Happy New Year!

This past week has been pretty fun. My two youngest sisters have decided that my workout DVD is really exciting, so they've been joining me in the different exercises. Our living room isn't quite big enough for us to all do it together, so they sit on the couch and watch me until I've finished, and then I start over again and do a few minutes with them. It's pretty funny watching them proudly lift their 2 and 3 pound weights over their heads! I'm impressed with how well they watch and imitate the people on the TV screen. Here are a few pictures of us (after I've showered and changed clothes!) doing our exercises together:

This morning I stepped on the scale and it read 166lbs, which is up a pound from last week. I'm not really concerned about it, though. I'm hoping that by doing the exercise DVD - in addition to my time on the treadmill - I'll be adding some muscle weight to my frame. I can tell that I'm getting stronger, and I'm able to keep up with the DVD a lot better than on day one. I can also tell that I've lost some inches this past week or so, even though not many pounds.

A friend who had lost a lot of weight a few years ago gave me some clothes last summer, because she unfortunately has gained a lot of the weight back and her "skinny" clothes don't fit anymore. There were several pairs of jeans, so I threw them into a winter clothes bucket and took them up to the attic. I decided to go hunting through our attic last week to try and find that bucket, and I brought it down and tried some of the jeans on. This summer, I had barely gotten them to zip. (Do you know what "spray on jeans" look like? lol) But now, I've been wearing them all week! They are a size 14, and some of them are even too big. I love tangible progress!

Can you believe that it's a New Year? I'm excited, especially as I keep inching closer and closer to meeting my goal. Have you made any goals for this coming year? I kind of wonder how many people make goals anymore, because it seems like all we hear about are the failures. We don't often hear about the people who actually do the work required to meet their goals. We just hear the statistics that send the message, "You can make goals if you want, but the odds are you'll give up and fail."

Let's be different! Let's break through the plateau of starting out strong, hitting an obstacle, being overwhelmed, and giving up. I challenge you to make goals - realistically, hard, challenging, you-will-grow-through-this goals. Pray for wisdom and strength and then do it! Just do it! No excuses, no pity-parties. If you want to achieve something great, you must give all of your energy to accomplishing it. You can't just give 50%. That's no good! Taking the easy road never gets you where you really want to go. Push.....HARD!

Walking the narrow road with you ~ Bekah