I’m not fat, but i’m not fit either. I’d like to be. I’d love to have a flat stomach and slim hips. Strong legs and firm butt; but I haven’t exactly been motivated. I’d like to blame it on being a mom, but the truth is I’m lazy.
I started going to the gym 3 months after my daughter was born and I was doing great. I lost all the baby weight and while I didn’t have a flat stomach or anything, I was feeling good. They I started back to work and working out didn’t seem much of a priority anymore. Between work and taking care of my family, i just couldn’t find the time and I was just so tired all the time. I haven’t been to the gym since February...I think.
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been telling my husband that I wanted to take up running. I haven’t run since high school gym class and i’m asthmatic so it’s a bit of a challenge for me, but I wanted to do it. It’s low cost and it burns a ton of calories. Or so i’m told. Days went by though and I never laced up my running shoes. I told myself I was waiting until I could get a jogging stroller so I could take my daughter with me. I scoured Kijiji but couldn’t find one that I liked in my area or in my price range. So I didn’t do it.
Last night that all changed. After dinner, I asked my husband if he would mind watching the little one for half an hour while I went out for a “jog”. He kind of looked at me funny but said sure. So after cleaning up the dinner dishes, I put on my shorts and dry fit t-shirt, laced up my shoes and headed to the park across the street. I was very apprehensive. What if there were a lot of people at the park? I haven’t jogged in forever what if I look funny doing it? I took a deep breath and told myself not to worry about what other people thought. I put my head phones on, cranked up the music and stretched and then walked a little. When I felt comfortable, I set of into a slow jog. At first it was cool, but half way around the track I was gasping for breath and my legs were killing me! I made it all the way around the track once and then stopped jogging and started walking again. I was having a hard time catching my breath, so I looked around to see if anyone was watching and then took out my inhaler and used it. I hate using it in front of strangers, it always makes me feel weird. I don’t know why. I walked around the track twice and then, taking a deep breath, I again started a slow jog. This time wasn’t as bad. My legs still ached but I was breathing a bit easier. Once around the track, and then I settled into a walk again twice around the track. I kept this up for half an hour. I only ran around the track four times but man did it ever feel great! And by great I mean I felt like I was going to die and my head was going to explode but I felt like I had achieved something.
I got home and celebrated with a small glass of chocolate milk and a big bowl of peanut butter ice cream. I know!! Terrible. What can I say, i’m taking this new healthy living thing slow.
My goal is to jog every second day (or at least 3x a week) and to eat better. We already eat pretty decently at dinner time, Last night was salmon, 7 grain rice and broccoli but I need to drink less coffee and more water and stop eating so much junk like chips, pop, ice cream and pizza. I know that if I try to cut those out completely I will fail so I have to start by limiting how much of it I eat/drink.
I really want to teach my daughter how to eat well and I’m also kind of hoping this will rub of on my husband who has also said he is going to start jogging.
Until next time.
Sarah
