144.4 Strength Training

I lost a pound yesterday and I wasn't even trying to. It will come in handy at "The Donut Church" this morning! Kids call Valley View Baptist Church Spokane "The Donut Church" because they always have donuts out when you get there. My favorite are the maple bars. Last Sunday I had two and gained a pound. I lost that pound in the next few days, as required by my lifestyle change.

Two vicious pitbull dogs were loose in the park yesterday. They attacked my dog on his leash. I firmly told all three dogs, "NO!" That did break up the fight momentarily. A neighbor firmly told the pitbulls, "Go home," but they continued to follow me from 50 feet away or so. I was on the phone (hands free) with my husband and so he heard what was going on and he came to the park with our other dog and a stick. When we met half way he told me the pitbulls were no longer following me. I went the rest of the way home anyway. The upshot of the pitbull incident was I only walked a mile and a third, instead of the usual two miles.

I did some strength training yesterday, as you can see in this picture. Walking my dog is great cardiovascular exercise (what we used to call aerobic exercise). It also strengthens the muscles in my lower body and in my left arm, which holds the leash. My husband explained to me that my right arm and the rest of my upper body need strength training, too. Stronger muscles burn more calories, speed up my metabolism and improve my body mass index. So, I work out a little every day on our Total Gym. Mom, I was trying to explain this to you before. I hope this picture makes it more clear how these exercises work.

The Total Gym uses my body weight as resistance. The platform I sit on moves up and down on the poles. In this picture, I have just pulled my platform up to the top of the poles. When I weighed 240, I had to have the poles slanted a lot less, so that I was almost moving parallel to the floor. A few months ago, I slanted the poles more to increase the resistance. Scott got our Total Gym a few years ago for $100 through a classified ad.

Here is what I ate yesterday and lost a pound, along with walking 20 minutes:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
Small bowl of strawberries and organic soy milk
1 slice of bacon
3 Eggs scrambled in bacon grease with onion sauteed in bacon grease
Baked chicken, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and onion
Small bowl of cheddar cheese flavored popcorn