Day One Hundred and Eighty-Six - When It Comes to Exercise, Just Do Whatever You Can to Get Started

I'm now a week into my morning workouts and I can't say that they are getting any easier.  The great thing is that I'm beginning to enjoy them more.  I am really looking forward to a few weeks from now when this is a habit.  I am enjoying more freedom in my evenings which is huge for me.  I know this will provide great opportunity for me to complete some more projects around the house.  This will especially be true as summer approaches with longer days.  The one thing I'm missing is that it's a little hard to watch something while I'm riding.  I really don't want to wake the house, and watching things with just the captions on just isn't the same.  This past week I've been reading each morning.  I can mirror the book from my phone up onto the TV screen through our Apple TV.  So far that is working, and it's allowing me to reach my reading goal (fifteen minutes per day) without taking any time in the evening.

I also want to walk through my exercise process and plans.  I use an Exerpeutic 900XL Recumbent Bike.  When I began this journey, I would only ride for twenty to thirty minutes each workout (because that was all I could handle).  I then proceeded to expand my time up to forty minutes and finally to fifty.  I had always worked out on the third hardest resistance level, and about a month ago I upped it to the second hardest.  I've been asked by several people when I'm going to add strength training to my routine or when I'll switch up the type of cardio.  I originally chose the recumbent bike for two reasons.  First because it is easier on my knees.  It strengthened my legs without having three hundred and sixty plus pounds on them.  The second reason (and the most important) was that it is the only exercise equipment I own.  I just used what I had at my disposal and started there.  If I'd had a treadmill or elliptical (which I don't and I don't have anywhere to put either) then I would have eventually moved from the bike to one of those.  Eventually, I am going to add running and some strength training.  This won't happen until I'm at a weight that my knees can handle, so probably after I'm getting closer to two hundred pounds.  The point is that I am going to keep consistently working out until I reach my final goal (and beyond).  I know that these things are working for me, and they are what will help me lose my butter half.

My calorie intake today has been pitiful.  I really didn't do well tonight at our Care Group meeting (small group from church).  We had snack foods and I definitely snacked.  There are a few things I'm not entirely sure if I've counted right and I didn't pay as close attention as I should.  On a positive note, I did get up early enough that I got a great workout in before church.