The Huffmaster Family

Our baby had me up most of the night. So between the tummy ache and snuffly nose I didn’t get much sleep. By the time I got up my husband was leaving for work, so I wasn’t able to go to the gym, but there is always tomorrow!!
I am getting to where I really enjoy the quiet time with the Lord while I work on my health. I’m usually one of only 3 people tops at that time of the day, so I put on my headphones with a ladies message tape from Charity Ministries or just listen to the praise music the gym has going (which was a nice shock to get, Christian Praise music playing in the wee hours) and get to work!

I’m getting SO anxious to step on the scale or measure myself, but I know I just can’t do that yet. If there is any change yet, it’s slight, and I don’t want to discourage myself by taking any measurements. But I FEEL better, which is a major goal and it can only get better! My body hasn’t changed, but I am feeling more comfortable in my own skin. I like the me I am today, more than the me I was last week. I will like the me I am next week, better than the me I am today. I feel better about myself because I am doing something about my appearance and health and the changes on the inside will ALWAYS radiate to the outside! Also, because I am spending more time with the Lord each morning, my spiritual self feels much better as well!

Before I was an all or nothing person. If I couldn’t get time with the Lord and ONLY be doing that, then I didn’t spend time with the Lord at all. Now I am learning that the Lord is waiting for me anytime I want to come to Him, even while on the treadmill!

Genesis 19:27
And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD.

Psalm 63:1
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.

Luke 21:38
And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, for to hear him.

Notice how in the Bible when people “go before the Lord”, most times it says they rose early in the day.
It never says that you can’t find the Lord at other times of the day, and a few places I found speaks badly of rising early, if it’s not for the right purpose, but for me it’s been a wonderful blessing to my days!

Well that’s all for today! Off to care for my precious family!

Today begins my 2nd week at the gym!! I was bad yesterday and ate a bit too much junk (but not nearly what I would have last year LOL) so I took it up a notch today and pushed myself a little harder in my workout.

I did 30 minutes (broken up into 10 minutes sessions) on the treadmill and walked a total of 1.5 miles this morning!!! WOW I didn’t know my body could DO that!!! PRAISE THE LORD for his goodness! I also moved the weights up a bit today, so it was a bit harder than last week also doing 30 minutes of that (also broken up into 10 minute sessions) I actually broke a sweat…a REAL sweat!

My uncle showed up this morning at 6:40 to work out with me! I told him he was 40 minutes too late.
It was a nice thought though! My other uncle, he said, was supposed to be there, but wasn’t yet when I left.
So I was finishing up my workout on the treadmill and he was getting started. That was sort of nice to have him there. It was also some good accountability for me to not be there slacking when he arrived!

The children and I are about to go hit the Christmas clearance sales, so I’ll come back another day!

thought I’d take some time to post what goals I am currently trying to achieve to keep myself accountable.Exercise
I do upper body and lower body on different days, because you aren’t supposed to work the same set of muscles, two days in a row. Also I am reading cardio should be done everyday for at least 20 minutes. Following those guidelines, I’ve set up the following program for myself.

• 5 minute warm up and stretching - 5 days per week
• 30 minutes of cardio - 5 days per week
• 20 minutes of upper body weight training - 2 days per week
• 20 minutes of lower body weight training - 2 days per week
• 5 minute cool down and stretching - 5 days per week

Nutrition
Reducing or burning off 500 calories per day will lower your weight by approximately 1lb per week!

• vitamins and sublingual B Complex - everyday
• 125 ounces of water - everyday, based on current body weight (ie: 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water each day)
• 40% protein
• 40% healthy carbohydrates
• 20% fat

At this point I’m not yet doing any calorie counting, but may do that soon. If anyone sees anything that doesn’t look right, let me know! I appreciate your comments!

Did you know regular exercise makes you VERY conscience of what you are putting into your mouth?! Who knew!!!

I’m finding that anytime I get the urge to eat something I know I shouldn’t, my brain automatically tells my hand…ummm do you want to undo all you did at the gym today or have to do double the work tomorrow? PUT THAT DOWN AND STEP AWAY SLOWLY!

I’m just having light bulb moments all over the place lately! It’s great!

I have changed up my routine a bit, now that I know how all the equipment and such works. I was trying to do all 30 minutes of cardio at one time. Well that went well on day 1 and day 2, but by day 3 I was totally burned out on it. SO I’ve made the change to do it 10 minutes at a time. I’m at the gym for 60 minutes so this is what I did today and it was so much better!

5 minutes on the treadmill as a warm up
10 minute weight training
10 minutes on the treadmill
10 minutes weight training
10 minutes on the bike
10 minutes weight training
5 minutes on the treadmill as a cool down at a slow pace

So if I calculated that right, it gave me a one hour workout and I still got 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weight training.

I was only going to do weight training 4 days a week, but I might as well go for a full 5 days, since I don’t want to get out of the habit of doing it, and I don’t want 1 day to be totally cardio. I don’t think I could handle that physically at my current weight. I’m surprised my body is doing what it’s doing at this current weight! The Lord is good to me!

Blessings,Dawn

OUCHY I’m sore today!! Epsom salts bath for me tonight!! My legs feel like lead weights! LOL I still went to the gym at 6am this morning though and worked my upper body some. My main focus is on cardio right now though I think. I enjoy it the most and I can burn calories during that, then the weight training for muscle tone along with it. I did FOUR MILES on the recumbent bike!
I am tired, but it’s a good tired! Not near as much pep in my step today (ok so dh was right), but I’m feeling good and getting things accomplished around here!
Blessings,
Dawn