Monday, January 23

Feeling Fit

I have a confession to make. I haven’t been exercising through my pregnancy. I know, I know, I really should have been. It’s much better for me. It’s much better for the baby. It makes delivery easier. It makes weight management easier. It helps deal with stress and hormones, but I still haven’t been doing it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been meaning too exercise. I have a million reasons why I haven’t been, little excuses here and there, but frankly, none of them really hold a lot of weight. I’ve made several feeble attempts in the direction of exercising, but mainly that has resulted in a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood once a week.

However, the other day my husband pulled out some photos and I guess I had a bit of an epiphany. I saw several photos of myself from different time over past decade. Looking back I saw a very physically fit person, with a few exceptions. Now I was convinced I was overweight during all of those periods, but mostly I took good care of myself, ate right and somewhat regularly exercised. At no time was I at risk of being confused with a model or an athlete, but I looked and felt fit. It kind of made me realize that at heart I am fit and that this is something that really is incredibly important to me. It really doesn’t make any sense for me to skip out on exercise now. For me this really is a priority, so it is time that I make the time.

I know I need to be careful not to over do, so I’m going to keep my ambitions small and safe. Today, I took a good paced walk around my neighborhood for about half an hour. I think if I could do that 5 days a week and add in some daily stretching I would feel much better. I’d also keep meaning to check out a prenatal yoga and the local pool, but I think I’ll wait to see how I do at just walking this week. There are lots of books and magazines on exercising during pregnancy and I think I’ll have to make that my next project. All nagging on this matter is truly welcome and invited.

I am a fit person and it’s time for me to start acting like it.

3 comments:

Bearette said...

Prenatal yoga sounds good! I think it's very gentle also.

utenzi said...

That sounds like a good plan, Lora. Given your increasing size with the pregnancy, just don't overdo it. I think you had a great epiphany and walking for a half hour a day is a great way to actualize it.

Anvilcloud said...

It's so easy to let things slip and so hard to pull them back up again.