Day 48...and counting

Although I have not been faithful about posting lately, I want my readers to know that I have been exercising daily, and have been following the food restrictions. I had candy in my mouth at the Johnson's last week, chewed it for a few seconds, then spit it out remembering my diet. That was the only time I have been bad, and at least I caught myself.

So, what I've been doing to sweat lately has mostly been upper body. I need to get back into cardio - jogging, etc., but my ankle is still bothering me a little bit. Not enough to even matter when I'm walking or playing with my kids, but every once in a while there is a pain and so I have been wanting to rest it still. I know I can slowly get back into it now.

I've been doing pull-ups, push-ups, crunches, squats, and bicep curls. Lots of days I will do 100 squats (1X100), 100 push-ups (4X25) and 100 crunches (1X100). But I developed a new set that is quick and seems to work well for me. I set a stopwatch for 2 minutes. My rep takes 4 seconds (2 secs up, and 2 secs down) for each exercise, so although I am only doing 30 reps in the 2 minutes, they are very controlled with good form. Sometimes if I just try to crank 100 out, I get sloppy. This workout lasts 10 minutes because I do 2 minutes of each of the following:

• crunches
• push-ups
• squats
• bicep curls
• 2 minutes plank (hold it the whole time)

So, this may sound like a light workout, but at least it keeps me going, and is better than nothing. I like it because it's quick.

Hope to get back into some consistency with my posting.

You'll notice if you counted days, that I should be on day 49, not day 48. I did skip a day - my 10th wedding anniversary. Shame on me.

Day 38

This morning I weighed 161 lbs. I had a great cucumber salad tonight, and did push-ups, sit-ups and squats.

Pastor McMaster spoke on Philippians 2:3-4 today and what I got out of it was that I should be treating my wife in a way that reflects that she's more important than I am. I need to take that into consideration more often.

"...in humility consider others better than yourselves.
Each of you should look not only to your own interests,..."
(so it's okay for me to have interests and do satisfy them at times)
"...but also to the interests of others."

Philippians 2:7 goes on to say that Jesus took on the nature of a servant.

• How can I be treating my wife in ways that will show her that I hold her in a more important place than myself?
  
• How can I do a better job of looking at her interests, and satisfying them?
  
• What would it look like if I took on the nature of a servant in my marriage?

Very important things to consider.

Day 37

Today I did a good upper body workout, with crunches and push-ups. I also took a walk.

I ate a ton of vegetables today, and no sweets.

Really tired - will post more tomorrow.

Day 36

I took a long walk today; still not ready to get back into jogging on my ankle. It's a little sore tonight. I did walk briskly, though, and got good exercise. I also did upper body tonight, bicep curls and push-ups. I want to work on my chest more. I know that push-ups work chest, but I feel like they are working my arms more, at least that's what's sore the next day. Maybe I need to change my form.

I was good with my diet today. This morning I weighed 160.8 pounds.

I have been enjoying Psalms and Isaiah.

Days 33, 34, and 35

Haven't been able to post for the past couple of days due to internet connection problems. I've been eating good, lots of salads and less junk that right around Christmas. I've been keeping with my dietary restrictions. I was thinking back the other day and realized that in the beginning of my 100 days I would do the fitness test each week. I haven't done it at all yet, so I'll do it this week. It's a good, quick workout.

I have been a bit lazy with my workouts the past few days, honestly, just doing a minimum. Day 33 was good, though. I'll try to kick it up a notch tomorrow.

Days 30, 31 and 32

I was on vacation with my wife, away from children, away from the big city, away from life as we know it. And fortunately, away from a computer and internet too, so I wasn't able to post for a few days. I did workout, though, all days. Still staying off my ankle but I did upper body exercises every day.

I also had great quiet times with God, spending lots of time reading and reflecting on what he's teaching me right now. Exciting times.

Day 29

Still recovering from my ankle twist, but I'm walking pretty well today. I did 100 push-ups today for my workout, and weigh 162.4 pounds this morning. I've been enjoying studying daily writings from John Eldredge, and the Bible verses that coincide. They've really got me thinking.

Have been good about eating vegetables, and not cheating on my diet. I had a great salad (chipotle lime shrimp) today, and didn't eat too many desserts.