October is here already and since today is the 1st, I thought today might be a good day for a new beginning.
My October goals:
Run/Walk 36 miles
Bike 16 miles
No more soda
As you are all gasping in shock and horror, my husband is rolling his eyes. (Hi, Babe! Yes, I can see you.) Believe it or not, the soda part will be the hardest. In case you missed the memo, Mountain Dew is my poison of choice....when I wake up thirsty in the morning, I don't immediately think of a glass of water (duh! That would be the obvious choice for a more sane individual.). I grab a glass of Mountain Dew. If there's none in the house, I run to 7-11 and get one. Let me repeat that, in case you don't fully grasp the stupidity.
I wake up thirsty.
I find no soda.
I walk past the sink faucet (which carries thirst-quenching water).
I walk past the fridge (which dispenses FILTERED thirst-quenching water).
I grab my keys, wallet, and cell phone.
I drive to 7-11 and purchase the soda.
I come home to drink the soda which doesn't really quench my thirst...ever.
Honestly, it's just a really crappy habit that I've developed over the years. I haaaaate the taste of coffee, but I wanted the caffeine pick-me-up to prop up my constantly tired self. (Seriously? I'd sleep 12 hours a day if this pesky housekeeping and child-rearing didn't get in my way.) Also, I'd rather lick car tires than drink diet soda......so I got a bazillion extra calories along with my barely-helpful dose of caffeine.
After guzzling all of those empty calories, I now find myself in the enviable position of weighing as much as I did on the day I delivered Baby #3....BEFORE the delivery. As in, I now weigh as much as a grown woman (who ate too damn much during the pregnancy) PLUS a fetus, a placenta, and the amniotic fluid. (Too graphic? I'm trying to hammer home a point here.)
The jeans I bought shortly after her birth are digging into the spare tire around my waist. My lower back hurts all the time. I'm out of breath a lot. The back-fat that I used to scoff at now resides on MY back. My bra has THREE hooks in the back, is made by a company named Olga, and has the word "minimizer" in its description. My waist? That went M.I.A. about 10 years ago. When I walk, I jiggle. (Are you as horrified as I am?) I'm tired of being such a schlub.
On a related note, I'm issuing a temporary moratorium on my beloved stretchy pants. No good can come from wearing pants with an infinite waistband.
So I'm attempting to climb out of a four-year-long rut. During the last 4 years, I was pregnant, recovering from my 3rd c-section, nursing a baby, caring for the 2 older boys, pregnant again (at 7 months post-partum), recovering again, nursing again, caring for 4 kids under the age of 7 1/2, and trying to keep the overly-inquisitive 3rd child from playing in traffic. Clearly, my physical (and mental) well-being was waaaaay down near the bottom of the Priorities List.
Not any longer.
As of now, I have 2 hours all to myself on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings while all of the kids are in their respective schools. (Shhh...can you hear that? It's me....hopping up and down and clapping with glee.) On Monday and Friday mornings, I only have the little one with me and she is still small enough to sit in a stroller, if need be. As an added bonus, my temporarily-unemployed friend is available to run with me now and then during the week. Yay, unemployment!
The plan is to fit in my walking/running and biking on those 3 mornings. I can also get in a walk on the other 2 mornings if I put Julia in her stroller or a bike ride if I put her in the trailer seat. As an incentive, I've registered for a 5k run on November 7th. I'd love to beat my first 5k time, so I had better get busy.
The plan is to find my way out of this rut. It is not a healthy place to be. Mamas need to be healthy, I've heard. There are 5 people in this house counting on me to be a healthier Mama and wife. So if I can't be motivated by anything else, I can be motivated by these 5 people and their desire to share a long life with me.
Wish me luck. Here goes nothing.
Best of luck to you, Chris. I'm in the same boat, minus 2 little beings. I've been working out with my neighbors at least 2x/week for the last few months, but I need a little more something to kick myself into high gear. I've got about 20 lbs of baby fat and 20 lbs of hubby fat (it's hard to live with a man who can eat everything under the sun and never gain an ounce) to lose. Care to share a little motivation?
ReplyDeleteOh please don't look over here for motivation. It's in short supply. If I had to dig deep and come up with something, I'd say "eliminating back fat" is one of my motivators. And tightening up my gooey tummy would be nice. I have to say, though, I'm shocked at how much I love running. Don't get me wrong...I still suck at it (if I'm lucky, I can run for 2 full minutes), but I love it. So right now, my main goal is to beat my 5k time.
ReplyDeleteI've got 10 baby pounds to lose and lots of firming up to do. But I did buy the stroller I've been oohing and ahhing over for the past 6 months just today! I am excited to use it.
ReplyDeleteHooray for you and your goals. I will cheer you on!
Go Chris! Uhg, I don't get it, how did we woman get stuck with the task of carrying the babies, gaining a lot of weight doing it, and have slower metabolisms then men. It doesn't maker sense to me!
ReplyDeleteOn the brighter side, my cousin and his wife did a biggest losers weight loss challenge and blogged the whole thing. Pictures and all. Take a look and good luck!
http://jayandkristibiggestloser.blogspot.com/