Exercise…my way, redefined.

This morning I was able to attend the birthday celebration for the womens organization in our church. They served us a decent breakfast of hash browns, eggs, oranges and crescent rolls. We then were privileged to hear some beautiful musical numbers and listen to some speakers talk to us about nourishing our bodies, minds and spirits. It was a good reminder and couldn’t have been more timely.

Since the birth of baby Lachlan I have been struggling to return to “normal life”. I have been so blessed with such an angel baby, and so I really thought that I could/should be able to resume that life. While some things I have been able to keep up, other things I have had to put on the back burner or rethink of how I can do them. It can be pretty overwhelming, but I’ve also found that it can be pretty exciting and even, dare I say, refreshing.

I am not one that is fond of change, but I have been known to do it every now and then. Mostly it is because of some life circumstance that forces me to change- whether it be the way I think, or the way that I do things. I am typically an all or nothing person- I don’t know if anyone can relate, but it has caused burn out on many occasions in my past.

I am currently rethinking how to still be able to exercise and make it “count”. I LOVE to exercise. I LOVE the feeling of sweating and feeling all the toxins going out of my body. I LOVE the adrenalin rush and the feeling of strength that it gives to me. My current way of getting a workout is to do it as close to first thing in the morning as I can- the factors playing into that decision being that,
1) you should avoid exercising if you just ate and since I eat regular meals and snacks it is REALLY hard to avoid that or wait till the food is digested enough- so if I do it before I eat for the day then that makes me much more likely to do it
2) the sweating causes lactic acids/toxins to leach into breastmilk- which can make baby unhappy- so I try and do it RIGHT after Lachlan has finished eating
3) the sweating also makes me stinky- so I do it in the morning so I only have to take one shower that day

I have found that working out to videos/dvds at home is the most effective for me- mostly because it’s convenient- I can just put on my shoes, push play and go- no gym fees or intimidation/comparison that goes along with that- no having to worry about the weather, plus it’s a lot of fun.

For those of you that haven’t done any home exercise dvds there are really A LOT of great ones out there. They have come a long way since Jane Fonda and leotards. Before you go out and buy any though I would HIGHLY recommend signing up for netflix or some other similar service- they have a HUGE selection of exercise dvds and you can try them out to see if you want to add them to your collection

Some of my favorites for cardio exercise are the Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds series, the Rope Sport jump roping series, The Jenny Craig Personal Fitness Series(the “Let’s get started,”Let’s Tone Up, and “Let’s Get Moving” tapes, and I also own several Denise Austin dvds,

For toning I love the Lotte Berk Method and the 3-2-1 Workout and the Fight Cellulite Fast workout, both by Prevention

All that being said- most of my exercise these days consists of walking a 1/2 mile round trip to the store with Lachlan in the stroller and Jonathan walking next to me. It has been really nice because right now is about the only beautiful nice weather we have all year. The other parts of the year we have the WINDY season where dust blows everywhere and HARD, the rainy season and the HOT season(which covers 3/4 of the year in and of it self.)

The other exercise I’ve been doing a lot of lately is lifting a spoon from my ice cream bowl to my mouth- you can imagine what that has NOT done for my figure.

I have found it interesting to note the direct correlation in my eating habits to my exercise habits. I have been craving more sweets since I’ve been out of a regular routine and while I haven’t really changed the amount I’ve been eating- I am about 3-5 pounds heavier than “normal”. (which I’m totally responsible for and OK with) Before I could eat something sweet and be satisfied with a reasonable portion, but now…if I eat something sweet it’s like I can’t get enough of it. I also can’t get away with eating as much as I did before…which is REALLY hard.

When you exercise consistently, it’s AMAZING how much it changes your metabolism and your cravings. I wasn’t even doing very much more than the recommended- Mon- Fri popping in a half hour-forty minute video and calling it good. Cardio on M,W,F and Toning on T, Th.

Now with a baby it is pretty hard to fit it all in- so instead of beating myself up about not being able to maintain this schedule I am trying to rethink my exercise regimine. Half the time when I start a video I have to struggle with Jonny climbing all over me or yanking Lachlan off the couch- so it’s been tough.
I am toying with the idea of fitting in 10 min here and there throughout the day. But I’m not sure about that- I will have to see how it goes, I may even just give it up until Lachlan is more self sustaining throwing in a walk or just being outside playing with the kids to get some fresh air. we’ll see, it’s still in the works…as are so many things in my life right now. If any of you have tips on exercising with kids in tow- let me know. Jonathan will sometimes join me, especially when I do the jump rope one- but I can’t always count on that- but is it ever possible to do something with kids around that doesn’t involve being interrupted 2 or 10 or 50 times? Any tips y’all have would be GREATLY appreciated