The comeback!

On Friday 22nd March, I weighed in for a fight that never took place. I was totally gutted; however, I’ve been blown away by all the responses to my weigh-in picture.

So, here’s a blog on how I did it…  In all honesty, it wasn’t really on purpose. I set out to make the weight to fight, to rebuild my strength, to rebuild my fitness and to get back to boxing after 5 years out of the ring.

I weighed in on 22nd March and Finlay turned one on 26th March – so here’s my year of transformation. My journey was in returning after having 2 kids. But… building strength, increasing fitness, and improving body composition can apply to anyone.

I’m going to brush past the first 4months. I’d advise any new mum to start slowly. Return to pelvic floor work as soon as possible. Then it’s all about building blocks post the 6–8-week check-up. (I’d 100% encourage a private Mummy MOT – it’s costly but so important to your return to exercise.) Basic strength work; no impact Hiit training and lots of mobility work when you can. I went back too quickly and as a result I injured my wrist, my ankle, and my knee. My knee was so bad that on a few occasions I was unable to walk. Breastfeeding = prolactin = loose joints.

I picked up training 4 – 6 months post-partum. Averaging around 3 – 4sessions a week. I was still Breastfeeding exclusively. Finlay wasn’t at nursery; neither child was sleeping; John was back to working 2/3 nights a week. I was weighing 71kg which wasn’t going up or down. I wasn’t really paying attention to food – I was too tired. The sessions would include 1 or 2 full body strength sessions @ 45mins and 1 or 2 boxing sessions @30 mins sometimes with some conditioning work at the end. I mainly got my training sessions in when Finlay was napping or out walking with his dad. Often, you’d have found me training and then feeding. Several times he got hungry mid sessions. Sometimes if Aila was there too, I’d be relying on Nicola, Ali, and the other members to step in to entertain her!

Around 8months I was still breastfeeding, but this is when I was able to make a few changes. I’d have a nutritious dinner but would stop eating after 6pm – this isn’t necessarily the right thing to do, and there are plenty of people who advise against it. However, I wasn’t doing any evening training, and my breast milk supply was good. This tactic stopped me eating Aila’s leftovers, or evening snacking. My training intensity had increased, but I was still carrying a knee injury which often got in the way, but I did my best to maintain the 2 full body strength sessions, and 2 boxing sessions with some yoga too. In addition, I started introducing short Red Zone Training for increased effort. I increased my protein intake through shakes, bars, packs of chicken. Meals were nutrient dense – full of beans, chickpeas, veg, meat, spices, pulses. I introduced supplements: Vit D; B complex; Pro biotics; Fish oil and Collagen. All of this helped bring my weight down to 67kg.

Month 9 and 10 not much more changed. As I was getting fitter and stronger the intensity of training increased – although sometimes when the sleep was so minimal, it was a challenge and I had to just skip training. I’d stopped feeding Finlay soon after 10months, so my hormones balancing out, along with no longer having milk to carry around led to another drop in weight to 64kg.

Month 11, I was that little bit stricter with food, and threw in a couple of extra sparring sessions. The weekend before weighing in, I enjoyed a steak and chips from gaucho and a home-made roast on the Sunday. The week of weigh-in I cut back on food on the Weds pm and then went nil-by-mouth Thurs pm. On the Friday morning, I had 30min sauna and then weighed in at 9pm – 59.5kg. Post that weigh-in photo, and after rehydrating I went back up to 62kg.

In summary,

– I ate nutrient dense meals, with proteins, fats, and carbs.
– I ate snacks that were full fat, or high protein.
– I controlled my portion sizes, but I didn’t under eat.
– I drunk loads of water and started taking supplements.
– I enjoyed treats or a couple of drinks, but I never overindulged.
– I consistently did between 3-5 training sessions a week.
– I trained smart and I never overtrained. (Rough session plan below…)

• Monday 12pm – Boxing
• Tuesday 9am – Strength
• Wednesday 12pm – Boxing
• Thursday 9am – Strength
• Friday 7am – Redzone training

– I committed to simple but effective strength training.
– I did lots of chin ups.
– I took my time.

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Now… onto Boxing by the Boardwalk @ Portobello Town Hall on 7th June!!
See you there!