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This weekend it struck me: My daughter, who is just a year old, will never know a world where there hasn’t been a woman in the White House. And until the age of 41, I’ve never known a world where there has. My kids will never live in a country where there hasn’t been a…
It’s time for the Faria family to take a good long look at ourselves in the face (and butt). We have let ourselves go. WE HAVE LET OURSELVES GO. There, I’ve said it (loudly, because capital letters means loud on the internet).
As you know, I have an 11 month old baby. The past 11 months have been amazing in many ways. But in one way they have not been amazing at all, and that would be in terms of our physical fitness as a family.
I’ll point the magnifying glass at myself first (although, if I tried that in the sun it might burn my eyes out? I feel like it might). Anyway, I have deteriorated significantly this year, and there’s no getting around it. My arms, my stomach, my hair, all of it.
Now I’m not looking for any pep talks with this proclamation. Picasso had his Blue Period. I am having my Pudge Period. There could be benefits to remaining in the Pudge Period; that way, when people are reviewing the panorama of my life, they will be able to state with confidence: “During her Pudge Period, Liz created {insert great works here}.” Anything else might just welcome confusion into my life story.
What I’m looking for is advice as to whether or not it’s even remotely worth it for me to try to rectify the situation given the fact that we’d like to try for more kids soon-ish. I’m doing a cost/benefit analysis.
This is how I’m seeing it: It will take me at least 2-3 months to get back into even decent shape. 3-4 months if I want to get into good shape. I’d like to be in shape because I enjoy things like running in road races, and walking past store fronts without seeing my arms sway in the wind. The problem is, by the time I (hypothetically) get into shape, I will have to throw it all down the drain if I get pregnant. And that doesn’t seem really worth it to me, you know?
When I was pregnant with Nolan I think I managed to run/walk at the gym about 4 times before I downgraded to the elliptical on zero resistance, before I downgraded to walking around Target. And that is where I’ve remained.
(Note: I know there are some of you out there who are able to exercise right through pregnancy – I’ve seen you leaving yoga classes, so I know you exist. But I am NOT that pregnant lady. Not at all. The second I become visibly pregnant I burn my gym clothes).
Recently I discussed this with my sister:
Me: “It’s just hard, you know? But I’m doing my best.”
Sister: “What are you talking about? You’re not doing anything even close to your best.”
Me: “Oh yeah, you’re right. I’m not sure why I said that!”
And then there’s Nolan.
“Why are his pants fat?” – Jack, age 4, inquiring about Nolan.
If you want to know how you really look, wander into a Kindergarten classroom and just stand there for a few minutes. You will get decisive feedback.
Now even beyond the verbal proclamations of a poor physique, Nolan feels attacked in print as well. I offer you this “expert opinion”:
Well, I don’t think I have to tell you that that sentence was like a slap in the face to Nolan. As you are aware, Nolan has been battling the bulge for some time. Yes, he is now slimming down due to a combination of very late-blooming army-crawling and aggressive “floor dancing,” but in his soul he still feels chunky. It’s part of his psyche, now.
Aggressive Floor Dancing Workout:
Nolan’s confidence also took a hit when he was referred to on Facebook as a “lackadaisical observer type” by a blog reader. Ouch, he said. Ouch.
Lackadaisically observing the water at the YMCA.
So here’s the question Nolan and I pose to you, readers: should we even try? Should we try to find our fitness or should we just allow that we are going to remain as lackadaisical observer types for the foreseeable future? And also, should I attempt my own floor dancing routine, so that we can do a mother-son show for guests? These are the big questions.
This is my favorite post by far! Mostly because I can relate to every single bit of it, including having a large 8 month old who I can only assume is going to “floor dance” for quite awhile. Love your blog, keep posting!
Thanks Liz! I definitely think there could be a market for mother/son floor dancing workout videos.
have you looked into crossfit for babies? could be amazing…
max can already bench double his body weight
Wow, go Max! Oh yeah I’ve called like every CrossFit place in the area and begged them to take Nolan, but they are all saying no! WTF?! It’s like they don’t even care about fitness for babies.
Fitness is overrated. I vote for the mother-son floor dancing routine!
You are my kind of girl, Lauren.
The only reason I got myself into shape in the first place (I gained 25 lbs after getting married) was because I knew I would gain more getting pregnant. I lost 30, then gained 30 during pregnancy. Much better to have to lose 30 lbs postpartum than 50+!
That’s a good point. I will factor this in to my final decision making. I mean, I don’t want to start from a huge deficit if we have another baby. But still, my couch is so cozy and the winter is coming and…
THANK YOU for writing this! This is totally a topic that every new mom debates (some biznatches won’t admit it but I don’t care… they’ve thought about it)! I am totally with you in thinking it doesn’t seem worth it to try super hard to lose all the pudge just to gain it all back if the big P is potentially in your near future again. I say, if you feel like you need to do something, do just that… something. Don’t go setting any crazy weight loss goals or giving yourself a deadline for wearing non-maternity pants, just do one or two little things each day like taking the stairs vs. the elevator when you can, setting aside 5 minutes each day to do a few planks or pushups, going to ONE yoga/zumba/whatever class when you can rather than buying the overwhelming 10 class pack that expires so soon and you can’t fit them in your calendar and you just toss your hands in the air and give up. I’ve been trying to just make small, decisions to focus on being healthier vs. just losing weight and it has been working for me for the most part. PS: I still eat cookies sometimes 😉 PPS: I love Nolan’s floordance routine… I see a baby workout video empire in his future!
Thanks Mer! Yes, we are on the same page. Everyone on FB is saying I must get in shape!! Ahhhh! I do want to be healthy, I just don’t feel like I need to go nuts to hit any heavy duty fitness goals right now. Moderation seems to be a good way to go, and then post-babies I can try to get back to my formerly SUPER HOT self. 🙂
I just ate cheesecake for breakfast while I read your post. Is that bad? I blame breastfeeding. So once that’s over, they’ll be no excuse. I was that woman who went to barre class the night before I delivered. Now, 7 months postpartum I don’t even want to walk to the post office (less than 1/2 mile away). Problem is, winter is coming and my real pants don’t fit. My plan, post-breastfeeding, is to take my barre studio 60-day challenge and get back to my pre-prego weight before I pack on the pounds again for baby No. 2.
Oh man, KT, I did a few Barre classes and they totally kicked my butt! They were so hard! I commend you.
Oh, and I also commend you for cheesecake for breakfast!
Hahaha, that was hilarious, all of it! 🙂 I can relate to a lot of it as well (except that I was really TRYING to lose weight after my first child was born, and it just wasn’t working. I did all sorts of diets and I really was going to the gym a lot, and nada). I’d wanted to be back to my pre-baby size before we got pregnant, but that just didn’t end up happening 😉 After my second baby it was pretty much the same story, and I was stuck trying to figure out how much harder I should try before trying to get pregnant again. Ultimately I was pretty miserable with how I looked and I’d had gestational diabetes with both pregnancies and REALLY wanted to try to lose weight to see if maybe the NEXT time I could make it through with my health intact (hahahaha, good luck to me!) 😉 Anyhow, with about 3 months before we wanted to start trying to get pregnant I decided to finally try a more aggressive diet and see how it went. I ended up losing almost all of my baby weight, and while it’s frustrating to know that I’ll be putting so much weight back on before I know it, I am glad that I did it. Fingers crossed I have a better pregnancy because of it! 🙂
Nice job Carolyn! You sound like a trooper/more motivated than I am. I mostly miss running because I like doing road races – I’m not so concerned about hitting a particular weight even. What’s hard though is that exercise is always tough at the beginning, and then gets better…but when you want to have more kids soon it doesn’t seem like enough time to get to the “better” part. Although who knows, pregnancy is a crapshoot and can take forever.
Liz – if you miss running, would signing up for a turkey trot be a good motivator? A short race (they are usually only 5k) on thanksgiving morning is far enough away that you still have time to train and it’s a total win-win since it’ll get you out of any dinner prep and Thanksgiving 2k14 will forever be known as “the day that Liz ROCKED that turkey trot!” Just a thought…
Oh I’ve done a many a turkey trot in my day. I like this idea!
I think you know where I weigh in on this one. Get in shape so your second pregnancy can go well. Just make sure you go at your own pace and don’t over do it. I felt really depleted while breast feeding and didn’t start really working out until that was over.
I can’t be trusted to “go at my own pace” because my pace is sitting on the couch right now 🙂 But I do get your point!
Check out Fit For Two on Facebook! I’m the same way, love to run, but as soon as I hit my second trimester, I walked at work only. Screw that mess, I built another human inside me. I consider that plenty of exercise.
Amen Acey! Amen.
Boy, Brian, you sure dodged a bullet on this post. I agree with Mer. Her advice is very sensible. And I agree with the woman who wrote it’s best to get back to your baseline weight, or close to it, before adding the weight related to baby #2. Moderation. Baby steps (pun intended), as you move towards your goal. Love, your lackadaisical observer friend. P.S. I am walking 5 days out of 7. There is benefit from even a 20 minute walk, so fall is a beautiful time of year to go for a stroller ride.
That’s true LP, I do really like a nice, crisp autumn day for a walk. I will have to capitalize on that because before you know it it will be freezing, and I have zero interest in ever being a mall walker. Won’t do it.