Weight Loss Series Week 2: 100 Miles in April Challenge & Online Infertility Group

Are you up for a challenge? I joined the 100 Miles in May challenge, which now includes a bonus month of April. I decided to join this challenge as a way to stay active during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it just so happens to coincide with my Weight Loss Series here on HopingForBaby.com. Whether you track your miles, steps, or hours I encourage you to challenge yourself beyond your normal exercise routine.

Disclaimer: All content and media on the Hoping For Baby website is created and published online for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health advice.

Catch-up on Previous Weight Loss Series Posts

Weight Loss Series Week 1: Fertility Clinic Closed, Focusing on Health

Countdown Until Target Weight Date: 5 months & 24 days (as of 4-6-2020)

100 Miles in April Challenge

My work is participating in a local fundraising event called 100 Miles in May. The organizers of the event decided to add on a bonus month to include the month of April. So that’s a challenge of 100 miles for April and then another 100 miles in May. Even if I don’t make the 100 miles in April, I’m hoping that I will be able to build up enough endurance in April to be able to handle the 100 miles in May. Everyone I work with is on our company team, and for every mile we all walk our company will donate to the fundraiser.

Credit: Healthy Futures

I figured I could do about three miles per day for the 30 days that are in April. I have a treadmill at home I’ve been neglecting so I figured now is a perfect time to make use of it since I am working less hours during this COVID-19 pandemic. After my first workout I had already developed a blister on my heal. Really now? On day one I get a blister?! I thought to myself that if that is any indication of how this month was going to go I was in for a long road ahead. But for some reason my shoe was messed up and it was pushing into my heal. I pushed back really hard on that part of my shoe to bend it out. The next time I worked out, I had no issues whatsoever. I had also put a bandaid over my heal for my next workout to let it heal a bit.

I missed one day of exercise and thought, “Oh I’ll do six miles today to make up for the day I missed.” Girl, let me tell you I was wiped out after doing that! I was essentially useless for the rest of the day and laid out on the couch saying to my husband, “Oh my gawwd I’m sooo tired!” I slept pretty well that night, which was a very good thing because I was having a hell of a time sleeping these past couple weeks.

When you are out of shape and suddenly take on a six mile challenge of intermittent walking and jogging, it is not easy. It helped me to realize I cannot go overboard right out of the gates and I need to take a more reasonable approach. I think 3-4 miles per day is more doable goal for me at this point in time, eventually I’d like to build on that as I get into better shape.

Credit: Healthy Futures Screenshot of my progress so far of 9 miles for April.

Online Infertility Group

Focusing on physical health is important during these times, as well as mental health too. I’m trying to balance my mind, body, and spirit as a holistic way to improve my health. Part of this approach includes continuing with my infertility support group I recently joined. This week the group decided to do their meeting online using Facebook Messenger due to our state’s mandate of closing down all non-essential activities, in an effort to reduce cases of COVID-19.

I opted not to show my face on camera for this meeting, seeing as how I had no makeup on and my hair was pretty disheveled. It was cool that there were a handful of us participating and sharing how we are all handling the pandemic and the cancellations of fertility treatments during this time. It was nice to know I wasn’t alone with my feelings of disappointment as I was learning to come to terms with the situation. Even though I didn’t really feel up to doing the group initially that night because I was feeling kind of “blah,” I was happy that I decided to join in. They are all such nice and understanding women. I feel like they really get me and I totally understand where they are coming from as well.

In one of the bigger infertility groups I’m a part of on Facebook that has tens of thousands of participants, I asked them if they knew of other online video-conferencing groups that have started up due to social distancing. I will let you all know what I find out and will most likely put on my page Resources & Products but it may take a little while to gather that info, so keep checking back.

I was invited to join the national infertility support group called Sarah’s Laughter: Christian Support for Infertility and Child Loss but I opted for the local group meeting for this month. I might check out their national group next month. If you are interested in participating in their national group you can do so through Facebook. Here are the instructions they have on their Facebook page for how to get invited: “Private message or email (beth@sarahs-laughter.com) for link and Info on how to log on.” (Sarah’s Laughter, 2020). If you want to learn more about the group first you can also check out their website sarahs-laughter.com. I’m not particularly religious, but they are welcoming of everyone, regardless of faith.