Exercise relieves Anxiety

Today I went in and worked out for the third time. It was really good. I've done the same thing three times now. Stationary bike - 15 minutes, Treadmill - 15 minutes, Stationary bike again - 15 minutes. It's a good workout, but today I felt like I was getting used to it. It was a whole lot easier than the last time I did it. So that means I either need to add something, or increase the resistance on something...or the way I'm doing the exercise. Haha! Look at me, making things more difficult on myself, figures.

Anyway as the title of this post says, I do believe that my exercising has brought about a change in my anxiety issues. It's too soon to tell, but I feel like I have a better grip on the thoughts that race through my head. Sometimes though, no amount of exercise or anxiety medication helps.

With me, anxiety tends to occur when I've lost control over the plans for the day, or something changes suddenly. For example, last Saturday Chris emailed me and told me that we had been invited to go out to a lake with some friends that evening. I remembered that he had mentioned it before, but forgot all about it. It just so happens that the lake was in South Bend, very near my old "stomping grounds". I can't really go into that area of the world without feeling some anxiety.

We were in a rush to get out the door because the party had already started while I was at work. So we pushed to get out the door and sped down the road in hopes that we wouldn't miss the grill-out. Even though Chris had his GPS going on his phone, we inevitably got turned around at the lake and kept missing the turn to get where we needed to be. All of this stuff, having to leave work in a hurry and get home, getting rushed out the door, going to South Bend - my old stomping grounds, and then not knowing where we were going actually had me in tears by the time we finally got to the party. It's weird what Anxiety does to me. As soon as I got out of the car and to the party though, the nerves went away completely.

I don't know why I put all of that on here, I guess I'm venting a little bit because my mom just sent me an email explaining that she's out of work and needs a place to stay until she finds a new job, or the unemployment kicks in. Can you imagine the anxiety I'm feeling now?

I should go work out again.

In the Beginning

In the beginning of my attempt to make myself thin again, I should probably state my goals for this adventure.

1) Lose the baby fat that has accumulated around my hips, thighs, stomach and butt. (50lbs)
2) Get back to a size 12...which is just above what I was in High School. (currently at size 18)
3) Become one seriously HOT momma.
4) Integrate working out into my life so that Wesley has a good example.
5) Prove that I can finish what I start.

So those are the goals. So far I've been to the gym twice. Both times consisted of a steady diet of cardio work-out. The first workout was 15 min on the treadmill to start. As I've never used a treadmill you can imagine how nervous I was since there was someone else using a treadmill about 3 feet from me....who had obviously been on one before. I decided to look over at hers to see how fast I should be going while walking and running so eventually found a good pace for myself. I would walk for 3 minutes, then run/jog for 1 minute and then walk again for 3 minutes...repeating until my 15 minutes was up. It wasn't too difficult, but since the last time I worked out was a million years ago, I could definitely feel it. I don't think I've sweat that much in a while.

Then I decided to hop on one of the stationary bikes for 15 minutes. I discovered that the bikes come with a Fan...I promptly turned the fan on High and started to petal. I went for about 3 minutes before I saw that I was on the easiest setting and it was definitely too easy. So I turned the bike resistance to level 8...a good round number...and kept going. I really liked how it would tell me my heart rate, the distance I was going etc, calories I was burning, etc. Even though Chris (my husband) says that there is NO way that thing can accurately tell me how many calories I've burned, I still like that the number kept getting higher and higher...made me feel good.

I started to feel the strain in my knees, but decided not to stop because of that old adage..."no pain, no gain". The strain actually went away after a few minutes, or I got used to it, one of the two. I stayed on the bike for 30 minutes and then realized that I should probably go home since I'd been there for 45 minutes and Chris was home with the baby.

I spent the next 20 minutes or so getting the YMCA membership set up so that the next time I went they'd be able to give Wesley some daycare. They even offered us a discount...which is super awesome because it would cost almost $70.00 per month otherwise for the three of us.

When I got home, Chris sent me straight to the shower after I got home, though I didn't smell THAT bad. Haha. I felt kinda selfish though for taking so much time away from Wesley. We all had dinner and Wesley went to bed shortly after that. I just have to keep telling myself that I'm a good Mom even if I take time for myself.

All in all, that first workout felt good, and I felt a lot of self confidence for having done it. So that was nice. As I start learning this process more, I will start posting some more stats and weight changes so we all know how I'm doing.

I'm going to need to go out and buy a scale too...I didn't actually see one anywhere at the Y, and my last one always said "Lo" whenever I stepped on it. I kept saying it didn't have anything to do with the batteries...And because I wasn't doing anything about weight loss then...I decided that the word, "Lo" was a good sign. Haha!