Walking Together: One of 2020's BEST Gifts

Before Mr. Butler was forced to telework, he had a 30 minute commute to and from work every day.  In order to make it to the gym before work, he would leave before everyone was up most days and make it home just before dinner.  We talked on the phone often, but his new position had him in meetings more than before which meant less time to chat during work hours.  But it was our normal and that was fine.  Like the rest of the world, it was hard to see how anything could be different, even if you could argue that it should be different.  Jobs have to be tended to in order to pay the bills in order to keep families fed and protected.  Luxuries, whether in time or money, are often not an option.  So when he finally got the word to start working from home, like the rest of the world, we really didn't know what to think.  He immediately started projects he had been putting off.  I tackled things around the house to attempt better organization.  Since we homeschooled, life wasn't all that different.

Then the world went crazy and it hasn't stopped embarrassing itself yet.  Still, we spent more time talking and growing through this peculiar cocoon of life we had.  At some point over the summer, we started going on lunchtime walks with the kids around our neighborhood pond. We knew the extra vitamin D was becoming really important and the extra exercise was always welcome after being stuck inside for a bit.  Before shutdowns, I had often complained of my stuck situation of not wanting to drag kids anywhere in order for me to exercise with someone, but desperately wanted the encouragement of spending time moving with someone else.  After being a witness to the ebb and flow of homeschooling over a couple of months, Mr. Butler began to grow in perspective of what worked well and what didn't.  My sweet husband began making it a priority most days of the week to walk with us, in a large part to give us uninterrupted time to talk and walk.  The kids would occupy themselves playing so it became like a miniature lunch date.  

I would like to tell you that it single-handedly purified us of all our marital disagreements and subsequently perfected our children as well.  Sadly, that is not the case.  After about 6 months of walking together, we still hash out many an argument or end up more upset by the end than the beginning some days.  But, I'll tell you what it has done for us.  We have grown closer, empathy is getting more effective, and we enjoy each other more than ever.  Not without bouts of maddening fury because an engineer and a highly sensitive creative type are not going to sync up well without a lot of work.  However, spending most days taking about 45 minutes to process life together is teaching us to truly walk together in our marriage.  I know from a female - gotta release 40,000 words or I'm going to explode - perspective, just having time to talk and process is SO important to my mental health.  Mr. Butler's job has grown more complex and I know having the chance to just process his stuff in a non-work setting has been helpful to him as well.  This time helps us stay on the same page better simply because we're talking about it all regularly.

Now I realize that just my husband working from home still is a luxury in many regards that most couples may not have available to them.  Maybe it's not the time, but an appropriate walking space.  It is December and maybe you don't live in Oklahoma like I do where it was 75 today.  Whatever the case, I realize that my solution may not help you.  What I want you to take from this is that if something is important enough, we can find a way.  We can and should make our marriages a priority even if we don't think there is any urgency in it. Mr. Butler and I weren't setting out to make drastic changes anywhere, but through all the madness it certainly has become so.  

We know that the world will likely calm down eventually and he will have to return to work to some extent.  I'm not looking forward to that day, but we've discussed taking a remote walk together by phone which can largely have the same effect.  The encouragement is that spending extra time or rearranging certain things in your life to nurture your relationship is absolutely worth it.  And honestly, this can be applied to any relationship, not just a marriage.  If we want better friends, better parent/child, sibling or neighbor relationships, there are extra steps we can take.  Just because you can convince yourself that don't have to doesn't mean you don't need to.  Whoever you need to be better with, look for ways you can 'walk together' with them.  2020 has taught and demonstrated to us that isolation is not healthy and does not produce better lives.  Let's take that information and use it wisely in the circles we can influence.

What 3 Babies Taught Me About Weight-Loss

Unlike my mother or my daughter, I was never really skinny.  As most people can do, looking back on my size in high school and college, I was just fine and would gladly return to that size again if given the choice.  When you're living it, though, that unique and specific-to-you shape gets ripped to shreds by society and their version of normal.  So like an adolescent girl is prone to do, I proceeded into adulthood with shame and insecurities surrounding how I looked and how much I weighed.  Enter marriage and pregnancy to make things really interesting!

If you know Mr. Butler, you know his second home is the gym.  To an insecure newlywed, that can result in more pressure and sensitivity.  I always wanted to look perfect and be viewed as perfect by everyone but especially my young husband.  Yet, exercise and dieting weren't exactly something I loved.  Ice cream, treats and Friday night fun I could get motivated for, but it took way too much baby weight that wasn't going anywhere to teach me how much exercise and clean eating would become one of my greatest tools in life.  Still, J was 6 or 7 months old before I had really begun that journey.  There was a mountain of judgement and criticism that I just couldn't get around and that was just the stuff in my head.  On the one hand there are supermodels and air-brushed magazine covers convincing me that my imperfection should be my shame.  On the other hand, there are other voices in the media that pounce any time someone suggests that a person should really work at losing weight.  Body-shaming, they call it.  And, goodness those voices can get so ugly.  In either case, I'm not buying it anymore.

I am 10 months postpartum after my third baby and about 50 lbs over my (1st) pre-pregnancy weight.  The rollercoaster has been real, but being on this end of it, I have certainly learned a few things I wish I could share with my pre-motherhood self.

1) View weight and body image through the lens of health.  Early on Mr. Butler encouraged me to exercise not because he saw me as flawed (like my inner voice tried to convince me all. the. time.), but because he wanted me to feel good about myself and stay healthy like he had learned.  Diabetes and heart disease may have very well been in his near future had he not made some major changes when starting college.  Thus, his commitment to healthy living was born.  He knew I was insecure and he also knew the motivation that came from a great exercise program!

It is in this point that I have a real problem with most people claiming that a concern for someone's weight is body shaming.  There are bullies and very cruel people in the world that say mean things and terrorize those with insecurities.  Encouraging someone to maintain a healthy weight is not the same thing.  I agree that no two bodies are the same and your healthy weight may be heavier/lighter than mine.  But if you have health complaints (other than how your clothes fit) like joint pain, labored breathing going up a flight of stairs, or depression, I do not agree that you should ignore your size.  A combination of any of those symptoms are signs that your body needs some attention for long-term survival, not to fit some society-built expectation.  When someone develops pneumonia, it is serious.  Any caregiver worth anything isn't going to start in ridiculing the person for being sick.  Instead, they just want them to survive without any permanent effects.  A major weight problem should be viewed the same way.

After the first pregnancy, losing weight was 100% about how I looked.  I was self-conscious about everything around everyone.  Now, after the third pregnancy, losing weight is about getting my health back where it needs to be so I can be the mom and wife I need to be.  What I look like and how my clothes fit is just a physical manifestation of where my health is at and how much further I have to go.

2)  Don't Use Another Person's Experience to Shape Your Expectations.  When it comes to weight-loss, most people fall into one of two categories.  They either must work at it to lose weight or they don't.  It is a rare unicorn of a person who has to work only a little bit in order to lose weight.   The two really can't be compared  and yet that's what we do.  Having babies is the perfect example.  Everything surrounding your first child is a brand new experience and that includes losing weight after pregnancy.  'They' say that if you breastfeed your infant, then the weight will just fall off.  Yeah, that only works for people who the weight just falls off anyway! I have two sister-in-laws and a handful of friends who just didn't even think about it and they were back to square one in no time.  I had really hoped that it just wouldn't be a big deal after J, because I tried to eat well and exercised some thinking that would be enough.  As you know, I fell into the category of having to really work at it.  And now I'm here again at 10 months postpartum and it still requires a ton of work. Honestly, it is probably more difficult this time because of how much busier I am with three kids.  Busyness translates into less time to exercise, less sleep and more stress which are all recipes for weight gain in my body, certainly NOT weight-LOSS.

After J, I let what other people (different body types and different circumstances) experienced determine what I expected my circumstances to be.  When I was obviously wrong, the despair, judgement and self-loathing just about ruined me in more ways than one.  In retrospect, it was all just so silly.  Healthy weight-loss is really just a science experiment anyway that takes patience and tweaking along the way.  What ratio of diet changes and exercise program intensity does it take to decrease your weight?  Spending all your time comparing yourself to where others are at is just taking time away from getting further along on your own path to a healthy place.  For probably the first 6 months of J's life I was just insistent in my head that what I was doing should be enough to get my desired results because of what anyone else was or was not doing.  And we're not even talking about the subject of what recovery after having a baby really means.  I had no clue.  Just stop comparing.  Period.

3)  There are many things worse than extra pounds.  When your health is clearly in danger, it will be a different story, but life is filled with more than just numbers on a scale.  Especially after children, life becomes more complicated.  Having healthy and whole children is a luxury many parents don't have.  A loving marriage, financial security, a hope of heaven and peace of mind are all things that don't just happen.  Many families struggle with so many things.  After miss Z's birth and difficulty sleeping through the night, I learned that I'd Rather Be Fat Than Crazy. The season of having babies and small children is short and losing weight is something you can always pursue later too.  At this stage there's just so much demand being put on your body that an aggressive weight-loss plan may not be possible, not yet anyway,  Be patient and be thankful for the good.

Mr. Butler has been so supportive of me this past year and it has really taught me to be kinder to myself in this area.  My blessings are many and my children deserve to see gratitude instead of a whiny state of being that only breeds unhappiness.  By the end of 2018, it is my goal to be well on my way to my former weight, but these three babies have taught me how to be content in the mean time.

Go Outside: Your Sanity May Depend On It

We took a walk the other day after breakfast and before we started school.  The weather was significantly cool for late summer so all of us were a little more motivated than usual.  The weight (physical and emotional) of the Race car's pregnancy and transitional months following had made motivation fleeting.  With three kids plus personal recovery, making anything (other than meal time) a habit is a big struggle.  But the chill in the air somehow gave us an extra spring in our step and a walking we did go.

There are a lot of scientific and biological reasons why being active outside and spending time in nature is terribly important to a healthy life.  But if those reasons matter to you, you're probably already doing it. For the rest of us - especially the emotionally driven - we need a little more than somebody telling us we're supposed to do something.  This morning walk gave me exactly what I needed in this arena.  Halfway through the kids wanted to rest and they sat at this bench on the edge of the pond.  They weren't terribly out of breath, but they just sat still quietly talking and taking in the view.  Little sister proved to be tired from then on out and then pouted about how tired she was once we got home.

When we got home, we started schoolwork and EVERYONE had such a good attitude, myself included.  It wasn't until I experienced this surge in energy and attitude that I was reminded of how important going outside is to so much - even morale!

It's easy to get busy and in a rut, but when you feel how effective that energy is, you will WANT to start a new habit!

Training the Body, Training the Soul

A guest post from Mr. Butler:

A Greek word "Arete" used in 2 Peter 1:5 "Add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge..."gets translated as "virtue" or "moral excellence".  This word choice in English is rather watered-down.  In Greek society the word "Arete" spoke to the kind of mental/physical connection that went into the Greek training lifestyle.  The training they committed themselves to intertwined physical training (boxing, foot racing, wrestling, etc) with spirituality and mental training.  Training the body WAS training the soul.  Arete encompassed the idea of excellence in intellect and action with distinctly moral overtones.

What do you do when what you do is not what you want to do?  Chasing a dream that fulfills you, and ultimately landing it are sometimes mutually exclusive.  Try as you might it may never happen.  Some people follow heart, and get that dream only to find they've lost something in the process. Some are scared and never take a leap and beat themselves up for the rest of their lives.  Still others know what could fulfill, but make a conscious effort to subvert those feelings and that gratification for other reasons or they strive to achieve them on their own terms without the loss seen by our first example.


For me, going to the gym started out and continued for 10 years to be an endeavor solely striving for aesthetic gains.  Looking good is the major driver for most people's goals at any gym I've attended, but over the past couple of years though, my mentality has shifted from that mindset to one in which I'm trying to be the best form of myself I can be.  The nobility that is embodied in "arête" pushes the goals I set for myself now.  Looking good becomes the byproduct of being able to lift heavier weights and being more flexible and athletically conditioned.  Along with that physical training comes a goal to read more thoroughly and indoctrinate myself with a life where reading and study in many veins is the norm now.  I've made goals to read 20-30 books a year (about one every two weeks) which includes bible reading. Inevitably it isn't about the individual items I do, but rather about the mentality behind the undertaking.

This kind of training doesn't appeal to everyone and there are various reasoning's for it all.  Many times it comes down to the way we prioritize our lives and how consciously we say "yes" and "no" to the various minutiae that seep in if left unchecked.  For instance the simple act of turning off notifications on your phone or email can cause anxiety, but once done becomes a freeing realization that you were once slave to a ping. In the same way physical training doesn't have to be lifting heavy weights or wrestling; it can be a walk, a fast, a diet that is conscious.  The strenuousness of the exercise is not the main intent, but rather the mental overcoming of the body that can and will lead to spiritual growth.

So go back to the original question about how we chase dreams and what we do about those.  Following your heart and never taking the leap both have components of incomplete "Arete" to them.  For every example of someone who followed their dreams and succeeded there is someone who made trade-offs about what they have chosen to do: be it foregoing money or time with family or time for themselves.  For the person too scared to make a leap, it's the body dictating the mind and the dissonance that creates anxiety.  But in that last person who makes the conscious decision to abstain from gratification and not live with guilt, or obtain it without sacrificing other precious things that  we see the fulfillment of "Arete".

Polykleitos, the greek sculptor, said it like this, "Perfection comes about little by little through many numbers."

Consciously abstaining, or obtaining something in a slower time frame is so foreign in our society as to look strange. But in this abstaining or the slow-life, we find value.  When we make conscious decisions it's not easy, but we strengthen ourselves when we do and that strength radiates out in a way nothing else can accomplish.  Being able to tell yourself, "I will lift this weight" or "I won't eat that" or "I won't sacrifice time with my kids" allows us to do the same in other areas.  "I won't cheat" and "I won't lie" is easier when we've made the connection between our physical self and our emotional and spiritual self.  Doing so requires effort but this effort produces good.

Philippians 3:12-14 says it like this, "Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Healthy Choices Matter: Let's Be Well

If you are a local friend of mine or follow on Facebook, you've probably heard me mention my association with IN.FORM through my work with The Herb Garden.  It is a weight-loss program put together by Nature's Sunshine that works and promotes health, not just a smaller waste.  If you are interested in more information about it, let me know.  That isn't the purpose of this post though.  I want to talk about how the choices we make with our body (and as parents our children's bodies) has a direct effect on their health, sometimes long-lasting, even if it feels like it shouldn't matter so much.

In the realm of health, medicine or science, there is a lot that I don't know and am never intending to diagnose or cure anyone.  Every circumstance is different and there is no way I could or should expect my thoughts to apply everywhere.  I have had a lot of experience and exposure through my own health, the health of my children and my work with The Herb Garden that has convicted me of some important things that the average American either does not know, acknowledge or put into practice.

Dinner time is one of our favorites!

With so much disease that often doesn't make sense, it behooves us to remedy the issues that clearly do make sense.  Let's do what we can!

Weight-gain is a health risk, not a body shaming opportunity.  At best, we all have different ideal weights.  Our genes decide how big our bones are, so we are never supposed to be the same size as whoever the chosen queen or king of culture is today.  How good or bad we look AND how much we care about that, is largely up to us.  Regardless of that, unhealthy weight-gain is a health risk.  That means it changes the way our body works.  From little things like shortness of breath and tiredness to a greater risk of diabetes, stroke, cancer and depression.  How you eat and how little you move can, in some cases be the deciding factors between developing these diseases or not.  If that applied to you or your family member, why wouldn't you make some changes?

What you eat directly effects how well your body works.  It is common in our culture to get cranky and rebellious about diets or some nut job trying to tell us how to live our lives.  It is common, but it doesn't benefit us or our families.  How many vegetables you eat in a day determines how many vitamins and minerals your body gets.  The levels of nutrients your body maintains impacts your immune system which often determines whether or not you get every cold in a 5 mile radius.  Or things like skipping breakfast and trying to work until lunch on nothing but a donut.  Protein is involved in EVERYTHING in your body, so not getting enough can lead to increased infections, irritability, weakness, loss of muscle and certainly hurts brain activity.  Not the best plan before a test or big meeting.  Now don't get me wrong, everyone is different and therefore effected differently by different foods, meal times, etc.  But, once you start paying attention, you can tell what foods helps you live a better life and what perpetuates health problems and bad habits.  And with your children, they are often even less equipped to understand the messages their body is sending them.  It's our job to teach them.

                                           

Where there is disease or a health issue, a change in diet or lifestyle has to be made to see great improvement.  From the big diseases like cancer and heart disease all the way down to allergies and respiratory conditions, if you are hoping for improvement, the very least you need to be doing is eating a colorful healthy diet and moving!  Especially children that struggle with asthma or crazy allergic reactions, in general a change in diet and lifestyle can go a long way in correcting struggles like this.  And in case you didn't know, sugar is in everything and in the doses we typically get, sugar makes everything worse.  Sad story, but undeniable fact.


We all have different struggles and different priorities, but feeling well enough to do the things we love is probably something we share.  I love the herbal remedies and nutritional education I've received through The Herb Garden and Nature's Sunshine, but even if you don't share that appreciation, cooking and eating at home, drinking more clean water, including more veggies and healthy fats, and making physical activity part of your life are simple straight-forward things that will change your life!  And just imagine if our children and grandchildren grew up understanding how valuable wise choices about their food and activity were!

It's easy to dismiss things like eating better and moving more as 'not that big of a deal' or 'not the most important thing'.  And I get that.  It is hard.  And making healthy choices doesn't always fit right away with your budget or schedule and it doesn't feel like it should matter so much.  But when there is hardly a person who doesn't have a major health complaint or major disruption to their life because they can't get out of bed or they are depressed or they are just in so much pain or they can't focus or breathe or cancer is continuing to show up everywhere - It is just becoming very clear that like it or not, it DOES matter.  Moderation, absolutely.  Enjoy your food - YES! But living like it doesn't matter and then wondering why our bodies seem to be against us, well that just isn't wise.  None of us can control the genes we were given or be master of all environments or circumstances, so health issues will come.  I just hope we can all understand more how our choices can benefit or hurt those issues.

No Nonsense November: Mondays

On Sunday nights, the thought of facing a Monday morning feels like this:

After I've actually gotten up on time and finished my workout, I feel like this:

A Joyful Habit

Talking about our problems is our greatest addiction.  Break the habit.  Talk about your joys.  

-Rita Schiano

Joy in its purest form

Everyone needs a safe place to talk through problems.  No question.  But I usually try to make every place a safe place and every moment an emergency counseling session.  Sit back and listen today to how many conversations consist of complaints and woe-is-me talk.  I was convicted by what I heard - especially by what was coming out of me.

So, I'd like to start practicing a new habit and share with you a few of my joys today!

Separations and Homecomings My husband was gone for almost a week and I didn't handle life well.  Now that he is home, I'm a much better wife than when he left.  Being apart, dealing with circumstances I disliked has made me so much more grateful and joyful for a run of the mill Thursday!

Learning and Discovery In teaching piano and in raising my son, I get to witness learning and new discoveries every day! It is so fun to witness the look of pride on a person's face when something clicks.  And I pray that everyone takes their opportunities to learn and explore.  It's definitely worth the time and effort!

Exercise and Real Food I've been blessed with excess weight after J was born that has been a thorn in my side, literally.  It has been a blessing because I couldn't just will or wish the fat away and time didn't simply take care of it either.  To lose weight I have had to exercise hard and often.  To lose weight I've had to cut out sugar, junk food and limit my eating out choices.  I'm thankful for all of this because I'm slowly learning how much power we have over our bodies and lives if we learn how to treat them right.  I'm so happy that I have options that help change ME!

What are you joyful about today?

My Evolution of Exercise

When Mr. Butler and I started dating, he went to the gym regularly before class and he started dragging me along with him.  I hated it.  

When we got married, he would get up about 5:30 every morning to go to the gym before work and I went with him.  I still hated it.  

About 2 months before I got pregnant I committed to exercising more than I ever had before.  And I started to enjoy it.  

While I was pregnant I exercised as much as I could.  I regretted not pushing myself more before when I was able to.

Now, I can't go more than a day (I try to do something 6 days a week) without really missing it.  

Last month the NY Times posted an article about the mental benefits of exercise.  For the longest time I associated exercise with a path to lose weight and just a boring prescription for better health that you couldn't really feel.  It just seemed like punishment.  Now, even just today, exercise helps me think.  I'm sure part of it is having a kid and the toll it takes on your brain, but exercising decreases my stress, increases my mental and physical energy, boosts my mood and optimism, improves my body image (even when the image of my body hasn't improved any), and all of those things in part and in whole makes me a better person - wife - mother - friend.

I've often heard arguments against taking the time to exercise, saying our focus as Christians shouldn't be on our physical body, but our spiritual body.  It's true that our spirits are eternal and ultimately what matter most.  But the physical is either going to be a tool or a hinderance. If you have trouble focusing, remembering, staying calm, being positive or staying well, then I'd say your physical body is hindering your spiritual life and exercising could help improve and extend it.

I know as well as anyone how hard it is to MAKE yourself do something that you don't enjoy, that is hard and even hurts to do.  Just know that if you wait to start, it'll only get harder and the sooner you start the more you'll improve and benefit from it.

A year from now you'll wish you'd started today - Karen Lamb

Works for Me: Exercise

I'm not a poster girl for weight-loss yet, but I have found a couple of things that really work well for me.

The Firm Express
This is a set of DVDs, 13 in all, that each contain a 20 minute workout.  The set is designed to last you 30 days, exercising 3 days a week, a different workout each time.
Why I like it: It is a vigorous workout in just 20 minutes, but it's completely doable.  It is constantly changing or adding different patterns so you're not doing 100 push-ups or 50 squats in a row.  And you're not doing the same workout day in and day out.  I get bored super easy so this is a perfect thing for me!
Why you might not like it: If you're new to workout or get flustered (meaning you're likely to quit) when you can't do it perfectly the first time, you probably ought to work up to this.  It's very fast paced.  And it's a little expensive - $104 with shipping included.

Another note about this workout is that I didn't start feeling the greatest impact until I started working out 6 or 7 days a week, shuffling some of the cardio workouts into the off days.  I still only worked out 20 minutes a day, but the daily as opposed to 3 days a week seemed to really give me the boost I needed.

Water
This might sound archaic, but one of the biggest factors in my weight-loss is drinking enough water.  If I go a couple of days on less than a gallon of water a day, everything starts complaining and my body just stalls out.  If you've never been a big water drinker, I would say try drinking a set amount (a little more than normal) for a week and see if it doesn't make a difference.

Sleep
Just like water, without enough sleep my body resists everything and doesn't utilize the workouts as well.

A 5 Day Edge

Weight loss and lifestyle changes are on everyone's lips right now and I LOVE it!  It's always great to see others succeed in this area and right now its especially encouraging to me in my own hill I have to climb.  The hardest part is always getting started and sticking with it for more than a couple of days.  If that's where you are at, don't quit yet!

After about a month after having Jude, I was starting to ease my way back into exercise.  Right before the holidays I felt good about where I was at and hopeful about my progress.  Then I got sick.  And Randy got sick. Then New Year's activities left me with little sleep or exercise.  Long story short, any good feelings about my progress had been swallowed up.  Sooooo frustrating!

Today was my 5th day in a row to workout and I feel awesome!  Once your body gets the message that you're not just doing something out of the ordinary today, but really trying to make this a regular thing, it finally jumps on board.  The motivating exhilaration I felt because of the success makes me want to keep it up.  There is nothing like it.  The key is keep it up.  As long as I'm doing what it takes to eventually be the size I want, I don't get impatient about not being there yet.  So, whether it is exercise or anything else in the resolution bag, let's keep it up and not quit together!

Prenatal Workout Recommendation

Though I have not always exercised as much as I desired and intended to, I have been able to maintain a fitness level that I am proud of, all things considered.  The number one thing I've been able to do most of the time is walk 5-6 days every week for 30 minutes or more. That's free and relatively easy to do.  But walking can only do so much so before I got pregnant I went on a search for a safe but challenging prenatal workout.  This one came highly recommended and after using it (at least some) throughout my pregnancy, I feel confident in sharing it with those interested.

Summer Sander's Prenatal Workout, if done consistently, does two things that I love.  #1 It challenges your entire body to stay fit, regardless of the changes going on.  #2 It addresses pregnancy pains/symptoms with the program.  For each trimester there is a completely different workout, which is hard to find in workout DVD's like this.  

My one 'testimony' is from about a month ago.  Before I started the 3rd trimester program, I had a lot of hip, pelvic and lower back pain off and on all day.  Within two days of my first routine, the pain was almost gone.  Since starting the 3rd trimester, I no longer have any issues in that area. More than anything, I attribute that to the squats they incorporate into EVERYTHING. But still, the entire thing is sooo good.  So, if you're ever looking for a good workout DVD for pregnancy, give this one a try. It is available on Amazon for $12.