A Change Is Coming

I said it last week....A Change Is Coming...and then my back tweaked out on me. Monday I went into my trusted chiropractor and was scolded for not coming in sooner. Yep my back was definately outta whack!!! Finally on Wednesday everything was back to somewhat normal.

I took a walk with a friend and chatted it up. The best exercise for me is when I'm not thinking of exercising. I love group classes...step aerobics, kickboxing, zumba, group power to name a few.
I get really bored on the treadmill or cross trainer. I think it has to do with my need to be doing 5 million things at once. I love to wogg (walk/jog) outside but really hate doing it inside. That was one of the hardest things for me when I trained for the 1/2 marathon 2 years ago. If it was raining or we had just gotten a huge snow storm I had to train inside. Blahh....

Anyways, so I'm back at it. Saturday is right around the corner or as I call it SUPER Saturday because I get a huge workout in! I love it. I love the feeling I love the endorphines that rush through my body and make me want to keep doing more. I love the feeling when I'm done...So bring it on. Step, group power and a nice wogg....

I saw this quote and it's my new favorite saying when I get inside my head and try to talk myself out of working out.

What is your favorite exercise?

Owwieee...

Ok, so I'm not sure what I did and maybe it's my body fighting back and saying no way but I have back pain like nobody's business. I was down for the count last week because of an awesome allergy/cold thing going on. I took time to rest and recoup. I know I've been burning the candle on both ends lately so my immune system was just MAKING me rest.

I'm sure this is how it is for most moms. We go go go and don't stop and make sure we rest until we're forced too...it maybe kicking and screaming but we finally have to give in and rest.

I always have something going on or to do, especially with 3 kids, 3 jobs and a husband, family and friends. I feel like it's never ending.

So when I signed up for our yearly 10k, otherwise known as The Bellin I knew this would be MY time. I would take time to train and get back in the game.....(buzzer sounds...eeeeerrrrttt) yeah no way my body had other things in mind. It said "Girl you need some down time" and of course I didn't listen. I do what I do all the time I ingnored it.

Isn't that what our life is when you get heavier....you ignore your reflection because to be honest looking at myself in the mirror is painful.  I see this fit inshape girl clawing to get out and this heavy girl sitting on the fit girl and saying no damnit. I like being to eat what I want.  It's this inner tormoil that keeps me from giving it my all.  This is a huge turning point!

I want to be able to wear my skinny girl clothes and to wear my cute clothes that I love.  I love looking cute and dressing up. I think it's because I'm in yoga pants, a tee and a sweatshirt all day...that's my work attire.

So I say this to you......................................take a deep breath and really look at yourself in the mirror....
Now are you ready to make this journey with me or not.......................I'm waiting......

And I'm off...Monday it's back to the grind.....I can't say that I just had a baby anymore because my baby is 1 today...I have to take control and maybe be a little crazy at first to get back what I want.....

What is that?  To be comfortable in my own skin.....

Super Saturday was in effect. I went to step class, group power and then did my interval wogging. Sunday we had a nice Easer gathering at our house so you know I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Yikess...20 people isn't such a little gathering..

Monday came and went. I taught a killer step class and then sat back and watched my munchkins in their swim class. As I was sitting there I was feeling a little guilty that I wasn't in kickboxing class instead.  When you're trying to lose weight it is very hard not to become a crazy exercise freak but you almost have to. I figure I'm there already I should be doing more, but I don't want to lose out on watching my kids either...The balance of being a mother and time for myself is hard. It tends to swing to my kids more. They are only little once. I don't know how mothers whom work out of the house do it. I would be a ball of guilt all the time if I had to leave my kids for the whole day and then drop them off at Y kid korner to work out too!

But you know they say a Happy Mom is  a Happy Family. Remember that!!! Your happiness as well as mine is just as important as spending time with your kids. It's hard to be happy if you're stressed out and working out helps. It's a proven happy pill minus the pill...

So let's start from the begining...I was brought up in a small town. I was never into exercise in fact, I walked the mile that you had to do in high school. I was a cheerleader but I hated exercise.

Me pre-baby..

I lost some weight by just going out and dancing. I love to dance! After I got pregnant with my first baby I gained a ton of weight...ummm like 80lbs. on top of being already 20 lbs over weight.  You really don't realize how much you gain until you have the baby and realize it's not ALL baby. Ha ha

Yeah I know kind of a chunk but I just had a baby.....oh denial is such a wonderful thing.
...Anyways, after trying to lose weight, watching what I ate, and doing what I thought was exercise there was no weight leaving me. Finally after I was done nursing baby was 6 mths, 2 mths later (when baby was 8 mths) I started losing weight. It was not easy...Getting up at 4:30 am 5 days a week doing 45 min of hard cardio...my pain of choice at the time was the cross-trainer at the Y going at about 180-200 at a level 5 resisitance. I later added some random power yoga and body fit (a strength training class) to my routine. I say random because I didn't do a class all the time After 8 mths of working out my hardest and eating approx 1200-1500 caloris (following the old weight watchers plan back when they didn't realize that you need extra points if you work out) I was down 80 lbs the baby was now 18-19 mths old.

I ran my best time 10k time ever 1hr 8min, that's with stopping to use the potty because I have the bladder of a 2 year old very tiny tiny... I loved running and once I got past the first mile I became a machine and really enjoyed the high you get from running.

As time went by guess what baby #2 came along. I was very diligent about watching what I ate and exercising the whole time, but with medication changes I still managed to gain 60 lbs. WTF..but with a healthy baby it was all worth it. I started working out again and managed to lose 35 lbs but still had that extra 25-30 lbs lingering...Damn it...

I didn't go to the gym like a crazy person because honestly I was so tired. My 2nd little bundle of joy was a total night owl. He was always up and this mumma needed her sleep while she could get it.

Finally in 2009 I was able to sleep a whole night so I decided that I should run a 1/2 marathon. I'm not really sure what I was thinking since I had a 5 year old, a 2 year old, I worked full-time as a day care provider, taught part-time at the ymca and was doing photography on the side. Yep...you can say it I'm a crazy person...So 4 times a week I would get up with my friend and we would go run in the fun Wisconsin cold weather...unless it was single digits, that is too cold for me. Hee hee
May of 2010 came I ran and I accomplished my goal. I didn't run very fast but I did it. I went from a walker of the mile in high school to a half marathon participant.

Along comes baby #3 in 2011. I still had that wonderful parting gift of extra weight from my previous baby and I made sure to watch it again but still gaining 50lbs...seriously my body has a pregnancy weight it wants to be at and there's no getting in the way of it. I have acknowledged it and realize that there's no fighting it..with that being said here is where my journey will start again.

I can now usually sleep through the night so their is no excuse. I have 80-100lbs that I want to lose to accomplish my goal of 150 lbs. I would like to push to 140 but I know my body shape and once I get below 150 I get alittle gaunt and scary looking, but we'll see what happens. The bar is set high!!!!






Me in the blue with my besties...