responses

-Amie, still praying for Julie. And I hope camping goes well!

-Katie J - I love the Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism workout too! Or, well, I don't love doing it, but I do it regularly and love the results!

As to workout times: lately I've been working out in the afternoon, during the twins' naps and the big kids' quiet time, but I'm trying to get back into the habit of getting up early. If I can do this, I'll get up early and exercise, and then save naptime for writing.

My husband and I used to do push-ups and pull-ups in the evening, but it was just too much. We'd get the kids down, then do clean-up and dishes, and adding exercise on top of that just made me dread the evening, because after supper, kids' bedtime, clean-up and dishes I really just want to sit down. :)

-Katie P - I think you're right to want to use lighter weights but do the exercises in the harder position, rather than do heavier weights in the easy position, because I think the hardest part of a lot of those exercises is just being in a plank position. I bet you see better results with the path you chose.

Curious - it sounds like you have more than one set of weights out when you work out? I do too. I have 15s, 10s, and 5s, and I always have the all out, because I always am wanting different weights for various exercises. And sometimes for the same exercise; sometimes I'll use a heavier weight for the first time through an exercise, and then a lighter weight for the repetition. Anyone else do this?

Regarding the eye surgery: the physical act of keeping my eyes open wasn't hard, if that's what you mean, because they prop them open. I admit, I didn't enjoy having them open; it's not a fun feeling to have bright lights shining in your eyes and not to be able to blink! But I did what I did during my c-section: I just said the Jesus prayer over and over! And my surgeon was really good about keeping up a patter, letting me know what he was doing, and that helped me a lot, because I didn't feel in the dark about what was going on.

Also, they give you a Xanax beforehand, to help you relax. Yay drugs! 

-Yolanda - it's good to hear from you! I think that it's possible that it's easy for some women to lose pregnancy weight, but my guess is that it's only easy for those who already have a long history of good habits. (This would not be me, it took me 9 months the first two times and 12 months the third.) For me, it was giving birth that prompted me to even start forming good health habits. I think that's true for a lot of women. 

Also, even if you had good habits before, trying to figure out how to implement those habits as a mom (and, for you, I'd imagine, as a grad student and then as a professor) is really like trying to figure out how to implement those habits as a whole new person. It's hard to underestimate the difficulty of that.

Also (gosh, I like using "also"!), when you talk about getting off track and trying to get back on again, it sounds so familiar. I'm becoming more and more convinced that you can't just decide something once. If you're really committed, what that means is that you are committed to deciding again and again and again. Commitment means deciding to decide. You can see it really easily if you look at marriage: you make your vows once, but every day you have to choose to turn towards your husband rather than away. The vow was to do it every day, to reaffirm your decision every day in your actions.

So I think it's no sign of failure that you find yourself starting up again. That's a sign of success.

And, I think, eventually, the gaps of time in your decisions will get smaller and smaller until it feels automatic. But you'll still be deciding, day by day.

Anyway, that's my philosophizing on the subject! :) Forgive my longwindedness. I've just been thinking a lot lately about the idea of commitment, especially in my relationship with God.

-Jess