Saturday, January 26, 2008

Thwarted Again

Getting started on an exercise program is a struggle for most people. After Lily was born, it took me almost a year and half to get my act together and get to the gym. I finally lost the weight and got to where I liked going to the gym. I made it a part of my routine and I was feeling pretty good about myself. I remember telling myself, "I'll never not do this again. It's not that hard once you get into the habit. I'll always work out at least three times a week."

Ha!

When we moved to my Mom's in April 2006, the gym I belonged to did not have a location in Utah County. My membership expired in July, so I let it lapse and just rode my bike and went walking those last few months of my pregnancy. In January 2007, when Amelia was 4 months old, I joined Gold's Gym but I didn't go too consistently because I didn't really like their daycare. They didn't have any decent security measures to ensure that some random person didn't come in and take your kid (no ID check or matching bracelets like they did at Bally Total Fitness.) Plus Amelia was still so small that I was worried about all the cooties. During the spring and summer I did pretty well riding my bike with the girls in the trailer. But when the weather turned cold I quit riding as much ("it's too cold for Amelia"...ppffff!) And then I hit the busy fall portrait and Christmas season and I just didn't have time to go to the gym.

Fast forward to January. OK, now I'm ready to get serious. Amelia has a stronger immune system and the daycare implemented a computer system with photo identification for when you check in and out, so I was feeling better about taking the girls there. One of my problems with going before was that the daycare was always so full, you had to call a week in advance to get an appointment at a reasonable time. Who plans that far in advance? Well, I just started getting in the habit of calling every morning to schedule for the following week. The first week I went three times. Then came the Binky Stew week and I only went once. The following week I went 3 times. This week I went Monday and Tuesday and was finally getting into a groove. I was on target for making it to the gym 4-5 times a week.

Until Amelia started throwing up again.

Blast! She threw up 4 times Wednesday night, with full-on projectile vomiting, plus diarrhea up to the armpits again. The Binky Stew week started just 4 days after I started going to the gym and 3 days after school started up again after Christmas Break. Since Lily was the first one to get sick, it was possible that she brought the bug home from school, so after they got better I went back to the gym. Well, now I'm pretty certain that the nasty cooties are coming from the gym daycare.


Yeah, I thought you'd appreciate that visual (well, at least Dan will.)

So now I have this horrible dilemma where I want to work out and I don't want to go at 6:00am before Dan gets up for work or after 7:00pm when he gets home, but I am just so tired of sick kids and their nasty bodily fluids that I am not going to take them to the gym daycare anymore. I'm bitter. It takes a huge amount of activation energy to get to the gym even when I have arrangements for the girls. Now that it's going to be even more inconvenient to figure out what to do with the girls, it's just one more excuse not to work out. I don't know, maybe in a month or so the memories of Binky Stew will have faded enough that I'm willing to take the risk again, but I don't know.

Thwarted again.

6 comments:

Hollyween said...

I used to go to the gym before we moved to where we are now. I went four times a week and got SKINNNNY. Then we moved and I packed on a few (about 15) dealing with John's cancer, infertility, infertility medications etc. Then I got pregnant and I'm nearly to my pre-pregnancy weight which is 15 pounds higher than where I want to be. It's hard. I swear that the reason my weight came off so much more with Levi was because he wasn't breastfed. I pumped for three months and as soon as I stopped, the weight fell off. Now I'm breastfeeding exclusively and Faith is 7 months old. And it is sloooowly coming off. I work out 6 times a week at home. There is a gym right down the street (not as good as Gold's. A lady fitness) and I get antsy for going every time I pass it. I LOVE a good workout alone without kids.
But back to the time when I took Levi to the gym. I brought him when he was 5 weeks until the time he was 3 years. He got sick a lot the first year and then no more than any other kid the next couple years. Now he very rarely gets sick and I swear it's because his immune system is solid as a ROCK after being exposed to the gym GUNK. So.... there's pros and cons.
Working out is important though. It's my anti-depressant. Ya gotta do what's right for YOU.

Hollyween said...

Why are my comments always so long on your blog? I'm SOOO sorry. It's because you do such thought provoking posts!

Sue said...

Holly- don't worry. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm pretty long-winded myself, so you're in good company! I remember one of my early posts about marriage (May 2007) where I had a lot to say. I was nervous that I might have offended someone, but my husband said, "At least your'e SAYING something." That encouraged me. Then I had a ton of comments and I decided it was a good thing to say what was really on my mind every now and then.

Kris said...

I hate that dilemma! I have it myself. I can do the early morning thing in the spring & summer, but not the winter! So,I've pretty much decided to just purell everyone's hands on our way out of the gym and hope for the best.

I figure, we take the germ risk at school, preschool, nursery, primary, the library, the POOL, etc. so why not the gym? because mentally/emotionally, I really NEED to work out!

I understand, though, that you've really been burned lately! There have been a couple of times when we've had the stomach virus and I just can't bear to go back either ... but I always end up going back after a few weeks.

Hopefully you'll find a plan that works for you... don't give up!

The Nelson Family said...

I get thwarted every day it seems! Do you know that the place I have started to work out at opens at 7 in the morning and 10 AM on Saturdays and Sundays. It's the college gym, but it's cheap. Good luck finding a day care :) Wish I was there and MAYBE we'd trade off :)

Becky in Wyo said...

Brief comment about Holly's comment - I couldn't lose weight breastfeeding either, in fact it made me gain weight!  How annoying!  My theory is that hormones trigged my body to be more hungry, so I could make milk.  The only problem is that my body doesn't really make very much milk, so the pounds just pile on.  Needless to say, I'm not going to breastfeed for very long this time. Exercising at home doesn't work for everyone.  Heaven knows there are plenty of distractions there.  But I've found it really works for me, because I don't have to deal with the daycare issue.  I have a hard enough time motivating myself to exercise, without the major production of packing kids back and forth to the gym.  I work out when it's convenient for me, and I probably waste less time driving back and forth to the gym, packing kids, etc.  I have a very limited time of day where I can work out, because I have daycare kids who come early, so I have a set time of day I work out, about 5:30 am.  Talk about the crack of dawn, but with my schedule, it totally works.  It gets me ready for my day, and I think helps my frame of mind, feeling like I did something useful right off the bat.You and Mom should totally split the cost on some type of home workout equipment.  My preference is an elliptical, because I can get a really good workout on one, without hurting my joints.  My Gazelle is more of a striding machine, but since it's paid for, I'm making do with that.  The next time I buy a new piece of equipment it's definitely going to be an elliptical.  I bet you guys could look around and find a good used piece of equipment for a fraction of the price.  Check ksl.com, and used equipment stores, like 2nd Hand Sports.Well, that's my advice.  Good luck on finding your fitness solution!P.S.  Not five gold stars, but five big sympathy fuzzies for you, for having to deal with stomach flu again.  Yuck!