This Tuesday I did the jump from walking to running. I walk to the beach from my house, about 10 mins as my warm up then run at the boardwalk and walk back home to cool down. It's a little tougher to run while pushing the stroller! I found myself a bit out of breath. I was out for about an hour and maybe 10 mins running for now and the rest fast walking. But it did feel good afterwards.

I realize I have a long way to go to my final goal, which is running half or Rock and Roll Marathon on May 31. My biggest challange is to find the time to go out and do the run. Often I feel like I need to choose between catching up on my sleep and going out and exercising; and that is a tough one for me. I think  I'm still adjusting to being new mom and juggling house work and taking care of myself. Any tips from more experienced moms?

Cheers,

Dorota

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Just linking my earlier videos from You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGqNqb1AJME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxXYt7Zxqdk

So, I have a gym membership...I have had one for about 3 years now.  Being an ex-competitive swimmer, I have had a very difficult time getting excited or motivated in any way to use this very expensive pass to workout solely inside.  As a native Californian, nearly 98% of my swimming days have been spent outside.  Hence, the reason that I barely use this thing.

In November of 2008, my husband and I decided to take a look at our expenses and with the recession in effect, we eliminated all of our bills that we considered "waste" or "unnecessary".  When it came down to the line item of the gym membership, I baulked.  I couldn't bear the thought of losing what seems like my only option of having healthy, ME time.  Although I wasn't using it as often as I wanted to, I still cherished the idea that I could slip away from everyone and focus only on me for as little as a half hour.  Faced with losing a pass to my own freedom and the chance to be in an environment filled with others like me, I decide to befriend the gym.  

I found a workout buddy...A really good friend of mine who loves to stay fit and is competitive in the Wildflower Tri held in Northern CA every year was looking for a workout buddy too.  Having a friend to workout with isn't necessary, but it does keep you honest and when you know someone else is counting on you to show up, it does make it easier to get out of bed for those 6am workouts!  We started out on the elliptical and then added in the stair master...aghhhh the bloody stair master.  I have to say, that thing must really work because I am literally soaking wet, drenched in sweat when I am done working out on it.  Was that too much info?  Sorry in advance to those who can pass on those details, but it's true! 

After about 2 weeks of rockin' the machines, we decided to branch out and take a class.  We workout at 24Hr Fitness and they offer a wide variety of classes to choose from.  This is where we met Cindy.  Cindy is a 24Hr instructor who teaches 3 different classes/ 4 days a week at am, as well as the person that we look to in order to get us through our morning workouts. She "spins" us on Mon & Wed and kicks our butt with a combination of weights and cardio on Tues & Thurs.  I love her classes, and I am really beginning to feel great and notice a difference in overall strength. 

One of my favorite things about class is that workouts are always different.  She changes up the music, adds in new skills and changes the order of each skill set.  Another great thing is that it's filled with a bunch of other people just like us, trying to have fun while we push ourselves to achieve our goals.  As an added bonus, you can bring your kids along with you and they get to play in the kids room and get a workout too (monkey see, monkey do). Not only that, we workout for an hour, not the short workouts that we were doing on the elliptical or stair master.  Since we are constantly moving around, our whole bodies are getting a strong workout, not just isolated sections.

Bottom line: If you are fighting yourself on making it to the gym and feel like you are paying through the roof for a program that you aren't using, try a class and see if you like it...You may just surprise yourself like I did.

I recenty read a post where Megan stated her plan to make a commitment to her goals. With that ,she posted a picture of her calendar with "Mom Runs" on her run days and the timeof the run. This does a couple things; it makes it real for not only for her but her family too (they need to be on board) and she is MAKING the time. It won't just come to you or just happen. This means it has to be set, arranged, commited to or you know what will happen:0 ...Make this journey a priority and backed by your family and friends support.

Go get um, Ladies!

-Farel

Hi Everybody. I'm excited to join the Team even though it was quite an effort for me even to start writing. In fact, I banned myself from reading e-mails or even opening the computer for the first few weeks after my baby was born. Matteus is my first child, now 2 months old, born Oct. 29, 2008. I  am crazy in love with my baby boy and at the same time a bit overwhelmed with all the time that it takes to take care of him. 

I was very active before Matteus was born. I worked out all the way through my pregnancy; in fact I was in my pilates class the day before I delivered.  I was taking prenatal yoga classes and i used to work out at the gym. I believe that all of this helped in my speedy delivery; under two hours. I was very relieved but in a state of disbelief. It all happened so fast; I didn't have a chance to get nervous!

Now, I am trying to set a daily routine with Matteus that will give me some time for working out and blogging. I'm finding it very challenging, days go by so fast.  So far I have gone to one pilates class for Moms with babies and I made it a few times to the beach for a run.

Living in Southern California, close to the beach definitely has great advantages. I love the outdoors and the warm weather. I will take hot weather over cold any time. I used to lived in Edmonton, Canada before that. Hiking and backpacking are my favourite activities. 

I'm looking forward to start hiking with my little boy and jog with him in the stroller. My goal for training with Team Bye Bye Baby Weight is to develop structure and routine for exercising, and to be able to run a Half Marathon by Mother's Day. Running doesn't come naturally to me and my longest run so far has been 5K. I loved how it made me feel at the finish line and I am looking forward to pushing myself and raising a bar. 

I look forward to getting your support and the challenging times ahead with my Team.

Cheers,

Dorota.

Well, the first round of festivities have come and gone, and yes, like many of us out there, I enjoyed sweet treats and a little wine.  Time with the family was amazing but this morning it was time to get back in the gym after a few enjoyable days off!  Spin class was at 6am which is a lot easier to get up and out the door for when I haven't been munching on cookies all week    Needless to say, I made it out the door and out to the car (burr it was cold this morning) and once in the gym, I hopped on the saddle.  I forgot....I love spin! 

Sweating out the toxins got me right back on track and I am ready to face the new year with new goals and priorities...it is not just a resolution this year -- it is a life change. So for all of you out there who want to take the plunge and get back in the saddle, dive in...The hardest part is at the begging and then it is all downhill from there.

I want to be able to interact with everyone on a virtual level, so I am working on a video to post so that you can get to know me a little better and see the changes that I will go through during this program.  I will have it up at the start of the new year for you to view.

Happy New Year to all and remember to go out there and get Active~Jessica

Hi everyone!

My name is Jessica and this is my first time blogging about, well....about anything! I joined the Bye Bye Baby Weight Team becasue I am finally mentally motivated to get back out there and be physically active again. I had my daughter Nora last August after a surprisingly long labor (22 hours plus 3 hours of pushing...aggghhh) which resulted in an emergency cesarean. Since I had never had surgery before, I had no idea what to expect and definitely under estimated the recovery time that the emergency version of this surgery entailed. Since I was confined to the couch for awhile after Nora was born, I ate and didn't workout at all. I could barely sit up let alone think about running...anywhere, so naturally I got pretty out of shape.

Now that Nora is one and running all over the place, and I am feeling back to normal (if that is possible after having a baby) I want to be the best role model for her that I can be in addition to losing the pregnancy weight. I have been in the gym at least 4x/week over the last month or so and I am excited to start working towards my goal of running my first 5K!! I am aiming for a lifestyle change with this program and hope to continue to participate in events with my family throughout the years to come. Charity is a big part of my life so this year I wanted to register for an event that our whole family could participate in. I will be running and fundraising for the Devil Mountain Run located in Danville, CA on the first weekend of May, supporting Children's Hospital.

I am a team player and look forward to being there for all of you throughout this journey and hope that you are all out there to challenge me as well. I am committed to doing this and am excited to have a team to keep me accountable. Have a great holiday and cheers' to looking great in 2009.

More to come~Jessica

Okay, here goes...my first blog entry ever

I'm Tamara and have found that fitness has been last on the to-do list for too many years! I've got 2 kids now, the latest born about 10 mos ago, and I've been working at losing the baby weight. However, I started off with weight to lose before I got preggers, so I really want to lose more than what I put on with baby #2. I also want to have the energy to chase after my kids after a long day at work, and feel strong and fit instead of tired and frumpy! 

I started running with friends in the summer and really liked the results I saw with being able to run farther and walk less each week. Since it's wet and rainy here in Canada now, I've been spinning twice a week instead which is fun too. But I haven't really been committed to making serious changes to lose more weight.

When the opportunity to join up with this team came around, I thought it would be a great way to stay accountable, set some goals and get motivated so I signed up. I'm excited to start working with Farel and Active - my long term goal is to be able to run the Terry Fox 10K Run in September 2009.

Can't wait to see the posts from the other participants!

Tamara