I have never been much of an exerciser, ever. I find it boring and I never got any results. Perhaps, it's because I never stuck with it for more than two days, and I'd rather go out with my mom for a glass of wine than hit the gym. Once I got pregnant, I figured I had the green light to eat whatever I wanted, when I wanted. Surprisingly, I didn't gain too much weight! I was feeling pretty good, and I was all belly.
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| 33wks in Cozumel - pretty much all belly! |
I admit I was indulging way too much. I was eating cake everyday, fast food, ice cream, pizza, pasta, and everything else that was high in fat and yumminess! My husband LOVED every second of it. It meant he could eat it guilt-free as well (even though he never had guilt over what he eats).
After my delivery I instantly lost 21 lbs. it was great! I thought well I'm heading in the right direction. I had some issues breastfeeding, so I indulged in comfort food (see above list) to make me feel better. And boy did it make me feel good! I had another excuse right? I was breast feeding! Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE said the weight would melt right off. LIES, ALL LIES! The scale hasn't budged since a week after delivery.
I have tried cutting back on comfort food, Weight Watchers, drinking more water, and everything but exercise. I wasn't too worried about it. It's not like I'm going to wear a bathing suit anytime soon with my massive claw, I mean stretch, marks all over my stomach (that I got within the last month of pregnancy). Oh, and I can find every excuse in the book not to exercise: my knee is bad, I'm too tired, I don't want to disrupt Bub's sleep, it looks like it could rain in the next 8 hours, it's too sunny, it's too hot/cold. And the list goes on, you get the point.
Speaking of points, let me get to the point of this blog. Okay, my weight wasn't coming off and my belly is jelly-like and gross. So I had a friend tell me about this "8 Week Challenge" she just completed. It sounded good. In 8 weeks you exercise and learn to eat right. There are points and such and a prize at the end, kind of like The Biggest Loser. So, I decided to join last night.
Well let me tell you, it is rather misleading. It stated on the Facebook page that it would be the assessment and information session. So I was thinking okay I'll get measured, weighed then we will sit in a circle and get info about the program. WRONG! I get there, wearing my yoga pants....the one's I wore as maternity pants since nothing else fits, and my Dansko's. Clearly not dressed for the gym, but come on we are just filling out paperwork and singing Kumbaya. The first thing the instructor does was hand me a form to fill out then tells me to go run a mile on the treadmill. Wait what?! A mile, now!? Looking down at my feet I realize these Dansko's won't make it ten feet. Thankfully my friend saw the shocked look on my face and offered me her shoes for the run (thank you Danielle!).
As I hop on the treadmill, I'm frantically asking myself why I thought this "challenge" was a good idea. Either way, I couldn't back out now, so I hit the Start button on this torture machine. After 14:22 of sweat and throbbing knees, I finished my mile. I felt so accomplished, I hadn't run a mile since high school! If I can do that, I can do anything... or so I thought. Next, I was weighed and measured. I knew my weight so it wasn't a surprise, but it's always different when someone is looking down at the scale with you. Then, I was sent to do 2 minutes of Jumping Jacks, seriously how hard could that be? It was worse than the mile! Holy crap, I just about died! Then, off to "hover", which is a modified plank. I lasted 22 seconds. Lastly, I did 12 push-ups. Which I'm proud of because I had never done more than 3 before. I think it was the fact that they placed a dumbbell under my boobs and told me to go down until I hit them. Now, I hadn't nursed in over 3 hours, so I was in a little bit of pain and I knew if I dropped on those dumbbell it was all over. So I HAD to push myself back up!
Finally, it was time for the "sit and chat". Which was great, I learned a lot and realized I can do this! It's intense, but if I can run a mile, do 12 pushups, and "hover" all in a moment's notice in someone else's shoes, I can do anything! Remember, I'm SuperMom.
Now reading over the Facebook post about the "info night" it was rather clear that we were going to be physically assessed....hmm maybe that's why everyone else, but me, showed up in gym attire.
