Farrah struggled with obesity throughout her adolescence, so when she got pregnant, the weight worries came flooding back. By forming a workout groups for moms that incorporates their babies, she was able to exercise while bonding with her new daughter.
Farrah's Story
"I was so scared when I got pregnant that I would get fat and that I wouldn't be able to lose the weight again."
I was a really, really heavy kid, 180 pounds at the age of 12. I would clip out the little exercise portions of teen magazines and do the triceps dips on the bench and all that kind of stuff. One summer, when I was about 13 years old, I decided to do all the exercises from the magazines, and I lost 50 pounds in that one summer. That was my starting point. Then I went up to 155 pounds, and that's been my weight since I was 14 years old - until I got pregnant. I stopped looking at the scale around the 60-pound gain mark.
"I had gotten so accustomed to my routine the way it was before having a baby that I didn't think I was going to be able to get back into it afterward."
I had gone to college to get a degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in fitness, nutrition and health. I started working with a personal trainer during the Tae-Bo craze, and it got me on a kick. Then I started personal training clients after college and was able to keep up with my own workout. After I got pregnant, I was still determined to do all the training I had been doing, but altered. I used lighter weights, I didn't work as hard, I would watch my heart rate and make sure I didn't go over 150. At 8 months, I found out my fluid was low so I had to stop exercising. I was allowed to walk exactly two days a week for 20 minutes. That was my exercise regimen for the last 2 months, and then I had a C-section, so the 8 weeks after I had my daughter wasn't a lot of exercise either.
"Getting back into exercise with a new baby at home took imagination and creativity."
I started with running errands. I was scared to drive with her in the car, so I decided to walk wherever I needed to go. I'd take 15 minute walks to the post office or the park, and it evolved from there. I remembered the difference in how you feel when you're exercising and when you're not exercising. When you're exercising, you want to get up, you want to do things, you're motivated to eat well, you have more energy to play with your baby.
You just have to figure out how you can take what you used to do and incorporate it into what you now need to or want to do. I wanted to lose weight, and now I had a new dumbbell (pointing to baby). It was really that easy. I would hold her across my arms and I would hold her head and roll her up. She loved it because she was getting held, and I loved it because I was able to be close to her and still exercise. As they get older, you can hold them up and press them up in the air. One of the things I used to do that Brianna really liked is that I would do push ups and she would lay on the ground in front of me and as I would lower down I would give her a kiss. There are a lot of options for using them in exercise; you just have to be creative.
"I worked really hard in school, so it was very important for me to not let that education go because I had a baby."
I wanted to find a way where I could help people and still work out without getting a nanny. I also wanted to lose all the weight that I had gained while being pregnant. I sat down and thought, "How can I do this?" I used to go to this park all the time that had trails all around it, and one day I just thought, "Wait a second. I could come here. I could train people. Moms could bring their babies, and I wouldn't have to leave my baby." That's how Tot Fitness was born. I felt I needed to share these exercises with other women because I didn't feel like there were a lot of options for moms.
The really nice thing about this class is it forces me to be out of the house. It lets me be around other moms who are going through some of the things I went through or am going through. It's only small thing that moms can do for themselves, one small way they can take a step to being a healthier person.
"The obesity epidemic has now reached children, so exercising isn't only for me -- I also wanted to teach my daughter."
The funniest thing is when we stop and do maybe jumping jacks and high knees. The babies think it's hysterical. Yesterday I had a class and Brianna wanted me to hold her. We were doing side shuffles, so I held her and squatted down and was doing the side shuffles, and she thought it was so funny. They come from knowing nothing to seeing you jumping up and down half the time. If you get them started at a young age, you can get them excited about exercise. It becomes just one more part of life.
