercising to become a little easier once we start eating better.  

I started out with walking, then tried a few 2 week workout challenges in April and May. I finally started to feel like myself again. About 5 weeks ago I started the Bikini Body Guide 12 week workout plan. It is by far the most challenging and satisfying workout I have ever done. I have never done circuit training before. IT'S INSANE! 

Basically M | W | FR you do a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout. legs, arms & core, and full body. 2  seven minute circuits, 2 rounds. I love that my workout is done in like 30 minutes, but it is a very challenging 30 minutes. I do a lot of modified versions of the workouts (specifically push-ups), and still feel the burn and drip the sweat. T | TH is 30-45 minutes of LISS (Low Intensity Steady State) Cardio. My cardio is usually a 45-60 minute walk pushing my double stroller around camp or yoga. I have not done as much yoga as I would like, but I am slowly trying to get back in it. Realistically that probably won't happen until summer is over. 

I am the type of person who thrives in a gym. I love using machines and being around others while they are working out. I just love the gym environment, so at-home-workouts have always been a challenge for me. In the past I have done workouts and felt like I still needed more, but with this program I am sweating and huffing and puffing the entire time. That's a good thing. I would definitely recommend this program to anyone. It's so good. It is something you can do at home or in a gym, and she just came out with a new program that is gym-based. If I didn't live over an hour away from the gym, I would be so on that. 

So there's that. I am pretty pleased with where I am. I can feel myself getting stronger each week. I am happier with the way I look and feel. I will be posting updates on here every month, and keep you updated on our instagram too. Cheers to being vulnerable and word vomiting all my feelings.

P.S. Both of my bras are from Wal-Mart.