pelvic floor – the joy of five

After the birth of each of my first three children I seemed to manage to get back into shape within a relatively short space of time. I don’t know if this was my youth giving me more of a zest to get back to my pre-baby self, the boundless energy I seemed to have or just luck but it was never really to much of an issue.

Yes my body had changed in countless ways but I could deal with this and my body confidence(whilst clothed) wasn’t to much of an issue for me.

Along came number four and this is where things took a change in the way I felt about my body and how my body was now dealing with multiple pregnancies. If I’m honest the fact I was breast feeding a baby with multiple allergies and an impending wedding the weight loss and diet side of things were pretty on point but my pelvic floor was really feeling the strain from so many pregnancies and vaginal births and I suffered terribly with vaginal prolapse that I managed to improve a little myself before I fell pregnant for the fifth time.

Age was now not on my side, struggling to find a work life balance with caring for five children, weight gain and a completely shot pelvic floor left me in a place I wasn’t happy with and if I’m honest its taken me four years and the kick up the bottom I needed to get me back on track.

I had gone from a hugly active job as a personal trainer to writing my blog which I never imagined would be a completly new career path for me. All my time, love and passion were being ploughed into this new project and any form of exercise had taken a nose dive. This added to events with free flowing food and drink I knew something was going to have to give.

After going along to the Embrace Workshop with the owner of the MUTU System – Wendy Powell she opened my eyes to the way I looked at myself and was just the stepping stone I needed to get things back on track and my body feeling better both inside and out.

The MUTU Systems main aims are to strengthen your core and pelvic floor, heal your diastasis recti, lose weight and eat well.

The program consists of 12 modules with exercises lasting only 20 minutes or less. The programs can be downloaded to any device which makes it easy to keep up the program whenever and wherever you are.

As well as the exercise program there is an easy to follow food guide that promotes healthy eating rather than unrealistic, restrictive diets.

The plan offers realistic goals and allows the flexibility to fit around everyone. My plan still has a couple of weeks to go as I had a bit of a blip over christmas so stay tuned to see my final results…if I pluck up the courage to post them!

I am already reaping the benefits with a significant weigh loss, flatter tum and most importantly for me, less leakage. If you want to give this plan a try for yourselves then click HERE and use the discount code EMBRACE15 for your 15% discount.

*Collaborated post

“We all deserve a body that works” these are the wise words from the creator of MuTu System Wendy Powell who has put together a complete body makeover program to help Mums fell better about themselves.

I was lucky enough to be invited along to meet Wendy and spend the morning taking with a group of lovely mummy bloggers about body confidence and trying out a few components from the MuTu System.

The morning kicked off with a screening of the documents movie – Embrace. The movie was made off the back of two before and after photos that were posted by Taryn Brumfitt an Australian mother of three that took social media by storm.

The buzz around these photos was so great due to the fact that Taryn flipped the usual before and after images on their head by showing her honed, bikini competition ready body as the before picture and her softer, heavier picture as here after photo.

The huge media attention from this created such an impact on Taryn that she took off on a round the world expedition to see how woman from of all different ages, cultures and backgrounds feel about their bodies and the results were pretty amazing.

It was a moving, heartfelt and thought provoking movie that really made me think about the way the over 90% with me falling into this category are in fact ‘highly dissatisfied’ with their bodies.

Thinking about the way I perceive my own body I would certainly say that I have a huge amount of hangups and these actually go back to well before my child bearing years.

After childbirth I have gained and lost a lot of weight and really lead a very yo-yo style of dieting and exercising for the past 20 years and have forged a very unhealthy relationship with both of them that I have battled with for a long time.

I am a very all or nothing person and really want to find a balance of healthy, not restrictive eating that can go hand in hand with an exercise plan that is flexible and sustainable.

This is where I was pleasantly surprised what MuTu has to offer as it fits this criteria perfectly.

Simple exercises and easy to follow diet guidelines to fix your body from the inside as well as the outside.

This is where Wendy’s phrase ‘we all deserve a body that works’ really comes into play.

So much emphasis is put on looking good that we tend to neglect the issues that can appear after childbirth such and rather than take the time to fix this we just put up with it.

Carrying and naturally giving birth to five children has certainly taken its toll on my body and after a few pretty unsuccessful trips to my GP who simply handed me a pelvic floor exercise sheet and told me to get on with it, it is by far one of the most important things for me to rectify but I have never made it a priority.

Pantyliners are now just an everyday habit when in reality I shouldn’t have to go day to day with these worries when there are resources out there to help us women to live worry free lives and enjoy time with our family without worrying about any embarrassing leakage.

During our workshop Wendy showed us some simple moves that can be carried out pretty much anywhere with the use of very little equipment and time but could have a huge impact on your day to day life.

Armed with all this information, my MuTu kitbag and bundles of inspiration I headed home to embark on the 12 week program that aims to help you lose your Mum Tum, heal your core and pelvic floor and give you confidence from the inside and out.

The course is easily accessed online where there are simple to follow videos, week by week plans and a food ideas to help you along the way.

I am currently four days in and have already been feeling the benefits.

I’ve not been hungry or felt the exercises were a hinderance to fit in around daily life, in fact I have a new found energy and am hungry to see what each new week will bring.

I will keep you up to date with my progress and will report back here after my 12 weeks are up so wish me luck!

*collaborated post