W-O-R-K -ing Out

Ugh. Let me just start out saying I wish I had never gotten out of the habit of getting up and doing some sort of physical activity before the rest of the family was awake...

Now, let me qualify this with the statement that I am in no way shape or form fit, or healthy, or any other adjective you can think of for those who are blessed with the genes, abilities and time to be skinny. I don't care how PC that isn't...that's what I'm calling it today.

Back before BB and I were married, we blissfully signed contracts and paid money for the privilege of going to a not-very-well-ventilated building with no windows, germy vinyl-covered seats, and even germier locker rooms that called itself a "Fitness Center". It was a glorified weight room with an extra room for "classes" you could pay extra to attend. I bought a package that was supposed to include something like 124 sessions with a Certified Personal Fitness Trainer. I was all gung-ho, got all the "pre-testing" done to see where I currently was fitness-wise. I got a specialized meal plan, a workout regimen, and began attending the gym every day after work. I'd meet up with BB, and we'd either work out with our trainers or do our workouts on our own and try to time it so we were done and cleaned up at the same time. Afterwards, we'd drive separately to his house, where I'd make a dinner for us in keeping with our plan, and then we'd spend the evening hanging out, eating, watching NCIS, and playing board games. At bedtime, I'd cheerfully give him a good night smooch or 12 and drive back home to my parents, go to bed, get up, go to work, and repeat the process all over again.

After our wedding, we were so ensconced in the "adjustment" phase of being married that we got lax in our working out. Before we knew it, we were paying for a membership we were no longer using. So, we decided to cancel it and buy a Bow.flex. It is awesome - a thing of beauty really, all sleek and powder-coated with this nifty bronzy-silvery paint...clean black high-quality vinyl covering the surfaces of the seat/bench...it came with a book that illustrates how to do each exercise, and a poster to hang on your wall that shows the workout you can do to "get a Bow.flex body in as little as 20 minutes a day, just 3 times a week!" We used it faithfully for the first 6 months, and then, we sort of fizzled out...

Sometime during that timeframe, we were lucky enough to get to babysit for MissionaryMan's treadmill. It was top of the line, came with the set-up to hook into your computer and keep your stats, download routes etc...I used it All. The. Time. Seriously - I walked or ran on that blasted thing Every. Freaking. Day. for the last 7 years.

During the last 6 years, I've been told to lose weight, no, don't worry about your weight, it's not affecting your fertility. Wait - you need to lose 30, 50, 70 pounds...depending on whom I was working with, the answer changed. Eat this, don't eat that - no, you should eat this...stay away from that. Try this program, incorporate this workout, try this exercise, drink this, use that, buy this...

As a result, I am now the proud owner of various resistance bands, resistance tubes, a Fit Ball, a heavy bag, a speed bag, gloves, yoga mat, blocks and strap, a mountain bike, a set of 5-lb hand weights, multiple workout DVDs, a Wii Fit, balance board, Wii Fit plus, and the EA Active for my Wii.

Phew...I'm worn out just walking through that bit of back story...

As it stands, as of this morning, at my in-home weigh-in, I was down to 163. That's great considering the fact that since I became pregnant with DG I hadn't truly worked out. period.

I walked. I mowed the lawn on our 1/3 acre lot with the push mower. I rode my bike. I run up and down stairs carrying children, laundry, and/or trash multiple times each day. I work in my garden, I work up a sweat cleaning my house and caring for my family.

BUT...I honestly cannot tell you the last time I actually incorporated a set time of day to exercise. You know - an "each and every day I will run/walk/lift weights/do yoga/turn on the Wii and do a program/use the Bow.flex" sort of thing.

I've gone between eating crap all I want, not eating all I want but eating some of what I want, drinking water or milk, drinking nothing but coffee and water, drinking soda, eating cookies, brownies etc.

I woke up this morning sporting a break-out of acne on my face to make a Double Pepperoni Pizza from Little Ceasar's look like a piece of plain old bread...I had a headache the size of Texas, I felt sick to my stomach, my head was all congested, my chest hurt when I tried to breathe deeply, I'd been plagued by calf and thigh cramps all night long...I was a hot mess. And that's complimentary!

After dragging my sorry self into the steaming hot shower and brushing my teeth, I started to think about what I'd been doing these last months...since finding out we were pregnant again really...when I did Ang's challenge...and when I "had" to stop...what had changed? What was going on? I hadn't felt this lousy since my sophomore year of college...

And then it hit me...I'd been eating lousy - no fruits or veggies to speak of, eating fast, practically inhaling my food, lucky to eat somewhere in the same hour as the rest of the family...in between the various carings for of Littlest One (diapers, naps, feedings), I had started to let myself be put into last place...

I took stock of what was in my pantry this morning - I mean, really took stock...I pulled my grocery receipts for the last 3 months and was sickened at what I saw...did I really buy and eat 6 dozen donuts that the rest of the family never even knew came into the house?!?!?!?!?

OY!

I spent a good 2 hours today weeding out the crap. If it was opened, I dumped it into the trash. If it was sealed, I put it into a paper bag or box for donation to a food bank. I know, I know...but right now, my own health and well-being has to take precedence over feeding people in need junk food!

After I cleared the crap out of my house, I picked up my coffee cup (one of those 20 oz travel mugs? yeah - that!) into which I'd poured a good 1/2 C of CoffeeMate Chocolate Raspberry flavored "cream" along with my caffeinated coffee...I dumped it down the drain.

I then took out a 32 oz souvenir cup we got from our local zoo and drank 3 of them with water between 9 and 11:30.

I'm currently off to go workout. For reals.

In the meantime - Work really is a 4-letter word, and today it is considered an expletive when combined with the "-out" part...

Sigh...