Bloggers of the Day (chosen randomly from yesterday’s comments)

• The Fitness Dish – Laury is about 3 months pregnant and an extremely fit chick. She is inspiring and continues to share tons of great tips on fitness.
• Meals and Moves – Janetha comes up with great meal ideas and always has a challenging workout up her sleeve Plus, every post is so much fun!
• Living With Healthy Hunger – Dorry has such a great approach to health. She also has great travel stories, like her recent trip to Europe to get married.

You want to know what I look like right about now? Something a little like this…

[source]

You know? The whole chicken running around with its head cut off thing? That’s me. Prepping for a kid’s birthday party is serious stuff, people. Especially when coupled in with an already busy schedule. It reminds me that sometimes it’s okay to say no.

You all know how much I enjoy getting in regular workouts. During pregnancy, I regularly get in 4-5 days per week. My weeks usually go something like this:

Sunday & Monday – Rest
Tuesday – Spinning
Wednesday – Group Power weights class
Thursday – Kickbox DVD
Friday – Yoga
Saturday – 1 hour quick paced walk with the family

I adjust that schedule accordingly for my schedule. For example, this week I did the Kickbox on Monday in order to have yesterday off to tutor. I still strive to fit in those workouts though because I know I feel my best when completing them. They help me relieve stress, are fun to me, and give me energy. I don’t like missing workouts. I also don’t care to lose my sanity either and some days something just has to give. Some times it’s okay to just say no to the workouts and refuse to stress or feel guilty over it.

During the week, I have two opportunities to get in workouts - in the morning after breakfast or in the afternoon shortly after Peter gets home from work. My schedule this week prevented those options. Yesterday I had play group in the morning, then a bunch to get caught up on before tutoring in the afternoon. Today, I have another scheduled visit with a friend during the day, then have to prep for little M’s birthday party all afternoon. This weekend, each day has a full schedule. Tomorrow M has her 2nd birthday party and then we will be going to the pumpkin patch and corn maze for the afternoon/evening. Sunday I will have church and another kiddo birthday.

I would prefer not to miss four days to work out in a row. I may still find time to get a short walk in with my family or do a 20-30 minute workout DVD, because even a little something still feels good.  I won’t force it though. One week off schedule won’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I have to remind myself of the big picture. I have worked out 4-5 days consistently this pregnancy, minus one week I was sick. The busier schedule goes along with preparing for a special event – my daughter’s second birthday. I shouldn’t diminish the worth of the everyday physical activity I will get playing with my daughter at the park with her friends and traipsing around all afternoon at the corn maze and pumpkin patch as part of our family tradition, like last year (below).

Life gets busy. Life is busy. Making time for fitness and eating well do hold great importance. We do need to keep them a priority in our lives in order to pursue health and find ways to fit them into our hectic schedules. However, I know one day or week off the top of my game doesn’t have to equal a screw-up or something to fret over. Been there, done that. Now, I choose to remember balance is healthy too. I still say yes to fitness and workouts the majority of the time.  So, sometimes its okay to say no too. Then, say yes to making cake balls into wands and play dates with friends.

• What ways does looking at the big picture help you not to stress over something? I try to remember it for everything – workouts, little daily annoyances that I won’t even remember in a month, my future and that God has an even better big picture than I know.
• For what things are you more willing to miss workouts?
• Something to do? Ask me anything for a Q&A series I hope to do in November. CLICK HERE

After this morning’s post where I “exposed” myself, full on with a pregnancy bikini shot, I got to thinking about confidence. The other day, while waiting in line for the restroom at the gym, I overheard a conversation between two women. It appears they were speaking of a friend’s recent weight loss and having a bit of a disagreement. Basically one complained about her friend thinking life was all of a sudden so much better and acting happier just because she lost weight. The other kind of nodded along, but then said something along the lines of “she does look good though, so she should feel good too”.

I couldn’t get that conversation out of my head. Or the fact that after group fitness classes end at our gym the lines to pee are WAY too long, but that’s neither here nor there. Anyways...I feel these women’s viewpoints boiled down into the following:

• Healthier will NOT suddenly make you happier with less problems.
• Healthier can make someone more confident and, therefore, happier.

In essence, I agree with both women. Taking better care of our health will not solve everything. Life still abounds with disappointments and struggles. Being happy with your body does not make you immune to them. In some cases, it can even produce more discontentment when someone believes that solving a weight issue or achieving a dream body will make him/her happy…and it doesn’t. But, but…I wear a size 2 now so I should feel fabulous and be so happy with my life! What’s wrong with me???

On the reverse side of that statement, confidence sharpens an individual. It fosters belief in one’s self and that can lead to good things. I do believe that when people care for themselves by feeding their bodies well and finding activities they enjoy, it can help them feel stronger and more capable in general. I think the qualities involved in taking care of one’s health (determined, diligent, mindful, etc) are qualities that can positively influence a life in ways outside of physical health.

For me personally, I know I do feel more confident and overall happier when I put effort into healthy living. I feel strong when I achieve fitness goals. I enjoy putting energy into activities I love. I I have more energy to experience life by eating nutritiously. So, in my mind, more confidence does come with reaching a “fitter” self but only because of what it brings to the person as a whole. It’s not the outward appearance. It’s the love for self and the desire to treat a body well. I think it shows naiveté to believe improved health will make you feel better about everything in life, but I also believe its ignorant to deny that achieving a healthy body can improve life too.

• What do you think? Do you think improved confidence naturally comes with improved health? Do you think its dangerous to associate being “fitter” with more confidence?
• Does your healthy lifestyle play a role in your confidence? How?
• Something to do? Ask me anything by CLICKING HERE. I hope to do a Q&A series in November. I have a few interesting ones already and would love to hear what else you have to ask. 🙂