It has begun...

The very looooonnng trek back to a healthy body and mind.  After being inactive for a good long year, I finally made it to the gym yesterday.  Wow.  I knew that I'd gotten weak and out of shape, but man, I've never been this weak before.

I did a bodypump class, which I LOVE and have missed.  According to the website, bodypump is:

A rapid fat-burning class that uses barbells to give you the 

fastest way to tone and condition muscles! 

After an exhaustive study, BODYPUMP was verified by 

The University of Auckland as providing the

 fastest body fat loss of any fitness class.

I just hope that I survive long enough to see the body fat loss.  I felt great yesterday.  Today, however, I'm wondering how long it will take my muscles to get stronger.  I purposely did not put on as much weight as I normally would.  And yet, my quads hurt.  My hamstrings hurt.  My glutes hurt.  My chest hurts.  My triceps hurt.  My biceps hurt.  I must not have pushed myself enough during the shoulder and back routines, because they don't hurt so much.  When I walk up and down the stairs, it's "ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow" with each step.  (Cooper has started saying it with me).  It hurts to sit down.  It hurts to stand up.  And getting down on the floor to change Cooper's diaper?  AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!  Standing up is even harder than getting down there.  I'm being reminded of my pregnancy days.  At least I can bend over.  I mean, it hurts... but I can do it!  

The up side of all of this pain is that I still have muscles!  They haven't been used in a very long time, and they're weak; but they're still there, thank goodness!  AND, the boys did very well in the day care.  No crying from Cooper!  This is the first time that I've been able to leave my kids at a gym daycare.  Mercedes learned very quickly that if she cried for 15 minutes, they'd come to get me and I'd take her home.  Until Christmastime, Cooper simply screamed if I tried to leave him. And he's LOUD.  Now he just runs off to play with the toys and make friends.  What a blessing.

I just wish that I'd bought some Motrin when I was at Target on Saturday.  Maybe I can persuade Brent to pick some up on his way home from work.  

An update: so yesterday was hard, and it's gotten worse.  Sometime during the night I began to feel intense pain when I straightened my arm.  It literally feels like my biceps muscles are tearing every time I extend my arm.  I took 800 mg of Ibuprofen this morning.  Didn't even make a dent.  Oh well... guess I'll take a day off and read that book I bought a few weeks ago!