I was typing away at a project on the computer after getting Maggie and Heidi down for naps. I’d been trying to think of ways to get Degen outside more often with little-or-no inconvenience to myself over the last few weeks. Then it hit me–outside, exercise! Degen is now old enough to outrun me any day (considering my out of shapeness). A year ago trying to exercise with any of my kids in tow meant dragging them along or getting jumped on in the middle of a yoga child’s pose. With the girls asleep and Grandpa home to supervise the napping, Degen and I could go outside and exercise. Two birds with one stone and all that jazz came to mind. It’s a big deal to be able to have Degen with me and get something physical done at the same time. A milestone, if you will.

We donned sneakers and walked outside. I’m blessed to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world and three houses down the street is a big ol’ wildlife preserve/open space thingy with relatively well-kept, empty, sunny walking trails. Degen and I hopped on to a trail and walked a bit till we hit a flat, straight section and I told him he could run.

Degen loves to run. He runs laps around our dining/kitchen/living room all the time. We don’t let him run as often as we think we should. So, I felt really good about letting him run as long and fast and far as he wanted. And I felt a little bad that he kept stopping and turning to ask if he’d gone too far (not complaining about his carefulness, just feel a little guilty for limiting him). But yesterday he got to run as much as he wanted, as far as he wanted, and as fast as he wanted. His joy was apparent as he paused to yell back to his slower mother about the bird he could see in a bush or the “river” (irrigation ditch) or cow or whatever. I was excited when he told me he didn’t want to go home because he wanted to “explore” some more. Exploring is something I understand and want to encourage.

He probably ran (and I walked) about two miles. If we do it more often maybe I’ll be able to keep up with him. I’d like to be able to run like him. And I like spending time outside with him. Thanks for the fun, Degen!

I’ve been exercising 30 minutes a day, every day except Sundays, for more than 40 days now!  This is a huge change for previously unathletic me, and I’ve learned a couple of things in the process.  I thought I’d record my thoughts on the subject while I’m in a good mood so that next time I feel grumpy about exercising I can read over it again.

1. Exercising is great stress relief, helps me relax, and puts me in a good mood.  Even when I hate it while I’m doing it, once I’m done I have more patience with my family and it’s easier to have a good attitude about my problems.  I’m generally happier than I was before I started exercising every day.

2. Variety is important for me.  I’ve been doing a yoga video at home in the evenings for the last couple of weeks because I could do it inside with the kids, and at night when it’s too dark to safely go outside (and I’m sure people are in the apartment complex gym…I’m shy that way).  The last two days I started getting REALLY annoyed with the woman on the video and started exercising half-heartedly.  Last night, in the middle of my video, I decided to try something else.  I got the iPod out and went for a walk around the apartment complex–it was only dusk (reluctant thanks to Daylight Savings), and being outside was really refreshing.  This morning I walked for a while outside, then went to the gym and ran for a while, then lifted some weights.  It’s much easier to keep exercising if I can quit Option A when I get sick of it and have Options B and C to switch to.

3. Exercising while listening to something helps me work out longer.  Listening to the scriptures helps me focus and be calm (plus I get some scripture study in), while listening to upbeat music motivates me to keep going and distracts me when I don’t want to keep going.

4. Working out in the morning is best, even though it’s possibly the hardest time of day to make myself do it.  When I do it in the morning, it’s not hanging over my head as a to-do all day.  I also have that feeling of confidence-boosting accomplishment to start the day with and motivate me to keep it up.  Plus, I’ve got the endorphins going while I do my foundational work of the day, instead of “wasting” them while I sleep at night.

5. I sleep better when I exercise.  I haven’t had a whole lot of trouble sleeping since high school (when I hardly slept at all), but early this year stress started bugging me to the point that I couldn’t shut it off when I got to bed and it would take me a long time to get to sleep.  Since I’ve been exercising, that problem has totally gone away and I usually go to sleep happy.

6. Exercising every day is possible with little kids and without money.  Sometimes the kids work out with me.  Sometimes I exercise in 5-min increments in order to get my 30 minutes in.  We had a couple of nights without electricity and I still exercised.  I haven’t spent a penny on working out since I started this goal.

7. I don’t have to exercise a huge amount or get super-sweaty to make a difference or to lose weight.  Even a happy little walk outside or the easiest level of that workout video is worthwhile.

8. Runners aren’t as crazy as I always thought.  Running is sometimes easier than walking fast…who knew?h

9. My body really does improve and get stronger as I consistently exercise.  Having never really exercised regularly, it was hard to believe that if I made the effort I would see a difference.  Everyone has heard that exercising a muscle will increase its strength, but now I’ve actually experienced it.

10. Exercising alone is one of the few things I’ve discovered that will convince my mind to turn off its “mom-radar.”  You moms know–it’s that part of your brain that is always paying attention to whether the kids are doing okay.  It’s on when I’m sleeping, it’s on while they’re sleeping, it’s even on when Colin is watching them while I go on errands by myself.  Until now, the only time I would find that it would turn off was when I’d pay a trusted babysitter to watch the kids and go on a date with my husband.  But when I’m exercising alone away from the house it turns off.  Exercising is at least as good for my sanity as our weekly date.

11. Having social support is important.  For those days when I’m discouraged and don’t want to keep it up, it’s a huge help to have Colin around to be accountable to.  I know he’ll ask me if I exercised before we go to bed, and I don’t want to say no.  And if I tell him I don’t want to exercise today, he’ll give me a long list of reasons not to give up.

12. Rewards make it easier, and they don’t have to be food-related or expensive to be motivational. Especially at the beginning, I found myself thinking of how I could keep walking for just a few more minutes or stay up the extra half hour at night to get my 30 minutes in, because if I did I’d get flowers at the end of the week.

13. Ironically, when I exercise I have MORE energy to do other things, not less.  Weird, but true.

14. Weight lifting is sometimes more fun than yoga, walking, running, or cycling.  You have more instant gratification–I have a feeling of accomplishment every time I finish a set of repetitions, and that only takes a minute or two in some cases.

I like having time alone when I exercise.  I try to work out early in the morning, sometimes before even Colin gets up, and almost always before anyone else in our apartment complex is outside.  Walking the three minutes to our gym outside in the fresh air before dawn refreshes my soul.  I love sunrise–I’d forgotten how much.  And since it’s been about three years since I’ve even had the bathroom to myself on a regular basis, having a half-hour or more legitimately to myself gives me an emotional boost. I feel like God and I are the only ones awake and I find I can pray with more gratitude and focus.

Exercise is helping me lose weight!  I’ve lost 5 1/2 pounds and one fat percentage point since I started.

I have time to listen to music.  Right now it’s not great music, academically speaking, but I’m enjoying it and I’m sure I’ll discover more as I go along and get bored with the baby stuff.

I feel happy more of the day.  I find I don’t have to work so hard to be happy.  I don’t have to try so hard to be motivated to pick up the house because I’ve already done something good and feel great about it.  I don’t want to sit on the couch and watch TV so much of the time.

I have a reason to get up in the morning besides someone crying at me.  So much of the last couple of years I’ve woken up to crying babies, and it’s trained me to almost dread waking up.  Now I have an appointment with myself to do something for myself that makes me feel good.  I admit that I still defiantly stay in bed after the alarm rings, but I think that may gradually go away on its own.

I like to have a quantitative measure of what I’m doing.  Changing diapers and making dinner and folding laundry could be quantified, so maybe I should do it with those too.  But with a treadmill it calculates all the numbers for you and you can see as you work just how much work you’ve done and compare it to yesterday.  I like lifting weights, too, because I count as I lift and each time I finish a set it’s like I’ve made it to a goal.  I almost like weights better than cardio because I get to the “I successfully finished something!” point more often.

As of today, I’ve exercised eight days in a row (excluding Sundays) for 30 minutes or more each time. I don’t think I’ve done that even once in my whole life before now. Yay Bethany! Also, because it’s Saturday and I managed to do each and every one of my health goals every single day this week I got to go buy myself a bouquet of flowers! Colin and the kids went with me to buy them before General Conference this morning.

I ended up choosing three little bunches of yellow daffodils from the florist’s refrigerated room of beautiful blooms. I was expecting to go to a grocery store or Walmart to pick up a bunch, but Colin surprised me by taking me to a real florist shop with lots of variety to choose from and friendly, knowledgeable sales people. It was definitely more romantic and rewarding that way. Thanks Colin! Degen held the flowers in his lap almost the entire way home (he wanted to smell them) and wanted to help me put them in a vase.

As a bonus to my great feeling of accomplishment and my lovely motivating reward, I LOST FIVE POUNDS this week! Isn’t that awesome? Plus, I’ve felt quite healthy and generally positive about life. And exercising has been really fun and a good break for me with legitimate alone time. I’ve borrowed Colin’s iPod each time I head for the gym and listened to my tween Mega Movie Mix CD that Colin bought for me a couple of years ago.
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It’s cheesy and I would hate to admit it’s what I listen to in front of a sophisticated audience, but it’s clean and a bunch of it has a good beat that’s perfect for exercise. I listen to other songs, too, but that’s my current default. Watch out FOO8!

Today I lifted weights on the crazy, huge machine that has about 10 different kinds of weights to lift. It looks like a demented black-and-white metal octopus. I never know quite what to do with weights, but since I’m almost always alone in the gym I figured I couldn’t embarrass myself too badly by trying. Ironically, just as I was finishing my attempt at lifting and heading over to the treadmill, someone came into the gym! It was a big, muscular man who must have been a football player when he was younger. I told him that he was welcome to change the TVs to something other than Food Network (which he immediately did with a little chuckle). He then proceeded to lift with great confidence and apparently no effort about 2 million times more weight than I did (yes, I exaggerate…a little) about 100 more reps than I did. This didn’t intimidate me, however, because I’m a beginner AND it gave me a chance to watch him covertly in the mirror so I could find out how the machine was supposed to be used. “Oh! That goes behind your shoulders!” was typical of my internal responses. So, thanks to the big man in the gym who didn’t know he was teaching me how to use the weights machine.