We live in a culture that is obsessed with how we look. As I scroll through Instagram, I like to follow fitness accounts to help motivate me to workout, but it also makes me feel like I am the only person who struggles to maintain a good routine. I keep hitting barriers that derail my fitness goals. While it is important to workout, I believe that the most important part of working out is finding the balance and enjoying your journey.
Running into Barriers
I have always enjoyed working out. In high school I loved running cross country and track. It was fun, and it was my way to deal with stress and push myself.
Fast forward a few years, and I was working to maintain a light-to-moderate workout schedule throughout my pregnancy while dealing with sickness.
After having my baby, I was excited to workout again, push my endurance and rebuild strength (and lose the “mommy pooch”). I was ready to start a more intense workout program and was so excited to see myself lose the weight and gain the muscle!
I would wake up early or stay up late to get my workout in everyday for the first two weeks, but somewhere in the third week I would hit a wall. Trying to be persistent, I restarted that workout program multiple times always to get stopped during the third week. It seemed like I would either get a migraine that would knock me out, or my energy would get zapped. One week I got a cold, and I tried to keep pushing through until it got worse and I realized I needed to take care of my body. “Wait, I thought I was taking care of my body?” Slowly, I started having “ah-ha” moments. One thing about me is that I often have an all or nothing attitude, and I realized this attitude was leading me to push my body too hard to the point where I was just wearing myself out.
Push Yourself, Not Punish Yourself
Last week I went to a Mom’s Day Out activity where we did a High Fitness class. I loved it and realized that I need to work out to refresh myself, not to burn myself out.
Though I want to workout to look my best, that is not my end goal. You should workout to push yourself not punish yourself! I’ve realized that it is all about finding balance. Find exercises that you love and enjoy!
Some of my favorite workouts that work for me and my current lifestyle are workouts that include my baby or can be done next to her:
- Dancing workouts almost don’t feel like a workout. I’m just having fun dancing!
- Hiking while packing a 21 pound baby is a workout in and of itself. It is so refreshing hiking in the foothills of the Wasatch mountains.
Finding Balance
Yes, these workouts are not super killer intense workouts, but I realized that this is what I need for now. I’ll switch things up in the future, but this fits me now. It’s all about finding balance physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Listen to your body and do what works for you! Your health should not be an all or nothing situation. Finding balance is about the joy in the journey and pushing yourself because you want to, not because you feel a guilty drive to. I love the excitement of pushing and stretching myself to achieve goals. However I feel cheated of that feeling when I am constantly putting myself down or working out just for the scale. You can do anything, but not everything.
Don’t be afraid to try something new. Find something that you enjoy and will refresh you to help you get over those workout barriers! Have fun!
