It’s time for week two of “I Need to Move It, Move It”- a 40 day challenge to be physically active every single day! If you missed the intro last week, click here.
How did you do this week? Here’s the rundown of my activities for the past seven days:
See, nothing fancy- I only worked out at the gym twice. The rest of the week was spent either playing with my kids or walking in my neighborhood. {Chasing after frogs is still fun, and I still scream when being chased in freeze tag! Just so ya know.}
I am also excited to have a guest blogger today. Nikki is from my hometown and attends church with my parents. She authors a great blog, Christian by Association. Seriously, she has some thought-provoking stuff on there. Go check her out!
I was very inspired by Nikki’s recent entry into the “getting in better shape world”- which I followed along with through none other than Facebook. Here’s her story!
Thank you, Kelli, for letting me hi-jack your blog for a day! I feel blessed to be here! Other than a small window of time during elementary school, skinny has never been a word that I’ve identified with. I’ve always been what you might call a “big-boned” girl, and I was OK with that. Somehow the idea of a fat skeleton is more comforting than being just plain fat.
I lived happily under that assumption until my first pregnancy when my OB informed me that I actually have very small bones. It was kind of a good news/bad news situation. Good news is there is a part of you that’s actually skinny: your bones. Bad news is it’s hidden beneath layers and layers of fat. Oh joy. After 3 back-to-back pregnancies (34 months from the birth of baby #1 to baby #3), it’s safe to say that my fluffiness had peaked. While I’ve always been very active, I hovered perpetually around the same size, and I had come to be pretty happy with it.
As I said, it was nowhere near the realm of skinny, but I was comfortable with myself. Unfortunately the baby-making process has a way of leaving its mark. It altered my body in many ways. My clothes didn’t fit, and the prospect of shopping for bigger clothes only made me want to eat even more. It’s a vicious cycle. My lowest point was about 6 months ago.
Time for the sob story. There were many factors contributing to my decent into the obese abyss. First, I had a 6 month old, a 2 year old, and a 3 year old to take care of. As a stay-at-home-mom, my day to day routine doesn’t exactly encourage physical fitness. On top of that I had been diagnosed with Lupus only a few months earlier, and was still adjusting to the ups and downs of the disease. My days were exhausting and my body constantly ached. I felt like everything was working against me. I didn’t have the extra cash to join a gym, I don’t live in a neighborhood where I could just go out and walk, I couldn’t do work out videos at home without tripping over race cars or dinosaurs and breaking my neck; there wasn’t a convenient outlet. And even if I could have found a way, I had very little will.
So, rather than work on it I chose to sit around, eat candy corn, and feel sorry for myself. The kicker came shortly thereafter when a trip to the doctor resulted in a life changing weigh-in. I will never forget watching the nurse write down the number I had sworn I would never reach. Enter motivation. Now, I have always been an athlete but there has been one activity that I have loathed with every ounce of my being: running. I was always the last to finish on running day, and I remember cursing my coaches every step of the way.
When I first heard about the Coach to 5K program it seemed like an impossible challenge; something I could never accomplish, and would absolutely hate every minute of. So, naturally, I decided to try it. That was 4 months ago. I wish I could tell you that I’ve lost 50 pounds and finally belong to the skinny club, but I’m still a good distance away from that kind of awesomeness.
But, let me tell you what I have done. 9 weeks after I began the program I ran my first 5K. My goal had been to run the entire thing, and I did. A month later I ran my second 5K, improving my time by 2 minutes. I’ve lost some weight, my jeans fit a little better, and I’ve decreased the number of fat dimples on my body (yes, I count them, don’t you?).
While those accomplishments are great, and I’m proud of what I’ve been able to do, there’s a lot more to this. For me, getting healthy is bigger than a number on a scale or feeling good in a bathing suit. I cannot be the wife and mother that I need to be if I am not at my best. I cannot take care of my kids if I’m constantly exhausted. I cannot love my husband if I’m more focused on my own insecurities than I am on him. I cannot raise my daughter to be a healthy, self-confident, awesome woman if I am not modeling that for her first hand. This is more than a decision to not get fat; it’s a decision to love my family enough to take care of myself.
Let me just tell you, it’s worth it. While it’s easy to fall into the cycle of emotional eating, elastic waistbands, depression, and more emotional eating, it’s much harder to spin that wheel in reverse. However, once you get it going it leads to many blessings. As the saying goes, “if Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy”. There are a lot of weary husbands shouting “Amen” to that. When you feel good about yourself it will automatically overflow into your family. Your kids get a healthier, more energetic mom. Your husband gets a happier, more confident wife. And their joy pours right back into you. That’s the cycle I want to be in.
Here’s a few tips from my experience.
1) Start small and be realistic. Ladies (and gentlemen?), I love to eat! I have been known to fall into a depression if they get my order wrong at McDonalds. So, for me, diets are a dead end road. I have only minimally changed my eating habits, only making adjustments that I know I can maintain. While my primary focus is exercise, yours may be the other way around.
2) An ultimate goal is definitely good to have, but set small goals along the way so you are frequently being encouraged by successes. I highly recommend Couch to 5K for that reason. There was never a week that I didn’t meet my goal, and that kept me motivated.
3) Prepare for bumps. The best way to do this is by designating someone as an accountability partner. Keep in mind though that everyone is different, and your results won’t necessarily be the same as your friends, but don’t lose heart.
4) Keep in mind that we were all made differently, and rather than spending your entire life striving to be a size 2, find the size that you feel beautiful at and maintain it. We weren’t meant to be on perpetual diet, or to live our life in Spanx, so break free, my friends. Finally, enjoy the journey; you have much more to gain than you do to lose.
Thank you so much, Nikki! I am so encouraged by reading this and I am sure others will find encouragement as well. What wise words for all of us. I may even try the Couch to 5K myself- but don’t hold your breath. 🙂
About Kelli Hays
