Since about April, Riley decided that rising with the sun was the best idea ever. This made me very grumpy and honestly herself a bit grumpy as she was awake but not having as much stuff to keep her busy. Now I know it’s no secret but I have totally packed on the mommy pounds. Those who say breastfeeding will burn all the weight away was wrong for me, as I went the opposite and gained rather than loosing. One morning, I was so upset with her attitude, I decided to go for a walk. To my surprise, this morning walk seemed to calm her to where we had much better days. So it became our daily ritual to wake up, go on a 2 mile walk, come home and eat some breakfast and then enjoy the rest of our morning until nap time.
I lost a few pounds but after walking for 4 months it wasn’t going anywhere. The walk was becoming easier so I turned it into a run but even that didn’t seem to be working for me. I started thinking that I needed to do more but I couldn’t get myself to actually do those home activities or I would just in general give up to easy. I joined the weight loss group in my December mommy group in hopes of getting more inspired to loose more weight. One of the ladies had mentioned how Stroller Strides had saved her life. When Riley was days old, we were taking a walk outside and we passed a couple who congratulated us our new addition and then the lady also mentioned this stroller strides group. I decided I should look into this and find out more about it.
If you haven’t heard of Stroller Strides, it’s a group of moms that get out with their jogging strollers and work out. I had heard in passing that these ladies are tanks and the stuff they can do is amazing. This was intimidating for me. Minus a small time in Cross Country in high school I was never a sporty person. I’ve never been one really work out. I mean I had a membership at a gym that I used maybe 5 times then stopped so to even be contemplating this felt like a big step. But I know one of the things I want before having a second child is to loose some of the weight and be more healthy.
So I took a jump and signed up for my first free class.
Let me tell you, they work you HARD! I don’t think I’ve ever done so many squats and burpies in my life! Nor have I ever used a resistance band or sweated so much. But you know that I liked about it? The ladies were amazing. And you end up seeing everyone is at their own levels and that’s okay. They make sure everyone at every level is challenged and they even have different exercises in case you have a muscle or pain somewhere that needs a little bit more love (like my rotator cuff problems). They do AMAZING at cheering you on and making you push your body just a little bit more.
I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that they also make it very community based which is something we mom’s need. They do weekly play groups with the kids, mom nights out once a month, and they try to also do family events to get the dad’s involved as well.
Let me say the next day I hurt sooooooo bad. And I hurt for like 4 days later haha! But we decided to try a full month and see how it goes.
I am 3 weeks into my first full month now and I feel awesome! I am meeting nice ladies, and while I’m not loosing tons of weight yet mostly cause I think I’m actually gaining muscle, I feel it’s working. My husband even told me the other day that he thinks my face is thinning out a little bit 🙂 I’m definitely gonna keep at it and see how it goes. If you are a mom wanting to get fit or meet some local moms in your area, I highly recommend that you look up a local Stroller Strides! Definitely feels like it is going to be life changing!
Oh and Riley’s favorite part is getting to play with all the other kids after every session. We are always at a park so she gets to run around, go on slides and swings and get some good ol’ socializing that all kids need.
I’m even going to include a link below in case you want to check them out right now!
Sharon Holck 
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