Friday, July 22, 2011

With a little help from my friends.

I know how shallow and petty it is to complain about the minor physical limitations of my body while it is in the process of undergoing the important business of growing and incubating another person, but I still do.  I have a feeling I'm not the only one who has marveled at the awe-inspiring magic of the whole thing while also griping about how nice the grass is on the other side of the fence.

We always want what we can't have, don't we? 

Yeah, I'm still eating healthfully and exercising five days a week, but I miss my extreme workouts. When I was complaining about feeling "blobby" to a friend yesterday, she reframed my reflection in a wonderful way, reminding me of my love for a challenge and that after the baby is born, I will get to embark on one of my all-time favorites: achieving my maximum genetic potential as an athlete. It was the pick me up that I needed and it helped today be a much better morning.

I had a great workout today, really fabulous. I walked/ran on the treadmill, did some lunges and deadlifts, some chest/shoulder work, and some crazy bicep curls that had me reveling in the old days of my workouts with Captain Awesome. I left feeling incredible.  Thanks for making that possible, Carole!

Another friend asked me earlier this week what color I felt like at that moment.  In a nanosecond I knew it was yellow.  To me, yellow means vibrant, energetic, full of sunshine and smiles.  At the same time, it is calming and serene. I'm a great place right now where I get to live on both sides of the fence: I have a massive source of energy within me holding a pep rally every day for some really incredible things about to happen in my life, and at the same time I have a calming smile on my heart because I am completely at peace with all of it. This is new territory. I'm not used to being at peace. I'm a problem-solver, and this doesn't feel like a problem.  It feels like I am finally where I should have been all my life.

These revelations, brought on with a little help from some wonderful friends, snapped me out of my blobbyness and into reality. I am a lucky, lucky girl.  I might be walking now, but my heart is running, and that's enough for me.

Walk, run, jump, leap - just get out there and get healthy. :)

2 comments:

~melly said...

i lost about 100 pounds and have been fighting with myself over the body changes that have occurred since i gave birth a month ago. i gained a little less than 30 with the pregnancy, and i'm already back to pre-pregnancy weight. i attribute that to the life changes i made. it's a good start, but still, i'm REALLY ready to get back in my groove now and maintain my fitness plan. working it around an infant is the real challenge.

i think i was most surprised by my inability to do abdominal things postpartum. it'll be a while before crunches feel like crunches again, and not like exercises futility.

Healthy Heather said...

Hi Melly, thanks for reading! CONGRATS on your weight loss and everything that comes with it. I can relate to the post-partum exercise comedy...when I first tried to do abs after having my first, it was obvious my head was not communicating with my body! I said, "up" and everything just laid there. LOL But, it will come back and kudos to you for coaxing it. You'll get it! :)