Exercise and Body Image

Exercise and body image... man what a tricky balance. At least I find for myself. I’m always trying to eat healthier and exercise more; it feels like it’s something I’ve been struggling with for a long time. I think I’ve been doing better the last few years. I’m no where near my goal but I try and I respect myself for that and love my body for what it can do.

 I went into this past pregnancy not at my ideal anything. I had just had a traumatic miscarriage and was using exercise as part of my therapy. I found it so helpful for the 9 months I was pregnant this time. Exercise helped me calm some of the anxiety and feel like I was doing something to help everything go ok.

I was so proud of myself for working out almost every day and right up till my due date! I definitely think I was in the best shape I’ve been in probably 10 years! I have no doubt it helped me during the labor and recovery. But fast forward and we’re talking a baby who never slept and had weight gain issues, colic, reflux, lip tie, my hip was out and painful, etc. That sounds like a lot of excuses. I tried working out despite everything. I always had a hard time understanding the excuse from some moms of never having energy or time to exercise. But boy do I get it. For 7 1/2 months I held her for every nap and sometimes a lot of the night or she wouldn’t sleep. Plus then you get them used to it and you’re in trouble!

So we worked on it and now she’s sleep trained! Hallelujah! I could hear angels singing! The past couple months I’ve been going jogging with her in the stroller or workouts while she naps. Or cross country skiing and skating when the weather is nice or we’re not fighting colds.  I’ve got a long way to go. But mentally I feel so much better already. Maybe it’s the sleep or maybe it’s the exercise 😋. But she’s napping so I better get a workout in; she’s starting to walk now and I’ll need to step my workouts up if I’m going to keep up with her!

Life Lately

I first started a blog probably 14 years ago? I could figure out when but really it's not the point. Before that I had a journal I carried around a wrote in a lot. You could find me lost in thought writing in a coffee shop or park or my car all over one of the 4 provinces I've lived in. I've changed a lot since then and so has blogging. My favorite "era" of it was when "small" like minded bloggers would post about their lives and we'd bond over common interests and life experiences. I try to keep up reading a few bloggers from then. But find it challenging to find more. Plus I'm not terribly active as a blogger either. Which brings me to my point. I miss blogging. I've realized my Instagram post captions have been getting longer and longer and sometimes that's after I trim them down! Haha! The baby has been napping much better lately so I find myself with a few minutes to quickly eat and swallow back my cold coffee. I thought perhaps it might be fun to try to blog every now and then during my "me" time. So here's my attempt. Can't promise it'll last long. My laptop has long since died and i find blogging on my iPad frustrating. C'est le vie. I'll stop whining :) So what does my life look like lately? My baby is 9 months old. It's snowy and wintry outside. And I'm trying to eat healthy and workout more. Really no that different I suppose. If you're still around here reading, thanks! It's nice to have a friend or two. P.s. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to put photos on anymore. Tried googling and couldn’t find it either!