One Big Reason You Should Never Quit Exercising.

In the spring of 2008, I was in stellar shape. I went to the gym regularly. Could run four, maybe five miles no sweat (actually, there was a lot of sweat. I'm a sweater. But it wasn't hard). And my arms? Well, they wouldn't have given Madonna a run for her money, but one coworker actually said, "Damn, Amber, you've got guns!"

Yeah, I was proud of those.

Then I got pregnant. And while I started off thinking I'd keep up my regular workouts, it wasn't long until they fell by the wayside. Because when your body becomes a baby's home? Everything gets...well, the word I want to use isn't very nice (it begins with an f), so let's just say everything becomes damned uncomfortable.

Nine weeks in I gave up running because doing so made my back feel like it was coming apart. Then I gave up yoga because it got to danged hard to bend. And getting to the gym for those regular workouts? Never happened. Not once after I found out I was knocked up.

And you know why giving that up was a bad idea? Well, one, because obviously now I look like this (i.e. white whale walking). But more importantly, because starting over HURTS LIKE HELL.

Internet, I hardly slept last night. Every muscle in my body was screaming in protest. I expected my legs to hurt. But I didn't realize my back, arms and even neck would follow suit. I felt like I'd let a professional boxer use me as a punching bag.

So today? No exercise happened. Well, actually, I did some housework, which according to Weight Watchers counts, but that was it. But tomorrow, tomorrow I have to make myself do it. I have to soldier on.

Because the only way to the other side? The side where the hotness lives? Is through the pain.