Getting Back on the Horse

WOW!  My last post is from late 2010.  I cannot believe how quickly time has gone by.  I always thought that was such a cliche-- 'time goes by so fast, kids grow up so quick. Don't blink or you'll miss it!'  Gah is that true.  Thinking of where we were in 2010, and our now oldest was barely one.  She is almost 4 and we have a baby who will be one in August, too.  Time really does fly!  It can sneak up on us out of nowhere, which leads me to the point of my post.  HOW do we reclaim our motivation when too much time has flown by?  This is a question I had been asking myself for weeks.  Ok, MONTHS!

When I was pregnant with Kate, I was much more health conscience than I was the first time around.  However, due to unforeseen reasons, I was put on semi-bed rest the last 2 months of my pregnancy.  This was great for my ass.  Yeah, not so much!  Two months of no more working out (I had been so good up to 6 months right before we moved the first time last year.  I was huge and felt huge.

There's only 1 baby in there believe it or not!
My belly measured 49.5" around!!

I had excessive amniotic fluid (called polyhydramnios) for no apparent reason.  It was incredibly uncomfortable and I felt like I had a baby and a water bed in my belly.  It ended up being 8lbs of fluid alone.  I had shortness of breath just standing.  My ankles were so swollen and my toes looked like Vienna Sausages! lol  I did not wear pregnancy very well either time around.  By the way, it was a MILLION degrees outside.  ALL the time.  I was so uncomfortable.   We had just moved from Cary back to the Wilmington area so we had all the hassles that come with moving.  I pretty much just gave up trying to eat right those last 2 months and I let old bad habits creep back in.  There's nothing wrong with that, I was miserable, and quite honestly probably would have thrown a protein shake in someone's face had they offered it to me.  Ha! Any pregnant woman would have done the same by then!  But that aside, there is a danger when you let old habits reclaim themselves.  Oftentimes they can be even harder to break the next time.  This turned out to be very true for me.  

           After Kate was born, it was a while before I could do much, and I was back in all my 'fat' clothes.  It was hard trying to make the time to eat healthy.  Clean eating requires a lot of prep time and planning.  The old saying 'If you fail to plan, plan to fail' rings so true when it comes to fitness and permanent fat loss.
We live in a world of instant gratification and convenience.  I'm not going to lie.  Eating clean and exercising daily are not convenient.  It will never just fall into your schedule.  If it did, our society wouldn't be fighting a growing obesity epidemic.  It MUST be scheduled.  The food prepping AND the workouts.  You must learn to manage your time or you will easily fall back into the mix of everyone else.  If you eat like everyone else, you will look like them, too. I guarantee it.  It's also important not to rush into it and do too much.  Many people make that mistake over and over.  They let themselves get to a point where they freak out and then feel like they have to do x y and z all at the same time to maximize their efforts.  Doing this will set you up for failure every time.

Patience is just as important as will power and discipline when it comes to body transformations.  As much as I wanted to be back in my old clothes right away, I knew it was going to take time.

 Rushing won't speed anything up but my sense of defeat.  At that point, the thought of doing burpees, squats or plank rows made me want to barf when used to give me chills.  I wasn't motivated to prep food because I didn't have time with a new baby.  This worried me at the time.  I used to get butterflies in my stomach thinking about my next workout session.  What if I never got that spark back and was destined to be in my fat jeans forever??  The first time around, I had REALLY hit body image rock bottom and that is what was such a driving force then.  What if I got too comfortable and my bad habits will be impossible to break now?  When is it going to sound fun again? It's so much easier to find excuses not to start.  Crap!!!!  HOW IN THE HELL DO I GET BACK ON THIS HORSE??!?  WAAAAHHH!!!!!!!

It didn't look like it from the outside, but inside, I was FREAKING OUT.  Something had to give.  I HAD to get myself under control and mentally smack myself in the face.  We had just moved again, but to a different state (I have never lived outside of NC before) to a beautiful quaint small town called Aiken, SC, near the Georgia border.  I saw it as a new beginning and a chance to get my sh*t together.  I got my schedule in check so that there was no way I would not have the time or opportunity to get to the gym.  I found a gym that was close by my house, had a great kid's place and had tons of weights.  Unless one of the girls is sick, I am at that gym EVERY week day and 1 weekend day.  Now that it's warming up, I'm also doing long daily walks (and our new neighborhood is crazy hilly).  I put pictures of 'Fit Ashley' in view to help keep me motivated and trusting of the process.

Fit Ashley from 2011

      No, I don't see results right away.  Of course I want to, who doesn't.  But it took a lot of time to put that weight on, so I know it will take time to come off.  It drives me INSANE.  The scale doesn't move.  Sometimes it does.  It goes UP!  BUT I KNOW and I TRUST that I am doing all the right things.  I am exercising at maximum intensity, using heavy weights, and fueling my body properly.  The fat loss will happen.  The muscles will grow.  My pant size will shrink.  But it takes time.  It takes consistency.  It takes will power.  It takes dedication.  It takes visualization.  And it takes determination.  But the reward is so sweet in so many ways.  The positive influence it has in those around me is invigorating and just as rewarding as liking everything I try on.  I finally get butterflies again the night before my next workout.  I'm finally starting to see the small signs of change within my physique.  It's a comin'!  I've just got to stick with it and trust the process.  Join me.  Help me.  Let me help you.  Health and fitness is the best gift you could ever give yourself!

Arms like those don't come from lifting little pink weights!
(This is not me, it's from Metabolic Effect, check them out on my links part)

New to weight training?  The key to building lean, shapely muscle is using a weight that is heavy enough that by the 8-12th repetition, your muscles are really burning and feel uncomfortable.  Aim to complete 4-6 sets of 8-12 reps.  In order to build new muscle tissue, you must break down what is there, and you simply cannot do that without adding resistance from weights.