The Big Secret

Lately, I've been getting variations on this sentiment: "Have you lost weight? You look great!" First of all, thank you, thank you, thank you to every one of you who've taken care first to notice and then narrate on the narrowing figure. But, seriously now, here's the deal...

I'm not actually any thinner or "fitter" than I was before Judsen. I'm the same size, actually. Same clothes (thank you, God, for indoor plumbing and Levi's). Same style (Colorado chic is what I call it. You know, jeans and a tee dressed up a scarf or hat or necklace or shoes. But always comfortable). Same gal, really. Well, with one more kid. And let me tell you: it ain't easy to recover after one child...then two...then three...and however many more y'all may have. But it's even trickier when you have 10 pounders that come via a cut in the belly (the whole process becomes a bit more complicated).

And we all have our pregnancy curses...mine is weight. Average about 65 pounds per kid, I do. Don't especially indulge in eating. Exercise throughout...and at the same pace I keep today without pregnancy, in fact. But, that's my burden to bear.

So it takes a solid year to chisel away at the post-pregnancy bulbous body that is me after baby. Now, I don't particularly look at the numbers after the first, say, 4 months. In fact, I don't weigh myself today. That's one stat that absolutely DOES NOT solely define fitness level, so I don't sweat it (pun intended).

But we all, I'd wager, have our method: mine is clothes. I know I'm not alone in this. I have my teeniest jeans and, when they fit, I've arrived. Shirts vary, of course, because I now have about 4 or 5 inches of excess skin that I can actually stretch away from my body, so clingy shirts are now out. (For those of you who have seen this epidermal massacre, I apologize. I don't know what I was thinking).

So, if I'm more or less the same but you think I look more or less thinner, what's the big secret? Well, here it is: one word. One word only. Pilates. Yes, Pilates is my big secret. It could be yours, too. It's hard. But it's relaxing. And it's hard. But I breathe alot, which seems to improve the overall life expectancy for the day...for both my children and me. And I'm taller. Yes, taller. And I'm more taught. Lithe, I'd even say. And, most importantly, I'm fit.

Because the even bigger secret is this: being fit is a way of life that, with a sardonic chuckle I add, prolongs that very life. Because of fitness, I'll be wearing my Levi's at least a decade longer, I hope, and relishing that the reason I no longer buy clingy tees are the three people I'll get to watch play ball, go to prom, graduate high school, tackle college and, one day, go down aisles to say "hello" to their own reasons to get big, become small again, and -- who knows? -- try some Pilates themselves.