Welcome to Mighty Mermaid Mommy! My name is Abbie and in addition to being a wife, mother of two young boys, and a full time public school science teacher, I am also a blogger. I've blogged at Farmer's Daughter & Her Country Boys since March of 2008, chronicling our lives and adventures.
In 2013, I started a new journey toward healthy happiness. I was feeling unhealthy, exhausted and frumpy after giving birth to my two beautiful children. I wanted to have the energy to keep up with my busy boys, and I wanted to feel better in my own skin. I'm not a fan of exercise, but I absolutely love to swim. My mom finally convinced me to start swimming again at our new local YMCA pool and gave me a year's membership for my 32nd birthday. I went in with high hopes but felt crushed after I could barely make it one length of the pool without gasping for air. I loved synchronized swimming and mermaids when I was a child, and I never stopped swimming, but I only swam for fun. I was sorely out of shape but determined to swim.
I found the Zero to 1650 program from Ruth Kazez, which renewed my hopes that I'd be able to start swimming laps. I started the program at the YMCA and then moved to my parents' pool when the weather warmed up. I remember that first swim in their pool: watching the sunbeams dance on the bottom of the pool, listening to nothing but the little sounds of my splashing, and knowing my children were safe and having fun playing with my mom. I fell in love with swimming there and swam my first continuous mile, all breaststroke, in August of 2013. I continued to swim throughout the summer and into September before heading back to the YMCA.
My whole outlook changed. I had so much more energy and I felt great. I was excited to exercise and raring to go when my children wanted to play. I started looking forward to taking walks with my family and I also decided to change my eating habits. I have always cooked at home and made mostly healthy recipes, but I needed help with portion control because I love to eat. I started following the Weight Watchers program and counting my Points Plus values, since I had followed the program before with some success. I liked that I was able to eat regular foods and follow a flexible plan, and that's what allowed me to stick with it.
By my younger son's first birthday in October 2013, I was 75 pounds below my heaviest weight. I had lost all of that weight slowly but steadily, swimming regularly and eating a mostly healthy diet following Weight Watchers. I can't say enough about how wonderful I feel now.
I'm starting this blog as a way to keep track of my goal for 2014: to SWIM 50 MILES! I think it's a big goal, but it's attainable. I'm also considering starting to swim in open water- either in lakes or the ocean, but I have some fears to overcome before then. This blog will allow me to share my progress and my thoughts on fitness, and maybe a few recipes along the way.
I love comments, so please feel free to share any tips or advice you may have! Thanks for stopping by Mighty Mermaid Mommy!
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