Exercise

Ugh! I did the worst thing ever. I tried on my pre-pregnancy clothes at 5 1/2 weeks after delivering my twins. What was I thinking??? I can't even get my biggest clothes past my lovely hips. Anyway, I go to my doctor for my six week follow-up this week and will then be allowed to exercise. The problem? I can't even begin to wrap my mind around having the time to exercise. It's very cold and snowy here, so taking the boys for a walk won't work. I might be able to squeeze in a bit of exercise in the next few weeks, but I go back to work full time in 3 weeks. After that, I have no idea how to work it in. When I get home, I'll want to spend my time with the boys after pulling them out of daycare?

Can it be done? Or should I just give up... Ha Ha!

 

Oh I know what you are talking about. I posted the same thing over a month ago. There really is no answer on that one. It's just too hard. My babies are 3.5 months old and I still haven't worked out a day. And I'm a SAHM. So, until you REALLY have a good routine down you probably will have a hard time getting a W/O in. I'm hoping by the time they are around 4 months it will be more consistent on the times they wake or where I can feel like I've gotten enough sleep to get up in the morning to do it. If I do it before my toddler and babies wake up then forget about it.

GL!

 

Wow, that's tough! I manage to work out a lot, but I'm a SAHM and I really LOVE exercise - it's something I skip other things to do, not something I make myself do. I jog with the babies (twin jogging stroller) whenever it's above freezing; below freezing, I jog on my own if someone can watch the babies; when I have help I swim at the gym. But I don't know how you'd fit it in with a full time job!

Just one thought - would you be able to do brisk walking on your lunch break? If it's too cold, is there a mall near your job where you could walk indoors?

But anyway, the weight will come off. It took 9 months to put it on - it's ok if it takes 9 or more to take it off again! And lifting babies is a GREAT workout!

 

It's difficult but I think you have to reframe what it means to exercise. I'm used to running for 2 hours or working out in the gym for 90 minutes. Once we had the twins (we also have a 3 yr old), I realized I couldn't ever expect blocks of time like that. So when both babies are done feeding and are kicking and giggling, I do 25 pushups. After bathtime and they are relaxing in their cribs, I do 25 more pushups and 50 squats. After I wash seven zillion bottles, I do my rehab exercises for my abs and more pushups. I learned the hard way that the minute they go down for nap, if my intention is to work out (we have a basement gym but you don't need that to get a good workout), I have to go down stairs immediately and get going. Sometimes I only get a warmup in, sometimes I get the entire workout. Sometimes I get started collecting laundry and washing dishes and never get to workout. The main thing is readjusting your expectations for the 1st year but also realizing that it's not forever.
Now that I'm back at work, I use my lunchhour to pump and 40 minutes after work to workout. At first I felt guilty for not immediately rushing to the daycare to pick up the crew. Then I remembered how much more patient and happy I am with a good endorphin boost and how mcuh better I feel both physically and mentally when I am working out regularly and I think the 40 minutes is well spent.
Main thing- adjust your expectations, fit in what you can and realize it's only temporary. Pretty soon you'll be chasing your 1 year olds and getting plenty of exercise!

 

Lugging twins around all day IS exercise, ha ha ha! I swear I have better glutes from squatting down and picking them up 20 times a day for a year than I've ever had before, so that is the silver lining...Also, lifting the stroller in and out of the car, running after them when they are crawling in different directions, carrying two 20-pound bundles around all day, etc... (at least on the weekends and in the evenings if you work full time...)
You are still early in the game, so give yourself some time. Eventually you will be able to take them for longer walks or runs in the jogging stroller, (maybe after dinner, before bath, that's when I do it) or trade with another mom on the weekend, so that you can take turns exercising, that is what we do. Or DH can watch them in the morning if you want to get up REALLY early! Some moms do exercise tapes, but I'm not one of them...
As for your figure - 9 months on, 9 months off, quicker if you are nursing them...
I bought new clothes at the 3 month-post delivery mark and now those are much to big for me. Your hips WILL shrink again, it is very disheartening at first, though! Hang in there, it gets better. My twins are almost a year old and things are looking up. I think I will be in awesome shape once they both start walking, uh oh!

 

I have to agree - what WERE you thinking? LOL. Your body takes a long time to adjust, but it will. And what pp said about re-framing exercise is really important. I am sad to say that i am a SAHM and my girls are 9.5 months and i STILL don't get regular exercise like i used to - no gym, no swimming, no yoga classes, BUT - i walk them whenever it's do-able outside, adn i can tell you that once it got them out of the snap-n -go which is impossible to navigate on the broken sidewalks around here and into a decent double stroller i really noticed a differnce; i'd take them out 2x/day and walk for an hour or so. It would be great to have someone else to do it with. And yes, just GETTING them out of the house is a workout!

but, given that you're going back to work, agree - see if you can find time for a power walk in the middle of the day, or 1-3x per week do something after work; the endorphin rush will buy you a lot of patience and a happy, patient working out of the home mom is a great one!

And - don't bother trying on your clothes for a while, but know that it really WILL come off.

 

My two are almost 6 months now and I am just now starting to comtemplate exercise. I work full time and have about 1 hour with them in the mornings before day care/work and 2 when we get home. I am not going to sacrifice that time together for exercise. And I'm already up at 5:30 to get us all ready for the day so early morning workouts wouldn't work for me either.

So, I've decided to go walking over my lunch hour for 30 minutes as much as I can, and do strengtening/toning exercises after they go to bed.

PS-I was still in maternity and elastic waistband clothes at 6 weeks! Give yourself more time. I only have 10 lbs left to lose of pg weight, and I only gained 40-ish lbs.

 

OH no!!! I did the same thing - but I wasn't able to wear all the pre-pg clothes until 9-10 weeks after having the babies, so don't worry too much. You've got plenty of time to lose weight.

But yes, finding time to exercise is a challenge. Here are the only two things that work for me (and really only sporadically, as I seem to have lost all motivation to actually exercise): exercise dvd's that you can watch and do at home while the babies sleep or (eventually) entertain themselves OR go to the gym while on your lunch break at work. I tend to work thru lunch (meaning I eat at my desk) so that leaves me a little time to run down to the gym and lift some weights in lieu of taking a real break. I don't do anything that gets me super sweaty - really, just weights and stretching. I save the big cardio workouts for the weekends, when DH and I take turns watching the babies while the other goes to the gym.