Getting pregnant and having a baby didn’t make me weaker, it made me far stronger than I ever imagined.
I took the image above on September 30th, two months after giving birth to my baby.
I’ve thought about this blog for a few months before releasing it, because I wanted to make sure I figured out the real answer to what helped me bounce back so fast. It ended up being a different reason than I thought.
I’m going to ask everyone reading this blog to perform a radical thinking shift. For me, there was no secret postpartum workout that helped me recover. There wasn’t anything special I did.
What helped me recover my body’s look wasn’t what I did after giving birth.
What counted was what I did before being pregnant and while being pregnant.
I’m very sure that my activity while I was pregnant was what helped me bounce back rapidly.
I hiked a decent amount while I was pregnant because that was what I could do. Running seemed like a bad idea after the first trimester. It was a bit strange because running became so unattractive to me that I couldn’t stand it.
Looking back, I didn’t just hike a little bit, I hiked almost every day. Maybe I even hiked so much it was a bit silly.
Weight before being pregnant: 130
Max weight while pregnant before I gave birth: 175
Weight at 1 week postpartum: 155
Weight at 5 months postpartum: 135
Here is a photo from Sept 21 2021, and a photo from October 19 2022.
I am definitely not AS shredded as I was before pregnancy but I will say I am now a lot stronger. I carry my baby around with me on my walks and hikes and daily life, I build quite a bit of strength rather than anything that even slightly resembles speed.
Other facts about me that are good to know in this context: I’m a bit tall, I’m 5’11. As per 23andMe, I have fast-twitch muscles. (Better for basketball than for my much-loved activities of running and xc skiing). I also haven’t had any alcohol since June of 2020 and consider myself not just California-sober but sober-sober.
I didn’t do anything extreme after birth to get my body back. The highest mileage run that I’ve turned in after giving birth is 6 miles. I ended up finally getting COVID in November too, so I’ve been turning in 2 and 2.5 mile runs ever since then, too.
I would say that my year before getting pregnant was extreme on the exercise side of things. I was running 10-15 miles on some days to train for the Collegiate Peaks Trail Run, which I barely finished in about 8 hours.
I finished, but barely, and very slowly! This is me in the parking lot after finishing the Collegiate Peaks Trail Run 25-miler in May of 2021.
2021 was also the year where I threw my hat into the ring for a modeling contest: Maxim Covergirl. I started it out on a lark and I ended up doing better than I ever dreamed, I finished 5th in the quarter finals and ended up raising about $3000 for Wounded Warriors.
My baby’s birth in 2022 was built on a strong foundation of fitness. Even though I was happy with my running in 2021 and I see myself as pretty fit, it was a tough labor and I pushed for 5 hours to get my baby born, narrowly avoiding what would have been a difficult C-section.
Baby Jewell and I together!
I think the best takeaway from my experience for others, that I would advise if asked, is to be as strong as possible while being pregnant or before being pregnant. I was in the best shape of my life in 2021 and I can’t wait to get back to running 10 miles at a time in 2023. I’m not quite there yet, but I can feel it within my grasp.