Friday Fitness: #backontrack

Fridays means a fitness discussion and since this week's WW meeting topic is getting back on track I thought I'd take the opportunity to create a post about getting back on track after getting off the fitness wagon for a time.

Much like getting off the points program for various intervals of time in my life, I have been on and off the fitness wagon as well.

When I first started WW, I was teaching four year old pre-schoolers and I didn't really incorporate any specific exercise program. I just chased after the four year olds on the playground and counted that as my activity!

As mentioned in my previous post, I have re-gained and lost some of my weight several times since becoming a weight watcher member. At one of the points in life where I was above goal weight, I was watching an infomercial for The FIRM and I decided right then and there to buy it.

And I became hooked. First I started during my summer vacation. I am a teacher so I don't work July and August. I had no excuse. I was home, not working, I should exercise.

The first time I put that DVD in - right away started huffing and puffing and feeling muscles I never felt before. After two minutes of torture the instructor says "Nice warm up!" and I was like, "You've GOT to be kidding!" But I kept at it. And even when I went back to work I kept at it.

Because I saw results. I was stronger. I was leaner. I was back at goal. AND, I was eating more points because of the activity. I was pretty happy.

There have been a couple of times since then that I had to take a fitness hiatus due to injuries. And each time that has happened it has been pretty short lived. I honestly missed how good it felt to exercise and wanted to get back into it as soon as I could.

When I had my daughter, I went into my pregnancy thinking that I would be one of those women that would work out the entire time! And then my biggest pregnancy symptom was fatigue. I think I slept most of the nine months I was pregnant. I napped more than a toddler. And so I stopped working out. Always with the intention of getting back into it though after the baby.

But it was hard. Having a baby and a full time job meant fewer and fewer hours for myself. I would squeeze in a workout here and there but most of the time, it just wasn't happening. I'd gone from a steady six days a week pre-pregnancy to once in a blue moon post-pregnancy.

Then, almost a year after my baby was born, a friend of mine, also a WW, wanted to get back into running after she'd had her baby. She suggested I get a jogging stroller and we could jog together with the kids in the stroller. So I started running.

I kept up with it about a year. But my friend got pregnant again for baby number two and couldn't keep up with running anymore - and - well - when I'm by myself I had to admit that I HATE running. So I became inactive again for another year. Fast forward to January 2016. Amazon has Jillian Michaels Body Shred on sale. And now I'm back to six days a week!

What surprised me the most was how quickly my level of fitness returned. I thought I'd have to follow the beginner the whole 8 weeks I did the program because, let's face it, I was really out of shape. But, what I learned is that once you get your body in shape, if you ever need a fitness break for whatever reason, your body will get back in shape much more quickly than it took the first time.

So if you've gotten off the fitness wagon - get back on! You may struggle a bit at first, but you will get back to where you used to be in no time!

And if you're not on the fitness wagon - what are you waiting for? True, working out kind of sucks - the during part anyway. You're sweaty, out of breath, aching, thinking "Why am I torturing myself?". BUT, nobody, and I mean NOBODY ever finishes a workout and feels bad about it. Even if the workout itself sucked, you will feel GOOD that you accomplished something! So on days when I want to jump off that wagon I try to find that feeling and hold onto it. I try to use it to motivate me to get me through (seriously they should try to bottle that feeling!).

It doesn't matter what happened before, it's what you choose to do today that matters. Choose you. Choose your health. Take a walk. Lift some weights. Get #backontrack