I'm a mother of 2 and we have a good and busy routine to keep ourselves entertained so that we can nap in the afternoon. When I say "we," I'm actually talking about my 2 year old (3 in April) sassy daughter of mine. She loves to keep busy and will always choose to be out of the house and explore. Very different from her mother whom is a serious homebody and would like nothing more than to sit all day long watching a box.
These past few months, I'd been feeling so fatigued, weak, and just not myself. I do feel tired all of the time because that's motherhood, but this feeling was different than normal "mommyhood" tiredness. I thought maybe postpartum depression was hitting me. My son was, in fact, only 5 months at the time. However, having been diagnosed with depression when I was 19, I knew this wasn't my problem. So part of my reason to get back on the fitness train was this tired feeling. I wanted to feel energized again.
I went back to the gym January 18th 2016, when my son was 6 months and 1 day. Those first two weeks were wonderful. It was like a breath of fresh air... It was nice to have up to 2 hours by myself and an uninterrupted shower after a good lifting/ cardio day. I was all about eating better. Having that spinach salad for lunch, hardboiled egg and some quinoa for breakfast, taking fish oil, flaxseed oil, Vit D, magnesium, biotin, prenatal, etc. I was pretty disciplined.
Then I was back to feeling the same fatigue and my energy lacked even more. I've had to drag myself to the gym since. I go 4 times a week, sometimes 5 (depends on the kids) and it's always a struggle to get up and out of the house.
Last week I went to the doctor to see about running some blood tests; maybe I was anemic... or I had thyroid issues. I stepped up onto the scale and was alarmed at just how much weight I've lost. I'm back to pre-pregnancy, pre-wedding, and almost pre-high school weight.
My blood tests came back normal.
And that's where this comes into play:
I am a mother of 2. I am still breastfeeding. I am up multiple times a night and my every day schedule is hectic. I am tired.
I have also been inadvertently starving myself. Oh my goodness!
If my son gets 19-30 ounces of breast milk, that's up to 600 calories I've burned. I also burn at least 200 calories each gym visit.
It's not all about the exercise. It's also about NUTRITION!!! Because my schedule was so busy with these kids, I put my nutrition on the back burner and even though I ate good food, I wasn't eating nearly enough or as often as I needed. So, with this reality check, I'm not only making sure I increase my strength with weights and reps, but also with food!
So with that, I remind you to refuel! Keep drinking water. Make sure you aren't burning yourself out. Alright, that's all for me, time to eat again ;)
