Fit Mama Friday – Meet Leighann

 Meet Leighann

 

Today on Fit Mama Friday, meet Canadian Fit Mama Leighann! Leighann is a mostly stay-at-home mama to adorable Amelia, who is 20 months old (she’s also a new blogger!). Prior to becoming a mom, Leighann struggled with finding time for fitness, and ended up gaining a lot of weight during pregnancy – weight she found difficult to lose. Unhappy with her weight, Leighann tapped into her competitive side to become fitter and healthier than she’s ever been. 

Leighann, have you always been fit, even prior to having your daughter Amelia?

Prior to pregnancy and having my daughter, I would say I was in decent shape.  I ran regularly and did minimal strength training, but being a bit consumed by work, I didn’t dedicate as much as time as I would have liked to being fit. During pregnancy, though, I gained more weight than I should have and struggled with my weight loss post pregnancy.

I worked full time plus overtime while pregnant which left little time for working out. I worked up until one week before my due date. Usually by the time I made it home and ate supper I was ready for bed!

Did you struggle with post-pregnancy weight loss because you had gained more than the recommended amount? Or was it a combination of factors?

Definitely there were a lot of factors involved in why I found it hard to lose the baby weight. The first few months after my daughter was born we were busy with renovations, selling a house and moving 1000 miles to a new city.  I felt overwhelmed by it all and by the time we had moved, five months had gone by and I hadn’t done a single thing to lose weight and get back into shape.  I felt I had my reasons, but looking back I know they were excuses.  I know if I had somehow found even 30 minutes a day to dedicate to fitness, I would have felt so much better physically and mentally.  Although I wasn’t too terribly out of shape, I wasn’t where I used to be (running half marathons for example).

What changed for you? How did you get from being out of shape and struggling, to being a Fit Mama now?

Within a week of settling into our new city, I located and signed up for a Stroller bootcamp group to meet other moms and kickstart my weight loss.  It helped me to stay focused and I returned to running 4-5 times per week. I also started strength training (each muscle group several times per week), a bit of cross training and really focused on core work (helps tremendously for my running).  The first few months went well but I really noticed results when my nutrition fell into line. I followed, and continue to follow clean eating.  Tons of fresh fruits, veggies, lean proteins, avoiding sugar and anything processed. When I get tempted to eat junk, I give in by buying a small handful of jelly beans from the bulk section of the grocery store. I get to have my cheat, but in a small controlled portion! The longer I eat clean, the easier it becomes. It truly does become a habit.

It’s so true that healthy choices can become as much of a habit as unhealthy ones. Was there a ‘breakthrough’ moment for you, when you were like, ‘Yes! This is why I’m doing this!’?

Within 5 months of starting to get back into shape (my daughter would have been 10 months at this point) I ran my first post pregnancy half marathon and set a PR by 15 minutes.  Not only had I reached my pre-pregnancy fitness level, I had surpassed it.  I was fully hooked on running again! I ran another half a few weeks later (knocking another 10 minutes of my PR), and kept going from there.  I run 1-2 races (mostly half marathons) each month, and ran a full marathon in May 2013.  Next up for me is the Old Port Shipyard Half marathon in Portland Maine in a few weeks!

 

 

Congratulations, Leighann, those are some incredible PR’s! You’re clearly motivated by better times and reaching (and surpassing!) goals.

Goals are huge for me, and I’m very competitive with myself.  Once I know I can run a certain distance, I want to run it again, and do better each time.  It helps to keep me on track.  I know I need to keep my nutrition in line and mileage up because I want to do well and have no regrets.  I decided to run the full marathon because half marathons had become too comfortable.  I knew I wasn’t challenging myself.  Even though I am proud of my full marathon finishing time, I was only sore for a few days.  I felt ready to run again almost immediately.  That told me two things, 1) I had trained well and was ready and 2) I probably could have pushed a bit harder!

For the most part, you’re a stay-at-home mom, with some freelance contract work – how hard is it for you to get your training done, when you’re pretty much 24/7 with Amelia?

There are times that it has been tough to stay on track.  My husband works out of town 5 days per week most weeks out of the month.  With no family in the area for back up, and being stay at home, I’m on duty 24/7 (what mom isn’t though?).  This means most of my runs are with my daughter in a jogging stroller (I love my BOB stroller) and with our chocolate lab in tow.  It’s great for training (man can I fly when I’m strollerless), but it does limit training time.  There’s only so long you can keep a toddler in a stroller!  Most of my other training is done when my daughter naps or is in bed.  This is sometimes a struggle as she still doesn’t sleep through the night, and it’s tempting to nap when she does, instead of cross training or weight lifting.  I can do some training when she is awake but it’s tough to safely lift weights with a toddler jumping on you!  Although I sometimes give into naps, I usually power through the day and focus on fitness when I can, no matter how tired I am.  And I sleep much better because of it.

As tough as it is to stay on track with fitness when alone for the week, I know that I have it easy compared to working moms.  I am honestly so thankful and appreciative that I have this opportunity to focus on raising my daughter, with time for fitness being an added bonus of course!

What does being a Fit Mama mean to you? How has it affected your life, and your family’s life?

For me, being fit is not so much about how I look, as it is how I feel and what I am capable of.  Currently, I’m the same weight as I was pre-pregnancy.  But I am much stronger than I ever was.  I used to be thin, but now I am FIT.  I can do pushups, pull ups and comfortably run a marathon, and that is what I am proud of, that’s what motivates me.  I feel like now I am at this point, there is no going back.

As for my family, my husband is in good shape.  He always has been, seemingly without trying.  But he’s not been much of a runner in the past.  A few months ago, I asked if he would be willing to try a Spartan race and he surprisingly said yes!  So we’ve started running together here and there on the weekends and I’ve been amping up my strength training as the race is in less than two months!  We may not finish quickly, but I’m excited to run a race along with my husband and I think it will be a blast to accomplish the obstacles as a team.

We’ve also already entered our daughter in her first official kids run, which she “mostly” ran a few weeks ago.  She loves attending my races and has a ton of fun so we thought it was time for her to earn her on medal.  Between seeing me run and attending mom and tot fitness classes with me (she will even do squats with us), I feel like she’s already on track for a life of health and fitness.

I’ve also recently convinced my mother (who never ran) to enter her first 5K race.  When I registered for the Old Port Half marathon a few months back, I noticed they had a 5k portion as well.  She is fairly fit from walking, so she agreed.  I designed a 5k training program with her current fitness level in mind and cannot wait for her to cross that finish line!

That’s the cutest race recap ever! And this is such a sweet photo from the day:

 

So, Leighann, once a Fit Mama, always a Fit Mama? 

Yes, definitely! 🙂 Fitness is a huge part of my life.  I do some form of cardio and strength training at least 6 days a week.  I feel accomplished, happy and healthy.  I honestly feel that influences how I am as a wife and mother.  The happier I am with myself, about myself, the better my connections with those around me.  I can be in a terrible mood and come back from a run feeling great.  Most people warned my husband and I (we’ve been married 6 years) that having a child might tear us apart (sleepless nights, money woes, arguments over parenting techniques).  But it really seems our next step in life has brought us closer together and I’m happy that we have become a fit family!

Thank you so much for being on Fit Mama Friday, Leighann – It’s great to hear about what a huge impact your fitness has had on your entire family! You’re a wonderful role model for your daughter.

You can follow Leighann’s new blog at:  http://www.lifeinleth.blogspot.ca