Getting Back in Shape – From New Mom to Female Bodybuilding Competitor?!?

Workout and excerpt from our meal plan included in this post!

I last posted on my progress here. Having just become the mother of this adorable little nugget

I really could not imagine bringing the intensity of days past to my workouts – or even functioning as a mathematician and going back to work ever again – I was in such an odd, scrambled mental state! But, miraculously, I was able to return to teaching math (very part-time) AND start working out again with something like my old verve after about 5 months. When some of our vegan bodybuilding friends suggested getting a large group of vegans to compete together I thought it over long and hard before committing to do it. After all, I’ve watched Derek spend hours shaving every inch of his body and stinking up the house with fake tan and all the other slightly less impressive aspects of bodybuilding. But, I needed a truly challenging goal and I didn’t want there to be only one female (our friend Sara Russert of vegan baking fame) taking the stage, so here I am! Man, has it ever transformed my routine and our diet!

My Routine

Derek is now my trainer. He writes my routine and trains me as often as we can manage around our son’s nap schedule and, my god, does it make all the difference. It used to enrage me when he’d saunter over as I was, say, shoulder pressing 30 pound dumbbells and say that I wan’t doing enough weight! Whaaaaa?! How dare you imply I’m not doing my damndest! But I think we’ve both grown and matured to the point where he can train me a little more diplomatically and I can take the prodding as a compliment rather than an insult. It turns out when he says I can do more he’s usually uncannily correct, right down to the last pound! For example, after screwing up my lower back I was afraid to deadlift more than the 45 pound bar for a while and when he told me to go ahead and toss on 35 pounds in our first back workout together my jaw literally dropped…but 5 weeks later I’m deadlifting 135 pounds. I’ve had significant increases across the board. Here’s my December routine as shown in some old workout logs:

Arms

Exercise Name	1 RM	Lifting Logs
Barbell Close Grip Bench Press	84	Set 1: 50×12 Set 2: 60×10 Set 3: 65×8 Set 4: 70×6
Seated Triceps Press	33.33	Set 1: 25×10 Set 2: 25×10 Set 3: 25×10
Barbell Curl	63	Set 1: 45×12 Set 2: 45×10 Set 3: 45×8 Set 4: 45×6
Alternate Incline Dumbbell Curl	21	Set 1: 15×10 Set 2: 15×10 Set 3: 15×12

Shoulders

Exercise Name 1 RM Lifting Logs    Dumbbell Arnold Press 31.67 Set 1: 20×12 Set 2: 20×12 Set 3: 25×8 Set 4: 27.5×4  Barbell Up Right Row 70 Set 1: 45×12 Set 2: 50×12 Set 3: 50×12  Dumbbell Lateral Raise 14 Set 1: 10×12 Set 2: 10×12 Set 3: 10×12  Bent Over Laterals 7 Set 1: 5×12 Set 2: 5×12 Set 3: 5×12

Back

Exercise Name 1 RM Lifting Logs    Barbell Deadlift 147 Set 1: 95×12 Set 2: 100×12 Set 3: 105×12 Set 4: 105×12  Underhand Pull down 95 Set 1: 70×8 Set 2: 75×8 Set 3: 70×8  One-Arm Dumbell Row 33.33 Set 1: 20×12 Set 2: 25×10 Set 3: 25×8  Bent Over Laterals 7 Set 1: 5×12 Set 2: 5×12 Set 3: 5×12

Chest

Exercise Name 1 RM Lifting Logs    Barbell Bench Press 90 Set 1: 60×12 Set 2: 65×10 Set 3: 70×8 Set 4: 75×6  Dumbbell Incline Bench Press 33 Set 1: 17.5×12 Set 2: 20×10 Set 3: 25×8 Set 4: 27.5×6  Dumbbell Incline Fly 14 Set 1: 10×10 Set 2: 10×12 Set 3: 10×12  Calf Press On Leg Press Machine 150 Set 1: 90×20 Set 2: 90×20 Set 3: 90×20 Set 4: 90×20

Legs

Exercise Name 1 RM Lifting Logs    Dumbbell Lunges 19 Set 1: 15×8 Set 2: 15×8 Set 3: 15×8 Set 4: 15×8  Leg Press 210 Set 1: 140×15 Set 2: 110×15 Set 3: 110×15  Barbell Squat 100 Set 1: 65×10 Set 2: 75×10 Set 3: 75×10  Lying Leg Curls 42 Set 1: 30×12 Set 2: 30×12 Set 3: 30×12  Calf Press On Leg Press Machine 240 Set 1: 180×10 Set 2: 180×10 Set 3: 180×10 Set 4: 180×10

I also do cardio (usually the stair climber) and abs 3 days a week.

Diet

So far, over about 1.5 months, I’ve lost 3% body fat on a high calorie, high carbohydrate meal plan. Derek and I do not do the low carb thing: I think it’s an unnatural dietary trick that a vegan needn’t resort to to lose fat. I find it about a million times easier to just do the obvious, duh, and eat less fat! As Dr. McDougall likes to say: the fat you eat is the fat you wear.

Our menu, which I put together using the free diet planner on our site, is targeted to 25%/60%/15% (protein/carbohydrate/fat) with a small percentage of protein coming from supplements and minimal processed food. The days vary from 20-30% protein. Here’s a page from our meal plan (we’re publishing the rest with our training and nutrition guide someday soon):

The red lentil soup recipe is here. This soup and a sweet potato is our lunch for 3 days each week – I just make a double batch. A nice side effect of all the sweet potatoes is minimized sweet cravings – really, try it! The lentil bolognese is just brown rice penne served with lentils cooked in crushed tomatoes with some diced red bell pepper, garlic, italian spices and a bay leaf for 30-45 minutes depending on the type of lentil (French or green).

Derek has just started me on the next phase of my routine (much MUCH harder) and I believe we’ve all settled on a contest date, so more to come! Wish us luck!