The hardest part is getting started

Going from 10 squats to 100 squats in 10 days

I used to love exercise. I've done basketball, swim team, and walking/jogging throughout my childhood. I went one summer where I would walk at a 3-4 mile pace for at least an hour a day. One year I did a squats challenge where I built up to doing something like 250 consecutive squats.

The last few years, however, exercise has not been my top priority.

With my current pregnancy, I am gaining weight faster than I did in my first pregnancy even though I feel like I am eating less junk food this time around. But I have only been exercising about once a week. So at my last appointment, my midwife told me I should aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise, 5 times per week.

I've started to work back up to that. And what's amazing is just how quickly I have made progress. My body remembers all those times I went walking and jogging and swimming. It really only took a few days of purposeful exercise to start to feel like it was more fun than work. I didn't realize that only exercising once a week was miserable because my body had too much time to "forget" in between. Exercising every day means my body remembers and it starts to snap into action.

I am also doing some squats every day. I started barely able to pump out 10 squats. Within 10 days, I am up to 100 consecutive squats. My legs feel a bit jelly immediately afterward, but overall it gives me energy and gets me excited about the possibilities.

The hardest part really was just getting started.