Se7en+1 Things I Didn’t Expect About Getting Back Into Gym…

It is time to talk about gym… I know again. I try not to bombard my feed with workout posts but last night I went for a run on the beach with my kids… and six months ago I could not have dreamed of doing that ever again. An actual run along the beach. Honestly, I thought I would never ever run again, but what I thought was the inevitable knoll of time marching on was really just my absolute lack of exercise. It is exciting, I have no idea where this is going, or what I might be doing six months from now. What I can say is that I am beyond thrilled to find that I am still here, and the person that loves the great outdoors and being active might have been lost for a while, but I am getting me back.

This year I have been blogging my journey to health over on the Sport Science Website and I thought I would pop all the posts I have written over there in one spot over here. It has been a while since my first nervous ventures into the gym, way back in February and it has taken a while for me to get into the swing of a totally new way of life. What can I say… I love being fitter, I love being lighter and I really love that feeling of waking up in the morning because I am finished sleeping. I am a work in progress and there are many miles to go on my journey… What started as a quest to survive the Eight Week Beginner Healthy Weight Programme has turned into a Journey back to health.

1. I Never Expected to Lose Weight: My goal was very firmly to move. I wanted to move comfortably. But as I got moving I felt better and better… I had to change my sleeping habits in order to get to gym on time. The better I slept, the better my workouts were, and the better I could move. And the more I moved, the more I started to lose weight… that inspired me to see where I wasn’t eating well and to tackle that little bit by little bit. I don’t eat perfectly by any means… but I am no longer reward driven. I don’t “deserve” edible treats for getting through the day and I don’t want them either. In fact the other day in a moment of frustration I thought, “I really just need to get out and go for a run.” This is huge, in the past I would thought, “I really need a chocolate to calm down!!!” Eating better, definitely means better workouts and remember my goal is to move better. So eating better and sleeping better are right up there with helping me to move better.

2. I was in Such Bad Shape: Honestly, I was in bad shape… yes I could go for a hike/walk with the kids once a week… yes I could walk to the store or the library… but I didn’t like it, and I would make every excuse not to need to. It turns out I was avoiding everything called exercise, because I was just so uncomfortable doing it. Hiking up a mountain is a glorious thing, hiking up a mountain when you can hardly breathe and you know it is going to take three days to recover is a lot less glorious. I am no super athlete, but just being in slightly better shape makes everything easier… tying shoe laces, carrying the groceries, playing with kids, walks on the beach.
When you literally wear your gym shirt out. Who knew I would love gym so much!!!
3. Just How Hard it is to find Great Gym Wear: The struggle to find affordable gym gear for plus size moms is real. I have blogged about it before and I am going to say it again… The Struggle is Real. Why is it that shops that sell exercise apparel think all athletes are slim and trim. Even big brand super sport stores go up to a size 18 or at the most an XL. When you mention to folk that this is what you are battling with, they look at you like you are mad. But I took twenty years off exercising properly and I cannot begin to say how many of those years were spent actually pregnant… and even longer nursing. Years of nursing babies and toddlers folks. I need supportive gym wear. It is not that I cannot do a star jump, it is simply that my apparel does not allow for it!!!

4. Exercise is not a Habit it is a Lifestyle: When I started working out at the beginning of the year I thought that if I just kept at it then it would become a habit. You know the idea that if you do anything for 21 days it is a habit… and if you do it for longer then you have really got it. Well I can tell you that if someone said to me, “You don’t have to get up today, the gym is closed.” I would be the first person to linger on in bed. Over the years I have changed habits, with micro-steps… just a little change here, and a little bit there. But I was at the stage where only a massive intervention would help. It isn’t a habit to get up and go to gym in the morning, much as I love that post gym feeling, I need to start my workout by getting bed timeously the night before. That isn’t a habit for me at all… that requires discipline. Every night there is a reason for me to stay up a little longer, but I have to just say no and head to sleep. At this stage I find it hard to stay in bed long after five in the morning… my body is used to working out then, but it would be just as easy to get it unused to the idea as well. A couple of late nights could put me right back where I started and I never want to go back to that place… so I am practicing the art of getting to bed on time.

5. Give Yourself A Little Grace: Getting up in the morning isn’t easy, but I know that once I am out the door that I won’t turn back… I literally pop out of bed, into my gym clothes and out of the door. Every single morning I tell myself that if I really can’t face the day after gym then I can return to back to bed for a nap later. I can honestly say that I have never actually done that… somehow once I have been up and at it for an hour or two, the idea of winding down again is not so appealing anymore. After gym I am ready to tackle my day!!!

6. My Kids need me to Think About Me Sometimes: So this may seem a little crazy, unless you have been a mom for twenty years. I never realised how much I gave my kids… I happily (read hate shopping) go without shoes for years because somebody else always needs a pair of shoes. When I began gym, I needed a pair of shoes desperately… desperately… it took me weeks to get them. Not so much because of the shoes, but because of my mindset. Getting shoes for myself meant “taking shoes from somebody else…” Similarly, one of the biggest things for me to overcome at the start of the journey, was taking time “off for myself” I felt that by taking time off I was taking time away from my kids… less time to be helping around the house, getting breakfast ready, getting their school day started. There is nothing there my kids can’t do and the more they do do, the better off they are.

7. Time is of the Essence: I understand mums need time, and I always took my own time for things like blogging, which I love. But I always waited for my kids to be finished with their day before I settled down to work and I would never have dreamt of blogging when I could have been spending time with my kids. It is one thing when your kids are small… small children eventually sleep… but when you have teens who want to chat or need lifts in the middle of the night and small children that are up and ready for the day before dawn… then you have to realise that working when your kids are sleeping is not sustainable. I didn’t realise that and I just kept surviving on less and less. Crazy but true. My kids need to know that I have real needs and fundamental needs. I need to sleep… I can’t stay up chatting all night, or watching a movie with them or reading with them. I have to work, so do they, if we work at the same time together, then we will have time to play together… but I absolutely have to sleep.

8. I have no Excuse not to be Healthy: Going to gym is not taking time away from my kids at all… as I thought it would. It is getting me healthy in ways I could never have imagined and my kids deserve a healthy mum… far more than they need a tired cranky mum who wants to spend all day every day sitting. Yes, it takes time, and yes they are all usually sleeping when I am at gym. This time for gym is an investment in my health and is a huge advantage for all of them. Really, the healthier I am the better it is, not just for me but for them too. They are all growing up, they will all leave home (they will!!!) and they will want a fit and happy granny to play with their kids too. I want to be around for them when they leave home, and not just collapsed in a heap saying: “I survived that!!!”

The changes in my life have definitely made changes in our entire family’s lives. Better sleep habits all round, healthier food choices, and a lot more folk taking a pause in their day to do a quick work out or suggesting that we go out for a walk/run. Every single hike we do begins with a steady vertical climb, if not 500 stairs. I used to dread it and only do it for that great feeling of being on top of the world… The fear of the start everytime was huge and any excuse was a good excuse not to go. That fear has moved on and I am eager to get going at a moments notice, much to some of our kids’ despair. Our weekly Park Runs have become a challenge for the whole family together, everyone trying to run/walk a bit better than they did before. It is an onwards and upwards kind of a journey and I am all for it.

From the start…

• Se7en’s Blog: Se7en’s Journey at SSISA Begins With a Goal…
• Se7en Takes You Through the SSISA Healthy Weight Assessment…
• Se7en’s Blog: From Workouts to Workshops and Everything In-Between…
• Se7en’s Blog: Se7en Begins Week 3 of our Healthy Weight Program…
• Se7en’s Blog: It’s Time to Take Sleep Seriously…
• Se7en’s Blog: Meeting the Healthy Weight Team…
• Se7en’s Blog: And Suddenly We Are in Week 6…
• Se7en’s Blog: There is no Assessment Like Your Own Assessment…
• Se7en’s Blog: 8 Things I Loved About the Healthy Weight Programme…
• Se7en’s Blog: Conquering the Healthy Weight Programme…
• Se7en’s Blog: I Have Made it Through the Intermediate Level…
• Se7en’s Blog: Se7en Secrets to Getting Back into Shape…
• Se7en’s Blog: It Is Time to Set New Goals…
• Se7en’s Blog: So What’s in a Healthy Diet?
• Se7en’s Blog: Slow and Steady Wins the Race…



Previous Posts on This Blog

• When Little Changes Make the World of Difference…
• When You Get Back to Gym After an Endless Break…
• Se7en’s Week Back at Gym…
• Let’s Talk About Gym, and Healthy Weight and Especially Sleep…
• Let’s Talk About Gym and Getting Things Done…
• The Year of Getting Unexpected Things Done… As I Graduate from Beginner to Intermediate.
• Se7en Steps to Getting Your Sleep Back on Track…


And What About Family Fitness

• Se7en Ways to Get Your Kids Moving…
• Se7en Discovers Realistic Sleep, Screen Time and Exercise Expectations for Kids…
• Family Fitness and Joining Your Local ParkRun…


I would like to thank SSISA for the free training/mentoring I am getting in exchange for an honest blog post. This is not a sponsored post and opinions expressed are entirely my own.