My Body Beyond Baby one year on

My baby turned one last week - how fast does time go.... and with that came my one year on Body Composition check in.  I have to say I was happily surprised  My training of late has not been what I would like it to be - for the first time in my life I have been struggling to manage my time and to factor in my training.  This is a really hard thing for me to admit and I, of all people, know that when life is challenging and times are a little bit stressful then it is THE LAST thing that should go from your life.  I don't feel better for it, I feel worse, but in my little world of children (one of whom is still not sleeping through the night), my third baby, business BBB, and our home for sale (I have changed my doona cover 12 times in the last three weeks arrgghhhh) I have struggled to pin myself down and commit.

Walking in to see Jarrod (at Body Composition) I thought that I would have lost muscle (due to less resistance training) and I thought I'd be way off the mark in terms of where I was a year after Marley's birth - BUT it turns out I am in pretty much the exact same place.  You can see results from July 2009 and July 2011 below:

16th July 2009
Body Fat % = 21.3%
Total Body Weight = 55.5kg
Fat Mass = 11.8kg
Lean Body Mass = 41.3kg

19th July 2011
Body Fat % = 21.7%
Total Body Weight = 54.8kg
Fat Mass = 11.9kg
Lean Body Mass = 40.5kg

You will notice that I am a little lighter in Total Body Weight than I was a year after Marley but you will also see that where I have lost this weight is from Lean Body Mass - I have lost about 1kg of LBM somewhere over the last 2 years.

The fat has taken longer to drop off this time however I was starting from 30.5% BF in August 2010 and if you compare the numbers from September 2008 and September 2010 you can see the much slower progress this time around:


23rd September 2008
Body Fat % = 27.2%
Total Body Weight = 58.6g
Fat Mass = 15.9kg
Lean Body Mass = 40.4kg

23rd September 2010
Body Fat % = 30%
Total Body Weight = 61.8kg
Fat Mass = 18.5kg
Lean Body Mass = 40.9kg

I had actually dropped to 22.5% BF by December of 2009 - just 5 months after Marley, whereas with India I was still at 23.4% in February 2011 (7 months post baby #2).

It is interesting to look at these numbers, how life is different with two little people in your life than just one and I completely believe that as fist time mums we somehow manage to give ourselves that extra bit of down time.  we put other things to the side and we focus on being a mum for the first time - hopefully for you, as it did for me, mean that you have that extra bit of time to focus on yourself too = more time to exercise and look after number one.  Then number two comes along and even though we are obviously taking on more we don;t give ourselves the same time to recuperate and to settle into this new life.  Life doesn't seem to slow down with number two, we just somehow manage to put more into it and for me I believe this has been the case.  I certainly haven't had the same amount of 'free' (I say that holding my breath) as I did with Marley.  I also was not blessed with a child who slept as well as he did - bless my little girl (but GO TO SLEEP!)

So here I am - one year on.  It not over from here - there are improvements I would like to make and I will strive to ensure I commit to my training once again and bring you some even better numbers in a few months time.

Ill leave you with my progress from India's birth to her first birthday:

19th July 2011
Body Fat % = 21.7%
Total Body Weight = 54.8kg
Fat Mass = 11.9kg
Lean Body Mass = 40.5kg

10th February 2011
Body Fat % = 23.4%
Total Body Weight = 56.3kg
Fat Mass = 13.2kg
Lean Body Mass = 40.7kg

27th October 2010
Body Fat % = 28.3%
Total Body Weight = 59.9kg
Fat Mass = 16.9kg
Lean Body Mass = 40.5kg

23rd September 2010
Body Fat % = 30%
Total Body Weight = 61.8kg
Fat Mass = 18.5kg
Lean Body Mass = 40.9kg

5th August 2010 (first post baby scan)
Body Fat % = 30.5%
Total Body Weight = 64.1kg
Fat Mass = 19.5kg
Lean Body Mass = 42.1kg