Friday, November 12, 2010
Running away from infertility
I wanted to post something quickly while I was working on second part of my pregnancy loss story. When we were in the midst of infertility treatments, I did a lot of stress eating. My weight fluctuated quite a bit as a result. In fact, after my loss and during my subsequent pregnancy, my weight reached an all time high; I still can't believe I let it get that out of control. I have been slowly losing weight after the birth of my last child (who I will refer to as B from now on). Since her birth 15 months ago, I have lost about 45 pounds (and I only gained about 25 during my pregnancy), but I am still about 25 pounds away from where I would like to be. The only way I have ever been able to lose weight is by running and cutting back on my eating. When I'm angry, running is a huge stress relief. I'm sure it has something to do with natural endorphins and a runner's high, but the truth is, I haven't found any other exercise that is as effective as running. I think I enjoyed it so much because it didn't require much thought (like other more complicated aerobic exercises), and I could completely lose my self in the repetitiveness. My mind could wander, and in a sense, I was literally running away from my problems. The problem is that now I can't seem to find the time, the motivation, or the energy to run. And I'm still breastfeeding, so that ties me down a bit. So I'm curious, how do you best manage stress and keep yourself healthy?
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First of all, congrats on getting as far as you have AND for bfing this long. That alone is a huge time commitment.
ReplyDeleteI just took up running this past summer. I trained for my first 5k and ran it at the end of September. I haven't run since. I know I need to get back on the treadmill, but finding the energy is a challenge of its own. In the past, I had great success with yoga. It really helped remind me to breathe and "check-out" of life for an hour. I miss it dearly and I really need to get back into it. But just like running it comes down to time. I have heard that yoga is a great compliment to running. Just my two cents. It's not for everyone. If yoga doesn't peak your interest, I suggest pilates.
I put on a lot of weight the two times we tried to conceive, too. Stress eating, plus the fact that I can only seem to concentrate on one thing regarding my health at a time: infertility or weight? Turns out infertility won both times, to the detriment of my weight. Great job on the weight loss so far.
ReplyDeleteThe only exercises that I've ever managed to keep up with are yoga and walking. Yoga is the one time that I really feel at peace with my body, and like my body and I can work together. Walking really lets my mind wander, and I love how I feel after a long walk. The time issue is hard, though. I haven't been getting much exercise recently for precisely that reason.