Yoga was introduced into my life when I was 16 weeks pregnant. This is when I started taking pre-natal yoga classes at A Pea in a Pod (It's free!!). I continued taking the classes several times a week until I was placed on bed rest at 36 weeks. Other than the 30 hours of pure misery (induced, then 12 hours labor, 4 hours pushing and finished up with a c-section), my pregnancy was perfect (felt great, limited weight gain, limited swelling and only had kankles once or twice due to scarfing down massive amounts of Mexican food) and I think I owe it all to yoga.
Once Lola was born, I was able to bounce back quickly. Even though I had a c-section which usually sets you back at least 6 – 8 weeks, I was back doing cardio 2 weeks after Lola was born , back to yoga at week 3 and back to pre-prego weight at week 4. Of course, I still had a loose post-prego belly which leads me to a great question...How do you get rid of that? Is time the only cure?
Some would say that I owe the quick weight loss to breastfeeding. I agree, breastfeeding helps as you supposedly burn up to 700 calories a day but I really feel that it was the pre and post-natal yoga. Throughout my pregnancy leave (12 weeks), Lola and I attended itsy bitsy yoga and post-natal yoga classes. You would think post-natal yoga would be easy but you wouldn’t believe some of the moves they would have us do. You would think “I’m never going to conquer this move” and the next class I would do it. It is such a great workout and is always challenging.
With this in mind, I still have a long way to go to get my body where I would like it to be. I’m still a little confused as to how Heidi Klum was able to walk the runway in a Victoria Secret show 6 weeks after her baby was born. There had to be some surgery done. Well, Angie, one of my childhood best friends, and I are on a mission. Angie is a marathon runner so she has the cardio thing under control. I plan to start back to the gym and do the elliptical 45 minutes a day at least 3 days a week or walk Lola and dogs in the evenings (we went last night). But the most exciting plan in this workout regime is the yoga classes we plan to take on. Today, we will start our first class at Sunstone yoga (http://www.sunstoneyoga.com/). For any of you who are not familiar, this is the hot yoga…yikes! Not only that, but the classes can be up to 90 minutes long…yikes again! This should be interesting. To quote Angie, “Maybe one day we’ll be strong enough to float with only our pinky touching the ground”……You may laugh at this but you wouldn’t believe some of these moves….it can get pretty crazy.
I plan to get my weight and measurements tomorrow. So, as we go through this process, I’ll try to get you updated on the weight loss and inches and fill you in on any new move I conquer. I also hope to get Lola back in Itsy Bitsy yoga. It is a great way to bond with baby and other mothers and their babies.
I have several friends out there who are pregnant. My one recommendation to you is to practice yoga throughout your pregnancy. I promise it will be worth it!!!
Attached are pictures of some yoga moves that we hope to eventually conquer. I also hope that one day Clay will take on this challenge and we can conquer this pair move….pretty cool. Seriously, can you imagine Clay in this move? Ha, Ha!
No comments:
Post a Comment