just make the time

Today as I struggled to find my motivation to workout while Dom was napping, I realized how life was before I had children. It went a little like this: wake up, work, workout, work, workout eat, sleep; in all sorts of various patterns. On top of the aerobics classes I taught on a regular basis, I also had the time to maintain my own workouts between my personal training clients and working at the front desk of the gym I where I work. I admit my nurtitional skills were lacking at that point, otherwise I probably would have had the bosy of a fitness model (wouldn't that have been nice).
Then baby number one came along. I found out I was pregnant with Dominic shortly after finishing the Seattle to Portland bicycle ride (STP), so I had trained and ridden this race while pregnant. I wasn't at a desired weight at the time, in fact I was about 10 pounds heavier than my normal heaviest weight I allow myself to reach. However, the doctors advise that you continue with your current exercise program (within limits). So I continued to cycle until 34 weeks pregnant, when my knees kept hitting my belly enough to be uncomfortable. After Dom was born, the 38 pounds I gained while pregnant came off fairly easily. I was down to my pre-pregnancy weight by the time he was 3 months old; remember that I was 10 pounds heavier than I like to be at my heaviest. So by the time he was 6 months old, I was down to the top of my weight limit at 175. I managed to reach 160 pounds before Dom turned 1 year old by training for my first half marathon. With one baby, my work halted for a couple months and I had no one else to worry about so I could load him up in the stroller and walk for hours a day (in multiple outings). When I started working again, I allowed myself time a few days a week to be able to stay at the gym long enough to get my weight lifting done and I started running instead of walking. FYI, running while pushing a stroller up and down these hills has got to be the best way to train for a race; I felt like I was flying while running the half marathon since I wasn't pushing the stroller.
Now along comes baby number two. Fast forward a few months and I had gained back 11 pounds, putting me up to 171. I like to blame it on softball season, drinking too many beers after games later at night and a weird eating schedule. I do know better though, and have to admit I started slacking off on my workouts and letting work take a priority instead. With Rowan, I gained 37 pounds and he was almost one pound larger than dominic so I feel like this weight should be coming off just as fast if not faster than before. Well, reality hit me today while I was pounding away on the elliptical: I now have two children to care for and my time is VERY limited based on their activities and sleep/eat schedules. I must "MAKE THE TIME." Workouts need to be yet another thing I must schedule in order to get them done.
After all this, I bet you are all wondering what I got done today. I managed to get a full hour cardio in on the elliptical, with a small break to nurse Rowan and put him down for a nap. The first 34 minutes, Rowan sat in bouncy seat and watched me. Then he got fussy and it took me about 15 minutes to get him to sleep. I got all relaxed during this 15 minute break and almost didn't get back on the machine, but my will power persevered and I finished out the 60 minutes.
So the moral of the story goes like this: MAKE THE TIME, even if it is just a few minutes here and there. Every little bit counts, though it is better to get it all in at once if you can. Don't beat yourself up if you can't finish a workout because we all have things in life that are going to try to derail us from our goals. I know I am extra motivated now. Plus my weightloss for the past week (see below) is a great incentive to keep at it. I send you all good energy for this coming week.

weight: 184.5

PS I know this is a lot of weight to lose in one week, but I am chalking it up to extra water weight form overeating at Thanksgiving. I do not expect to lose 8.5 pounds every week, nor do I want to. If I continue to lose that much each weeek, I will adjust my caloric intake accordingly.