Mommy Mondays: Fitting In Fitness

I have long had the philosophy that if something is important to you, you make time for it.

Which is why there were periods of my life when I woke up at 4:45am so I could work out before work.

But that was before I had a baby.  Now the thought of waking up at 4:45am might bring me to tears.

And yet, it's still important for my own sanity to have some sort of physical exercise.   Well, my sanity and my ability to fit into my jeans.

It was actually very easy for me to find time to workout during maternity leave.  Thatboy would put Thatbaby to bed, I'd hit the gym, and then we'd have dinner and go to bed.  It wasn't until Thatbaby started solids and started eating dinner with us that it became difficult to find the time to go for a run or a trip to the gym.  Plus, this also coincided with me returning to work.  And so the things I used to do during the day had to fit into a small window in the evening between putting the baby to bed and putting me to bed.

In the winter, with short days, I would wake up early to get a run in.  I'm not going to lie - I hated that.  I hate waking up early these days, compounded by the fact that there are no more "sleep in" days on the weekend.  Every day is a wake up early day.  Plus, my runs were always shorter than I'd like, due to time constraints and a running partner who likes to pee on every third bush we pass.

I really got into a groove in the spring/summer.  I love my usual routine of coming home, making dinner, and then going for a run.  Sure it's not the healthiest thing to eat dinner and then head out, but the weather is good, I can take as much time as I like before the sun sets, and it's a great way to unwind from daily stressors.

Of course, this is dependent on Thatboy being available to occupy our child while I'm pounding the pavement.  As you may have picked up over the past few months, this hasn't been the case as of late.  Between his father's illness and death, and Thatboy's recent surf trip to Nicaragua, I've been on my own a lot since May.  Which means I can't really just jaunt off for a run with baby and dog in tow.  Instead, I've been making great use of workout videos.  I absolutely love my "Exercise On Demand" through my cable provider which gives me loads of workouts to choose from, at my fingertips.  Likewise, I'm a pretty big fan of Jillian Michaels videos.  Which means that after I put Thatbaby to bed, I spend about 30 minutes or so getting my sweat on.  Because no matter how tired I am, or how rough a day it's been, it's hard to make excuses for why you don't have half an hour to devote to your health.