“No, no sweetheart,” I said, breathing as hard as I was peddling. But of course, my seven month old son didn’t understand. When he got to the exercise bike, he reached up to get to a standing position near his mommy. I slowed down, and got off the bike for the third and final time. He refused to be distracted.

I walked him around the house, picking things up as I cooled down. I hadn’t been able to get the thirty minutes of cardio in that I’d wanted to today. Luckily, I’d been able to do my strength training already, while he still slept.

It isn’t a race to lose weight. It’s a lifestyle to be healthy.

That has been my mantra for the last 5 months since I’ve been exercising regularly.

Things that make it hard to exercise:

• I am breastfeeding, and cannot leave the house at 5:30 or 6:00 am in the morning because baby nurses around that hour.
• I cannot leave at 7:00 or 8:00 am because older kids need to go to school. I often end up walking with baby in a stroller, either outside or at the gym, depending on the weather after I get everyone at school.
• Baby’s needs often interrupt my workout routine.
• Other responsibilities take up my time, as well.
• Joint pain prevents me from jogging to get more cardiovascular results in a shorter amount of time. So I race-walk instead, to keep my heart rate up. I am also trying cycling (I hate it on the stationary bike, but I know I will love the speed of a real bike outside. My reward for keeping up that exercise will be an awesome bike in the spring.)

How efficient I am right now isn’t important. What is important is that I am establishing a habit. Many of these difficulties are temporary. If I can do it now, when it is hard, I can do it when it will be easy.