You may have noticed that the fitness component of @moving_nutrition has picked up momentum. Most profoundly with the recent FREE beginner gym workout and demo video on YouTube.
If you’re interested in fitness and what I’m doing after beautiful bub to get back into shape, improve my strength and rediscover my fitness, then read on… If the nutrition, recipes and science side of things is more your flavour, that’s cool, this blog post probably isn’t for you, but please do stay around as those will remain the BIGGER focus of MN.
Firstly, where’s best to connect?
To document my journey back to fitness + body transformation after beautiful bub, I pensively decided to create a new, fresh, separate Instagram account so not to bombard @moving_nutrition with my fit journey. You can come find me here @jodie_shae and let’s connect!
I’ll be posting a few of the workouts I’m doing, the foods I’m eating (but these you’ll still mostly find @moving_nutrition), especially meals/snacks before and after exercise, my body transformation and I’ll hopefully get some more demo videos up (these I’m still getting used to). Of course you can follow along, try out any of the workouts I post (yay!), ask questions, and so forth. I love when you engage and we work together in our various health journeys.
Here’s two of my workout’s so far (these are from week 1 post- pre-training, when I have just begun to increase the intensity):
Where have I come from?
Looks can be deceiving… I was just having this conversation with a wonderful lady at the gym this morning. I was telling her about my journey, how long I’d been back training after bub, and how unfit I was currently feeling (my lungs ache with any high intensity exercises). “I have a loooong way to go,” I said.
But she insisted, “I looked like one of the fittest people in the gym.” I have always been an active person. My mother over-encouraged sports during my childhood and in my adult years I continued to coach dance at an elite level, participate in cheerleading and even represent Australia at Dance Worlds in 2015 (see pic). I guess the muscle memory is still there… + I’ve changed my eating habits tremendously in the past few years as I’ve become empowered with knowledge about the significance of nutrition.
We all have our own fitness history… and whilst it might influence how hard or easy your body adapts to reinstating physical activity, please do not allow it to ever discourage you from moving your body and starting that journey. It’s just too good for your health!
I am only human too. And I have had to overcome all sorts of demons to get myself to a place where I could consistently start moving, head to a gym, write this blog post and begin to actually feel empowered with the program I have set for myself. Breaking through those first few weeks was really an intense psychological challenge. The secret; you have to make it a priority!
We all have our own fitness history… and whilst it might influence how hard or easy your body adapts to reinstating physical activity, please do not allow it to ever discourage you from moving your body and starting that journey. It’s just too good for your health!
My pregnancy + body after bub
Creating a life, nurturing that life, bringing it into the world and showering it with unconditional love is arguably the most profound and beautiful experience of humanity. Mother’s do not cease to amaze me! Indeed, what a mother goes through in pregnancy and birth makes a workout seem idyll. No excuses mummas!
Some women just seem to do pregnancy well. I was not one of those women! I waited and waited for the glow…it never came. Trimester one: I felt nauseous all of the time! I continued to dance and do a spontaneous gym session every now and again for the first 10 weeks. But after that I spent most of my days in a deep nauseous fatigue. Read more here.
Trimester two: when I was supposed to be enjoying the so-called honeymoon trimester, in the depth of winter and with a suppressed immune system, I found myself horribly unwell with a virus that resulted in pregnancy sinusitis. So when the third trimester came along, I was pretty disheartened to be struck with two dislocated ribs and a dislocated pelvis. My point – not much exercise and strength maintenance occurred throughout my pregnancy.
After the birth of bub, I thought I’d be working on getting my body back into shape relatively soon…at least within months (I am a realist)… But Sophia was a challenging sleeper. At 8.5 months she was still waking 4+ times per night, so strenuous activity was one of the last priorities on my daily list… far far far below sleep.
But I’ve finally adjusted and settled into the swing of this mumma thing, I’m now very well slept, and my health has never felt better – my new mission is underway and I look forward to documenting this journey and hopefully along the way, provide you with some inspiration, encouragement and insight.
With love & integrity, Jodie
