Read Kim’s story, one of our Mamafit mums reviews. If you want more ‘mums eye views’ then you can find more Mamafit stories on our blog, or you can ask the community directly. My name is Kim, I am a 36 year old mum to Ben aged 4 and Elsie who is 18 months. Until I was 18, I was a committed swimmer, but since then have opted for diets to control my weight and steered clear of exercise, often claiming ‘it’s bad for you’. I’m the type of person that on a Sunday night will have grand plans of getting up early to do a YouTube workout, which evidently never happens! During my first pregnancy in 2017 I used pregnancy as an excuse to eat without restrictions. I soon regretted that when I realised I had gained more than just baby weight. I spent over a year losing weight through slimming world and finally got to a place where I was happy. But it took quite a while…still no exercise. In the Easter of 2019 I had really bad back pain and an MRI showed I had a small, prolapsed disc. Of course the treatment is to build up core strength of which I had none! Did I act upon this??? Of course not! I vowed that if I was lucky enough to fall pregnant again, I would work on this core strength. I started following Mamafit with a view to do some pregnancy classes when the time was right for me. But you may guess what happened next…2020…March…LOCKDOWN!!! This feels like a story of all the excuses not to exercise but bear with me! Rob put out some free lockdown Facebook HIIT videos. For the first time, I waddled myself into some sort of squat, and even though I chose the light option I knew I was unfit. But I had done something! I had made a start and it gave me and my lockdown frustrated toddler something to do that we hadn’t already done a million times before. It wasn’t until after Elsie was born, and the effects of lockdown and two children made it even harder to shift those unwanted pounds. I spent Christmas looking at the booking page then leaving it for another day. Then revisiting (and repeat) before I was brave enough to book onto a real-life class. I was scared! Worried that I would be way too unfit to even make it to the end of a class, worried that others would see my bright red face and that I wouldn’t fit in. But I had made the first move and I just had to suck it up now. And then… a matter of days before my first real-life class… LOCKDOWN 2.0! All classes went online. Could I motivate myself to log in online at home when there was no accountability? I couldn’t take that chance, so I packed the iPad, and trotted off to Sefton Park where I did my first class, and I was as surprised as the next person to find that I really enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong, I was a zoom novice and may have had some technical difficulties, but it felt like I was among friends straight away. I continued with the online classes until we were finally allowed to start in-person classes again. By this point, I had started to see an improvement in the way I felt within my body, my fitness levels and my mental health. Just writing this is giving me such fond memories of prancing around my parents living room, challenging myself to push harder and keep going for the full 30 seconds. Which is a random thing for someone who claims to hate exercise! I genuinely looked forward to my HIIT class every Tuesday, so much that I even rescheduled appointments to make sure I didn’t miss it. So, it was my delight when we met in real life at Otterspool for the first time. Week after week I would see familiar faces and new faces, and everybody was made to feel welcome by Rob and the other girls. There was always a broad range of fitness levels, and I can genuinely say that I never saw an ounce of judgement. There was nothing but support. For me, Mamafit became not just about my physical fitness, it was also an activity that Elsie and I could do together. Sometimes she would laugh at me, sometimes she would lie on the mat giving the impression she was doing a press-up. But most importantly it was my mental health that benefitted the most. I recall being frustrated about something that my husband/child had done and really needing to focus my mind elsewhere saying “I’m gonna squat the sh*t out of this session” or words to that effect, and I felt so much better for it. I would feel like I had achieved something, and it wasn’t even lunchtime. By the time I was returning to work I was doing a HIIT class, kettlebells and circuits every week. I will never be someone that competes in the Olympics but I had really caught the bug and had improved 100% since that first session. The sense of achievement of doing my first EVER real press-up will never leave me (even if it was only one!) If I could go back in time and start while I was pregnant with my first baby I would do it in a heartbeat. I wish somebody would have told me that there was no need to be scared or self-conscious. But if I can encourage somebody else to do that then it will be worth it for me. From somebody who used to hate exercise for all the wrong reasons, Rob gave me the confidence to be a better version of myself. Would I consider a 3rd baby just to attend Mamafit classes again? It’s a good selling point and one I would seriously consider… but ultimately, I value my sleep too much!
My first pregnancy: Eating with no restrictions and no exercise
I had done something! I had made a start
It felt like I was among friends straight away
I started to see an improvement in the way I felt within my body, my fitness levels and my mental health
I felt so much better like I had achieved something, and it wasn’t even lunchtime!
I wish somebody would have told me that there was no need to be scared or self-conscious
Kim
