{"id":2186,"date":"2018-09-17T13:06:40","date_gmt":"2018-09-17T13:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.staging.womenshealthandfitness.com.au\/?p=2186"},"modified":"2018-09-17T13:10:47","modified_gmt":"2018-09-17T13:10:47","slug":"768-ali-finlays-post-baby-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womenshealthandfitness.com.au\/bodyblitz\/768-ali-finlays-post-baby-body\/","title":{"rendered":"Ali Finlay – November 2012 winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ali Finlay proves that new mums CAN get their abs back<\/p>\n

\"Ali-Finlay-<\/div>\n

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Starting my 12-week challenge with a three-week-old and a 16-month-old, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I had just watched my body grow week to week and it was now time to lose it week to week! My goal was to not only lose weight, but to add on muscle. I wanted a total body transformation.<\/p>\n

My journey came down to three stages:<\/p>\n

Conceive
\nMentally I had finished the challenge before I started. I had planned my workouts, my meals, my weekly weight loss. I knew my obstacles (newborn, toddler, time, sleep deprivation, breast feeding, energy) and worked out solutions before they caught me off guard. I needed to be realistic; I wasn\u2019t going to be able to make it to the gym more than three times a week and I only had about an hour once I got there. I focused on intensity, supersets and intervals. At home I needed to be creative. I ran with a pram and walked as often as I could with either my toddler in a backpack or my baby in a baby carrier.<\/p>\n

Believe
\nI once read, \u201cif you have a strong enough reason why, you can achieve anything\u201d.\u00a0 For 16 months I had been putting off my dream of becoming a personal trainer, plagued with self-doubt and a lack of confidence. Who wants to be trained by the out-of-shape new mum? I\u2019d love to work with new mums to help them get back into shape, but that meant I needed to be in shape myself. I ended up writing up a 12-week health and fitness journal to get me through. It started with my before photo and my \u2018vision page\u2019, which had everything that I was going to accomplish. I had my long- and short-term goals written out and checked them off weekly to make sure I was on track. My biggest challenge was focusing on my measurements and not my weight loss, which was painfully slow at first as I gained muscle. I had to believe that I was succeeding when I couldn\u2019t see it daily in the mirror.<\/p>\n

\"Ali<\/p>\n

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Achieve
\nTwelve weeks, 84 days, 48 workouts, but it all comes down to TODAY.\u00a0 I had to give up my \u2018I\u2019ll start tomorrow\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019ll get back on track on Monday\u2019 mentality. I realised that it all comes down to today \u2013 what I eat today and the workout I do today is going to dictate how I feel and look tomorrow. My mantra became \u2018all I have is today\u2019, which I will continue to live by.<\/p>\n

Lessons that I learnt along the way:<\/p>\n