Hello everyone,

I'm a 42 year old single mother of two teenage boys (13 and 17). I used to be in excellent physical condition, but starting about 4 years ago, my exercise routine has been lessening in frequency and intensity. It is now hit and miss at best. I find that even though intellectually I fully comprehend how important regular exercise is, but emotionally all I want to do when I get home from work is jump into my recliner with a glass of wine and shut down.

The scale has been steadily creeping up over the years and I now find myself 12 pounds heavier. Medically speaking, I'm still within a healthy range, but if we speak in terms of WARDROBE and self esteem, then we're not doing so well. My clothes don't fit and I just feel uncomfortable with myself all day long.

I'm hoping to find the inspiration and motivation I need from this site to get back into regular exercise and realize a measurable improvement in fitness level (three years ago I could run 2 miles in 18.5 minutes! Now, I don't think I could even run a half mile.)

Anyone else out there in the same boat?

Hello fellow single mom!! My lil one is 2 years old I'm trying to juggle working full-time, going to graduate school full-time, raising a healthy 2 year-old and trying to please everyone around me while taking care of me and my weight (I have 26 pounds to lose).

Motivation can be found!! Thanks to the help of everyone here on Traineo.

WELCOME SIS!!

Tricia

Hey Sistah!

Wow, just reading your post makes me tired! Thanks for chiming in. I hear ya - take it from one who knows, single parenthood is NOT for wimps.

I was using the Log feature this evening (I just signed up about an hour ago!) and one of the "pre-sets" was waist measurement. I have to admit that I haven't measured my waist in a VERY long time. Before I had children it was 25.5 inches. Tonight it measured 29.5! ACK!!! In my entire life, the greatest measurement of my waist (not counting during pregnancy) was 27.5. It was absolutely shocking to me.

I don't quite know how to say this, but I'm sure that there are many, many people who will minimize or completely dismiss my agonizing over having a 29.5 inch waist and having "only" 12 pounds to lose. The fact is, I have ALWAYS been very athletic, in very good shape, and used to do things like hike to the top of Mt. Wilson in Los Angeles without even breaking a sweat. It's the loss of that level of fitness and the need for the motivation to gain it back that matters most to me, and I hope that anyone who sees my posts will understand that.

Thank you, Tricia, for responding to my post!

Susan