You know, I seem to have a lot to say when it comes to Stevie. Or what we do day to day. Or things I’m struggling with as a mother/person. But today I’m going to share something that I’m just proud of. Gonna pat myself on the back a little bit. Hope ya’ll don’t mind!

Let me start at the beginning here. While I’ve never been the type to workout, so to speak, I was always an active(ish) person.  I found the gym ridiculously boring.  And muscles? Ew. So I turned to running as my go-to exercise.  At least I could be outside.  I never got particularly good at it – though I could drag my feet about 6 miles at one point. Slowly but surely.  The rest of my physical activity came from walking (to my favorite restaurants), shopping (great form of cardio) and maybe biking/hiking/rafting once a year (if our friends arranged something).

A couple years back, my husband had been expressing interest in joining a gym and I would say “yeah, you should totally do that!”  I would gladly support from afar. But like so many of us, the motivation to leave the house in the morning is hard to find. I knew the only way either of us would get motivated was if we had the other one holding us accountable.

When Stevie started at his new preschool earlier in the mornings, it got me thinking… maybe Paul and I could work out together while Stevie was in school? It wouldn’t be a long workout, but it was something. I honestly didn’t want to do it. At all. But I knew it would make a difference for both of us if I did.

We started going to the gym a few times a week for the first month and realized we had no idea what we were doing. Neither of us had ever really been taught how to work out properly. So we hired a personal trainer.  When we first started with him, I couldn’t do one girl-style push-up. I couldn’t do more than about 2 leg lifts. I had no idea just how out of shape I really was!

We have been with our trainer for a year now. We only work with him about 30 minutes, twice a week. It’s still really hard for me most of the time. But it keeps us on track. He gives us workouts that change constantly and push us a whole bunch further than we would ever push ourselves. I think I’ve been sore every day for the last 6 months.

And while I sat back and watched my husband rapidly get stronger and slimmer, I tried to keep things in perspective and just keep cheering him on. Womens’ bodies are different. And he eats healthier than I do. I don’t want yucky muscles anyway.

But then one day, I saw little bitty baby muscles starting to form on my body. My arms looked more toned. My form was improving. I was lifting ever-so-slightly heavier weights. Yeah, my mid section still seems squishy as ever, and I haven’t dropped a single pound this whole time.  You wouldn’t know I had muscles just by looking at me. I still hate core exercises the most (thus the squishy!) And I don’t know if I’ll ever be completely happy with my body – especially since I enjoy junk food more than any reasonable adult should. But I now see some strength coming through. And just the fact that I’m stronger and it shows makes me feel good. Turns out muscles aren’t so yucky after all.

Nothing like an awkward bathroom selfie to really bring this blog up a notch, amiright?