Catching up from the weekend? Check out these posts:

• Just What I Needed – girls’ night with my friend Mandy
• Where Did It Go? – wondering what I did Saturday and Sunday
• Weekly Series: FFF Features - How many push-ups can I do?
• Weekly Series: Self-Love Reflection - Trust Your Body

Last week Julie did a PSA on her blog because she wanted to clarify some misperceptions of perfection about her relationship with her husband, Ryan. After some comments and emails over the past week, I want to clear the air with my own PSA of a different topic: my workouts.

(warning: some parts of this discussion may have TMI as it is a post-partum topic)

I have received plenty of concerned remarks about how soon I have started working out again, they types of workouts I have chosen, how often I work out, etc. I do not doubt that the concern is genuine. Not at all. I do not write this post as a defensive one. With what FFF stands for, however, I want there to be no misconception  over whether or not I am trusting my body or approaching my Body After Baby journey in a realistic, healthy manner. So, this is my PSA to say you do not have to worry about either of those two things.

The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists states that women can gradually return to exercise as soon as they feel comfortable. My personal doctors/midwives felt 100% okay with me returning to exercise sooner than my 6 week post-partum appointment. They know my level of fitness. They also know my predisposition to things like depression, including post-partum, and that exercise helps me. They said to keep an eye out for increased bleeding and any pain/discomfort. If neither of those occurred, the exercise I completed was perfectly healthy for my body.

I rested a full two weeks after delivery, which during that time my post-partum bleeding almost completely stopped. It has not gotten heavier than the occasional very light spotting I had before picking up exercise. It has, in fact, continued to decrease. I pay close attention to my body and if anything felt uncomfortable, I would have no problem lightening up. I have not encountered a need for that. I honestly feel great with each and every workout. I feel appropriately challenged and energized, never fatigued or uncomfortable in the least.

Please remember, I have worked out regularly for close to a decade. I have trained for two fitness competitions. I maintained regular exercise during pregnancy. No one can compare what my body can comfortably manage right now to their own bodies or their own ideas of what is right. I have spent years working on getting more in tune with my body because I do not want to do it harm like I have in the past. I have listened to my doctors, but most importantly I have listened to my body…and it tells me that I’m doing just fine.

Once again: please note this message does not come from a defensive stand point. I appreciate every person who shows concern and know you all want the absolute best for me and my health. I just wanted to clarify that, while I do want to get back in shape, I will never push myself too hard or too soon.Thank you for listening!

Question of the Day – Is there anything you feel very strongly about with your reputation and sometimes feel the need to clear the air? I hope you all recognize the importance I place on loving our bodies and also, for me personally, in being genuine and honest (like I did with the scale dilemma).

I have reached my decision on the scale. At this time, I feel using the scale is worth it to my goals. I think it will provide additional motivation, accountability,  information, and ease of mind for me personally. Before I do so, I want to clear up a few things that go along with this decision:

1. FFF will still not be a “weight loss blog”. I will not share weekly weigh-in stats or anything of that nature. I have no problem with blogs that do so, but FFF was not built on that. It did not become what it is today with that style and I don’t feel comfortable shifting it there now. The use of the scale is for my personal use and tracking. I will share thoughts and emotions I may encounter along my journey, but in a very general way.

2. I will weigh once a week. Absolutely nothing more. It is plenty to track progress and it helps maintain consistency if done the same day, at the same time, under similar conditions. I will do so Saturday mornings.

3. I am still not going to know my weight. I don’t think I would, but this will help ensure I don’t get caught up in a  number and comparing that number to previous weights. For this reason, I decided to have Peter weigh me in each week. I will not look. He will not tell me. The only thing I will know is the shift in weight each week (up 1/2 pound, down 1 pound, etc) to track progress. Kind of like my own version of this scale…

source

4. It will not be the sole factor in how I track my success. The fit of my clothes, regular progress pictures, achieving new things in workouts, etc will still be more important to me.

5. If I find myself facing a negative relationship with the scale or getting frustrated/obsessive with weighing, I will stop. No question about that.

So, that’s that. I appreciate all your faith in my ability to continue being true to myself, despite this change. I felt it was best for me and could have just gone with it…but I wanted to keep things open and honest on FFF. The real deal is what I stand for. And, as my tagline states, life will still be more than diet and workouts. 😉

Although now I must talk about workouts. How can I not? I have found the perfect race for my first 5K!

I branched out my search a bit and found the Run the River 5K. Look at how perfect!!

• on April 16, just under 2 weeks after finishing the C25K program (great timing)
• its local (within 30 mins driving distance)
• the course description = FLAT, fast (ha, not me!), and easy (yes, please!)
• along a river, so beautiful scenery according to my friend who has raced it
• an out and back loop, which I was informed is a very good thing so you don’t have to walk back to parking (I can see how that matters!)
• my blog buddy Lee said she can do it too!!

Now I just need to decide if I should register now to commit to it…or wait to be sure nothing happens with training since I literally JUST started. Decisions, decisions!

Question of the Morning– Do you like signing up for things early or wait?