Those that know me know that I can speak about my body transformation for hours, but when it came time to share my story on my blog and instagram I hesitated and have been very hesitant for a while.
So here goes.
I started working in the fitness industry at the age of 18. I would teach 4 to 5 classes of aerobics and pump classes in the mornings and evenings and study during the day. After doing this for over 2 years I started doing personal training and absolutely loved helping people achieve their goals.
To cut the story short, I got married to the man of my dreams and 2 years later fell pregnant. That's when I thought that my six pack abs and toned physique would take care of itself. Oh boy was I wrong!!!!!!!!!!
During my first pregnancy I literally ate what ever I wanted, and had this impression that I would lose it after having the baby. What I didn't take into consideration the effect it would have on my skin and my abs. I put on a total of 38 Kilos with my first pregnancy, 27kgs with my second and after promising myself that I would watch my food intake and exercise during my 3rd pregnancy I still put on 25kgs. Now for a short and petite person as myself that was a lot of weight to handle. I would start at 52 kilos and end up over the normal pregnancy range.
These 2 pics are from my third pregnancy.
You can see the amount of fluid in my face. I also had completely torn all my abdominal muscles, so there wasn't really anything holding my tummy besides my back. At this point I just couldn't not walk properly or breathe properly.
With my first daughter, It took me 1 year to lose the weight, with the second it took 6 months and with my 3rd it took 5 months, if not less. I put it down to educating myself. After having my first daughter, I went through postnatal depression. I was finding it difficult to accept that I had a c-section and the after pain was unbearable.
I also could not accept what my body looked like. Here I was this silly 25 year old trainer who thought that as soon as the baby came out, my body would magically go back to the way it was. OMG was I SOOOOOOOOO wrong. My body went from being toned and all put together to looking like a sagging cow. 4 years of university and a double degree in health science did not prepare me for this.
After 5 months of feeling so depressed I decided to do something about it. I wrote myself a program and rented out a treadmill. I worked out at home, 7 days a week for over an hour. My routine consisted of 45mins cardio and the rest weight training. It became an addiction, and I promised myself that I would lose all the baby weight by my daughters 1st birthday.
This pic is me after giving birth to my first daughter. I look back at it now and think OMG what was I thinking.
With the 2nd and 3rd pregnancy, I knew exactly what to do and when to do it. I knew what foods were good for me and which ones were not. Out of all my times training, I do take note not to over push myself and lose too much weight, because as a trainer I know there is no such thing as spot reduction and if there is one thing that I don't want to lose its my BOOBS. So I always manage to stay at a healthy weight range and always keep an eye on my boobs lol. The moment I notice them shrink is when I know that I am doing too much. Its a funny thing to think of but its a women intuition.
After deciding not to have any more children, I opted to get my tummy and boobs fixed. I mean I hadn't seen my belly button in over 12 years and my abdominal muscles were really affecting my back. After doing so much research and seeing so many surgeons, who the majority of them all looked at me and were shocked at the way my tummy was. Its crazy to think that you can look hot with clothes on but once the clothes come off the truth shows.
Anyway, I decided to have my surgery here in Dubai with an amazing surgeon who treated his patients with the most respect. After deciding to go ahead and fix my breast and my tummy, I changed my mind and decided not to do my breasts, only because I loved having my own boobs, even though they are saggy, they are still mine. Who knows, maybe one day I will change my mind and go for it.
The hardest part for me was wanting to wear a bikini.
I knew that my body was fit and healthy but my tummy was always stopping me.
Even when I would try to cover up a little, it was always still obvious. You can see from this pic that my abs were so far apart and torn, that no matter how many crunches or planks or any ab work I did, they were not going to come back together without the help of surgery.
Ok, so this is the pic that really did it for me. There was another pic that I had taken, but was not brave enough to post it.
So this pic is about 9 months after surgery. I have to admit, it wasn't easy at all, especially because I developed seroma and need about 6 extractions after surgery. But all good, I had complete trust in my surgeon.
So I guess the main reason why I posted this, is to show all the mums out there that it is possible to have your body back to the way you want it. Now, that may not mean a size small or medium but at least you will feel confident in yourself and will start to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
Goodluck ladies
My next post will have an outline of some easy work out programs to help get you started the way I started.
