I’m on week 14 of taking care of myself.
The past couple weeks were tough. The transition from the school year to the summer threw my whole routine off. The pool schedule changed for the summer so I can’t go swim in the morning anymore until school is back in session, and the kids are home all day and I’m teaching swim lessons at home so that takes up a good chunk of my day, and I am just now getting my feet under me.
So I was not as good about having food prepped and planning meals the first two weeks of July.
But I did still manage to stay pretty consistent with workouts, and I also did a triathlon!
One thing I want to address with respect to working out is taking advantage of unused time.
I am always looking for opportunities to kill two birds with one stone. And one thing I never understand is parents who say they don’t have time to work out but who sit in their cars or on the bleachers or in a folding chair on the sidelines for their child’s entire practice.
This is prime time to get a workout in!!!
If I don’t get a workout in sometime in the morning, I have a route that I run during the kids’ swim practice. If it’s not a running day, now instead of swimming when the kids are in school, I swim in the open lap lanes at the pool during their practice.
We also just got a bike rack for the car, so now I can take my bike to practice and go for a ride while the kids are swimming, too.
I am super excited to be able to take my bike with me anywhere I want to now!
In the swimming world, July is a busy month. It’s the end of the summer season, and there are meets just about every weekend.
I was at a meet with Number 4, 5, and 7 on July 7th and 8th, a meet with Number 3 on July 12th and 15th, and I’ll be at another meet with Number 3 and 4 on July 27th through the 29th.
These meets are at least an hour away, and they are about 4 hours long. This doesn’t include the warm up. Warm ups at meets are between and hour and an hour-and-a-half long.
They are PRIME time to fit in a workout.
I am constantly amazed by how few people take advantage of this time!
Two weeks ago I ran 4 miles on Saturday and 5 miles on Sunday during warm ups.
I had to take a picture when I was done, because I was thinking about how so many people say they have no time to exercise.
See all those people behind me by those tents? Those are parents. And they were on all four sides of the pool!
Hundreds of parents and hundreds of missed opportunities to go for a run or a walk!
Sure, I was sweaty and my hair looked terrible for the rest of the meet, but it was hot out and I was going to sweat anyway. And if you’ve ever been to an indoor pool you know it’s hot as balls in there, too, and you aren’t gonna have a good hair day anyway, so screw it. You might as well take advantage of the time.
That’s how I look at it.
If you are struggling to find time to exercise, get creative! Use the times your kids are practicing, or use warm up times before swim meets or baseball or soccer or whatever games.
If you have younger kids with you and you can’t just take off on a run, throw them in a stroller and take a walk with them.
There is more time in the day than you think, and there are lots of opportunities to move!
On another note, here are updated pictures.
I didn’t lose any weight these last couple weeks — I’m holding steady at 162 pounds — 17 pounds down so far — but my body is shifting around, and there is a little more muscle where there used to be a lot more fat.
I’ve lost almost 2 3/4″ off my waist, 3″ off my hips, 2″ off each thigh, and my calves are exactly the same as when I started!
The lighting in my room was terrible because it was kind of dark outside when I took new pictures, but it feels really good to see changes, to have clothes that didn’t fit me two months ago now almost too big for me, and to just feel strong and fit.
I still have a ways to go before I’m where I want to be for running and triathlons, but I feel great.
If you could use help with getting your butt moving or taking better care of yourself, my next e-course, Not Your Average Fitness Course starts on Monday, July 23rd. It’s a great way to get you on your way to treating your body the way it deserves to be treated.
And if you haven’t yet, please join us over at Not Your Average Fitness Group. It’s a closed Facebook group of 450+ members (and growing!), and it’s a great community of supportive women who are all facing the same challenges as you and me!
If you are trying to take better care of yourself, keep going! Any healthy choice is a good choice. Any time you move your butt is a step in the right direction.
Small changes add up to big results. Keep going!
Click here to register today.
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