Remember, I'm no doctor and my experiences are unique to me and my pregnancy. Please consult with your doctor when deciding how best to stay active during your pregnancy, but feel free to comment with any questions you might have and I'll do my best to help!
Here's a quick summary of how things went after I wrapped up that blog at 6 months postpartum:
I continued to really struggle with my body image and fluctuated 5-10 lbs. over my pre-baby weight despite the fact that I was working out harder than ever! It seemed like the harder I worked, the less I had to show for it and it was heartbreaking. I saw a functional medicine specialist in late September and he recommended that I do what he referred to as a "complete nutritional reset" to wake my body (and my hormones) up. This consisted of 21 days of eating nothing but fruits and vegetables (and no fruit after 4 p.m.). Without caffeine and my usual sources of protein, I was zapped during workouts and limited to about 60-70% my normal capacity. After the first week, I basically quit CrossFitting for the remainder of this little experiment until I could regain some energy (I couldn't even stay awake all day and had to nap when Niamh did).
Around this time, some interesting things started happening. Niamh basically self-weaned when her molars came in and I cut our nursing sessions from 5 times a day to 2 times a day, morning and night. She would latch on and nurse for about 7 seconds tops, then get distracted and want to get down and play. I didn't fight it (ok, I did for a while) and she was basically completely weaned shortly after her first birthday, or around mid-October. For those of you who don't know, we dealt with some infertility issues when we were trying to get pregnant with Niamh and ended up using a fertility drug called Clomid to induce ovulation. Obviously, the drug worked like a charm and we wound up with our little bundle of joy. However, the underlying problem (lack of ovulation) wasn't fixed and I had not gotten a period since Niamh was born. The combination of my little nutrition experiment, backing off my intensive workouts, and weaning Niamh resulted in shedding a decent amount of excess weight and getting my first period in about two years! In fact, I'm now pregnant with baby #2 and it took no fertility drugs this time around, just a good knowledge of what my body was doing!
I'd like to say I got everything back to my pre-pregnancy size and shape, but now that I'm pregnant again those goal posts have been moved! I haven't been quite as active during this pregnancy mostly due to the challenge of having a toddler and trying to squeeze in workouts or battling the fatigue of chasing her around all day. I have managed to break out the jogging stroller and put in some miles here and there to work up a little sweat, but nothing like my last pregnancy. However, I am still feeling great and, at 18 weeks now, this pregnancy seems to be as easy as the last one was! ::fingers crossed::
