Motherhood has greatly impacted my outlook on exercise. Not so much exercise itself, but what the female body is capable of. I feel like there is so much more that my body can do that I didn’t realize before being pregnant with Bubs. Now that I’m pregnant again with baby #2, I am in awe again.
One of the things that I have been working hard towards maintaining this pregnancy is a constant exercise regime. I have been walking and weight training as much as I can. As many as 5 days per week, down to twice per week if I’m low on energy. I am going to admit that it isn’t easy to stay motivated some days. What makes me feel empowered is that I can handle chasing a toddler around all day, having enough energy to exercise, do my normal SAHM-things, and still grow a baby at the same time. Am I as graceful doing these things pregnant? Not hardly. Are some days fantastic, while others difficult? Most definitely.
I guess, more or less, what I’m trying to say is that being active during pregnancy is helping me to enjoy it more. I am hopeful that I will experience benefits of exercise as my pregnancy continues. I hope that it will aid in a quick delivery of the baby. I hope that it will help to keep me from swelling as much as I did last time later in the pregnancy. There are simply so many benefits of staying active during pregnancy. On days where I want to curl up and eat chocolate while watch TV during Bubs’ nap, I try to remind myself that it’s worth the push to exercise.
The mindset of exercise outside of pregnancy for me, has always been to accomplish something with physical results. Lose 10 pounds. Tone up my abs. So on and so forth. Completely changing my mindset during pregnancy has been difficult. It’s difficult not to push myself. Instead I have to constantly tell myself to back off. Slow down. I am not training for the Olympics, I am merely trying to work my body. My goal for exercising is not to push myself too hard, yet still work hard enough so that my workout feels like work. I don’t want to breeze through a workout without feeling anything. It’s a very strange balance for someone like myself who is always trying to push harder. Or, to “go the distance.”
I’m not entirely sure the purpose of writing this post. It’s just a bit of rambling! Have a great day!
