Bye Bye Baby Weight!

Today's Topic --

Finding Time to Exercise When You're a Mom.

Many of us Moms are carrying around a little baby weight. 5, 10, 50 (that's me), or 100 pounds that didn't belong to us until we gave up our bodies in exchange for Parenthood.

I, personally, find this to be a raw deal. For nine months, minimum, we give up booze, sushi, Motrin, and a myriad of things that are supposed to be harmful to our growing fetus. We live with swollen ankles. We accept the stretch marks that bloom on our growing tummies. We skip our appointments with our colorist. We make peace with Gravity.

Nine months later, we have those glorious little babies in our arms and nothing else matters.

Shortly after that magical moment (a week, a month, a year), reality sets in. We are no longer eating for two. It's time to stop claiming that the baby made us eat that entire pint of Ben & Jerry's Cinnamon Buns Ice Cream.

But how to fit exercise into our day? All those parenting magazines make it sound so easy. Just pop Baby into your jogging stroller and meet up with the other Moms on your block for a daily walk!

Yeah, unless Baby doesn't like the stroller and screams the entire time. Those Moms will boot you out of their group faster than projectile vomit!

You can always try one of those Mommy and Me Yoga Tapes. I, personally, have never done it, mostly because I have visions of the aforementioned projectile vomit while trying to achieve the Downward Lotus Sun (or some such named) pose.

How about doing a Mommy only tape while baby is napping? Sure, right after three loads of (here we go again) vomit stained burp cloths. Fine, forget the laundry, make yourself the priority today. Get to Exercising. Just don't break a sweat, there won't be time to shower before baby wakes up, and you don't want to spend the rest of the day reeking of dried body odor. Although, maybe mixed with the smell of diaper and sour milk spit up, no one will notice....

Is this why my kids are 14 and 5 and I'm still calling it Baby Weight?

Working out with older kids presents it's own problems, though. First, having your 5 year old sit on the couch and stare at you while you struggle through Tae Bo is miserable.

Then, making sure you're dressed appropriately in case your 14 year old son and his buddies come in from playing catch to grab a snack/drink is no picnic. No Flashing Your Wobbly Bits at the Neighbor Kids!

And lastly, finishing in time to grab a shower so you can make sure dinner is on the table by the time hubby gets home from work is a fine art in and of itself.

Oh,don't worry, I'm not even going to discuss getting up "a little early" to fit in your workout before the family wakes up. This is nothing but lunacy.

I'm going to keep trying to sneak in a little here and there and hopefully you'll be able to do the same! Good luck!