Friday, February 4, 2011

Sweat, Baby, Sweat

Sometime between 9 and 1 tomorrow, my new treadmill will be delivered. (Using my previous experience with delivery companies as a guide, that probably means by about 6).


I need to lose about 25 pounds. I wish I could blame this on pregnancy weight, but the truth is I gained 39 pounds while pregnant, I was down 30 of those in the first week (9 pounds of that was the baby, and a lot of it was water weight), and I've since lost another 10. I'm actually under my pre-pregnancy weight. 

That doesn't, however, mean my pre-pregnancy clothes fit right. I can get most of them on, but let's just say the lay of the land has shifted--much like a river bed after a particularly violent storm, or a sack of oranges after you beat them to a pulp. My body is not my own, and I do not want to become too comfortable with this stranger.

Since the doctor cleared me to work out again about two weeks ago, I haven't done a whole lot. I have played some Wii Fit, which is a lot of fun. It's also kept me motivated to see my weight drop steadily on the game, though that's probably due much more to breastfeeding than it is Super Hula Hoop. I do think the Wii Fit yoga and strength training exercises are worthwhile, especially for someone at my fitness level--which is to say slightly above that of a not-too-active arm chair.
Me, gearing up for downward-facing dog.
 
 
 
But that's all about to change. This treadmill will replace our old treadmill, which we purchased at Wal-Mart with the best of intentions. It's just that my husband likes to run on treadmills, and apparently the ones at Wal-Mart aren't designed for that (seriously, they are "walking" treadmills, or maybe--on a good day--"jogging" treadmills). We finally had to call it quits with this particular piece of machinery when it began to eat it's own belt after thirty seconds of turning on, causing whoever or whatever happened to be on top of it to fly violently to the right--more of a workout than I bargained for. 

This new treadmill is good for running, so hopefully it will find a more purposeful home here. 

My husband and I have a deal. He gets to work out at his fancy-schmancy boxing gym two nights a week, and I get to work out the other two, each of us taking baby-duty while the other goes to the gym. This sounded really good in theory, but then I started to think about the logistics. On my two nights, I would have to get off work, pick up my daughter from day care, bring her home, wait for my husband to get home from work, feed her, drive to the gym, work out, and then come home. At some point I would need to eat, and since I am the cook in the family, I would also have to cook dinner. Oh, and fight the guilt of spending the only waking hours I see my daughter on those days in a car, at the gym, or in front of the stove. It wasn't looking good. 

But now that the treadmill is in the picture, I have a new plan. I can run at home on my gym nights. It will be so much quicker without the drive. 

I know, I know, of mice and men . . . but I have back-up plans, too. I am still going to go to the gym a few times a week and lift weights, just over my lunch break at work. This isn't unrealistic since, before getting pregnant and put on lifting restrictions, I used to do this regularly, and I miss it. 
 
These are lofty goals, but I'm giving myself a lot of time to accomplish them. In the end, I want a workout routine I can stick to for the long-term. If it takes some bumps to get it going, that's okay. 




2 comments:

  1. Love this post! It is so hard to lose both baby- and non-baby weight! Likewise, it is so hard to schedule in workout time, even on campus where have 24/7 access. We belong to our local Y and rarely go, thus instituting the 5:30 am, every-other-day for each of us schedule. Guess how long it lasted. One week. Sigh. We'll keep trying, though, to find that sweet spot.

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