It’s been a long time since my last MuTu update.
As some of you know, we utilize Nutrition Response Testing (NRT) with our doctor. A little over a month ago, along with many symptoms indicating such, my adrenals showed as an issue. The general rule is to hold off on intensive cardio workouts if you have adrenal fatigue. So, along with taking supplements, and trying to eat well and de-stress (ha), for part of that time I only did the MuTu core workouts, and for another part, I took a break.
Secondly, the emotional stress in my life and the PPD has taken center stage again (which can also be made worse by hormones/adrenals). It’s taken just about everything in me to continue caring for my babies and husband. Exercise can help depression so I don’t want to discount the importance of it, but for that time I decided it was most important for me to focus my energy on continuing to make decent breakfasts for my toddler, and keeping my house and family functional.
This season of my life feels like running in mud. Like I’m working so hard to accomplish something (whether it be empty the dishwasher, change diapers/clothes, get things in order to be able to shower, do blog work, etc.) yet the main thing I accomplish is time passing. It’s beyond frustrating. PPD makes that feel hopeless, useless, and takes meaning away from my #1 purpose in life, which is to be the best mama and wife I can be.
Then, we’ve had family issues going on in the midst of the normal life stuff (VBS at church, hubby’s work schedule, trying to finish renovating our upstairs). Funerals, getting to know long lost relatives I largely didn’t even know existed, meeting with someone who is still in a bad situation yet having a few good hours with them, and dealing with more blatant rejection. It is very true that mental/emotional stress can completely wipe you out physically.
All of that compiled can be why my adrenals crashed. I’m running on high levels of cortisol (stress hormones) just to keep everything going when things are high-stress like right now.
And on top of all that, a few weeks ago we ate breakfast at Perkins. I ended up with food poisoning and a week of fighting severe nausea, whole body but especially joint pain, fatigue, and feeling like fainting if I moved much. It was a struggle to get food into my body. After 4 days I was finally able to eat something substantial. Hubby picked up an organic chicken from our favorite grocery store (if you’re in WNY you know it’s Wegmans), 🙂 and I got some organic red potatoes and sweet potatoes on to boil. Something finally tasted and sat ok.
All of this was thrown in the middle of full-time, 24/7 mothering/homemaking. Night 1, my throwing up woke up Baby Girl. Before I could take a moment, drink or brush my teeth, I was bouncing her back to sleep. (She doesn’t sleep for Hubby yet). Motherhood – even though it really is the best job in the world, there is no such thing as a sick day or moment from it, and that can make recovering even harder.
I’m trying to remember to praise God for allowing these trials again. He has brought SO MUCH GOOD out of my tumultuous past, and He continues, as He promised, to work all things together for good in my life. Yesterday I started MuTu on week 7 with the intensive 2 and core 3. I’ll tell you, it was trying. I feel like I regressed a little with my ability to complete each set, but it also felt really good! I’m excited to get the momentum going again and see what the next 6 weeks holds. 🙂
On to my thoughts on week 5 & 6 of the MuTu System!
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Week 5 is the Core Phase 2 and Intensive Phase 2 workouts. Doing two Cores a day was easy – IF it wasn’t also an Intensive day. On those days I did the Intensive then one complete Core immediately after and was lucky to get my wobbly legs to squeeze a ball that many times. 😛 Hey, that was over 30 minutes of exercise – at once! Considering this is survival right now with a 2 year old and 8 month old, who both have underlying issues with me focusing that much attention on something not them related, that much exercise every other day is freaking awesome. 😉
Week 6 is one of Wendy’s talks encouraging us to keep going (which is ironic considering that’s when I needed to stop for a bit). Some of her lines include:
You become what you pay the most attention to – This has been eye opening for me. I have little self-confidence due to the first 24 years of my life. I’ve believed lies and nasty, hateful things people have said and continue to say about me. I ‘became’, in my mind, what they said about me for a long time because I held their opinions to high regard. No more.
Focus on the successes – I’ve lost weight (10 pounds so far, and 4 pounds away from my pre-both-pregnancies weight!), my low back pain is a TON better and core strength is noticeably better. Those are all things I can focus on and use as motivation.
No one else controls what food goes into your body – I hope to remind myself of this when I catch myself reaching for the Justin organic PB cups in the pantry. 😉
No one else controls the choices you make – They don’t. Some things can influence what choices I make though. Like if Hubby is doing something or wanting something, I’m not going to automatically choose something different. So this is a balancing act I need to get better at, especially when our health is on the line.
So far, I still recommend the MuTu system. It’s important to me that something I follow is structured, clear and informative. The videos get a little repetitive and the backdrop is boring (plain white nothingness), but I still say the good that can come out of using them far outweighs the bad. Maybe in the future they’ll update the music and the setting to be more interesting/less white. Hint, hint. 😉
Are you a MuTu Mama? What were/are your results from using this program?
