Last week, Angelina Jolie was quoted as saying the following, regarding how Brad Pitt feels about her body after she birthed three children by c-section: "I'm with a man who's evolved enough to look at my body and see it as more beautiful, because of the journey it has taken and what it has created. He genuinely sees it that way. So I genuinely feel even sexier."
With all due respect to Pitt's relative masculine "evolved-ness," how hard can it be for him to see the mother of his children as beautiful? After all, she may have a scar and a few stretch marks here and there, but she's still...ANGELINA JOLIE.
I, on the other hand - in case anyone hadn't noticed - am not Angelina Jolie.
(This is me, shortly after my c-section. You can see I was already thinking deeply about matters of postpartum fitness and nutrition)
And after giving birth to my last baby, my first born surgically, I have more than a scar and a few stretch marks. I also have a belly I still don't recognize as my own. With my last three babies, my weight went up and down, but my stomach never looked like...this - sort of like a deflated beach ball. I don't know if it was the c-section or the fact that my body finally "tipped" at baby #4, but dang, I sure do miss my old belly.
I think I am getting to the point where I have to face the music and start exercising on a regular basis for the first time. I'm trying to figure out how to make that happen. I do take fairly regular walks around our neighborhood, which has sidewalks and greenways and parks, but these are more like leisurely strolls than workouts. We did buy an elliptical machine a few months ago, and my husband has used it with really good results, but I find it incredibly dull. What I'd really like to do is have time to ride horses regularly (I grew up riding competitively, and as an adult, I have ridden hunter-jumpers as circumstances have allowed), but at the moment, time and money won't really support this particular love of mine. Someday, though, when my children are older, I plan to really get back into riding. I have tried running here and there over the years, but I always end up with very painful shin splints. Lots of people I know seem to really dig yoga, but the few classes I've done haven't particularly motivated me to come back. Plus, yoga classes are sort of pricey. And as for a gym membership, well, I can't tell you how much money I've wasted in years past on gym memberships I never ended up using.
I know, I know. I am clearly making excuses here. I just need to find something, anything, and then force myself to do it at least three times each week. I tend to be a bit of a martyr about the whole thing - assuming that I am so indispensable at work or at home that people can't make do without me for an hour or so while I go exercise. But really, that's just another excuse. It's odd that while I tend to be quite energetic and disciplined in other areas of my life, I have simply never, ever been able to make myself stick to any sort of exercise regimen. I am inspired, though, by the example of my grandmother, who never having done a single athletic thing in her life, rather suddenly and to the great surprise of all who knew her, took up running in her mid 50s, and continued running every day well into her 70s. After that, she used her Nordic Trac ski machine daily for another 10 years.
I wish I were like all those celeb moms who claim they lost all the baby weight "just by breastfeeding!" Or who say they stay in such great shape "just by chasing the kids around!" Alas, however, neither of those techniques have done anything at all for me...or my sad, sad belly situation.
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