We will get it right…eventually
Becky Suder
Jan 16, 2009
I’m at Gold’s trying to get buff when a woman I know from the playground comes up to me. She says she’s working out to get rid of her baby fat. I ask her how old her baby is. I can see beneath her blushing cheeks that she is considering lying but then blurts out, “He’s 3 - I’m so ashamed.”
I want to hug her but I’ve been doing the abdominizer and have a slick sheen of sweat, and fear she might slip from my sweaty grasp. On further discovery I find out she has three kids 6 and under. Lady please, give yourself a break. You have the rest of your life to be skinny. I understand why the gym is the last thing on your mind when you are knee deep in dirty diapers and your mini van looks like a tornado hit it twice in one day. The last thing on earth you are thinking about is firm abs.
But I am not saying don’t work out when you have young kids. In fact, I advocate it if simply for this reason. A gym membership costs 30 bucks a month. Take three kids to the gym for two hours of babysitting and you’re getting free time for roughly $.50 an hour. Is that worth 30 minutes on a treadmill, a yoga class and an hour in the sauna? Uhm…duh.
Truly we women are hard on ourselves. A friend of mine said she thought the female body was set up for failure and in some ways I think it’s true. Between menopause, PMS and birthing babies we can’t catch a break. So if nature won’t give you a break, give yourself one. You have time for a firm butt, you have time for strong legs, you have time for feeling fit and if you fail at first you have time to try ,try again.
It’s true that food and figure have never been my issues. Food is just something I do; fuel for my body and me and the kitchen don’t really care for each other. Genetics has also blessed me with a metabolism that goes a mile a minute, but with us women if it’s not one thing it’s another. Friends and family have watched me battle the nicotine beast for over 14 years and I think I have finally won.
And for anyone who thinks they saw me at Avalon last night in a black Bruins baseball cap, Vans tennis shoes, short red hair and a sweatshirt that said Spotsylvania Fire, imbibing some brews and sucking on a cigarette I swear it was not me.
Aaaah, back to the chalkboard baby we’ve got work to do.
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If anyone had told me in those long lonely days as a single mom with not a second to herself that I could get someone to watch my monkey for 2 hours a day for just $40 a month - do you have any idea what kind of shape I’d be in today? Dear lord - why didn’t they tell me sooner. The gym used to be my enemy - now it is my saving grace. As for you and that habit - you can beat this - I did. Think of how much better a run feels when you can breathe. I thought before I could never run because I was fat - turns out it was because I couldn’t breathe. 17 months smoke free and signed up for my first ever 5k - I never ran before in my life till just a few months ago.
of the kids club
Jan. 16, 2009 at 05:48 PM
I think I heard something recently about your newly bulging biceps.
of Ashland
Jan. 16, 2009 at 04:12 PM
Ironically, I too have been genetically blessed. However, after the baby, things are bit…um…hangy. In conversation, if it comes up that I have a baby, people tell me that I look good for just having a baby. I have to then tell them that he is almost nine months old…thus, making me feel even more hangy, than I should be. But, you are right, I have yet to make it to the gym for free babysitting. Every month when I get my bank statement with the gym membership missing, I am reminded that I need to get there. Its just never seems like there is time.
of Richmond
Jan. 16, 2009 at 02:58 PM
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