I haven’t had kids yet- however, what worked for my mum (and for me- I have been in a medical situation where I wasted nearly all my muscle, fat and a some bone away, so I really had to ease back into it. From being the girl with a six pack who did one arm chin ups to not being able to do a single press up or even stand up without assistance was a bit of a shock) was to ease really slowly back into it, working towards a goal. [name_m]Don[/name_m]'t be super strict with your diet: eat your fruit and vegies, but don’t be obsessive and crazy about calorie intake or anything like that: your body knows exactly what it is doing, listen to it.
[name_f]My[/name_f] mum / me started with walking. However, if you are medically okay, start working towards some fitness goals: pushups (real pushups, one arm pushups, wide stance pushups, clapping pushups, etc.), sprints, etc. As a working mum, you are obviously very busy, but you really don’t need a lot of time to work out successfully: a super intense (for you) 15 minute workout (5 minute warm up, 15 minute workout and 5 minute cool down- spend more time on your warm up and cool down if you can, but if not, this is fine). A HIIT style of workout, coupled with low impact cardio (taking your kids for a walk in the pram for 20 minutes or doing some light yoga when you get up / before bed) really does work wonders.
Sample workout:
20 Pushups (scale up or down depending upon your ability: you might start with 5-10, or even 1)
10 Burpees (ditto)
10 V-Snaps (ditto)
2 rows of lunge walks (lap of your living room or wherever you are working out: the garden, etc.) (ditto)
50 [name_f]Air[/name_f] Squats (ditto)
15 minutes, A.M.R.A.P (As many rounds as possible).
Tabata workouts are also great if you are really time poor. [name_m]Just[/name_m] push yourself as hard as YOU can. [name_m]Just[/name_m] switch up the exercises, add weights (the heavier, the better- they will not make you bulky :)), etc.
Hula hooping is great- I am a circus performer and aerialist among other things, and while hooping is not my specialty (aerial silks and flying trapeze are), they are a lot of fun. The most important thing is to just have fun. I know from watching my mum (and my medical condition), that it is never fun to have to start from scratch again, and how yuck you feel when you first do the swimsuit thing (I had massive scars and broken blood vessels all over me, so go figure :)). However, you have delivered a beautiful baby this year, and it will take time to heal (it takes two years for your hormone levels to restore to pre pregnancy levels.). Especially having two gorgeous babies back to back- you might want to get your cortisol and other hormones tested- my mum did, and she had some serious imbalances that needed addressing. The weight came off a lot easier once she did.
Workout music wise, this is really cheesy, but I personally love listening to musicals (really spunky stuff), such as Chicago’s ‘Cell Block [name_m]Tango[/name_m]’ (I am doing an aerials routine to this), Moulin Rouge’s ‘[name_f]El[/name_f] [name_m]Tango[/name_m] de [name_f]Roxanne[/name_f]’ and big power / fun songs by [name_f]Christina[/name_f] Aguilera (‘Candyman’, ‘Lady Marmalade’, etc.), [name_f]Pink[/name_f] and [name_f]Paloma[/name_f] [name_f]Faith[/name_f] (‘Can’t Rely on You.’). Anything that you can’t help but groove along to / makes you emotional (then you fuel that into the workout :)).
Also, Pranayam breathing exercises are wonderful- they really destress you, energise you and strengthen your lungs and stomach muscles. [name_f]Tara[/name_f] Stiles has some lovely yoga routines on Youtube.
Food wise, you sound like you are on the right track. Drinking enough water makes a huge difference, as your body will hold onto a lot of water weight if you don’t drink enough.
It took my mum about 6 months when I was born, and about a year with my sister (there was a massive age gap, she was running her own café and there 14 hour days until the birth, etc.= STRESS).
I know I am no authority when it comes to bouncing back after children, but I thought I would just give my two cents. Have a great day :).