A Personal Victory

A portion of our backyard garden, complete with vegetables, herbs, and fruit trees

I don't normally discuss non-sewing related topics on my blog, but I really wanted to link up with Debbie's Tuesday at the (Herbal) Table series, and I figured that this might count. I share this in hopes that some of you might be coming from the same places that I have been.

Our wedding day: December 10, 2005

Tonight I closed the door on a special achievement for me. I finished a year long contract with a personal trainer at a local gym. For some people this would not be such a big deal, but for me it was huge. Though I was a normal weight when my husband and I got married, the process of having three children in four years threw me off completely.

Hours before giving birth to Mouse

My weight skyrocketed with each pregnancy, and though I was able to lose about twenty pounds after each delivery, the weight always came back with reinforcements. By the time I was ready to deliver my third daughter, I was in so much pain from the pull on my body that I could hardly walk.

January 2011

After I delivered Mouse, I lost a good deal of weight, but the pounds crept back on again. Between lack of sleep and trying to care for three children under the age of four, I was in a constant state of exhaustion and in no condition to start a serious diet and exercise plan. Honestly, I look back on that year as one of the hardest of my life. By the following year, I took a few months to just read books about health and nutrition, trying to get myself in the right mindset to make some changes in my life. That summer my mother-in-law saw me enjoying myself at the pool near their home, reminiscing about how much I used to love taking water aerobics classes when I was single. After we returned home, she called to offer me a membership at a gym near our home so I could return to the classes I loved. I was thrilled. After some discussion with my husband, I also signed up to work with a trainer once a week, but the gym required that I sign a one-year contract. I remembering staring at my signature on that piece of paper and feeling cold sweat run down my back -- what on earth had I done?

Yesterday morning

I stuck with my appointments with my trainer and did my best to work out three times a week for an hour each time. I'm not going to lie: there were weeks when it was all I could do to drag myself off to the agony I knew was waiting for me at the gym. I tried to convince myself that it was a nice break from the kids (which it was, in a way). I bribed myself with a Diet Coke from the barbecue joint next door every time I finished a workout. It was hard, hard work, but I'm so happy and proud to say that I did it. I really did it. And when I signed that paper, I honestly didn't think that I could. My trainer did the math for me tonight. Over the past two years since I had Mouse, I've lost 71 pounds -- 51 of them in this year at the gym, along with 10% of my body fat and 50.5 inches off my body.

Somehow the journey of health this year feels closely tied with my sewing career, as I started quilting just a few months after I started at the gym. Both activities have done so much to save my sanity and help me grow. I still have lots work to do, but I can't tell you how much better I feel than I did a year ago. I'm a little bit frightened to go back to working out at home, scared that I'll fall back into my old ways. My family assures me that they're not going to let that happen. Recently I read an incredible book called Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes, a scientist who takes a fascinating look at the topic on the cellular level. This book was a revelation to me, and I feel like I'm finally starting to understand why I am the way I am when it comes to my health. It's given me direction when it comes to my eating as well as that of my children, and we've made changes as an entire family that are already bearing fruit. I'm hoping that the year ahead will bring better health to all of us. More than anything I want to help my children avoid so many of the struggles I've faced in this area, and nothing makes me happier than seeing them running fearlessly around the back yard or happily picking herbs and vegetables with my husband in our garden. I dearly hope that I can help them build great habits and be an example to them of a life well lived . . . in every way.

Linking up to Tuesday at the (Herbal) Table.