Sunday, August 3, 2008

Oh my gawd Becky, look at her butt.

I've decided to take a more active role in controlling my mood and health, and until I can seek medication and/or counseling, I'm going to (gasp!) start exercising again.

In the year leading up to my wedding, I was busy with a full-time school and work schedule and of course the planning of the wedding. For those of you who don't know, we lived in Texas and got married in Maine, so all the planning was done on the phone. Not fun. I managed though to stay active- not full-on working out, because have you seen me? but exercising at home, doing a lot of yoga and floor exercises and taking walks when the Texas heat wasn't trying to melt me into the soles of my shoes. I was tired because of everything going on but I managed to maintain a great weight (125) for my height and build, and because I bought my wedding gown so far in advance it helped guarantee it would still fit me by the time our wedding happened. It did fit and may I say, I looked pretty nice?

One month after the wedding, I became pregnant. By the time I began suspecting it a couple weeks later, I was already feeling dizzy and fatigued. Another couple weeks later when I finally had a positive pregnancy test, I was on the slippery slope to the all-consuming nausea, vomiting, fatigue and dizziness. All day, every day. Needless to say, I was unable to keep up with my fitness. I didn't gain a ton of weight during my pregnancy but I was on bed rest and then restricted activity, so at that point I couldn't exercise even if I wanted to.

If you're a mom, you know what it feels like in the days and weeks following the delivery of your child. And if you breastfed and experienced the engorged boobs FOR. EVER. you know what that feels like too. Feel like exercising? Notsomuch.

And there's the whole depression thing, and I had a nice little recipe for not exercising, ever. Sure, I do stretches a lot and we were taking frequent walks when we first moved back to Maine before it got all humid, but I wasn't making enough effort.

And I am tired of it.

It seems the humidity is getting lower, and I plan on walking as much as I can with Liam. Then I want to work up to running, which I will have to do alone since I don't have a jogging stroller. I'll keep up with my stretching, and push myself back into my former yoga routine.

In these five or six weeks since Gabe's been working overnight, I have lost weight- somewhere between five and seven pounds. This has been the push I needed to exercise again. I lost the weight from being so busy with Liam during that day and didn't have time for all the snacking I used to do. I am flirting with weighing less than my pre-pregnancy weight and since it was accidental, I know it'll be easy to lose a little more, maintain it and get my sorry mama ass into shape. Weighing the same as before does not equal looking the same as before, and I am sick of being tired and tired of being sick.

Not to mention, I replaced the swimsuit bottom I told you about with one I actually like (thanks to an amazing summer clearance at JC Penney) and while it looks great from the front, there are things going on on my backside that I am not exactly thrilled about. I still have sweet hips though.

Are you bored yet? Yeah, I bored myself writing it. I just thought, if I tell people my agenda I will have more accountability for my actions and I can't slack off and make excuses.

Thank you to Pauline and Gentri (real names!) for inspiring me to get healthy again.

So. Happy Sunday! Dear reader(s), do you have any health and fitness tips to share?

4 comments:

Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails said...

<3 ya Courtney! Come on and join the "fun". I think I created a monster in Pauline though...look out she is on a mission now!

AndreAnna said...

You KNOW I'm back on the fitness bandwagon too. But, I'm psychotic and LOVE the gym and can't wait to get back this week. I actually have dreams about it.

My weight loss kind of bottoms out when I'm not exercising since I have the metabolism of a 875 lb sloth, so I have to work out to get my body to do anything I want.

Weight loss is one thing; health is another. So glad you want to find the latter again.

P.S. There are studies that show the effectiveness of exercising as a treatment for depression.

Kate said...

I wish I would lose some weight, but I don't do anything about it, so I can't complain! Good for you for taking care of yourself :) I hope you start feeling better soon!

www.stepherz.com said...

Good for you, Sweetie! Walking is so good for your body and spirit.

Sounds a little silly, but when I'd watch tv, I would do some crunches to work on my abs. By the end of a movie I'd do a couple hundred crunches in sets of 25-50. I'd also use a can of food to do some arm curls. It's better than just laying on the couch!

I'm going to finish healing a bit and then join you in getting some exercise! Thanks for giving me some motivation!