The Exercise Battle

I am on a journey...a get healthy journey.  Since the beginning of January I have lost 11 lbs.  In there were two weeks of "I really don't care" and then I got the book Made to Crave.  It is about satisfying our deepest desires with God and not food.  Once I started to read that everything started to gel in the are of eating.  I will talk more about that in another post.  But up until today the exercise component was pretty much non existent.  
I struggle with trying to fit exercise in to my daily schedule.  The healthy eating is going well but I know that I need to get movin'.  There are many reasons for this: lazy, no time, and I really do not enjoy it initially.  So I polled my Facebook friends and asked the question..When and what do you do to fit exercise into your daily routine?  And Guess what most of them said..."I get up early in the morning"  Many even eluded to the fact that later on in the day it is easier to say all the excuses that I just mentioned.  So with that I headed in to the bedroom when I got home and set my alarm for 5:20.  Yup that's right 5:20 AM. 

Last night I went to bed and read from 9-9:30 and then went to sleep.  And yes I left my alarm set for 5:20 and I actually woke up 10 minutes before my alarm.  Seriously I think there is some psychological issue here with me because no matter what time my alarm is set I always wake up before it goes off!!!  Anyway that is a whole other topic.  So I got up, put on the workout clothes, headed to the family room and popped in a DVD.  This is where I meet with Bob from the Biggest Loser.  Really if I am going to work out I might as well enjoy what I am looking at right?

I have about 6 of the Biggest Loser DVD's and thought that I would try Yoga for my first morning attempt because in my mind "It should be a little easier right?"  Well let me tell you MY MUSCLES HURT!!!  Especially my core.  BUT I feel great!  Not tired but ready to take on my day.

And in God's providence this was in my devotions this morning. We don't expect to get our groceries for free, to get paychecks for doing nothing, or that our cause will advance on its own.  In virtually every area of life, we sacrifice something we have in order to gain something we don't. Made to Crave.  Man did that have meaning today.  If I can sacrifice and work hard in other areas I know that with God's help I can do this too.  And let me be real honest, I said a lot of prayers this morning!!!

The other thing that really got me in my devotions were the verses Luke 9:23-24 TNIV Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.  Ok I have heard this verse before and never really gave it any  thought in connection to weightloss or exercise but then it was written in the MSG...
Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead.  You're not in the driver's seat- I am.  Don't run from suffering; embrace it.  Follow me and I'll show you how.  Self-help is no help at all.  Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.

Wow did I need that.  I know I need to get Healthy both physically and spiritually and I have decided that both journeys are intertwined.  I need to let God help in all aspect of this...with his hand pulling me out of bed in the mornings I think I can do this!!