I fear jinxing myself when I say…today went SO well!!! Things felt eerily easy and like I have done the 2 kiddo thing my entire life. I guess when life has to go on, you just make it happen. It also helps to have two wonderful children to call your own. I am truly blessed!

I do think being proactive on some things helped a lot as well. I focused on establishing some sort of basic routine the past 2 weeks to help ease me in. I prayed regularly through the day for God to help me approach each moment with patience, grace, and love. And we set up an old rocking chair we bought on consignment a few years ago in the play room.

May not be the most attractive or comfortable thing, but it keeps Makenzie feeling like I’m actively there with her even when feeding baby B. She used to flip when I would have to go into the living room to feed him. Today, she was happy as usual.

Despite the day going so smoothly, I still was ready to head out for some “me time”. I went to the gym for a quick workout. My first official post-baby workout!

I visited a treadmill with a magazine friend for an easy walk. I ended up with 2 miles walked around 3.8-4.0 mph and 3.0 incline.

That walk felt like one of the best workouts ever. Although I did eye the free weights area longingly during my session. I’m holding off on those for a little longer though. I have to ease back in, after all. Plus, its fun having workouts to look forward to. Tell me I”m not the only one salivating at the thought of lifting a barbell again.

Can tomorrow be this fabulous? I sure hope so! But I have learned it is best not to have expectations and just take each day as it comes. In fact, a very wise woman mentioned that exact thing to me today. Speaking of which – all of you are so wise with your healthy habits ideas. Some of my personal favorites I always strive for:

• Make small changes. (Theresa @ Active Eggplant)
• Writing things down or making lists of goals. (Katy @ Monsterproof)
• Get 1 serving of fruit or veggie at each meal. (Therese @ Therese and Ross)
• Plan out meals/prep food for easy access. (Mellissa @ A Fit And Spicy Life)
• Don’t get obsessive. (Sarah @ Yoga for Breakfast)
• Make food you love and have leftovers. (Nicole @ Prevention RD)
• Think about how good it feels. (Caree @ Fit-Mama)
• Do something consistently. (Felicia @ Taste of Health with Balance)
• Look at the bigger picture. (Christin @ Purple Bird Blog)

Thanks again for sharing! All great ones to put into practice.

Question of the Evening – What is your favorite low key way to exercise? Or how do you ease back into workouts after time off?

Catching up from the weekend? A few fun posts for you:

• How I Scored A Better Deal At The Gym
• My Current Favorite Workouts
• A Fun Survey I Shared
• LAST DAY TO ENTER – CSN Stores Giveaway

Fitness is my passion. Or one of them at least. I love finding new ways to challenge myself physically. It motivates me. It gives me strength. It makes me downright giddy inside. No wonder I anticipate going for such goals again.

I have already discussed the general manner with which I plan to approach fitness after giving birth. I believe shooting for a gradual increase in intensity will help me stay motivated and continue to see improvements. Now, for more specifics!

Weight Training
My heart lies with strength training. I believe it always will. I gain such a sense of accomplishment from seeing my body get stronger and stronger. Plus, there are so many fun ways to mix it up! Listed below are some steps I plan to use for getting back into weights workouts.

1. Light at-home circuit workouts 2-3 days per week.
2. Begin back at the gym with 1 or 2 full body workouts a week, focusing on using machines to reacquaint my muscles with the moves.
3. Ease back into Bodypump style classes 1x/week with the above workouts.
4. Move on to more traditional workouts 3 days per week – adding in more free weights moves. Beginning to add more intensity with things like supersets.
5. Branch out to 4 day workout rotations with a focus on free weights and compound body moves. Add in even more fun and intensity with plyometrics, drop sets, giant sets, and more. Not sure what all that means? Stay tuned and I will be happy to share as I progress to these workouts. We can do them together!

Standard Cardio
Since I love all aspects of fitness, I love cardio as well. The only requirement I have for cardio is that I have a variety. I can’t do machines every workout. Nor can I go to class after class after class and upkeep motivation. I plan to incorporate the following for cardio workouts, rotating them regularly. I have a lot of cardio options, including the running I mention later, but will make sure to not go overboard.

1. At – Home DVDs: Turbo Jam and Cathe Friedrich are my top options currently. I already own them and they never let me down. Cathe tops everything though! She has a great variety with kickboxing workouts, fun step routines, and some great high intensity boot-camp style drill workouts. I LOVE those! Maybe eventually I will get to add Insanity or Turbo Fire to my collection as well.

2. Spinning: That will be the main class I use at the gym since I can do kickbox DVDs at home. Perhaps I will fit in an occasional Zumba as well.

3. Machines: I like to use machines (especially the stepmill) on occasion. Its a fun challenge to switch things up that way and they are great for interval style workouts. Must have a magazine though!

Running
I know running is cardio, but I’ve included it separately. Why? Well, I want to give running a more solid effort. I have always shied away from running because I felt I was no good at it. Now, I realize from blogs that its a personal challenge and I expected too much from myself before. I don’t have to excel at something to feel accomplished doing it.

I want to give it a real chance. I used to love running, but lost sight of it somewhere along the way. I plan to start out with the Couch To 5K program and run my first race ever. Who knows if it will lead to more running? I also have my thoughts on possibly doing a longer distance at the end of the year, depending on how it fits into my overall fitness picture and how much I enjoy it again. That’s all I will say about that for now. Don’t want to get all you running fanatics too excited.

Yoga/Stretching

I know I need to continue focusing on flexibility. I let stretching slip way too often in my past and my body could feel it. I want to make sure I stretch fully after each and every workout. Ideally, I will also manage to fit in yoga 1x/week as well. However, with the gym’s schedule and the cost of yoga studios, that may not be feasible. I will look into options though and do what I can to focus on keeping my muscles limber. Foam rolling will certainly be involved!

So, that’s part two! I’m so ready to get started!!!!

Question of the Day – What workout have you refrained from trying or fully giving a chance because of fear/uncertainty/not feeling good enough?