The Spin Cycle!

During my time of fasting and prayer, I had a lot of time to think about my workouts for when I would be done with the fast and back at the gym. Today, I fulfilled one of those workouts.

I had dreamt about riding the bike and just sweatin' from the workout. Today, I hit the bike and gave it all I had for 20 minutes. And my legs were like Jell-o afterwords. Even now, I'm starting to feel the soreness in my rear!

To top off today's "welcome back to eating and going to the gym", I did some crunches and reverse crunches on the bench.

Tomorrow, I start with strength training. I am putting together a plan tonight to maximize my lunch hour at the gym.

Thanks for hanging in over these past few weeks.

A season of renewal...

The new year always comes with the promises of new beginnings and refreshing for our physical and emotional bodies. We should not neglect the Spiritual.

So, in lieu of blogging about weight loss and the activities that go about doing that, I want to blog about what God is doing in my life. Because, as much as we might strive to meet some number goal on the scale, counting calories burned vs. calories consumed or striving for physical fitness, if we neglect the spiritual side of our lives - we've gained (or loss) nothing!

For as long as I can remember, I have always taken the beginning of the year to set some goals to connect with God on a deeper level. One of the goals has been to begin the year with some sort of a fast. For the past 2 years, our church has been participating in a corporate time of 14-days of fasting and prayer. This year, I'm fasting the entire 14-days.

Today is day 5.

I have been taking time to slow down, sleep more, pray more, read my Bible and just plain ol' connect with God. It doesn't take long to realize how much I've neglected just spending time with God - connecting with Him on a heart level. I've just put some worship music on and just rested before HIM. My middle of the night - wide awake moments have become times of prayer and communion. My lunch hour time in my car has become my sanctuary - reading my Bible and listening to worship music or just quietly praying before God (right before I take a power nap).

I've gone to the gym a couple of times, but I've just casually walked on the treadmill. I've been going to bed much earlier and enjoying more rest and quiet in my home. The TV has basically been off all week. I've been enjoying the break from most of the world (except for the work aspect - which is a whole other blog!).

So, when the fast is over, I'll be back on track with the gym and dieting and all the other good stuff for weight loss, but in the meanwhile, I will be "working out" my spiritual muscles and spending sometime in God's Gym!

A New Year - A Size healthier!

I'm back!

Bigger and better than ever (metaphorically speaking).

I was able to maintain the weightloss that I have obtained throughout this holiday season that included a cruise to the Bahamas (see the obligatory dolphin-hugging photo), a trip home to eat lots of my mom's homemade goodies and a week of sickness (maybe bronchitis). I didn't make it to any gyms, but did a lot of walking on the cruise and some very good food choices.

Since I am now somewhat back into the routine of doing LIFE (you know, working, sleeping on a schedule, etc...), I am also back into the routine of going to the gym during my lunch hour. I have been taking it a bit easy over this week - just doing the cardio thing. The goal - burn 300 calories. Starting next week, I will incorporate strength training into the routine. I've actually been dreaming of doing crunches and anything that would have to do with the abs. I don't know what it is...

I am going to adopt Queen Latifah's slogan, "A size healthier!" That's my 2009 goal - a size healthier!