Back on the Wagon

Two Christmases ago I finally rejoined a gym.  A month after writing a post about wanting to get back in shape and have "me time" through exercise, I found out I was pregnant and was hit with almost immediate morning sickness that would last for weeks.  During the worst of it, I couldn't even partake in exercise as simple as going for a walk.  I wouldn't step back in the gym for nearly a year. 

I'm finally back though!  I'm very fortunate to have a gym a few minute's walk from my office and go most days over my lunch hour.  The road back to some resemblance of my pre-pregnancy physical fitness is going to take a lot longer (A LOT) than I would like, but even if I don't look good, at least I feel good after a workout.  

Well, I didn't feel good at first. Nearly three months had passed after Soren's birth before I felt like I could even attempt a workout, which was frustrating because at that point after Oliver's birth, I was playing my first post-pregnancy soccer game.  Admittedly, I almost threw up in a trash can at half time, but I could fit into my jersey again and, hey, I was out there.  Fast forward to exercising after Soren's birth and I was starting to feel too sore after ten minutes at a less-than-moderate pace on the elliptical that I had to stop.  Even thinking about playing a soccer game?  Forget it.  I managed more of a work-out the second time I went to the gym, but still had to cut my time short when I started to feel sore.

Even though I was frustrated, I kept going and pretty soon after my first attempt at going back to the gym, I stopped feeling post-surgery soreness.  At the coaxing of a co-worker who knew I wanted to get back into lifting weights, I started going to Body Pump at the Y and got addicted.  And the mild winter meant that I was out walking with one or both kids nearly every weekend of the entire weekend.  (Unprecedented for a Minnesota winter.)  And the early spring allowed me to go on my first run, since, oh gosh, months and months before I even became pregnant with Soren.  I just recently signed up for a summer soccer league.  Not with my beloved Hansa, but with another equally-fun team who will hopefully have a deep bench so I can take lots of breaks.

I just wish I had more to show for all this exercise I'm writing about getting.  I don't know what is different after giving birth to your second child than your first, but I've discovered that my friends weren't exaggerating when they said it was more difficult for them to lose weight after their second.  I think a big factor for me was that I gained a lot more weight with Soren than with Oliver.  Since I had a toddler to take care of, I had very little time to exercise and then how sick you are during any given pregnancy is luck of the draw.  I was eating what I could just to tame the nausea and get through the day.

Despite my frustrations, I do appreciate exercising post-pregnancy. I tell my friends that being six plus months post partum one would assume that I've forgotten what it feels like to be pregnant.  Yet I can still appreciate being able to a.) bound up a flight of stairs, and b.) not be out of breath.  Every time I bend over to stretch or do crunches, I revel in how such moves are physically possible. And wow, I can actually feel the existence of ab muscles!  I like moving again.  I like having the energy to exercise. And I know I'll reach my fitness goals somehow and someday.