Fitting In: A Guest Post

How do you fit it in?

I've been an on and off exerciser for many years now. When I feltlike I could fit it in, I did. I would exercise for months at a time,up to three times a week. And then, work would get busy, I would have a baby, my husband's hours would pick up... whatever. And then the weather would change, the baby would start school or I would find a new gym, or pool, or something.

So how do you fit it in? How do you decide not to quit?

This time, back in September, before I started going to the first gym I could find, I thought about it. What would I do? When would I do it? What where my goals? Why do I want to do this? I thought about it for a month, maybe a little longer even. I visited more than one gym that would have been happy to have me start that day. And Ididn't sign up. Once in a while, I thought about just jumping right in, but decided not to and though a little more. How often would I go? Who would take care of the baby? What would happen when she was bigger than a baby but not in school yet?

I wanted an activity that would push me. I have tried many, many sports. I could go on and (and on and on) about each one and what about it did and did not work for me. But this time, I spent more time thinking not just about what I would enjoy this moment in time, but 6 months from now, and a year from now and three years from now.

(I decided further than that was just silly).

I started working out 4 months ago going one day a week to my gym.

And theoretically, every day (but it was really more like 3-4 additional days) I would work out at home for fifteen minutes. And sometimes that fifteen minutes took an hour due to crying babies and potty emergencies, but I would do it. And a month ago, I started to the gym twice a week. And I was thinking about upping it to three times a week but then I realized that I had stopped my fifteen minutes at home, and I should start that up again before moving to three days. Commitment and intent. But I'm hoping, that if I can keep up my fifteen minutes a day and twice a week gym commitment, I will be ready both mentally and physically to go three days a week next month. And beyond that, I can not say, but I hope a year from now, I will be going at least twice a week and spending fifteen minutes a day at home.

So the short answer, How do I fit it in? With intent.

- Natalie can also be found at Eating Local in D.C.