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This article is the first in a series that will focus on explaining and detailing the steps to take in preparation for the next competition, this time covering a new challenge: Fitness Competitions Postpartum.
But before we get down to business, I want to give you some background information:
Index
Spanish WNBF Championship
In October of 2018 I won the Spanish WNBF Championship in Mallorca, obtaining the PROFESSIONAL title.
That same year, in November, I competed in the World Championship in Los Angeles, finishing in 8th place in my category, which consisted of the 16 national champions of their respective countries.
Twin Pregnancy
On 5th March 2019 I became pregnant, with twins, and I tried to maintain a healthy lifestyle with good nutritional and training habits, of course in the latter case adapted to my new situation.
With my fitness mentality there was no risk for my health, and in this new stage neither for my twins (actually identical twins), so I kept training as long as it was advisable, resting from the 6th month onwards.
The Babies’ Birth
On 4 November, 2019, my little ones we born, Narel and Luca, and I could not be happier about how the whole process went. They were born by vaginal delivery and without complications, the first weighing 2kg 220g and the second 2kg 300g.
Starting to Compete Again
At the moment, the little ones are 3 months old. I feel much better and my life is starting to settle down, so after weighing it up a lot and meditating on the matter:
Carlos and I decided to set about preparing to compete at the end of the year.
At this point, I want to clarify that for us to compete or not to compete does not make a big difference, this is our lifestyle, what we like, so it’s simply a matter of getting more serious and doing things better than we would otherwise.
Developments after Pregnancy
Now yes, the moment of truth has arrived ;): during the pregnancy I gained 17kg, going past 60 – my average weight is 57 or 58 out of competition (this year I weighed 54 on the platform) –to reach just over 77kg the week before giving birth.
For a twin pregnancy it’s not too much, but neither was it ideal. Having to keep almost complete rest during the last two months of pregnancy did not help in this respect, but generally I’d say it’s acceptable.
After a week I was already at a weight of 67kg, I had already lost about 10, but the body composition was very different from before I became pregnant.
Starting to Train
The months of November and December were purely for adaptation, two babies give a lot of work and at first thinking about anything else was practically science fiction.
I had to adapt to being with them all day and all night…well, more of the same XD, especially if we consider that I’m exclusively breastfeeding on demand. I was trying to eat healthy most of the time and little else.
By January I’d already started training again, being very conservative with the weights and focusing mainly on technique and readjustment work, retrieving sensations and starting from less to more.
It’s important to remember that pregnancy and childbirth change our structure a lot and that at the beginning it’s normal to feel discomfort until everything returns to its place.
In Terms of Diet
During the pregnancy I progressively increased my calorie in take, which is advisable during the whole process.
It never occurred to me to put my physique before the health of my children, and although there were stages when I thought I was over-covering myself, I just stuck to healthy eating and being consistent with my situation.
When I gave birth, I didn’t lower my calories, in fact I kept increasing them, breastfeeding makes us burn a lot more, and as I was initially worried about not having enough milk for two hungry little ones cutting them was not in my plans.
Calorie Control
During the pregnancy, and the first months after, I didn’t keep an exhaustive calorie control. I tried to have some estimates, but nothing too much.
It was when we started to think about competing that Carlos told me that I should start keeping a count.
When prepping, the step should always be assessing where you are, your starting point, and that’s what we did.
Current Diet
I’m currently eating about 2500kcal, divided as follows:
- 160g if protein (some 2.5g per kg of body weight per day)
- 330g of carbohydrates (5g per kg of body weight per day)
- 60g of fat (+ o – 1g per kg of body weight per day).
Competing in the WNBF 2020
The second and no less important point is to plan the preparation in time so that we don’t have to run at the last minute.
My intention, if everything goes as it should, is to compete in this year’s WNBF world championship held again in Los Angeles. To do so, we have less than 10 months, about 41 weeks, so it’s time to get down to business 🙂
Current Physical Condition
My measurements:
- Pectoral: 5mm
- Abdomen: 15mm
- Thigh: 30mm
- Triceps: 9.5mm
- Sub-scapular: 9.5mm
- Supra-iliac: 8mm
- Axillary: 7mm
We’ve used the Jackson Pollock 7-spot body fat formula, measured with a picometer and it gives us 18-19% fat.
The reality is probably a little higher, but it’s good enough for us to make a comparison and see how much progress has been made.
Every month, in addition to doing a pictures and folds follow up, we’ll take some control measurements such as waist, hips, etc, and detail the adjustments we’ll be making both at training and diet level so that you have the most detailed and accurate information.
Supplements to be used
As far as supplementation is concerned, I can only say that I have to be careful while breastfeeding, so for the time being I’m sticking to protein.
I combine soybean with pea, although I consider protein powder more as a food than as a supplement.
I continue to take the multivitamin I took during pregnancy, Solgar Prenatal, and of course vitamin B12, which as a vegan is essential for me to take.
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Spanish WNBF Championship - 100%
Pregnancy - 100%
Starting to train postpartum - 100%
Supplements to use - 100%
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