Day 12 of 5am

So today I did strength training.  I'm not quite ready to work up to a higher level.  I think that is going to take some time.  About 4 years ago, I was having a lot of back pain, primarily in my lower back.  I had lost a good amount of weight just before heading to NIU for a semester only to gain it all back while I was there.  At NIU the only exercise I ever did was walking to and from class.  The rest of the time I was primarily sitting.  After that semester, I started having some back pain.  I thought that it meant I needed to rest my back.  What I discovered was that the reason that my back was experiencing so much pain was for two reasons: my muscles supporting my back were too weak and too much sugar, believe it or not.  If you are experiencing back pains, I would highly recommend starting small but doing exercises to help strengthen your back and dial back on the sugars, including those lovely high carb foods that we all love. :)  There are many websites to check out.  Here's a couple I recommend: http://www.bigbackpain.com/back_exercises.html and http://www.backpainhelp101.com/sugar-could-make-back-pain-worse/.  I hope this information helps someone.  I find that when I am exercising and I reduce my intake of sugar when my back hurts, the pain does subside.  If you are still having issues though, it might be good to consult a doctor.