The challenge: to exercise

Oops, probably not the one you wanted to hear, I know been there before.  Always had an excuse, too busy, pregnant, just had a baby, no sleep, no time for anything.  But I had time to feel miserable, I had time to lay in bed for hours because my back hurt, I had time to research why my body felt different, time to go to the doctors for medication to fix things.  But I couldn’t find the time for preventative maintenance.

Why make the change:

When I was young I felt great could mainly eat whatever I wanted and not really worry about it, well then I got older.  I had 10 babies and not much time in between to THINK about losing weight, it was all about survival.  Then I just got tired.  Tired of feeling tired, tired of feeling fat, tired of feeling miserable.

I needed a change.  Sure I could find every “miracle” cure to treat my ailments.  “Eat pineapple for this, take this vitamin supplement for that. ”  But none were going to get to the real issue.  The real issue was that I was overweight.  My body could not function properly because it was doing enough “overtime” work keeping my body going.  I decided to change.

We all know or should know that we can’t just expect our bodies to work properly if we don’t exercise.  Even if we think we are active enough, if we have “jiggle” on our body more than likely we need to exercise.  You can look at all the statistics on heart disease, arthritis, every ailment that starts to affect a person especially around 40 years of age.  I am sure most of us knows someone that is taking numerous amount of medication because of health reasons.  I am sure with some proper diet and exercise most all of those pills can be gone.

We need to be doing preventative maintenance on ourselves.  The time is minimal when compared to the shortening of our lifespan and the amount of time spent trying to control our health conditions.  Did I mention the amount of money you will save by taking care of yourself now???

How to make the change:

I didn’t change my eating habits at all in the beginning of my weight loss journey.  But I did change the amount of activity that I did.  I decided to exercise almost everyday.  I had babies and I had lots of little ones at that time.  5 under 5 to be exact!   But I chose to do it, I chose to exercise every week for myself.  I started out by walking.  I didn’t go on long walks away from my children, I did it outside around my yard.  Thank goodness we don’t have any neighbors or they probably would be wondering what I was doing.

I did that for a few months and then my husband bought me an elliptical.  My absolutely favorite thing, still after 3 years!  I would suggest looking for a used piece of equipment, as most people buy them in hopes of using them and then don’t:)  look on Craigslist for one in your area.

If you still aren’t able to get outside or purchase equipment, be creative in your venture to exercise.  I actually started dancing to my children’s Wiggles videos and got a great workout for the half hour it was on.  Try it, it was exhausting—those men are troopers:)

Get your children involved doing some of the following:

• sit ups
• push ups
• leg lifts
• squats
• march around the house, doing high knee lifts
• stretch—your arms, legs, back, and neck muscles

There are numerous FREE things you can do to exercise.  If you really need help, look up some on youtube or rent a video from the library–Denise Austin is my favorite.

Again, this is a challenge, try it for a week, I would recommend 2.  See how you feel at the end of those weeks.  Do you have more energy?  Have you lost some weight?  How about your mood?  Does it make you want to continue?  I pray it does.  You will never regret exercising.