It will be a long entry for a BIG morning Saturday coffee. But it’s really worth reading!!! It’s possible that we will motivate you to take care of your well-being on a daily basis today. First, however, let’s make it straight: our blog is a diary of our experience, it is NOT a GUIDE and we don’t want it to be perceived as such. Whatever you read in the rest of the post, remember that it is only a world painted with our paints and you don’t have to like it. We aren’t playing roles of wisemen who always know better, we write about ourselves, how we dealt with situations  we all experience. There is, however, a truth that professional people emphasize – not the looks, but health is the most important thing. Therefore, the decision to start a diet or physical activity should be motivated by the desire to improve the quality of life and maintain health, not the loss of kilograms. The slimmer silhouette is just a very pleasant side effect of a healthy lifestyle;) Actually, a bathroom scale is an absolutely unnecessary gadget! And not every one of us has to be slim, just be happy! In addition, the muscles are heavier than fat…

Olka

I didn’t become a mother just to have an excuse for gluttony and sitting in front of the TV. That’s why I was driven mad by comments like: “as for a mother of three, you look great.” It’s like what a mother of three children should look like?!?! People thought it was nice to me, and I wondered where the hell it was written that the mother of three should look bad? Why? When you’re pregnant you put on weight, it’s normal. I gained an additional 20 kilograms each time. That’s how it is, we can’t decide on how much weight we gain during pregnancy. I didn’t binge with bread rolls and sweets, I didn’t sit on a couch, I walked a lot, I exercised. But I was gaining additional kilos anyway. This is a matter of individual predispositions. My grandmother had it, her mother as well. My mother also grew a lot bigger when she was pregnant. But after delivery, you have to get back into shape. I was lucky that I was healthy, so nothing disturbed my normal functioning. I didn’t sign up for the gym, I didn’t have a personal trainer. I didn’t even think of exercising, my children didn’t get out of my laps. But I moved and ate. I ate healthily. I was breastfeeding, so it’s obvious that I didn’t gollop pizzas or hamburgers. I didn’t drink coke. That’s all. I returned to my pre-pregnancy weight after two months on average. Ewka was the same. She wasn’t fat for even a moment. I believe that what you look like after the birth of a child, is the matter of your choice (if you exclude health conditions). Of course, the belly needs a few weeks before it gets back to shape, for the first two to three weeks we still look pregnant. I remember when a shop assistant (it was about a week after my last childbirth) made me laugh with the question “how much time for the labor?”. She blushed when I answered that the child was already born. I smiled heartily, I had no reason to feel offended. She asked of pure curiosity.

A few months after the last delivery I noticed that my body didn’t look like before anymore. At the beginning I even planned to come to terms with it, accepting the law of gravity. However, I couldn’t accept that at the age of 30 I would stop being attractive. I had a husband who wanted to have a beautiful, confident and happy wife. I had children who observed me. And I had thoughts in my head about what I wanted to look like and how I wanted to feel. Therfore I decided to fight gravity. I wasn’t at a losing position at all. Women have the power that allows them to stand natural delivery. Compared to this, daily training seems to be a trifle! And that’s how my transformation began, and now has been going on for over two years. I consider my first home workout as a breakthrough in my life. It was a new beginning. Something like switching to “the light side of the force” 🙂

Ewka:

I guess my relationship with my husband was never based on the physical affection. Well, this is a conclusion I base on what I see in my husband’s behavior. Patryk never criticizes my looks and it’s not a matter of him accepting me the way I am, but rather a matter of his adjustment skills, haha. For him I always look fine. On the contary, I am honest with those close to me. When I see that he’s becoming plump I don’t pretend I don’t notice it. I tell him honestly that I fell in love with and married a guy that looked better. This is my method of negative motivation.

I have never struggled with  serious weight problems. Sometimes I looked a little bigger, then slimmer again. I have never eaten too much, but I didn’t mind fastoods, dumplings, pancakes, etc. The first pregnancy got me 15 additional kilos. However, I got back to my previous looks quite quictly. It required some effort. An effort that I didn’t have the desire to do myself (because I was planning a second child) but Olka didn’t let me stay idly…

After the birth of Dominik, my coffee meetings with Olka took the form of verbal trainings. Olka was already into fitness and nutrition. It seemed to me that also on tv they were only talking about healthy lifestyle. And so Olka, who after her first two labors didn’t care about what her body looked like, and she decided to exercise only three years after the last birth, began to persuade everyone around to train! I had the impression that she demanded it the most from me. I was a year after the childbirth, after the C-section, and I really didn’t have time for exercise, because the child took my whole time. I didn’t demand it from myself, because I looked “normal”, a little more here a little less there. Actually, Olka was full of energy, but every coffee was about one topic – fitness! I’d had enough. Olka will probably learn about it only when he reads it. But seriously, it was crazy – she could practice at the party, on the beach, just everywhere. It was irritating at times, although there was nothing wrong with it. And her constant talk about fitness at some point started to motivate me to take up fitnesss! Then I started my adventure with home workouts. I was not as systematic as Olka was, but I tried. And finally, the talking about nutrition and sport over coffee didn’t make me nervous. Now we both could talk about our fitness achievements!

And my husband? Fortunately, he didn’t mind. He complained sometimes, especially, when he had to take care of Dominik. At some point, henoticed that my face changed and he didn’t like it. I got much slimmer, so did my face. He said I was too skinny. He commented, “look how you lengthened your nose!”, haha. Very funny! At least he didn’t comment on my boobs! The exercises also contributed to the fact that they became much smaller ;(

Now, four months after my daughter was born, my return back to shape has finally become possible. Despite the fact that I still spend most of my time with Weronika in my arms (and when she sleeps I take care of Dominik), in the afternoons when Patryk is at home I have some time for myself. So far I’ve had my first trainings and I’m not going to give up on them!

Olka

I can show off a bit in this part. Not at all about how I sculpted my body or how many kilos I lost. I’ve gone through a long and difficult road to the place where I am now. I struggled in the last two years of training with many things, paradoxically the least with physical effort …

But let’s get back to the beginning.

My first training was inspired by a Facebook post, uploaded by Ewa Chodakowska. Today, I can honestly say that I love this woman because she is a co-author of many positive changes in my life. I surrendered to her positive motivation and decided to do some exercises she suggested. It was spring, I had my first training in the garden. It didn’t seem difficult to me at all, I didn’t even sweat, but all the exercises lasted less than 20 minutes. It was an ideal strategy. The feeling that I can exercise without getting too tired motivated me to the second training, then the third, the fourth … After the first week of daily exercise, I felt lighter by a few kilograms, 50 percent happier and more agile than ever. It was a real WOW effect. In fact I didn’t lose weight yet, and all my muscles ached so much that I could barely walk, but my brain seemed not to notice all this. I was so proud of myself! I already exercised for a week, so I couldn’t give in. After two weeks I thought that I could make it for  a whole month. After a month I felt I could move mountains  so I continued to train. I extended my trainings to thirty minutes, then to forty-five. I downloaded a few different workout programs to my computer (the internet is a real treasure for fitness freaks like me) so I didn’t get bored, I would do a different program each day.

I will now go back to the first two weeks …

The motivation was huge. I wanted to prove to everybody that my transformation wasn’t just a whim, and that I really wanted to improve my life, that I could be beautiful and young again … I was so pissed when obstacles appeared and  I couldn’t complete my workout! It could really cause my uncontrollable aggression. I knew that, so I didn’t let go. I was angry if someone came round with a spontaneous visit in the evening and it disturbed my workout plans.  I would then apologize to them politely, hide behind the house and do at least a round of TABATA. My friends began to tease me. I felt pressure in the air and a lot of negative vibrations. It hurt me because I couldn’t understand why they were  distancing themselves to me because of those few minutes of my absence during their visits. During the meetings with Ewka, the conversations were mainly about my trainings. My pride was expanding, the level of my satisfaction was probably so high that it restrained my ability to lookaat my behaviour critically!

Actually, I didn’t only talk about it, I just thought about it, I lived it. Ewka tolerated this calmly, she never showed irritation. She’s so kind.

After about a month, I had enough of myself. I even apologized to Ewka for my previous behavior, reassuring her that I just had the first euphoria, and that from that day on it would be different. In fact, as the time was passing, my emotions fell down a little bit. Fortunately, the willingness to do everyday exercises hasn’t disappeared, my optimistic attitude optimism also remained at a high level. I learned how much understanding I can expect from some friends, I refreshed their previously uncritical image in my eyes. I am writing this without regrets, these are only my deep thoughts, it didn’t affect my relationships in a significant way. I just think I learnt a little bit more;) EWKA GOT AN A FROM THE TEST!

My husband also had a hard time with my new passion at the beginning. Exercises from the beginning absorbed huge amounts of my energy, additionally they provided so many happiness hormones that for some timeI wasn’t interested in any romantic matters at all!. And because it lasted well over a month, Marcin began to suspect that I has someone 🙂 🙂 🙂 I had the impression that the more my body changed, the less he liked it. One day I asked him directly if he preferred the previous version of me. He made me realize that I completely stopped paying attention to him. I understood what was most important. A cold shower that I truly needed at that time. Happiness should be shared, not praised. I expected him to be delighted with my new, better look, and he just wanted ME to come back.

Today I know that what happened to me then was a natural reaction to an exciting change. The same happens with almost every girl who goes on a diet. My mother had the same when she started to learn English well over fifty, ha ha. I think it is the same mechanism that accompanies love affection or moving to a new home. When life changes for the better, we don’t think about anything else 🙂 🙂 🙂

After this first difficult month, it was only better. Over time, my family members got used to my jumping, panting and sweating, the mat in the living room, dumbbell in the bedroom, and a stepper on the balcony:) All my christmas gifts that year were fitness related, which means that my relatives accepted my new hobby and understood how much joy it gives me. Today my workouts are a natural part of every day. My kids have the opportunity to shout at me for making a mess (I often exercise in Emil’s room, he has a large mirror and a lot of space, almost like in the gym;)) My son likes me in a fitness version. Recently in one of his homeworks he wrote about me: “Mom likes to run a lot and she’s very fit.” If he writes about it, I believe he’s proud of that!

For me, everyday training isn’t an extraordinary thing today. At the same time, following my personal philosophy that everything in life should be done in a way that is comfortable for us, I don’t overchallenge myself. I don’t take an hour of cardio if I am tired or have little time. I can split a  45-minute training for Chodakowska’s ‘6-minute’ short workouts. And if there is such a need, I can completely let go and make myself a day off. I can also do training at 1:00 am, if I still have enough energy However, I don’t recommend such a late training – it’s impossible to fall asleep later until the morning!

Finally – a good news is that home fitness is for free! All you invest in it is your time and energy. This is one of those things that are equally available to very rich and very “poor” people. If you do daily workouts you’re becoming rich anyway – your wealth is a better version of You. And you don’t need to go to the gyms or hire a personal trainer. You don’t need brand-name clothes for your workouts (I often train in underpants and a T-shirt). It is worth rejecting excuses aside and do something absolutely for yourself!

In a healthy body, there is really healthy mind!