One More Thing

I learned another thing in the last two years that strikes me as very important.  I gained a testimony of gentle exercise.  I've always known the value of intense exercise (just look at my husband!), but through my pregnancy and recovery I wasn't able to do any of that.  But I still felt like I should do things to move.  Our bodies are made to move, and I felt like not moving would hurt me and my babies.  They and I needed the circulation.  So I exercised, but I felt like I should put it in air quotes every time I said it because it felt like such a pitiful small effort compared to what I was used to.  I swam gently.  I walked.  It felt like not much, but I was diligent about doing it every day.  I still think that is why I was able to carry these babies longer than my other twins. 

I also tried to be very careful in my recovery to be extra gentle but still move every day.  It took me quite a bit longer to work up to my usual intensity, but it still happened.  I'm pretty much exercising like I used to again--except when I'm sick.  When I'm sick I go back to exercising gently and counting even gentle exercise as real exercise.  I think it helps me feel better.  And if you exercise gently enough that you can even do SOMETHING when you don't feel well, you can be a perfect exerciser.  You can do something every day.

Interestingly, there has been recent research on people who run multiple marathons and ultra-marathons, and their hearts get damaged over time.  They lose the cardiac benefits of exercise by over-doing it.  I think you have to go crazy over the top to do that, but it still validates the idea that moderation in all things--even exercise--is the healthiest way to live.

My plan is to keep going, and listening to my body except when it doesn't want to move.  I want to be a grandma who exercises.  I want to be like my beautiful mother-in-law and some of the ladies in my yoga class.