Those "Butt Kicks" Kick My Butt -- Figuratively Speaking

Like many new moms, I'm carrying around more weight than I did pre-pregnancy. I've always had a problem with my weight, and there was a period of time when I thought I had it under control. In the first couple of months after my daughter's birth, though, I did a lot of anti-dieting, aka grazing. As a result, I've undone almost all of the hard work I put into getting my weight down over the past six years.

So, now, I'm trying to do something about it. I have three things motivating me:

• The year my daughter graduates from high school, I'll turn 59. Odds are, she'll be dependent on my husband and me even beyond that point as she goes off to college for at least four years. I need to be healthy for her.
• I want to set a good example. As I said, I've had weight issues all of my life, even when I was a baby. My husband, too, needs to shed some weight. We don't want her to grow up eating the way we do. Hopefully, we can guide her to make the right food choices.
• I want to look and feel better. Plain and simple. When I'm 55, I want to be able to climb the bleachers to watch my daughter play basketball or participate in a cheerleading competition or the marching band, or whatever else she might be interested in.

A friend told me Jillian Michaels' "30-Day Shred" works well, so I bought it and tried it. It is a good, effective workout.  For one exercise, called "butt kicks," you "jog" in place -- sort of, because your legs come up behind you. More physically fit exercisers should be able to kick themselves in the butt (hence the name). All of the exercises were a challenge for my out-of-shape body, but the butt kicks were exceptionally so. I could not kick my butt, physically anyway, and trying to do so left me winded enough that I spent more time watching the DVD than participating.

I did a similar exercise all of the time back in the 1980s when "20 Minute Workout" used to come on TV, so I am really surprised I had as much trouble as I did. I cannot wait until I get my endurance built up and this gets easier.