I’m excited this month to be adding strength training and ab work to my fitness routine.

It can be easy to skip over the weight lifting portion of fitness when one has a lot to lose, but I know from experience in the past, that building muscle can be one of the best things you can do for your weight loss.

I’m prepared for a possible plateau or even gain on the scale as I’ve seen this happen before and we all know that muscle weighs more than fat…BUT we need to remember the ultimate goal is to lose the fat and get our bodies healthy and fit.  The future vision I have for myself is one of someone that is strong and fit.

The ab work (and later adding Pilates) will be great for our core. I want to increase my flexibility as well as my strength and endurance. The challenge is a process that will completely unfold over time. I intent to change up my exercise routine as time goes on, helping to fight the battle of boredom and to help propel myself out of plateaus when necessary.

I know that my body will adjust to the calorie intake and exercise if I do not plan for change so I am building this into my plan from the beginning. I’m intentionally NOT adding too much exercise at once so that I can add more as I go.

So, I’m starting off slow with the abs and strength training, working up to my favorite 8 Minute Ab Dvd workout and the 3 sets of weights for the strength training.

We can do it! Let’s get strong! 😉

Wow! I can’t believe that I am in week 4 of the weight loss challenge and I have lost my first (of many) 10 lbs!

This feels great! 🙂

I knew that I would start to notice, once I lost that first 10 lbs, and this is definitely the case. I wouldn’t say that I can tell so much in my clothes, (I tend to wear everything as baggy as possible it seems) but I am definitely feeling tons better already. WooHoo!

Exercising and healthy eating are starting to feel like the habits that will become my life. I wouldn’t say that I’m absolutely there as I know it does take a bit to develop this, but I KNOW that it is coming!

I would definitely have to do say, that the most difficult part for me so far, was just making the decision to really do this and maybe fighting old patterns that first week or so. BUT now that I’m on my way and over that first hurdle, I can see myself going in one direction and not looking back…I KNOW that I am making this change for a lifetime. I’m at 268 and I won’t be in the 270’s again! I’m going to be telling myself this each time the scale sees a new set of digits! 😉

Of course I cannot wait to be under 200! This will be a HUGE deal for me!

How are you doing? Please do check in by posting your comments.

I’ve discovered that walking to the local grocery store is a perfect thing to do in the morning.  I think I mentioned that I don’t currently have a car and have been very frustrated about this situation until recently. (more on that another time)

I’ve been walking about 30 minutes or so to the grocery store, doing my shopping and then loading my backpack to walk home again. The trick is to not go crazy and put too much weight on my back as I do not want to have a repeat of the earlier back injury that kept me from exercising altogether.  I think I should plan to do this frequently as I need produce and other perishables. When I need to do a bigger shop – for heavier items or a lot of items at one time, I will take the bus to Walmart as I have been doing.

I’m starting to feel much better about not having a car – just trying to have the discipline to wait on this until it makes sense financially AND recognizing that it’s things like this (walking to the grocery store) that are supporting me in the weight loss challenge.

Hmmm…do you think perhaps God knew best when I was praying so desperately for a way to get a car months ago? 😉