I interrupt this meal planning post to tell you I can barely lift my arms to type because I have been exposed to this kind of torture for two weeks now. I am seriously trying to figure out how blogging with my new lifestyle change can mesh.

As I alluded to in an earlier post, differences are being made in this household.
One of the main changes in my life?
Becoming a complete gym rat again.
In most areas, I need to take baby steps in order to form a new habit, but with this….I have gone head first with no return.
The crazy reason?
Have you ever tried to take baby steps with exercise?
It just doesn’t work for me. I have tried it…for five years. I thought Taebo was going to my new best friend, but I turned on him also.
I MUST. HAVE. ACCOUNTABILITY!
And that accountability is coming in the form of my sis in love – at 6 am in the morning.
The Lord has been nudging me, for a long time, to rise earlier.
I REALLY struggle with this area.
I love my late night hours, all by myself…LOVE. THEM, but it’s not the best for my family.
So I am compromising by leaving for aerobics at 5:30 am on Wed and Friday mornings, and then alternating evening classes the other two days.
This was one of those evenings, and it ended with another recruited detaining looking at me during class and mouthing, “I hate you.” (She did it love, of course, but still…)

A recap of our first 6am day – invigorating.
We felt great, had the best home school day ever and we confirmed that this would revolutionize our lives.
Our 1 pm phone call went something like this, “Don’t you just feel amazing? I feel like I’ve had a pot of coffee….”
So we did it again – the next day.
The class was step aerobics, and I literally laughed til I cried because it was SOOOO comical. We looked like complete idiots, and were probably annoying to all the serious ladies trying to exercise. They really do need to loosen up and we’re just the ones to do it.

The teacher took compassion on us after class and assured us that every one else in the class were hard core exercisers and had been coming for five years.
Our 1 pm conversation that afternoon went something like this, “Well, I sure don’t think you’re as perky today, are you? What….your hubby sent you back to bed? You were pale….yep, I went back to bed too. I am sick as a dog….can’t walk up the stairs, can you?”
But that was last week, and now, I don’t feel like I am going to vomit anymore, but I did an hour and a half boot camp class tonight…..yes, it’s really called BOOT CAMP!

Now, don’t worry. I am not deserting my one true love.

Picture of Chips / French Fries - Free Pictures - FreeFoto.com

Remember, it’s all about balance, and health… not complete insanity.

I want to eat french fries, chocolate and salad. I cook fairly healthy, so that I can indulge a bit.
But I indulged too much last year, and I gained nearly 15 pounds. Now, for those 5 people that I know IRL life, they’re probably rolling their eyes at me.
Yes, because I am a bit taller – 5’8″, I can gain, AND lose, without it being extremely noticeable. But it is in my clothes.

Most people don’t know that I was huge competitive athlete/swimmer up until my 20’s. When I made the choice to focus on the arts, instead of athletics, I gained weight….alot of it! I was 30-40 pounds heavier than I am now. I know what it’s like to struggle with weight, and I don’t want to go back.
I am hitting a milestone bday in 6 weeks, and everyone keeps warning me that it’s so hard to lose weight after that magic year.
I want to be healthy, not skinny. I feel fine about my weight now, but I want to be able to do an aerobics class without my heart exploding, much less needing to go back to bed.
I want to assure that I stay a “young mom,” and have the energy to keep up with the busy lifestyle that comes with five blessings.
For me, it’s about health. But, if fitting back into my skinny jeans are one of the side benefits, I’ll take it.
And no, you will never ever catch me showing my belly – even if my abs ever look like that. I had to post them because they look just like my skinny jeans (minus the $160 price tag. 🙂
that hopefully I will be sporting soon…if I can ever get out of bed again. Right now, I just need to concentrating on getting up the stairs…
I think I can, I think I can…
It’s 11:15, and I have to leave at 5:30am
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