I Never Thought I’d Say It…But I Love to Exercise!

I have spent most of my life being the proverbial couch potato, albeit one who read on the couch rather than watching television.

I have always hated to sweat and exert myself. When I was in school, I was always the last person to make it in when we had to run around the track, and when I would finally arrive, I would be miserably huffing, puffing and gasping. This was a young, thin person.

Fast forward to 7 years ago when Moppet 2 was born. For some reason I did not lose all the pregnancy weight, and even gained some in his first few years. By the time Moppet 3 was about 6 months old, I was about 20 pounds too heavy – I felt sluggish and was not happy with how I looked. I dieted and lost about 8 lbs, then lost another 9 lbs on the Stomach Flu Diet…I kid you not – but don’t try that yourself.

I kept that weight off for about 3 years, and then it crept back on, as fat is wont to do. I now looked worse than I did when I was fat before, because I was older. I knew that I did not want to 1) suffer unnecessary health problems related to weight as I grew older and 2) did not want to be fat as well as old. Shallow, yes. I know. But honest.

I picked up my first weight because my father told me that if I did, I could avoid the dreaded Boubie Arms. Boubie arms are the flabby triceps of your grandmother that hang down 4 inches and are great fun for grandchildren to jiggle about.

So, in August, 2006 I started with the 5 lb weights. I also began walking about 2 miles a day and using a machine called the Ab Scissor,

which my father gave me in his eternally hopeful quest of getting me to exercise. I started feeling and looking a lot better. Then I got pregnant and stopped doing everything while I was ill during the first 4 months. But when I got over the sickness, I found I had the old pre-exercise sluggish feeling that I had long thought was normal, but now knew was the result of being sedentary.

It was getting hot, so I had no desire to walk outside in Texas. I decided to try some exercise DVDs. I started with a pregnancy light aerobics and toning, and Leslie Sansone’s 3 Mile Walk. Those both became easy to me fairly soon, and I branched out a bit. Now I have close to 50 DVDs, ranging from weightlifting with Gilad, a nice Jewish Israeli athlete, who even has a workout filmed in the old city of Jerusalem…

To Gin Miller, who has a lot of fun workouts done on a ramp

To the Lotte Berk and Bar Methods which are strength training using isometric exercises where your own body acts as the weight.

My favorite of this kind is called Squeeze.

I also have a few workouts by The Firm, a lot more Leslie Sansones, belly dancing, some yoga and a few others, and I can’t imagine life without exercising now.

I try to work out 5-6 days per week; I usually do something cardio in the morning, and something strength in the afternoon or evening – after the Littlest 3 Moppets are in bed, Moppet 1 occasionally does Lotte Berk or Bar Method with me.

I also do yoga occasionally at that time (with a soothing voiced South African yogi named Alan Finger) or do the pilates full matwork from a book called The Pilates Body.

I am 10 weeks postpartum and weigh 9lbs less than I did before I got pregnant. I’m still not sure what my figure will look like after I get rid of more flab…I don’t think it will be just like my pre-baby figure, but I will just have to wait and see.

Health-wise, I feel excellent. I have more energy without using caffeine than I ever did while not exercising and using caffeine. My moods are more stable. I am stronger, able to get into difficult positions and lift things I could not have managed before. My appetite has regulated itself so that I crave more healthy foods. I still have some back pain that has plagued me for years, but I hope that will eventually lessen.

Sometimes it is overwhelming to think I will need to exercise for the rest of my life, especially when I am tired or my muscles ache from a challenging workout. But after a good night’s sleep I always look forward to getting my blood pumping and building up my muscles.

It is actually a challenge to NOT exercise for a day or a few days, because it makes me feel so much better and I miss that if I skip – and also, I am afraid to fall out of the habit, as good habits are so hard to develop, and much easier to let lapse!

If any of you are making New Year’s REsolutions to exercise more, maybe my story will encourage you. I have truly gone from being a Certified Hater of Exercise to a Home Exercise Poster Child.

To learn more about different kinds of exercise videos and DVDs, spend some time at Video Fitness and Collage Video, where you can find forums, reviews, sales and all things related to in-home exercise.

Happy Sweating!

You might even find your Moppets getting into it with you