Cardio

All of my life I thought I hated working out.

I vaguely knew I was interested in weight lifting - mainly because I was dating a lifter and I viewed anything he could do that I "couldn't" as a challenge. (He brought out the worst in me, what can I say?) But it was the opinion in my social circle at the time that weight lifting was for me and cardio was for women and if I was going to exercise I had to spend three hours a day on the treadmill.

So I just didn't exercise.

Well, when you have a doctor look at you, tell you that you're 215 pounds, that you have thyroid issues, PCOS, and that you're pre-diabetic but that she's willing to give you a chance to turn all this around on your own, you DO something.

Basically I had no excuse to tell my lovely husband "no" anymore about trying out one of this krav maga classes.

Let me tell you, krav is AWESOME. I sucked at it at first of course. I have no natural coordination, stamina, or strength. But in a year I dropped 25 pounds, gained a ton of muscle, got my period back, and passed my first belt test. Unbeknownst to me, I passed that test a few days pregnant.

The next week I took a pregnancy test and my dreams had come true! I was healthy enough to have a baby without medical intervention! But you can't do krav pregnant and I stopped altogether.

Now that Iz is here, I still can't regain my regimen as I can hardly take her with me and I can't get there by the time my husband gets home from work. Therefore, I have to compromise. I have to do cardio.

Luckily I have some things in my favor. I had gestational diabetes and was on insulin for a few months, which I think helped make me 10 pounds lighter than before I got pregnant. I had the foresight to buy an excellent jogging stroller. The hubs was kind enough to purchase me some nice running shoes.

Plus, I'm hella motivated. All my baby fever will be for naught if I never get my period back.

So yesterday I decided to start walking 2 miles Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I would like to do the C25K program but I've always had terrible shin splints so I'm warming up for a few weeks walking and then will probably repeat weeks frequently as I start. So I'm setting a reasonable goal for myself. I would like to be able to do a 5k by Miss Iz's birthday in April. It took me about a year of exercising to get to the point where I was fertile last time and I want to start trying for baby #2 in a year - it seems like a perfect plan to me. ;-)

Krav taught me I didn't hate working out. Hopefully Iz can teach me I don't hate cardio. But I'm not terribly optimistic...