“I will be at gym twice a day”
“This baby fat will be gone in no time”
“I want to get back in shape ASAP”
This was all me when I was pregnant with my now almost 3 year old. My determination levels were sky high. All I wanted was to get back to being the ripped girl with six packs, flat belly and toned booty. What I didn’t realise is that my life was about to change completely.
Before we conceived Kbear (my daughter) I gymed twice a day; I was fairly skinny but not too skinny; and I was happy. When we finally conceived Kbear I continued to gym, just not as hard. Surprising enough, gym was the only thing that kind of helped keep the nausea at bay. Well at least it did, until I started getting lazy. My excuse was that it was uncomfortable. Truly it was, but this was not a good enough reason. Little one was fine, I got the okay from my doctor and medical wise, all was well. With this, I sadly stopped gyming but I was very convinced that I will get back just as soon as little one is born….
It has been almost 3 years and I have only been to the gym twice. I don’t even have my gym membership anymore!
To be honest, going to the gym is no longer a priority in my life. With the amount of time that I’d spend at the gym working out i’d rather use it to teach my daughter a thing or two. Or to catch up on house work or my blogging even. But the first few months into parenting, I kept asking myself one question:
“How will this baby fat ever go away?”
It frustrated me at first but I let it go. I just let things be. I chose to focus on the things that made me happy. Being in the moment. Loving my daughter, Giving my Boyfriend attention, and just living life in the present. Somehow in the midst of all of this another question came up; How will I keep fit? You see my focus shifted. It was no longer about loosing weight and getting rid of the baby fat. It was now about being fit. For me this is what matters. I need to be fit to be able to run around for countless hours with my toddler. I need to be fit enough to do everything and anything with my toddler without a single complaint. I considered a lot of options – working out at home, joining the gym again, running; but these were just not too appealing. They needed me to have a set time out of my day and that, I did not have. But I started anyway. Small tiny baby steps. 4 minutes workouts at home in between Baby naps and it seems fine. Not good, just fine!
Then one day we unfortunately had a car accident. This was very unfortunate, and rather sad. I cried about it, freaked out and did just about all you can imagine when you loose a car. What I didn’t realise was that, this was in fact a blessing in disguise. This was a little push I needed to begin my *get fit* adventure and when I finally realised it, I embraced it.
I started walking!
This was not a choice I made. It rather just fell on my lap. We had no car (due to accident) and no other plan. All we did was depend on taxis and of cause walking. To be honest, it started off very difficult. I was out of breath each time, and I wanted to break down and cry. This is not what I was used to. I missed the car air conditioning, the comfort of a moving vehicle, the soft music, the scenes as we drove by. I missed everything. But I didn’t give up. I kept going. Each day, I walked a little further and a little faster. And eventually I got used to it.
We have a car now but everyday without a doubt we walk past it as we all set out to our days (My BF going to work, myself going to work, and little one going to nursery school). We never think to drive to work/school. We have grown to love walking and it has become a part of our daily routine.
There are days were I get really lazy, but I remind myself that this is the only workout that helps me keep fit. Every weekday I walk a total of 7km. This totals to 35km worth of working out every week and for me this is enough.
I am a mother, with no babysitter, no nanny or any household helper. I do it all myself while I work (9 – 5pm every weekday) and I wouldn’t have it any other way. My schedule is too busy to fit in gym time but I have found a way to keep fit . As the saying goes “A woman always makes a plan!”
As I come to the end of this post, I am now wondering about how you keep fit. How do you go about making exercise a part of your day? What are some of the things that you do to keep fit? Let’s chat in the comments below. I’m always looking for ways to bring in new and exciting ways into my walking workouts.
Until next time.
xoxo
Oluv
