I’ve reached a little milestone that I want to share with you. As of today, I have been getting some level of daily exercise for 21 straight days. Three weeks!  

I’ve decided that if I want to keep doing these shooting sports, that I HAVE to get off the couch. I used to be fairly active. I always managed to lose most of the baby weight with my three kids by walking and “stepping” and dancing and such. But I always had to do it “my” way – I was never one for organized gyms and rigid “programs”. With work and three children, my life was always unpredictable from one day to the next, so guilt over skipping a day, or guilt over substituting something else, was a recipe for failure. I simply did whatever I could fit into the day. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked for me.

After I tore my ACL in med school and couldn’t get it “fixed”, I started bicycling – mostly on Rail Trails.  I did try some mountain biking, but decided that I didn’t like falling all the time. My personal best Rail Trail ride was 42 miles in one day. …Once. LOL. The usual average was 10 to 20 miles at a time, a few times a week.

But as medical training wore on, I spent less and less time on the bike (because when you’ve been awake and working for 36 hours straight, all you want to do is sleep), and eventually I fell off the exercise wagon altogether.

I hit a sort of “rock bottom” last year when I had to have a total abdominal hysterectomy. I spent the majority of my recovery time on the couch, and I didn’t really start feeling normal again for almost 3 months. Add to that, that the surgery went through the old C-section scars. Three C-sections and a hysterectomy all through the same spot on the abdominal wall – although things healed well, I didn’t have a whole ton of confidence in my abdominal tone.

To add insult to injury (as it were), the surgery put me into full-bore menopause. I went from a fully-functional hormonal state, to the barest minimal dose of estrogen in patch form. I was tearful, I was exhausted, I was crabby, I was sweaty, ….. And I was getting achier. 

The aches “could” have just been from all the couch-surfing, (okay, and being over 50 doesn’t help), but I also know that estrogen helps maintain joint cartilage, and osteoarthritis increases in post-menopausal women. (Yippie) Also, although I’ve never had issues with blood pressure or blood sugar before, I decided that I didn’t want to start now.

So, a few weeks ago, I decided that I HAD to do something. Even if that something was only a start, and even if that something was only baby-steps. I’m not looking for weight loss at this point. If it happens anyway, great, but right now I just want to get some muscle tone back and build a little cardiovascular endurance. I don’t want to be all out of breath and collapse while carrying all that equipment and lead ammo on my belt this summer – LOL.

I started walking again, and dancing, and jogging in place in front of the evening news again. I put a calendar in front of the TV as a reminder before I settle in for the evening.  I’m not using or endorsing anyone’s program or product. I’m simply “moving” and doing whatever will raise my heart rate and make me sweat for a minimum of thirty minutes a day. Sometimes that’s walking the hills in my neighborhood, sometimes it’s marching or jogging in place while I watch the evening news, sometimes it’s putting on my favorite music and dancing around the house, and sometimes it’s using the foam exercise step from the 1990’s or the actual stairs in my house.

I’m not being terribly picky about “type” of activity at this point. This is not about guilt or one-upsmanship. It’s about trying to stay positive, and moving forward with baby steps in a healthier direction.

One of the reasons I’m sharing this is for motivation – for me, but maybe for some of you as well. Things are always easier and more fun when you have mutual support.

So, if anyone else wants to take this as a cue to come along for the ride, please do.

It can be whatever you want it to be for YOU. I’ll keep doing my thing, and you keep doing your thing, and we can just check in with each other for mutual support sometimes. We could even make being healthier and a little stronger for Babes 3-Gun a goal or something. http://www.bwb3gun.com/

Years and years ago my workplace had a “Walk a hundred miles in a hundred days” program. Maybe we can have a 50 miles in 50 days for Babes? Or Baby Steps to Babes?? Or even for AG & AG Multigun http://www.agirlandagun.org/fallfest/

Whatever works for you yourself. (And obviously whatever your doctor says is okay for you, because I’m not your doctor – you are way out of my age range LOL) This is about doing something positive for YOU – whatever that may be. And it may have the side effect of helping out our shooting as well.

I can even try to figure out how to create an “event” on My Facebook page where we can post our progress if that would help keep us motivated. I can’t guarantee that part, but I just though it might be more fun if it was a group effort toward a goal 🙂

Tell me what you think, get the okay from your doctor, and let’s take Babe-y Steps 🙂