The Power of Exercise

At the beginning of 2003, I did the "Body For Life" challenge. It's a type of diet where you eat six small meals a day and go to the gym six days a week. On the seventh day, you rest and eat whatever you want.

After about 8-10 weeks on this diet, I was in GREAT shape. But best of all, I FELT awesome! I remember saying to myself, "I don't care if I don't lose one more pound; as long as I feel good and full of energy, I will always keep exercising for the way it makes me feel!"

Shortly after that, I went on a week's vacation to Mexico, fell off the wagon, and was drug behind the wagon for 5 1/2 years while eating and drinking to my heart's content.

As I said in my first entry, I woke up and smelled the coffee when Jarrod turned 30 in 2007. I thought, "By the time I turn 30, I'm going to be in the best shape of my life."

Now that I have been exercising regularly for 4 weeks, I will say that I feel really good again. I first noticed it when we went to the waterpark with Kevin a couple weekends ago. We were there for 7 hours on a Lousiana summer day (obviously gluttons for punishment), and I didn't feel tired at all!

DISCLAIMER: The next paragraph may be TMI if you don't want to hear about my monthly cylcle.

Then, there's my monthly cycle. It is horrific and has been since I went off the pill 2 years ago. The entire week before, I am horribly irritable. Ask Jarrod, I will just go into a deep depression for hours sometimes, and I don't even know why. It's hormones. Fun. Then the first day of my period, I get cramps from hell and can't even sleep. Well, this month, I didn't get irritable at all and had virtually no cramps. I really think it is the exercise!

So, to summarize, getting up at 4:50 every morning does really suck, but it is worth it. I hope I can stay motivated. I don't want to fall off the wagon again.