Shortly after completing the 30 Day Shred just over two years ago and getting into great shape, I became pregnant with my third child. Long story short, I gained a LOT of weight during this last pregnancy and this time around its taking me even longer to lose it than last time. So given my success last time around and because I already had this program (i.e. I’ve already paid for it), I decided to do the 30 Day Shred again.

Now, before I get into the program and my progress, there are some things I want to mention:

POSTPARTUM MOMS

If you are newly post-partum OR have noticed any issues such as incontinence or diastasis recti, DO NOT DO THIS PROGRAM! There are a lot of jumping exercises in this program and if you aren’t properly healed, you will do damage to your body. I would strongly advise you to see a pelvic floor physiotherapist to get the green-light to work out. Your doctor’s or midwife’s six-week post-partum clearance is NOT THE SAME THING! I started running soon after the birth of my second son and then did the 30 Day Shred program and I ended up doing a lot of damage to my pelvic floor, to the point where I was suffering from pretty bad incontinence. At the time I thought it was normal (and while its very common, its NOT normal) so I ignored it.  I understand wanting to get back into shape, however before you embark on ANY fitness regime postpartum, please, please, please do a pelvic floor rehab program first and get cleared to exercise by a pelvic floor physiotherapist. I highly recommend the Healthy Habits Happy Moms post-natal workout series. It can be started as early as a couple days after birth or as late as several years after birth.

HEALTHY HABITS 

If you want to lose weight (i.e. fat) and your goal is to drop dress sizes, you will most likely also have to adjust your eating in addition to working out. I’ve been following this awesome blogger, Mama Lion Strong and her company, Healthy Habits for Happy Moms, for about two years now and I realized that I’m done with dieting. I just don’t have the energy or desire to remove a food (or food group), drink expensive shakes, fast or follow a strict meal plan to lose weight. I’m over the disappointment of”falling off the wagon” and seeing weeks of loss wiped out because of a few stressful weeks where I can’t follow some strict plan to a T.

However, I know that to lose weight you need to create a sustainable calorie deficit and I decided to do this by a creating healthy habits and mindful eating. Doing the 30 Day Shred was a good way to start the habit of working out consistently.

Next I started to track my food using an app called My Fitness Pal – not to obsess about calories but mostly to help me be mindful. I did not deprive myself of ANYTHING I wanted to eat (during this past month and a bit, I’ve eaten pizza weekly, been through the drive though more times than I’d like to admit, eaten chocolate and eaten cake in addition to eating traditionally healthy foods) and I tracked it and focused on moderation. I also don’t track every day but I do try to most days, just to keep me aware. I also tweaked some of my not so great eating habits. For one, I stopped drinking wine during the weekdays and limit myself to just Fridays and Saturdays. I realized when I have a glass of wine (or two) I totally stop caring about what I’m eating and develop a “fuck it!” attitude towards food. It was quite difficult at first – I have three kids and they have the tendency to stress me out at times (read: daily) and my end-of-day sauvignon blanc was my way to relax and unwind. But other than that, it wasn’t doing me any favours in the calorie department and I didn’t want something that should be enjoyed to become medicinal. That being said, I have a new appreciation for TGIF, haha!

And thats it for now. In Healthy Habits for Happy Moms, the founders really stress the importance of not trying to change too much too fast and to focus on one healthy habit at a time to increase your likelihood of success, so that is what I am doing. I will continue to do workouts (there are some awesome ones on the HHHM’s website I want to try) but will probably also do another Jillian Michaels plan because I do like the format and the fact they are so quick.  I will continue to limit my alcohol intake to just Fridays and Saturdays.

OK, so here are my results from doing the 30 Day Shred again!

So as you can see, I definitely had some good results again! I can feel (and see) my stomach has gotten tighter as well as my legs (though the pictures don’t really show progress there), and my muffin top is smaller. Also my shoulders have more definition to them now. Overall, very happy with where I am!

DIFFERENCES FROM MY SECOND TIME AROUND

Even though I was fatter starting off the program this time around, I was actually in better shape, strength and cardio wise. I had been going to a personal trainer for a while before starting this program and so my strength level was very higher than when I did it the first time. To be honest, some of the strength exercises were too easy for me, even when I used my heaviest weights (5kg) – that said, I used a combination of 3kg and 5kg weights depending on the exercise.

I was also able to do all the exercises at the advanced level from Day 1. Yes, I do proper push ups and it makes a HUGE difference. I’d really recommend at least attempting to do proper push ups and only switching to knee-push ups when you literally can’t do the proper ones any more.

It took me almost two months to get this complete this time. My middle son got very sick part of the way through (contracted a rotavirus-like bug and then developed a double ear infection) and I also ended up with strep-throat and was forced to rest. I found that I was able to do the workouts about four times a week on average and to be honest, I’m happy with that. It works for me. But I did it!

With three kids now, I appreciate my time to workout more than ever and I make it a priority. I still love how quick these workouts are and will aim for similar ones.

So that’s it! I’m happy with my progress and excited about what I’ll do next.