Crazy week & Preface to Exercise

So Wednesday, I woke up with a scratchy throat and since my body seemed to be lacking sleep, I allowed myself to sleep in.  Same thing happened on Thursday.  But I decided on Thursday that instead of just allowing myself not to workout at all.  I rescheduled my workout for after work.  I am obviously fighting something and when that happens, I want to allow my body to get the most rest possible.  So Thursday afternoon I burned 400 calories on the treadmill.   While you do need to allow your body to get adequate rest when you are not feeling top notch, Exercise can also be helpful as long as you don't have a fever or a severe injury of some type.  If you are able to be up and move around, exercise can be helpful.  It can help you fight off whatever is trying to take over your body.  However, it is good to be mindful that some medications you may take might change the effects of exercise.  If you are battling a cold, be careful that you don't push yourself too hard because when you take a decongestant it already has increased your heart rate.  So be mindful of your body.  Read labels of any medications that you might be taking to see how it might effect your exercise.  Don't overdue it.  Your body needs enough energy to fight what you have got.  Maybe cut down on your exercise that week until you get better.  I know for me, that my breathing was a little heavier than usual when I was working out because of my congestion.  Don't push yourself too hard.  Get to a point where you might sweat a little to help release some of the toxins in your body and then back off.  If your body just doesn't have the energy, allow it to rest.  Eat soup, drink lots of water and tea, take a steamy bath.  Today, I do not have a scratchy throat, but I still have congestion.

Ok, so the next several days in Seven Pillars of Health covers exercise.  I am very excited to see what he has to say.  Exercise is probably the most difficult part of the weight loss and becoming more healthy. . . At least I have found for myself and many other women.  Some men struggle with this too, but I have heard that when it comes down to cutting out certain foods versus letting out their aggression in exercise, men tend to choose the latter. I have battled a lot with might weight since high school and in previous occasions when I have tried to lose weight, I found that it was much easier for me to lose weight with food and I would often skip the exercise because I did not like how hard it made me work!  However, in the past few years I have discovered that one without the other is actually causing more harm to my body then help.  Exercise is extremely important for maintaining a good weight.  As I have mentioned in my other blogs, it is important for your metabolism.  When you don't exercise or have continuous movement, you are not gaining muscle or burning fat.  If you have a desk job, you may find that you have to work a lot harder during your workouts because you are sitting most of the time at work. I know, I have been there.  And you know what, most of my back problems came about due to my sedentary lifestyle.  Ever since I have been working harder at incorporating exercise in with all of the other important stuff, I find that I feel so much better.

I know that I have not been blogging as much as of recent, but what can I say, it's a busy time of the year.  I will try to post at least once a week, if not more.  But with how busy life is currently, I want to be able to enjoy it.  I will try to at least post once a week to update everyone on what has been going on and continue with info that I am learning from SPoH.  And to finish off my blog today, I wanted to post a picture that just shows how much I have progressed in my journey.

This is a picture just to show how much I have progressed in a year and a half.  I could not do it without God, my wonderful husband, and all of you who show your support, encouragement, and keep me accountable.  I still have a long ways to reach my goal, but I am not giving up.  God does not give up on me and He deserves the best from me.