So this morning marks my first formal attempt at getting back to my pre-baby body. Just before getting pregnant with Camden I lost around 50 pounds. It took me about six months of Weight Watchers and Jazzercise (once a day during the school year and two-a-days during the summer when I wasn't working). I also walked 4 miles just about every day (in addition to the Jazzercise) and even did a sprint triathlon during my first trimester of pregnancy with Cam-man. I was probably in just as good, if not better, shape as when I was playing tennis at good 'ol East Wilkes High 14 years ago.
However...fast forward three years and two babies later...I get winded just climbing the stairs to my Sunday School class at church - and now you know the real reason I insisted we buy a ranch-style house this time. I'll be honest...it's just a little discouraging. I just feel like I have sooooo far to go to get back to where I was - not just with the baby weight, but with the muscle tone, resting heart rate, etc. But Confucius say, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" so I figured I'd jump in with both feet. I just don't think those "single steps" he was referring to were on an aerobic step in a 5:30 a.m. circuit training class!
Holy cow! Let me say that again, HOLY COW! I thought I had achieved my goal just getting up and being there on time...but that wasn't all the instructor was going to expect from me this morning. She obviously needs to get to know me better so she can have more realistic expectations about what she's going to get from me - especially that early in the morning. I'm not going to go into great detail on the torture...er, I mean, exercises she had us doing. Let's just say if our government wants to get terrorists to talk, forget waterboarding, just let this instructor have an hour with them. I would have told her all of my deepest secrets if she'd offered to let me skip the "squat thrust using a stability ball" station. At one point during the weight lifting portion of the class she's walking around and offering constructive criticism on our performance and starts to instruct me on how to hold in my abs tighter so that I can "really feel the burn". Are you kidding me? I'm not even close to the point of wanting to work my abs better - I'd just like to find my abs. I haven't seen them in months. Seriously, can I just be waterboarded next time?
Alas, it's really what I need so I guess I'll stick to it. Being at the gym is helping me watch what I eat too - not b/c I'm thinking that I shouldn't just eat back all the calories I've just burned...but b/c my arms are too sore for me to lift them high enough to get something out of the fridge or pantry. This will certainly help when I weigh in at Weight Watchers on Saturday morning.
So here are my official goals - by the time Alison turns one I'd like to:
- be back at my pre-baby weight
- celebrate her first birthday by doing a 5K and
- do at least one of those squat thrust thingies without passing out
