My five-year-old recently asked me if I was having another baby. (I’m not.)
Better he than a stranger or a friend, right?
I decided right then and there, it was time to get back to the gym. It was time to wage war on the jiggle.
Nothing makes you run faster or train harder than a five-year-old’s running commentary (brutal honesty) on your body. Postpartum fitness is hard to begin and hard to maintain. But it is not impossible.
I had my daughter 17 months ago. It was time. I had done it before. I had been unhappy with my body before kids, and I had finally gotten to a place of acceptance. Babies change your body. I had come to a place where I could look at a stretch mark and see it as a beauty mark.
Stretch marks are the marks that reveal change. Change is never easy, but it truly shapes a person.
I decided to buy a membership for a month to a fitness boot camp. I don’t even like the word boot camp. It scared me. Who was gonna be barking orders at me? What if they made me do pull ups? Exactly how much of my muffin top could I cover while attempting the acrobatic feats that would lead me to sweaty victory?
My doubts remained during my first few sessions. Then I started to get into a routine. Oh boy, do I love a good routine.
It took me a month to get into the swing of things. I started to notice my clothes feeling a bit looser, but the best part was I could chase my kids without needing to take so many breaks. I had a new mental clarity and I was not always in a bad mood.
It is easy to let insecurity defeat us. It is easier still to let questions and doubts keep us from doing the things we know are ultimately good for us. Our security lies in becoming the person we aspire to be.
For many of us this means taking a walk for our health. For some of us it means getting up to go to a workout at 5:30 a.m. in the dark morning hours. For some of us it means using a toddler as your weights so you can get a good weighted squat in.
We can change our bodies and our minds. We will always have the marks of being a mother. There is beauty in that.
There is also such freedom in getting back to the things you once loved.
Those things we love will make us more healthy and beautiful as mothers. Ignore the whispers that you can’t possibly do it. Ignore the lies. You can be victorious in the small changes that lead to the big changes with your fitness.
I believe in you. I believe in us. Mothers are some of the strongest sorts of people.
P.S. I still hate burpees.
