Parenthood changes a lot of things. One thing I noticed was that I had less time for exercise, or so it seemed to me. A recent study I saw confirmed that my suspicions were correct and that I am not alone. The study also confirmed that the reasons I most often skipped my exercise times were also named by study participants. Those reasons (excuses) would be: lack of time, tiredness, and lack of child care options. Another reason for me: finances. With 5 children, I simply can’t justify spending the money I used to spend on a gym membership that I may or may not be able to use depending upon who has the stomach flu this week.

For a while, I was very depressed about the whole thing and critical of myself. I should be making the time and finding the money to do this for me! But the reality is that my husband travels frequently with work, and I am, for many days of the month, a single parent. In between homework and caring for the baby and driving the older children to their activities, there’s not a lot of time to devote to an exercise program.

I decided to try and think outside the box for a solution to my problem. Ok, so my life had changed, but that didn’t mean that I had to give up my life because of that. I just had to find a way to fit exercising into my daily life given my constraints on time, money, and energy. I found that while I just didn’t have the energy to do an energy charged aerobics workout anymore, I did like Tai Chi. Yoga was not only exercise, but it helped calm my nerves too! I found that Pilates workouts were wonderful too.

I discovered DVD’s for Pilates where you could squeeze a mini-workout into 10 minutes! It’s true that I couldn’t find an hour long block in my day to devote to exercising, but I could find a 10 minute segment! I have to admit that some days, I don’t even find the time for 10 minutes, but I’m working on it.

The best part of my new exercise routine is the cost. I can loan a DVD from the library for no cost and I can try a different routine each week if I choose to do so. I have purchased several DVD’s for my own collection, but they are still cheaper than a gym membership! I walk the children to school instead of driving them, and I try to be as active as I can during my daily routine. Just hauling laundry around for 7 people should count as exercise, right?

Not only am I exercising more, but my children are learning that exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. They are also learning, just like I am, that sometimes we need to be creative when looking for solutions to our problems!

Ok, I’m still working on losing the excess weight, but must confess that it’s not an easy journey. There are days when it’s a breeze and others when it’s really hard. Valentine’s Day was especially hard so yes, I did have some chocolate after all, I still need to enjoy my life while losing this excess baggage.

I have really been consuming lots of vegetables, I think even more than I used to when I was a vegetarian before becoming pregnant in 2004. I have found that cutting out carbs at night wasn’t hard I just have a small piece of chicken or fish and some vegetables and I’m good to go.

Water, Water, Water

So far the hardest thing to keep doing is drinking half my weight in water when you get to my size it’s really, really hard to do especially when you do not like water and never had more than a glass or two per day. Interestingly, not only can I tell that I’ve lost some weight, my skin is improving. Seriously, I can see a difference in the way the skin on my face looks, so I’m two-for-one.

I have taken to adding some lime juice now and then to the water before drinking it. This makes it a little easier to swallow, plus I have found that this is also good for your skin. If I am going to lose weight, I might as well do all I can to look really good in the process.

The constant need to rush to the bathroom almost every 20 minutes or so since I started drinking more water is decreasing. I really felt at first that increasing my water consumption was a waste of time since I was putting it out as fast as I was putting it in. I’ve since learned that is not really the case and that my body was actually flushing itself of years of waste I was storing because of not drinking water.

Dietary Changes

Some of the main changes I have made since beginning this weight loss challenge is to seriously revisit my dietary habits. Like most Jamaicans I have to have tea or coffee in the mornings, plus another cup or two at work. When I make mine at work I rarely add a sweetener, of course, I?m still working at getting my husband to stop putting sugar or milk in it when he does the job at home.

I rarely have a drink with lunch or dinner anymore, opting for water instead. This was hard the first two weeks but is a normal part of my dining routine these days.

I now need a belt for my favorite pair of black pants, and I can now tuck my blouse inside my skirts which is something I’ve not done in years. I know you are curious as to how much weight I’ve lost since February 1. I wanted to tell you how much weight I’ve actually lost since starting, but I now have to go buy a new scale today. But never fear, I will update you on Wednesday when I promise to do another update. I am hoping for at least fours pounds, which will be less than my targeted six pounds, but hey-  I’m working on it.

Exercising

This as I told you before is my weak point and I’m sure I would have done much better if I was consistent with exercising. However, I’ve started trying to do at least 10 minutes on a stationery bike every evening before anything else.

I will also be adding walking on weekend mornings to my activity list, plus getting back in full swing with my gardening. I’ve asked someone to turn the soil in my small vegetable plot for me.

I’ve come to realize that losing weight naturally is slowly becoming a part of my life and I think that even after I’ve lost the unwanted pounds I’ll still be doing these new things for me and those I love.