MY STORY

Part 3

Two years later I became pregnant with our daughter. My hormones were raging. I was so hungry. My philosophy was I am now eating for two. Again my diet was less than stellar. Lots of sugar.

We lived next door to my parents I would keep things, like ice cream and treats out of my house so I would not eat them. I would go to my parents house and eat their ice cream. To this day, ice cream is my vice.

After delivering our daughter I nursed her and she was fine. I didn’t have to nurse her all day to keep her happy. I nursed her three months and decided I wasn’t losing the baby weight I had gained quick enough. I decided to quit nursing. Little did I know was that nursing your baby helps you to lose the extra weight you put on during pregnancy.

To lose the weight I had put on during pregnancy, I decided to try “The Diet Center Diet.” I had to pay for the diet. It was a low-fat diet. What was I thinking? I was always thinking about my next meal and what it would or would not be. I lasted about three months. I was so hangry by this time, I had to quit because I was not nice to anyone.

At this time I thought there had to be a better way. I started to devour fitness magazines and books. Anything I could get my hands on that had to do with weight loss. It was also at this time that I was given an exercise bike. I rode every morning at 6:00 am faithfully or I would watch and follow along to “Hooked on Aerobics” on television. I felt that I could work out and lose the weight. I became passionate about health and weight loss.

In 1987, my husband started a job where they contributed one half of the membership to a gym. I got started immediately. I loved going to the gym. The club had a nursery where I could take my children so that I could work out. I went to an aerobics class five and six days a week. I loved it. I loved being around other motivated people.

While in my aerobics classes, I started looking around and noticing the same heavy women at the back of the room, doing aerobics, and their bodies were not changing even though they were going every day. What gives? I thought maybe they were eating too much junk.

I met a woman I was also watching. She would do aerobics but then she would go out on the weight floor and lift weights. She looked amazing. She was healthy and toned. I wanted to look like her. I thought that if I lifted weights, I would look like a muscle-bound woman. So far from the truth. Most women can not put on that much muscle. They do not have the genetics to look like a man.

I loved weight training. When I could not make it to an aerobics class, I would spend an hour on an elliptical or lifting weights. I loved going to the gym.

I became pregnant with our third child in early 1988. I was determined to work out my entire pregnancy. With the other two pregnancies I would make it from the bed to the couch in the morning. I was so sick. With this pregnancy I was a little sick but the workouts seemed to make all of the difference in the morning sickness, or in my case, all day sickness. The gym had a contest every summer to retain some of their membership. They awarded a pair of good aerobics shoes to the member that attended the most aerobics classes during the summer. I won the shoes. My pregnancy was not an excuse to not exercise.

Those aerobics classes and weight training workouts made all of the difference in that pregnancy. I was less sick and I had more energy. I had an easier delivery and my body snapped back quickly. I was back on the weight floor and doing aerobics one month after delivering my son.

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