WLWed: Exercise

This week's topic is…

Exercise

What are you doing for exercise? Is it working for you? Do you need to make changes to your exercise routine? Or if you are not exercising, how can you start? What realistic fitness goals can you set?

I am a girl…through and through.

I have never liked to get dirty or sweaty.  I don't mind seeing other people get dirty or sweaty.  I just don't want to get sweaty myself. 

You can imagine that this has extended to my lack of love for exercising.  But I long ago realized that if I was going to lose any weight, I had to get over this little pet peeve of mine and start exercising.  So I started walking.

Then I realized I wanted to do more than lose fat.  I wanted to tone whatever muscles I still had in my body.  That was when I discovered Pilates.  I have a lot of muscle pain…especially in my back.  So I was hoping the Pilates would stretch those muscles and give me some relief.  I had no idea I might actually enjoy it.

Now I look forward to my work out sessions.  I love the feeling of sore muscles.  I love pushing myself to the limit.  And I love that I can exercise in bare feet.  I know that's strange, but I don't really like big clunky tennis shoes. 

I work out in the morning while my son is doing his school work.  Being a freshman in high school now (how did that happen?!?!), he doesn't need me all the time.  Since the kitchen table is near the living room, I am close by in case he does need me.  It works out perfectly!

Can I tell you another secret?  I also don't like being cold.  And you know work out clothes aren't very warm.  So I've come up with a solution. 

After I get out of bed in the morning, I put on my work out clothes.  Then I put my warm pajamas over my shorts. When I have time later in the morning, I start working out still wearing my pajamas.  As I heat up, I take off the pajamas.  I know it seems a little silly.  But it keeps me from being cold…which keeps me happy

I do need to get back to walking.  But that is so hard in the winter when it gets dark so early.  As I have said before that is something we generally do as a family in the evening.  We have walked a few times in the evening before we leave town, where our office is located.  There is a track near our office.  If we walk right after work, it isn't too dark (or cold) yet.  We also try to walk sometime during the weekend.

All this exercise must be working.  I lost an additional 1.4 lbs this week for a total of 29.6 lbs lost.  As grateful as I am for that 1.4 lbs, I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever reach 30 lbs.  Guess I'll have to work out a little bit more this week.

So I have learned that sweat isn't necessarily a bad thing.  I even had one day last week where all of my work out clothes were dirty.  I considered that a minor success!

What about you my friend?  Have you started exercising?  Remember you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength!

How are you doing with your weight loss goals my friend?  Why don't you join us for Weight Loss Wednesday and share?  Remember…we're all in this together!

It's easy.  Write a blog post about this week's topic and link back to this post.  Then register with Mr. Linky below.  Please know, though, that I reserve the right to delete any link that does not conform to the spirit of Weight Loss Wednesday.  You can also join us on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #wlwed. 

Also please remember to visit some of the other participants as well.  It's very encouraging to know you are not alone in this journey.

Next week's topic…

Support – It’s hard to be successful at anything without support. Who is your support system in this weight loss journey? Are you doing it with a friend? Or what about your husband? I hope you’ll join us next week as we support one another!

In the meantime, remember….

Quitting is not an option!