My Fitness Story

(Part 1)

I think know I’ve been hesitating publishing this post because it is the most personal that I have gotten so far.  Today I reminded myself that the last 9 months have included lots of me pushing my boundaries physically and emotionally because that is where the growth is, right?  And so I know that once I get this out there it won’t be nearly as scary as it seems right now and that I will feel better with it out of my brain and hopefully relating to (or entertaining!) someone else.

I’m one of those “lucky” people who was blessed with good genes.  I’ve always been thin and been able to eat pizza and cake without too much worry.  But I have learned that being thin isn’t the same as being healthy or fit.

Thus begins my journey…

In my younger college days I was thin and trim and I ate pretty much whatever I wanted from the cafeteria.  It was a diet of waffles, sugary cereal and pizza.  Oh, don’t forget the ice cream every night!  For years my weight fluctuated and though I was thin, I wasn’t incredibly happy with my body.  My clothes didn’t fit right, and I was pretty insecure with my body image.

I met my hubby and got happy and fat.  I had gained about 10-15 pounds from what I will call “newlywed bliss”.  Food has often been related to emotions with me and it is still something I struggle with.    I gained the typical 30 pounds with my first child, Stella, and after she was born I didn’t lose it all that quickly.  Dealing with new mommy hood and going back to work didn’t allow me the time to get back in shape and I was still hanging on to that 20 pounds when I got pregnant with #2 a year later.  I gained another 30 pounds with Tucker and after he was born I lost all the “Tucker weight” but I held strong to the “Stella weight”.

Two kids under two took its toll and I was tired, eating terribly, not exercising and not feeling very appealing to my hubby (even though I probably still was, but that’s a post for another day!)

And here is where I think a lot of us will find common ground: I found myself using the fact that I was working full time and I had mommy responsibilities as an excuse for not taking care of myself.
I “had” to care for everyone else and how was I supposed to carve out time for me? This thinking carried on for about 4 years as I dabbled in workouts and attempting the gym. Eventually I started going to a gym and working out at home but I wasn’t seeing any results and I wasn’t really motivated to keep on keepin’ on.

In 2013 I transitioned into being a stay at home mom.  My plans to get back into shape still didn’t come to fruition as I didn’t have as much time in the day as I thought I would when I was no longer going to work. Imagine that!  Being home with the kids was just as exhausting and also meant that I was home all day to rummage through the fridge whenever I felt a grumbly tummy (or stress!).

Then January 2014 rolled around. My baby turned 4 and was a bit more independent. More importantly,  I was tired of feeling like crap.  I decided that the hubby and I would do a New Year’s cleanse to jump start our eating.  We wrote our weights on the chalk board and hesitantly planned out a 7 day cleanse.  I was 147 pounds, I still have the image of that number written in pink chalk on the board burned into my brain.  I think somehow I knew that I was not planning on staying at that number anymore and that this was the start of a new season of my life.

The cleanse was terrible.  We lasted 4.5 days.  We were grumpy and irritable, but we did it together and I lost about 7 pounds.  What we DID realize was that our current eating habits were making us feel pretty cruddy.  We gained some weight back, but did another (better!) cleanse a few months later.  I lost a few more pounds and felt good enough to start running.  I hate running. But it got my body moving and I didn’t know what else to do.  So I ran, like a rhinoceros through peanut butter, I ran.  And I felt good.  All summer long…and then my hips hurt and winter came.  After losing and keeping 10 pounds off I was feeling pretty good about myself.

Then my hubby came home from work one day and told me about a co-worker who was doing some new workouts and home and felt amazing, and looked great.  He suggested I “friend” his co-worker on Facebook, because she was talking a lot about her workouts there.  So I did.  After seeing a post of her looking super fit after losing 80 pounds (after 2 kids!), I knew I had to do what she was doing…

Part 2 is coming soon…

But until then, does any of this sound familiar to you?  Have you made a change?  So much of my fitness story is about the way my body feels.  Do you feel good?  Or not your best?

Health and Happiness,

Cerissa