Finding My Fitness Mojo

First, I am neither a trained or licensed personal trainer, coach or physician.  Any statements made in this blog are my opinion based on my understanding of fitness and nutrition.  I make every attempt to inform my opinions on proven fact, but even sometimes I am wrong.  I can only tell you what I know from personal experience, some of it may be helpful to you and some will not.  I leave it to you, esteemed reader, to determine the usefulness of the information provided.

I am the mother of two children, that are 22 months apart.  For a span of almost four years I was in a cycle of being pregnant or nursing.  During that time I enjoyed my pregnancies and gave my self permission to lose the baby weight at my leisure.  After my first pregnancy the weight fell off, I followed Weight Watchers, nursed and walked  3 or 4 miles a day.

After my second pregnancy the weight didn't come off so easy,  I resorted to inhaling sugar to manage the demands of mothering a 2 year old and a newborn baby.  In addition I also moved across the country and was tasked with creating a new life for myself and my children.  We moved to sunny California which isn't too bad, but no friends and no extended family and two children under 3 is  daunting. I started to walk with my kids to the park but it wasn't enough of a cardio kick to lose the last 15 or so pounds from my last pregnancy.

I turned to Amazon and found Pure Barre DVDs and started doing them a couple times a week.  I immediately felt a little tighter and started to regain a little confidence. I still had enough jiggle that 40 minutes of toning was not going to cut it.  So I turned to the Jeff Galloway 5K app that I had downloaded maybe a year before and decided that I was going to start running.  I needed something quick and fast and with limited time available to work out, I figured running was the key.

When I started I had no intention of enjoying running.  I slowly built up my running intervals and in a few months could run 3 miles.  As a reward, I signed up for a 5K for Mother's Day.  My husband and children woke up early and drove me to the race, they cheered for me on the course and I was able to cross the finish line running with my then 3 year old daughter.  It is one of the best experiences as a mother I have felt.

After the race, I intended to move onto another form of exercise but I was hooked.  I enjoyed my runs and the calm that fell over me after I ran and this is how I found my fitness mojo. Have you found your fitness mojo yet?