Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Your Fitness Cheerleader, At Your Service

I love exercising in the morning, you know why?  Because then I’m all done exercising in the morning!  Summer is the only season where I can get up and workout because work starts 45 minutes later than during the school year, Phil is home, and I can’t stand running when it’s hotter than 75 degrees out, which pretty much makes early morning the only available time slot.  

After an early morning elliptical workout at the gym.  I'm smiling because it's ovah!

So, when the baby wakes up at 5:15 to eat, I psyche myself up during the feeding and mentally prepare what I’m going to wear and what workout I’m going to accomplish.  Then I just make it happen.  When you’re in the shower by 6:45 and can start your day feeling so much better about yourself, it’s an amazing thing.  Everything is Awesome, as the Legos say.  It does make me fall asleep by 9:30 pm but that’s also great because then I’m well rested to do it again the next morning.  Win to the win win.


When I was pregnant with Declan, I really focused on eating protein for my meals and it helped me feel great and kept my pregnancy weight gain right around 25 pounds.  Once he was born, I went a little nuts and ate like the ravenous breastfeeding machine I was and didn’t pay attention to what I was shoving in my mouth.  If it was close and edible, it was going down the hatch.  

I finally talked myself into trying to eat like I did while pregnant, and so I’m back on the protein bandwagon.  Breakfast is either two eggs or a protein shake, lunch is greek yogurt, fruit and a protein bar (the yummy granola kind, not the bodybuilder types), and dinner is some kind of meat with veggies and a side of carbs.  I still manage to eat cookies, peanut M&Ms, or chips every.single.day, and not feel guilty about it as long as I’ve worked out and am still breastfeeding.  

Not me, but she seemed so enthusiastic that I had to share.

You know how when you’ve gained weight and you get depressed and unhappy with how you feel, so you tend to just eat more junk and become more sedentary because it seems like it doesn’t matter anyway?  Well, once you are eating right and getting fit, the same trend happens in reverse.  You feel better, so you make better choices, and actually enjoy the treats instead of mindlessly swallowing them. 



We’re human, but more importantly, we’re women (well most of my readers are) and there will be plenty of hormonal and emotional highs and lows in our lives, so there’s no way to be perfect all the time.  It’s all about finding a nice balance.  I've been at both extremes, on the one hand eating whatever and not working out, and on the other hand, training for a race and eating healthy.  There’s dangers to be found on either side, addictions can appear that make that seemingly healthy thing suddenly became an obsession.  So balance, b-a-l-a-n-c-e is where it’s at.  And yes, we will never look like we did at 19, but who wants to go back to being 19 again anyway?  Dating, and school, and figuring out forever, and not having these sweet babies, no danka.  


I'm here to cheer you on, YOU CAN DO IT!!  Every morning, start over.  Make healthy and happy choices, pray for God’s graces to get through whatever life throws at ya, and do your best for that day only.  Tomorrow never comes, so no use worrying about it, right?  Every day is a gift, that’s why we call it the present :)

9 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 08, 2014

    Love it. I love morning workouts, but unfortunately, most of mine are happening in the evenings now. That's the Crossfit workout I can make it to regularly and not be stressing getting Vincent to daycare and on to work on time.

    But I did go for a run this morning. I've been nursing a high hamstring pull so haven't done a run in awhile. It was still a little painful, but better than it was.

    I agree about the trends reversing based on what you're doing. when I eat junk, I have a tendency to not want to work out. and when I workout, I have a tendency to eat better. :)

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  2. Colleen, I love your fitness cheerleader posts! I'm looking forward to the 6 week mark so I can get back to exercising, especially running again, but until then I'm loving this mandatory rest/lounge wear/eat whatever phase. I was really good about eating well and working out during this pregnancy so it's nice to just relax and not care for a while!

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  3. I SO needed this. I've been on exercise restriction since February, but I'm getting cleared this week! Having trouble getting motivated to even think about getting up in the morning to do something, since it's summer and HOT. Loved the vicious circle donut!

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  4. Aw, Colleen. I'll take your cheering on any day. Whenever you post something like this, I think "I'm gonna be Colleen when I grow up!" For now, my motivation is a) not having to lose *more* weight when this bebe arrives, and B) getting an hour alone. Selfish motivation, but it's working for now. :)

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  5. Hey now, you can't offer your fitness coaching to everyone. I'm your highest paying client. lol.
    Again, another good cheerleader post to keep me moving!

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  6. Did you just write this post just for ME????? i think so!
    I totally need this, Colleen!

    I am feeling down about my weight and not working out, not having the time, etc etc so I eat more DQ, more ice cream cake and chocolate. BADDDDD!

    so thanks for this post...

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  7. Such great encouragement!

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  8. Thanks for this! I'm finally coming out of the first trimester sickness and need to get moving. I did well with exercise this spring, but everything's gone by the wayside lately. I'm ready to feel good again!

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