Starting Out- A look into Women’s fitness and Lifestyle Changes

A big lifestyle change is hard at the best of times. Moms trying to fit in workouts and new food menus and still getting the kids all ready for school can be a bit overwhelming. Believe me, I’ve been there. But you've gotta start somewhere. And if you can get to the other side of the hump, you know the part when it all feels like normal, then the old lifestyle will seem so foreign and you will be glad that you stuck out those tough beginnings.
My journey began several years ago when my back was consistently giving me troubles. I woke up everyday in pain. I often had headaches, leg aches, stomachaches, basically anything that ended in" ache". To make it worse exercising made all my aches worse. To say the least it was very de-motivating. I came to a point where I knew that I had to make a big change because age was creeping up and this wasn’t going to get any easier. Here’s what I did.
I started to workout 10 minutes one time per week. I found it really easy to get that done and my body didn’t feel so sore the next day. After some time I started feeling like doing a bit more so I found myself exercising 2 times per week. The interesting thing about this “experiment” was that I also began increasing the length of my exercising time. Soon I was exercising a minimum of 30 minutes per week. But I listened to my body and stopped when I felt like it. This goes against everything the exercise industry tells us. "Push yourself to muscle fatigue/failure". For me, I got to a point in my workout where I just got bored or tired and stopped. My belief was that as long as I was having fun, I would keep coming back for more.
The nature of my workouts was constantly changing. I did the majority of my exercising in my house because I didn’t have the extra funds to pay for babysitting. Other times I was able to go outdoors with my kids and exercise through various activities and sports.
The biggest change I made was my state of mind. I tried my best to celebrate the days I worked out and didn’t worry about whether I missed a day or not. I found that this mind set actually helped me to be more active. Plus I was genuinely having a good time doing my own thing.
As far as my diet was concerned the only significant change I made was cutting out my before-bedtime-snack. Other than that, I started to shop for fresh food rather than processed/packaged and I made a meal plan so that I would be able to allow time to cook. I found that cooking became a lot more enjoyable when I knew what I was going to cook and how much time I had. I also discovered some great new recipes and found that I was more satisfied at the end of the meals simply because I had tried something new. Although I must admit, a couple of the meals were kind of ….. well, gross! But for the most part they were a success.
This process happened over a period of one year. It wasn’t quick but it was effective for me. I still follow the same regime of diet and exercise because it works for me. It is a guilt free lifestyle and I am happy to say that I no longer suffer from aches and pains. This has been the most positive change for me. And guess what, I am still having fun!