The Huffmaster Family

Jan 24

I was getting a bit weary yesterday, but due to the encouragement of some dear online friends, and some nice comments from church friends yesterday, I got back after it at the gym this morning at full momentum! Encouragement is SO important in this journey!! If you don’t have a healthy living buddy I highly suggest you run out and get one right NOW! LOL

I did a mile around the track at the gym, and did a total of 300 upper body reps on 6 machines! WHEW!! Feels GOOD!!!! Tomorrow is my weigh in day for the challenge I’m doing with some message board friends, but I’m not due to measure until 2/12 (if I can wait that long). I’m SO anxious, but I’ll get over it. The point is I’m moving and not just sitting around all day, verbally directing anymore!

For those that are just starting this journey - YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For those that are getting weary as I was - KEEP GOING!!!!! YOU ARE DOING GREAT!!!!!

Blessings,
Dawn

Jan 23

Thoughts On Food And Update On Me

And I seem to think a lot about food lately!
No one said loosing weight would be easy, so I wonder why I was deceived for so many years, thinking it would be. The weight loss industry is big business! They don’t make their money in gym memberships though that’s for sure! They make their money pushing miracle pills that will make the weight melt right off (to that I say WHAT ever!) and selling their books that tell you exactly how you should eat, and if you do it their way then everyone can loose weight. So why doesn’t that work for everyone?

I’ll tell you why in a nutshell! There IS NO MAGIC PILL, OR PERFECT BOOK PEOPLE!! THERE IS NO OVERNIGHT SOLUTION! Getting healthy takes time, energy, sweat, and sometimes tears!

When we try and get healthy we are not doing it as a group, but as an individual. The Lord created us each by the work of His hands. None of us are exactly the same as someone else, and while certain diets may work well for a large number of people, they do not work for every individual, and those individuals end up heartbroken at their failures and yep, still fat. In those individuals is where my heart lies.

The Word of God has quite a bit to say about food, and eating. Here are just a few verses.

Genesis 2:16-” And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:”

So what comes from trees? Apples, oranges, bananas, cherries, and the list could go on and on. Fruit comes from trees, so we know that fruit is good for us!

Genesis 9:3 -”Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.”

Here we see moving, living things, and the green herb given for nourishment. Now I know some non meat eaters who would say BLECK to that, and I totally respect you for it. I don’t see anywhere that is says we MUST eat living moving things, but we have the freedom to eat them or not.

Exodus 29:2 - ” And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour shalt thou make them.”

Notice it says WHEATEN flour, not bleached enriched white flour! So one can assume as well that thing made with wheat are good for us, and things with all the extras are not good for us. It also mentions that the bread is unleavened, but being no Biblical scholar I don’t know if the unleavened bread was only for a certain time, or if yeast in general is unhealthy, so I won’t make the assumption to say all yeast is bad and just leave it that wheat is good.

Deuteronomy 8:8 - ” A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;”

The Lord calls this a “good land” in the verse preceding, so we can here assume that wheat, barley, things grown on the vine (think of all the yummy things that grow on vines), figs, pomegranates, olive oil (I don’t see partially hydrogenated vegetable oil listed LOL), and honey are ALL good for us!

That is all the verses about food I will list, but you get the picture.
May I encourage you all to go through your Bible and look up meat, wheat, food, etc and see what the Lord has to say about it, and decide for yourselves what is good for the body and what is not.

Now I’m not saying that ALL nutritional or diet books are bad, of course they aren’t. Most are backed by scientific studies and such and contain some good information, but the point is they shouldn’t guide 100% of your eating habits. Take the good information from them, throw out the bad information, and come up with a plan that is right for YOU, the individual being that the Lord God created.

I love to learn from you all so if anything I’ve said is in error, I’m ready to learn!

Now for the fun, personal update stuff!
I didn’t get to go to the gym today, because baby had me up all night, but I did do my WATP dvd so I walked 2 miles! I also was able to go faithfully to the gym last week, so hopefully it will all pay off when I do my official weigh in and measurements on 2/12 (ish or until I can’t stand the suspense anymore).

It’s time now, I think, to pump up my exercise a bit and really watch what I’m eating, and sticking to the healthiest foods, in moderation, from here on out. I have found that my “hunger” and “full” cues are back! I am eating less at a sitting by eating slowly, chewing completely, and drinking sips pf water between bites,and waiting for my body to say, OK you are full, stop now. I don’t eat for just sheer pleasure anymore, I eat because I am hungry. I’m not arguing with my cues anymore.

I don’t want to “burn out” on anything as I have in the past, so in everything I have to stay faithfully in prayer for strength, and courage…this is a scary ride for me!

Blessings,Dawn

Jan 19

Walking Is WAY More Fun!

When you walk around a track instead of on the treadmill! That’s my discovery of the day. I was beginning to get really, REALLY board walking on that treadmill, so I asked the gym attendant how many laps around their track makes a mile and he told me 19. That sounded like SO many but I did it, was much more energized, and it only took 10 minutes! That’s 6MPH instead of the 3-3.5 I was doing on the treadmill! AWESOME!!!

So I did that, then did the weights for 30 minutes, then went back and walked another 10 laps for a total of about 1.5 miles, but I cut my actual walking time in 1/2 doing it that way!

I’m still not believing I did 1.5 miles in 15 minutes total, so I’m going to carry my pedometer with me on Monday to double check what they told me. Yes it’s me of little faith again! But hey it only takes a mustard seed, and I definately have at least that much!

I also picked up a DVD by Leslie Sansone called Walk Away The Pounds Express 1 and 2 mile walk because her exercise products came so highly recommended by my internet friends, so I’m hoping to work up to doing that 2 mile walk every afternoon. It’s for walking in your home and you only need about a 4 foot x 4 foot area, and I think she also adds in some aerobic arm movement type activities as well but the little video I saw on her website. You can see the website HERE and then the little demo video is under About In Home Walking.

So I’m ending my gym week since I only go M-F, and I plan to do the WATP DVD in home on Saturdays and then resting from intentional exercise on Sunday.

AFTERNOON UPDATE!
OK here is my review of WATP Express the 1 mile portion:

It was AWESOME and FAST!!! When the little thing came up and she said we’d done a 1/2 mile I was like no way, I haven’t even got started good yet and then in no time I had done a mile!

I like that she engages in conversation with the other walkers and that she had walkers of all ages. I didn’t like though that all the walkers were already “fit”. I would have like to see a couple that looked more like me.

The first song on the video sort of annoyed me, but I got over that pretty quickly with the second song picked up the tempo a bit.

The back kicks…oh I could feel the burn by then, but it wasn’t so bad I had to stop or anything.

I also like that at any time, you could go back to just walking and jump back in when you needed to, unlike aerobics where if you miss something you are totally lost for the rest of the session.

I liked too that I could use my stretchy band! I hadn’t used it yet.

Tomorrow I’m going to try the 2 mile and do it with the kiddos!

I think my next fitness purchase will be a pedometer that counts distance and not just steps, because I just can’t believe I’m walking as much as I am, as quickly as I am. As my 4 year old says, “I think they are fibbin’ me!”

I’ll see y’all next week!
Blessings,
Dawn

Jan 16

All Better

Well I’m all over my illness and feeling MUCH better!!!
I have been back at the gym pretty much full swing since Monday…oh today is only Tuesday isn’t it.
I can’t do quite as much cardio because I’m still coughing a bit (the heavy breathing makes me cough LOL) so I’ve been doing extra weight training instead.

I got a bit of advice this morning from a super nice young couple that is there most every morning. When you are trying to build lean tissue to burn fat, but not really “muscle up”, it’s better to lift a lighter amount of weight, for a longer amount of time (more repetitions), than it is to lift a lot of weight, for less time.
If you are trying to really build muscle, then you would want to lift more weight for less repetitions.

So I’ve lowered the amount of weight I’m lifting and doing more repetitions with that instead of trying to kill myself lifting alot of weight in 2 minutes!

I’m going to try to add more cardio back in tomorrow, so we’ll see how that goes.

Also remember me saying I was only going to weigh in once per month…well for my own selfish reasons I’m weighing everyday! I joined the National Body Challenge (Discovery Health) and every time you weight in you are entered to win a million dollars and some other cool prizes!
Another selfish reason I’m weighing in more regularly is I joined a Weight Loss challenge at a message board I belong too, so I have to weigh in once per week there. There was an entry fee per person so I stand to win a good chunk of change . More so though I’m looking forward to being able to encourage these ladies and to be encouraged by them! See told ‘ya, selfish reasons! *wink* It’s not bothering me in the least though, like I thought it would. I’m doing all I can to be healthy no matter what the scale says, although for now it’s still in my favor! I am still only measuring and “officially ” weighing in monthly ,and the measurements are what counts in my opinion!

The changes I’m going through on the “inside” are really amazing me though. I’m beginning to hold my head a little higher, I’m looking people in the eye when I speak to them. In other words my self confidence is building all by the grace of God. But, I’m still humble enough to know though that I can do nothing without Christ by my side!!

Blessings,
Dawn