In high school, I had a really unhealthy relationship with exercise, and fitness in general. It took me a really long time to get over that. I’m still not perfect. I definitely catch myself falling back into unhealthy habits sometimes. With these unhealthy habits in mind, it’s been hard for me to find a workout regime that I love.
Right before Seth and I decided we wanted to get pregnant, I remember looking at myself in the mirror, post workout. I made a remark to Seth about how this was the best my body would ever look, since we were going to get pregnant. I’m not sure why I assumed having a child would be the death of my body. But I was convinced it was. Although I was so happy to be pregnant, it was depressing, to see my body expanding in ways it never had before.
Fast forward. I’m 9 months postpartum, and honestly, in better shape than I was pre pregnancy. It’s harder for me to force myself to workout every day now than it was previously. But something about the commitment being more difficult, has made it easier to prioritize it in my schedule. That sounds very contradictory, but I promise, it makes sense.
For me, what it comes down to, is scheduling. Before having a child, I would just tell myself I would “fit my workout in” sometime during the week. Outside of work, my schedule didn’t really have any structure to it. Because of this, I’d find myself skipping my workouts a lot more often than not. Now that I have limited time during the day to do the things I want and need to do, it’s easier for me to get it done. As soon as Bastian is down for his first nap of the day, I write out my daily to do list and then do my workout. It’s the first thing I do(three days a week, haha).
This is in no way to say that you have to have a CHILD in order to force yourself to do your daily workout. What it comes down to, for me, is scheduling. I have to make adjustments based on how many naps Bastian takes daily(he just went from three naps to two and it’s been hitting me pretty hard). But I learned to prioritize my physical health over things like, the dishes, or folding the laundry. I know that those are things I can do once Seth is home. Or, in all honesty, have him do when he gets home. The other things will get done, eventually. So, make your physical health a priority and schedule it in everyday. Or else it will never happen.