Breaking the silence...

Have you ever had a whirlwind weekend? This past weekend would definitely fall under that title...hence it's Monday morning, and I'm just taking advantage of my first opportunity to write.

This past week, I added some new gadgets to my little supply of exercise equipment. I've wanted to get a pedometer for awhile, and I found myself with a few extra minutes at Walmart on Wednesday, so I walked over to their "fitness aisle" to see what they had. I browsed for awhile, and then decided on a cheap little blue one. Hey, all I really want it to do is count my steps! I don't necessarily need it to calculate my heart beat, tell me how many calories I've burned, or speak to me and tell me when I've reached my goal number of steps. Just count them for Pete's sake!

I didn't want to invest in an expensive one, because I'm really just curious to know how many steps I actually take in an average day. We are told to set a goal of 10,000 steps/day by the fitness gurus, so I wanted to know how I measured up.

So, I brought my little blue friend home and gave it a try. After reading through the instructions I put the tiny battery in, measured my stride length, set the clock, and stuck it on my waistband. I then proceeded with my workout on the treadmill. I was pleased to see that (if this thing is anywhere near accurate!) I walked over 6,000 steps while on the treadmill. Sweet! I was over the halfway mark and it wasn't even 9:00am! I checked again right before jumping into bed that night, and I'd walked over 12,000 steps that day. Alright! I actually exceeded my expectations.

The other thing I bought was some exercise tubing. Anybody ever used that stuff? I like it a lot. If you're a little leery of using weights for your workout - use exercise tubing. It's very easy to use, and you control the amount of resistance. I'm using it right now to work my triceps muscles, as I can tell they aren't near as strong as my biceps. It's a lot easier to use weights to work biceps (at least, it is for me) but I've struggled with effectively working my triceps. So, exercise tubing is working great for me. I'm feeling the burn in the back of my arms! Exercise tubing also works great with stretching and toning leg muscles. If you're looking for something cheap and effective to use - check it out...you'll like it. =)

I was at the library this past week and spent a little time browsing through the health/fitness section and came across an awesome book on weight training. It's called, "Maran Illustrated -Weight Training". I love it! It has information on everything you'd ever want to know about weight training. Using photos and writing, they show you how to correctly (and incorrectly - so you know what NOT to do) perform hundreds of exercises for your upper and lower body, and they also have designated chapters on how to use an exercise ball and tubing. I flipped to this chapter after buying my tubing and found tons of new ways to work the same muscles. Anyway, if you can get your hands on this book - do it! (I'll return it to the library in a few weeks...=)

So, with all these new pieces of equipment and new exercises, I was curious to see how the weigh in would go. I hung steady at 170lbs this week, but that's okay. I'm enjoying the new clothes I bought a week ago and keeping my head held high.

This weekend was rough on the calorie end. We went out to eat at Pizza Ranch on Friday night after a long, fun, and yet stressful day on Friday. I decided that would be my cheat meal, so I enjoyed a few slices of pizza along with my salad. I forgot, however that Saturday night was our church's annual Chili Cook-off. That turned into another "cheat meal", as I did not do a very good job at saying, "No". Can anyone else relate to that???=) All this past weekend, I've just been craving carbs something fierce. Carbs were one of the hardest thing to get under control in my eating habits, but I've felt very confident these past few months as the Lord has been helping me to balance my meals and keep those carb cravings in check. So, the fact that I kept thinking, "Bread...pasta....pretzels..." all day long was a little odd. What was up? It had been several weeks since I'd struggled so much. My mom brought home some organic spelt sesame sticks on Saturday, and I could have eaten the whole bag! I discovered the answer to my question Sunday evening, which some of you might have already guessed. Yep! It was "that time of the month". So that's what was going on! Why didn't I think of that before?

With all these things going on, we'll see what this Friday brings. In the past, I usually show a slight gain during these "certain weeks" that occur every month. Something to motivate me to work even harder than before and trust God with the outcome.

Eesh! This is what happens when you don't post for a week. So much to tell! Thanks to all of you who participated in the poll. Keep up the good work!

Grateful for His love ~Bekah