At Least Someone Is Using It

Now Nick is down for the count as well.  Ridiculous.  We come up with a great plan, we are motivated and sticking to it, and then sickness hits.  Really?

At least our kids are making use of the large stack of DVDs sitting by the television.  They really wanted to try working out, so we let them watch the first section of one of the discs.  It was rather amusing.  After about two minutes (and that is being generous), Caleb sat down and said, "I'm so tired!"

Abby, on the other hand, wanted to keep going.  As we watched her really follow the leader and do some pretty amazing moves, we knew we needed to turn it off.  Maybe it was because we both got jealous that she could do the moves better and without much effort than we could, but I would like to say it was because we were worried she was going to do something to ruin her young bones and muscles.  The last thing I wanted, was to hear her complain the next day about how sore she was.

You know, like we do.

Well, the girl cried when we turned it off.  Like, really cried.  Appparently, exercising when you are young and you have no reason to is fun.  Imagine that.

Think about it.  When you were a kid, what was fun to do out in the playground?  Jumping rope (30 seconds of that now and I'm passing out), running for fun, jumping jacks, monkey bars...no child complains about doing these things, yet as adults, those activites are tough!

As my fever is finally gone and the aches and pains are slowly dying down, my plan is to start again tomorrow.  After all, today is the day of rest for a reason.

Day 2 (Kind Of)

After I finished my first work-out, I had some chills, but thought that was normal.  After all, my husband felt the same way after his first day.

Turns out it was a little more than a reaction to exercising for the first time in a year.  I still have a high fever and flu-like symptoms.  It is hard to tell if my sore muscles are from being sick or from working out-I suppose a little of both.  Either way, bending down and picking up Noah all day long has been a real treat.

What a way to start my accountability to working out-giving my readers an excuse on the second day.  As I reach for my sweatshirt and blanket (the chills are setting in again) I vow to start my official Day 2 as soon as possible.

Day 1

Well, it could be worse.

I started with the Core Synergistics disc.  After listening to my husband start on the Classic plan last night, I decided that I did not want to pass out or even die while responsible for my little Noah, so I am following the Lean plan.

It was a fun rotation of push-ups, ab work, weights, lunges and squats all mixed in with a lot of cardio.  For someone who spent the last year pregnant, it got pretty interesting.  My days of pilates way behind me, it was rather humorous to try some of the positions they expected me to get into.

Thankfully, Noah slept through the panting and grunting and was ready to nurse again not too long after I finished.  For some reason the sweat running down my chest was a bit distracting to him.

What I found fascinating so far are the chills that set in not too long after the work-out.  Seriously, I am still freezing cold.

I am sure that tomorrow, I will wake up feeling refreshed and ready for Day 2.  Just because Nick limped out the door on his way to work this morning does not mean I will do the same, right?

The Reason

I never had a problem with my figure growing up.  There was no shame when wearing a bathing suit, the word "girdle" or "spanks" was not part of my vocabulary.  I ran for fun and thought dieting was a ridiculous concept.  Just eat when you are hungry and go low on the junk food.

Then I got married.

My introduction to weight gain started with the birth control pill.  Within a month of being on it, I noticed the pounds slowly creeping up.  No matter how much I exercised or watched what I ate, I gained 15 pounds and it stuck.  There was no over-eating.  If you saw how much my husband and I made that year, you would see there was absolutely no wiggle room for extra snacks or eating out.

Then we hit year two of our marriage and we decided that I would get off of the birth control pill and "see what happened."  My ideal was to have some time to lose that extra weight and hopefully get pregnant within a few months.

Nope.  Little Miss Abby was conceived that same month.

Okay, no big deal.  So I was starting 15 pounds higher than I wanted-I could lose that after she was born.

Little did I know that my body is one of those fun sorts that does not like to lose baby weight while nursing.  Sure, I shed the first 10-15 pounds that comes off when the baby comes out.  But, after that, it was a waiting game.  My personal favorite part of the whole experience was watching my other friends who I had shared the pregnancy months with, shed all of their weight quickly.  One girl even went home from the hospital wearing her pre-pregnancy jeans.

We don't like her very much.

You know who else I don't like?  Celebrities.  These women say their secret to losing the weight quickly is breast-feeding.  Really?  So the personal trainer and personal chef have nothing to do with it?

It did not matter how much I exercised and avoided the junk food, those pounds were determined to stay.  I later found out that my mom was the same way-thanks a lot for those genes, Mom.

Eventually, the weight started coming off, but not all of it.  Right around the time when I was starting to feel good about myself, I found out that Mr. Caleb was on his way.  I still remember the day that a friend mentioned, "You look great!  Really losing weight!"  I replied, "Thanks!  I'm pregnant."

So, I went through the same routine, nursing as long as I could while holding on to those extra pounds.  Fun times.  Eventually, we came to realize that perhaps we were done having babies.  We were not the most careful when it came to birth control and after a couple of years of "let's see what happens," we figured we were done.

Then along came pregnancy number three.  I found it amazing that my body started to gain and stick out so quickly within that first month and a half.  Sadly, we lost our baby at 8 weeks.  I would totally gain all the weight in the world to have met our little baby.  Someday in Heaven...

Within a short time, I was pregnant with Mr. Noah.  This particular pregnancy was the most lazy I have ever been.  He kept me sick during the first 14 weeks so there was absolutely no motivation to exercise there.  The summer was so hot that it was way too miserable to do any activity outside.  By the time I hit the fall, what was the point?

So, here I am, with my youngest three months old.  He is nursing great and again, I am trying to go as long as I can.  I am holding steady at the same weight that I have been for a couple of months.  Thankfully, I have a husband who is motivated to lose some weight and get back to his college baseball days.

P90X it is.

I have heard great things about this work-out from people we actually know, so I tend to believe in it more than some of those other commercials that are out there.  As we started the 90 day work-out this week, I thought that keeping a blog would be a great motivation for me to continue. 

Please enjoy this blog as I begin this ridiculously hard work-out, while still managing to find the time to care for my three children and husband.

It should be a breeze.