The Morning After...

The Morning After…

It’s the morning after and I don’t regret it. The only thing I regret is not having done it sooner. Because now, it hurts. I hurt. A lot.

Of course I am talking about my first time back in the pool! You see, I’ve always loved to swim. I’ve been a little fish in the water ever since I can remember. I grew up with a pool in my backyard and also took swimming lessons from a very early age.

Growing up, I tried my hand (and feet) at many sports and nothing ever worked. Until one day, I decided to try synchronized swimming. I used to love watching it on tv…how they would basically dance like mermaids in the water! I wanted to be them! So I tried it…and for the first time in my life…I had found a sport that I LOVED! Most of the girls on my team had been doing it for quite awhile, so I was definitely behind the pack. I started at a recreational level and quickly moved up to competitive, the better I became. It was hard but I loved it! At one point, I was swimming up to 15 hours a week. I was in the shape of my life and would eat like a horse at every meal!

After 4 years of swimming, it came to a point where I had to decide how serious I was about conitnuning on with the sport or deciding to get a part-time job. Money won and soon, my synchro days were nothing but a mere memory. I stopped all physical activity cold turkey. The problem is, my eating habits didn’t change and I didn’t replace my physical activity with any else.

Well, 12 years, a B.A., husband and two beautiful children later, I find myself in really rough shape. Over the years, I've tried various diets, including cleanses as well as purchased wasted gym memberships and the latest trendy DVD workouts…but all for nothing. I used to consider myself a very disciplined person when it came to eating and being active. But somewhere along the line, it changed. My husband is a lover of food and has turned me into quite the foodie as well. One of our favorite things to do together is try new restaurants and foods! We also recently discovered that we enjoy cooking together (up until this year, he’s been the main cook in our house, until Pinterest found me and our lives have completely changed…no joke!). I have had two babies in 16 months and with each pregnancy, I let myself gain almost 60 lbs! That’s a lot of weight to put on and then loose…just to put it all back on a few months later. My 2^nd baby is now 6 months old and I’m down 40 lbs. But I’ve been stuck here…and I don’t like it. I’m roughly still 40-50 lbs overweight and that’s a problem.

However, the even bigger conern for me now is my health. I wake up almost every morning and I’m in pain. My body aches like I’m 70 years old (or at least what I imagine that to feel like). I’ve had so many problems with my back and ankles. Even picking up my kids is laborsome for me (and I have small babies!).  I have zero energy all the time…until the next pot of coffee is made.

And that’s why I hit the pool tonight. Enough is enough. I’ve talked about this for far too long now without doing anything about it. And I’m sick of it! I’m sick of feeling this way…I’m sick of looking this way. It’s time to reclaim my health…not just for my sake, but for my famililes sake.

It was embarrassing to me tonight as I could barely get through ONE lap without stopping. In my hayday, I used to do 50-100+ in no time flat. But it’s a step. It’s where I am now and although I’m not happy that I let it get to this, it’s not going to stay like this forever. I will be fit again. I will be healthy again. I will reclaim my body!

So here’s to achy bones and hunger pains with crazy mood swings mixed in between! So grab a bag of carrots or a bowl of fruit and join me as I journey back to health!