How I’m Getting Strong Again After Pregnancy and C-Section Recovery

0:00Oh, do you feel like you're bouncing back or how are your workouts? like it is a topic that comes up quite quickly and that's like that's hard when you are already feeling like a stranger in your body exercise and nutrition helps me feel like the best version of myself and that makes me a better mom it makes me a better partner I feel happier I was unable to lose weight breastfeeding I think it's one of the biggest myths that they tell us as new mums this is the pursuit of wellness podcast and I'm your host Mari Llewellyn

0:35Hi, guys. It's Mari. Welcome back to the Pursuit of Wellness podcast. Today, we are getting very wellness-y. I want to do kind of my first real episode talking about my postpartum fitness journey, which is kind of crazy. Like I, and honestly, today sitting down on the microphone, I feel so much more clear-headed than I have in previous episodes. I'm feeling more and more like myself as the days go on. And I'm sure in a month or two months, I'll look back and be like, wow, I wasn't even myself yet. Now I feel like myself. But I really am just sort of inching back to feeling motivated, clear minded, happy.

1:19And I think a lot of that has to do with kind of entering my new fitness journey, my fitness journey 2.0. If you are a new listener, or maybe a new mom or whatever it may be. I lost 90 pounds in 2017. And that was what kind of started this whole career for me. I dropped out of college, I was in a really bad place in my life. And fitness was what kind of took me out of that I was weightlifting. I was learning about nutrition the whole year of 2017, even 2018. Like, you know, a fitness journey doesn't really just end, it evolves. I was really, really passionate about women's health and fitness and I have been ever since.

2:01And now I kind of feel like I'm taking on my fitness journey 2.0 per se. I don't necessarily have 90 pounds to lose, but I obviously would love to feel more like myself. It's not even so much about aesthetics. It's like feeling good, feeling strong, gaining back my muscle. I've always been someone who likes to look athletic and feel strong. I'm not someone who wants to, I don't know, feel frail or weak or kind of take part in like the quote unquote, what do they call it? Like cigarette skinny culture. That just isn't really my vibe. And I also don't have that body type. So anyway, I'm really excited to enter this fitness journey.

2:47And also I'm starting from such a different place than I did the first time. The first time I knew nothing about fitness, nothing about nutrition. I'd never worked out before. I was so, so new to everything. Now I kind of know what I'm doing. I've learned so much over the years. I have a lot of tools under my belt. I know how I want to eat. I know how I want to work out, but I now have even more knowledge than I did the first time and now we have new things available to us in the fitness world new technologies new supplements new peptides so I kind of want to share what I'm doing differently and the way I'm approaching it this time and also I'm now a mum like fitness isn't necessarily my top top top priority how it used to be I used to have all the time in the world to go to the gym and really like focus on my meal prep and whatever.

3:43So now I'm coming at it from someone who has other priorities and is kind of like fitting in the fitness where I can and trying to make it as sustainable as possible, if that makes sense. So keep in mind, I'm still at the very beginning, guys. Like I have just weaned off breastfeeding very recently. So now I'm able to kind of, and not that you can't be on a fitness journey while breastfeeding. I just think it's such a different ballgame. There's actually some great Instagram accounts to follow if you're looking at a fitness journey while breastfeeding. There's one called Move Like a Mother and she is amazing.

4:20And I was definitely weight training while breastfeeding. I just personally found it extremely difficult to have the energy to work out. I found it very difficult to change my diet at all because when you're making milk, you need to be eating so many calories. You're so hungry. It's just different. And maybe you have a different experience than me, but I was unable to lose weight breastfeeding. I think it's one of the biggest myths that they tell us as new moms is that you can lose weight while breastfeeding or that the weight will just fall off when you're breastfeeding. I had the complete opposite effect.

4:58I felt like my body was holding onto fat. I actually think I may have gained weight while breastfeeding. When I was in it, all I cared about was making enough milk for Kai, having a good supply, and I would eat as much as I needed to because that was my main concern. And there's nothing wrong with that. If you're still in that season and you're like, yeah, it's still a priority to me to make enough milk for my baby and keep going on this journey, then I think you can make so much progress with your muscle gain, with your fitness in general while breastfeeding. I just found it extremely difficult to lose weight.

5:36That is not the reason I stopped breastfeeding at all. It was much more of a mental health issue for me. I'm now in the place where I have a large freezer supply. So we are able to give Kai breast milk every single day, along with formula. So we'll be doing that until he's about six months old. But I have stopped actively breastfeeding and pumping, which has been the best decision for me and my mental health. But that's a whole other episode. But I just want to clarify before I tell you guys what I'm doing, that I'm no longer actively breastfeeding. I did work out while I was pregnant. And I think what that did, and I wasn't necessarily going hard, right?

6:15I was like weight training a couple times a week. I was monitoring the things I was doing. I wasn't doing all the same exercises that I used to do. I wasn't hip thrusting necessarily. I wasn't doing things that put a lot of impact on my core. I was kind of trying to keep my upper body and lower body strength as much as I could. Because, you know, I think in pregnancy, your body changes so, so, so much. The core changes, you're not using your glutes as much. Everything's kind of expanding and changing. So obviously, there's like a lot of recovery pieces of this as well. But I did what I could while I was pregnant.

6:53And I think what that did was set me up for success As a postpartum person, I was in the habit of training. It wasn't such a shock to my system to get back into it. I was kind of in the right mindset for it. Obviously, I waited the six-week recovery window post-C-section, but getting back into weight training wasn't so intimidating to me because I'd been doing it in pregnancy. However, I will say I was a little bit intimidated by the entire journey at the beginning. I saw a few of you asking questions and saying like you feel so intimidated to take on this journey and I felt the same way honestly.

7:34I was like oh my gosh I don't even recognize my body. I don't feel like myself. My brain feels like mush. How am I supposed to do what I've done before because I know what a fitness journey is like and that's probably one of the hardest I've ever worked in my life was on my original weight loss journey. And I was like, I don't know if I can do it again. And I think I had to like re think about how I was approaching this journey. I was like, I'm a new person. It doesn't have to be my top, top priority. I think it's going to be more about consistency this time and doing small things when I can and not beating myself up too much when I can't every single day.

8:17I think in the past I was a little bit obsessive about my fitness and that's not going to work for me in this season of my life. So I'm kind of trying to approach it in that way. Regardless, I am now officially on a good training program. I think I started with twice a week weight training and I started with lower weights, just really retraining my body. I mean, I could barely do a plank a few weeks ago. I'm working with a trainer, my girl Shane here in Austin, just because it helps me like get in the right headspace. I don't have to worry about making the workout myself and prepping because I'm literally with the baby all morning.

8:58And then I have our nanny come and I immediately get into my workout clothes and head downstairs. So I don't really have time to be thinking about what this workout is going to be. I would say if you are feeling this way and having a hard time like planning your own workouts maybe get an app like a fitness app I do have one but there's many out there or go to a fitness class something where you don't really even have to think about it that really helped me but yeah we started from the ground up guys like my grip strength was really um back to square one my core strength I could barely even feel my core when we started it kind of felt like nothing was there and now I'm in the place where I definitely feel my core.

9:41I'm able to do some ab exercises again, but again, I'm still getting back to what it used to be and I don't think it will ever be what it used to be. So I'm trying to reframe that, but we started light and small and kept building from there and now I'm up to three times a week of weight training. I'm doing an upper body day, a lower body day and a conditioning day and when I say conditioning, I mean maybe my heart rate's up a little bit more wall balls, ski machine, farmer's carries, like a little bit more functional, a little bit more cardio. I'm not jumping or running yet because my boobs still hurt.

10:19Like there's definitely still milk in there and they don't feel 100 % back to normal. But that is the current split. And I'm also trying to get 10 ,000 steps a day. Yesterday, I did really well. I had 15 ,000. Today I am behind for sure. It just kind of depends on the day. So I'll probably get home and go on a walk with Kai. I had to order myself a new aura ring. You guys might know I love aura rings. I used to wear one all the time. I stopped during pregnancy because it stopped fitting my hand. But also I just felt like I didn't really want to have too much data while I was pregnant because I was overwhelmed by the fact that I wasn't sleeping well.

11:02I wasn't maybe getting enough steps in the day. I was like, I don't want to give myself anxiety during this time. I just want to relax. So I stopped wearing it, but now I'm back to wearing my Oura ring, making sure I'm sleeping really well as best I can with the baby, getting my steps, kind of tracking my heart rate and just seeing where things are at. So that's been really beneficial as well. In terms of of nutrition. I am not tracking my food. I did track my food on my original fitness journey. And that was very helpful for me to learn about macros, protein, carbs, fats, calories, things like that.

11:37And now I kind of know what works for me. I'm definitely focused on protein. I feel like I sound like a broken record, but I definitely do well with a lot of protein. I have definitely eliminated a lot of the snacks I was having while breastfeeding. I ate pretty clean in my pregnancy. I definitely care a lot about nutrition and I cared a lot about eating nutrient dense food while I was pregnant. I was probably eating more than usual pregnant and definitely more while breastfeeding, but it was still good quality food. Now I'm still eating the good quality food. It might just be a little bit less than it was while breastfeeding and definitely focused on that protein.

12:19I'm also using kind of a meal prep service, a woman I found here in Austin that makes it really easy for me to eat the food and not think about it. And I'm not ordering in, I'm not going out. And I can tell her like, hey, I'm focused on protein. I want these ingredients. And obviously that is a luxury. And I know that back in the day, I would meal prep myself on Sundays and have everything kind of ready to go as best I can to make it easy without the thinking. So sort of an example day of eating for me, I wake up and normally I have a raw protein bar right away. If you've listened to the show for a while, you know I am obsessed with these raw protein bars, R-A-W-R bars.

13:04It's a small family business. They take two weeks to make, you put them in the fridge. I have to be their number one customer. I have been eating one or two of these a day for the past five years. I always have them in the fridge. I had one every single day I was pregnant. Kai is basically built of these bars. This is not sponsored. I just freaking love them. So I have one of those a day. For breakfast, I do a slice of sourdough and three eggs. While I was breastfeeding, I was doing oatmeal because I felt like it helped my supply. Then lunch is usually like a rice bowl with steak or chicken and vegetables and avocado.

13:43I really keep it simple. I eat pretty much the same thing every day. As a snack, I will do a protein smoothie with strawberry, banana, and almond milk and protein powder, usually bloom, collagen. And I use our creatine every single day, the bloom creatine. I love creatine. I think it's amazing for recovery, muscle, hydration, brain, cognitive function. I've been doing that the last three days and I 100 % notice a difference, bloom creatine. And for dinner, I will do some sort of protein, carb and fat. Maybe it's like a salmon bowl. Maybe it's a chicken curry. Maybe it's grilled chicken and pesto pasta, something like that.

14:28And I'm not doing a dessert right now. Honestly, it's not something I really crave. I would rather have more like actual food in my meal. And then I always have a bloom pop with my dinner. That's like my little treat, my Shirley Temple bloom pop. And that's kind of where I'm at. I go out to eat maybe twice a week on the weekend. I let myself have a glass of wine or a margarita here and there. And that's sort of what the nutrition looks like right now. I will keep you guys posted, but that's where I'm at. And maybe at some point I'll track. But right now I don't really feel like I need to. The other thing that's new in the fitness world that I did not have access to when I was losing weight the first time is peptides.

15:12And you guys may have heard about peptides. I feel like a lot of people are talking about them right now. It's sort of like an extension of the supplement world, I guess, but most of them are injectable. So before I talk about peptides, some of them are not FDA approved. You have to be very careful about where you're getting them from. I am not advising anyone take peptides. And I'm just sharing my experience and what I'm thinking of doing because I love being honest, open and transparent about this stuff. I think more people should be. And it's a big part of the fitness industry nowadays. And it's a helpful tool if you do it the right way.

15:49Be careful where you're getting them. Be careful about the information you're getting about them to each their own. And I would recommend like working with a licensed coach, clinic, whatever it may be. And again, being so careful where you get them from. So I am interested in using peptides. I've used BPC157 in the past, which is a gut health peptide. I did that when I had acne. I don't remember how effective I felt like it was, honestly. I don't know if I was using it the right way. Now I feel like there's a lot more knowledge about peptides. They were so new back them. Now I feel like we're learning more and more about them.

16:31And I'm working with a coach that I met through Greg, my husband, who has used peptides before. And I feel really good about him. And we've had a conversation about my goals with hair loss, skin, gut health, energy, muscle, fat loss, all the things. So based on my goals, and also I did a full blood panel. I think that's a really great thing to do when you're postpartum just to see where everything's at. I did that very recently. We decided on some peptides that I'm going to be trying. So far, I've only tried one. And again, guys, this is my experience. We need to have an expert on the podcast to talk about peptides.

17:13I think I'm going to have the coach I'm working with come on very soon. But many of them are naturally occurring in the body already. And these kind of just boost what's going on. The peptide I'm currently trying is called MOTC. MOTC. I think I'm saying that correctly. They all have very weird names. I'm going to quickly read to you guys what MOTC is beneficial for. It is not a GLP-1, but it can really help with energy and fitness. So I've been on MOTC now for maybe three or four days and I am loving it so I'm going to read you the benefits. MOTC is a mitochondrial derived peptide that's getting a lot of attention for metabolism and aging.

17:56It helps with exercise performance and endurance. It helps with cellular stress and cardiovascular benefits. This is telling me it's not proven, it's not FDA approved etc etc. etc. Obviously, all the things I said before, be careful with this. But I've now been on MOTC for four days and I feel amazing on it. I feel like my energy has been greatly improved. I'm able to go on longer walks. I feel so much better weightlifting. I feel much more lively. I feel cognitively sharper. I personally feel great on MOTC. And I'm taking it Monday through Friday in the morning, a very low dose. And it has really, really helped me.

18:41And this is not an appetite suppressant. It's not a GLP one. It's basically just a boost. And I feel great. And I'm really enjoying it. I'm having normal hunger cues, eating well. And yeah, I think it could be a really great boost for me in this part of my fitness journey. The other two peptides I'm considering taking. One is called, you guys may have heard of this one, GHK-CU, which is a copper peptide for skin and hair. I've seen great things about that. And BPC-157 for the GI gut healing, which can be really great postpartum. So that is the stack that I am hopefully going to be taking. I want to try one thing at a time because I don't want to have an adverse reaction or have something happen if I'm taking three at once and we don't know which one is resulting in that problem.

19:34So I started with the MOTC. I feel really good. So when the others arrive, I'll probably integrate one of them and see how it goes. So that's where I'm at with the peptides. I know it's a bit of a taboo topic. I don't know why. I think maybe because they're injectable, people are freaked out by them. I've just heard so much about them and being in the fitness health industry, a lot of people around me are using peptides. So I think for postpartum mums, it's like, why wouldn't we, why wouldn't we try it? As long as it's from a good source and you feel good about the person giving them to you. And I will keep you guys posted.

20:11And yeah, I like want to be open about this stuff because I think it's misleading otherwise. And I'm not on a GLP-1 right now. I'm not against them. I've actually had a few experts on the show. If you guys go back and look at my previous episodes, we've had some experts on the show speak about GLP-1s and the benefits outside of weight loss. So I'm not against them if they're used correctly. And I think a lot of people have had benefits from them. I mean, you guys know my good friend Fee, who used to work with me on the show, has had amazing results from a GLP-1 and it really helped her with her binge eating and mental health.

20:52So it can be amazing and I'm not against it. I'm potentially considering it for myself. And if I do decide to do that, I will definitely talk about it and share what I'm doing with the GLP one, because I think transparency is important, especially when you are in the health industry. So that's the current update on how I'm handling Fitness Journey 2.0. That's what I'm calling it. We leave for Europe for three weeks at the end of May. And I would love, I'm not I'm not holding myself to a crazy standard I don't want to be I'm gonna look different no matter what but I would love to feel really good for that trip and I think there's nothing wrong with that I'm sure I'm gonna get some feedback on this episode like why are you promoting bounce back why are you whatever I feel like how do I I wish I could like project the way my brain thinks about these things for me it's not toxic like I've never had a toxic relationship with weight loss with food, maybe here and there when I lived in LA and maybe I was a little too obsessive about it.

21:58But for me, exercise and nutrition helps me feel like the best version of myself. And that makes me a better mom. It makes me a better partner. I feel happier. I feel more confident. It's not about bouncing back. It's about allowing myself to be the best version of me for Kai, for myself, for my family. It's not about, it's not always about aesthetics. You know what I mean? And even if it is a little bit about aesthetics, I think that's okay. So I'm not promoting bounce back culture. I'm promoting feeling good as an individual and being the best version as you can be as a mom. So I asked you guys for some questions in regards to my postpartum fitness journey.

22:43And I want to see what you guys asked because I feel like a lot of us are going through this right now or maybe we're not but I see a few questions from other mums so I want to get to that okay I saw a lot of questions like this where is Kai when you're working out I struggle to lift at home because I'm always with the baby completely understand for the first few weeks I had Kai home I absolutely was not getting down to the gym probably the first month or two sometimes when he would take a long nap, I would go down there and walk on the treadmill, but I was not really able to do full, full workouts until I found help.

23:19I don't have family nearby. My husband works all the time. So I really had to wait until I found a great nanny to help me. And now I'll have her come like 30 minutes before my workout starts. And then I run down there. Honestly, that's like the main thing she helps me with is like helping me with Kai when I'm working out. I know it can be really challenging and I completely understand that and these women who fit their workouts in with the baby in the gym I am amazed and I would love to try that with Kai soon like on the weekends when I don't have help I've done it before with him in the carrier it's not quite the same um but yeah I want to be transparent about that because I don't want to mislead you guys and make you think like Kai's just always taking two hour naps and I can work out as long as possible it's really hard to do without help um has it gotten easier since you stopped breastfeeding yes absolutely i think i did i think i did an episode about breastfeeding that should have come out already as another c-section mama what are you doing to strengthen all those cut abdominal muscles basically just like slow but steady ab movements like we really slowly introduced core exercises, but also you're exercising your core anytime you're doing a compound movement like a squat or an RDL or a lunge.

24:38You're stabilizing your body with the core. So that and then also pelvic floor therapy. A lot of questions. Do you want to try GLP-1s? Any plans to use GLP-1s? Definitely not against it. I don't want to get in a position where I've seen people use it that have a hard time weightlifting or getting in enough protein and they don't feel strong. That is not something I want or would enjoy. So if I do try it, I would want to micro micro dose it. But first I'm going to try the peptides that I mentioned and see how far I can get with that alone. I think introducing everything all at once can be not the best method because it's like okay maybe there's progress to be made without that yet I think that could be a good tool if I find myself getting stuck but again I will keep you guys posted on that and what I decide to do has it been difficult to gain back the muscle you lost I think I'm still in that process I do think I definitely lost muscle through pregnancy and also probably through IVF because I wasn't able to lift as much as I wanted to and that's a huge goal of mine is to gain back some of the muscle I've lost and that's been like a very big focus of my journey.

25:52Do you feel like working out has impacted your supply? I'm done actively breastfeeding but when I was if I did a really hard workout I think I did notice that it affected my supply for sure. If it was like a cardio day I felt like weight lifting was fine. I'm three months postpartum and I feel like no one talks about the fascia and skin laxicity thoughts. True I feel like my skin is a lot looser than it used to be around that area. And I've done a few like body work massage appointments and dry needling where they were explaining to me that the fascia can get kind of like sticky when it's healing.

26:29And you can get massages that will break up that fascia and help help the scar tissue and also help with healing. But I do, I don't know what to do about the skin, the loose skin. That's kind of new for me. I might dig into that more and see, see what we can do. But I also think it's just time, you know, especially after a C-section. I see people asking about finding time to work out with the baby. Another thing I know a lot of my friends will do is go to gyms that have daycare options. Some people really like that. I've never done that, but I've heard that can be a really good tool if you want to go work out but need time.

27:05And then also maybe putting your baby in a bouncer, doing a home workout, just fitting in something small or putting them in a carrier and going on a walk. It's kind of like a ruck vest if you think about it. But yes, I know that can be really, really challenging. How are you navigating the pressure to bounce back? I'm feeling that pressure now. That's like a really tough part about postpartum. I feel like even subconsciously when I see people now after having the baby, I can tell they're like sort of like checking out my body and seeing how I look and oh do you feel like you're bouncing back or how are your workouts like it is a topic that comes up quite quickly and that's like that's hard when you are already feeling like a stranger in your body and struggling to find confidence I mean getting dressed for me every day is really hard right now I feel like none of my clothes are making me feel good and I just want to be real about that it's funny because I feel like after having a baby I feel in some ways like the most confident version of myself but in some ways I'm struggling in that department like I think with people pleasing and boundaries and standing up for myself and my time I feel much more confident now that I've had a baby because there's no question of what my priorities are but in terms of like myself as an individual and how I feel about getting dressed every day and going out that I'm still learning the pressure that society puts on postpartum women is insane because on one hand we are pressured to breastfeed as long as possible give our babies breast milk for a year plus but then we're also supposed to lose weight and look amazing at the same time and I just don't feel that those things go hand in hand I think it can be really difficult to lose weight while breastfeeding I found that and again that is not the reason I stopped that I stopped for many different reasons but I think a lot of the pressures that are put on us just don't even make sense and I think it probably comes from ignorance of like how hard it can be to be breastfeeding and be on a clock all the time and be glued to your baby 24 7 and be in a fog and have your hormones all over the place.

29:22So yeah, I think that pressure is like really challenging. And I've definitely felt that too. Mari, what about the horses? Are you coming back? Yes, I am dying to get back on my horse. It's been a long, long time. I haven't ridden in over a year. I did go out and visit while I was pregnant, but I did not get on a horse pregnant. Personally, I just couldn't do that. But yeah, now that I'm not breastfeeding, I could go out. It's just a long drive. And I don't like being away from Kai for that long, but maybe I can bring him. So TBD, I need to get out there. How much weight have you lost? Okay. I haven't weighed myself and seen the number personally.

29:57I did not look at my weight my entire pregnancy. I would have the nurse look at it and write it down and not tell me. Greg did weigh me. And I know some women hate that concept. I don't really care about that. I don't care if Greg sees my weight. He weighed me my first fitness journey. So maybe that's why I'm okay with it. But he weighed me the last day I was pregnant with Kai and has kind of helped me keep track on my journey. I think I've lost 25 pounds total since Kai came out, which like, I thought it would be more. I was like, wait, what? and um while I was breastfeeding I lost a single pound in 30 days so maybe I'll drop a guide soon guys lose a pound in 30 days join me but that's what I'm saying like I did not see progress while I was breastfeeding now I think things are maybe moving along a little bit faster but like it was tough for a minute there supplements and typical protein meals you're loving supplements, creatine, electrolytes, magnesium to go to sleep.