With a Huff and a Puff

I've just had a bout shortness of breath, care of an hour long exercise session with my personal trainer, Guy. Now, before you think that wow, she's so posh, personal trainer, la di da, believe me when I say that it was a last resort. I've tried losing weight by joining a gym, asking Christian to play badminton with me... hmmm... come to think of it, maybe a personal trainer was only the third resort. But it's the last one for me as I think it is the best one.

Nothing beats having a friendly if strict gladiator giving you instructions on how to start sweating like a pig in the great, cold outdoors of London. There's something fulfilling about running back and forth, jumping in one spot, boxing uselessly but breathlessly, and other such demeaning activities, especially if done in front of strangers who gawk at you. It helps in spurring me on to complete my sets faster!

So, anyway, back to the story. Today I had my first session with Guy after a nine months hiatus to, you guessed it, have a baby! Now that I feel reasonably fit with Pilates and mild weight lifting (given that Sophie weighs 7 kilos and counting!), I thought it would be a good, SAFE idea to try losing the baby weight. The session itself was a real eye opener, as I could tell that proving that I still had some life in me made me work that much harder. I did sweat a lot and I did raise an eyebrow in protest once or twice, but all in all I did better than expected. It's true I found the 8kg swing weight a challenge, but then again, I'm only used to Sophie and I certainly don't swing her around!

The pregnancy, birth and aftermath has certainly tested my mental and physical boundaries, and today was another way of strengthening both for the long journey ahead.