I've reached my previous low of 184.2

Today my weight matched my previous low of 184.2.  I include another chart to show that daily weight can very much be a yo-yo.  These yo-yo periods teach us that many factors go into how our body regulates weight, and changes from day-to-day can affect it.  But as long as one is following the calorie budget and getting in the daily exercise, the trend will be downward, and that's what is most important.

The upgrade to 900 steps plus doing a lot of yard and gardening work has really taxed my body this week.  Last night I tried to talk myself into not doing steps, into taking an extra day off to recover, but luckily for me, my stubbornness this time was on the side of not yielding.  As I did the steps, I felt it more in my muscles than I have for a long time, but that is good.

And that's what life is all about -- doing more than we think we are capable of doing so we become stronger.  If we only did what was comfortable and easy, we would be physical weaklings.  The difficulties of life in past centuries for the common people naturally produced more physical strength, but with the coming of modern conveniences, it is all too easy to slip into being a couch potato.

The same is true spiritually.  We develop a vending machine mentality -- just as we put our coins into vending machines and expect a product to be dispensed immediately, we expect immediate blessings from our obedience and virtue.  And as we buy insurance to protect us from the cost of medical and other emergencies, we expect our obedience and virtue to protect us from all adversity and hardship - a cover-everything, no deductible, no co-pay policy.  The expectation of being free from adversity and hardship is wholly contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I love the way it is expressed in this verse:

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.  Helaman 5:12

Why does God allow the devil to attack us so viciously?  To develop spiritual strength. We should look at adversity and hardship as being just as important for developing spiritual strength as physical activity and exercise is for developing physical strength.  And just as I've accepted God as my personal trainer in developing greater physical strength through weight control and physical activity, I must accept God as my personal trainer in developing greater spiritual strength.

Click chart to enlarge.

A new change in my Plan -- Increase steps from 800 to 900

I had just started my steps on Thursday night (5-19-11) when I felt inspired to increase the number from 800 to 900.  I quickly responded that I wanted to wait till  . . . but the thought was cut off in my mind, and I continued to feel inspired to increase to 900.  So I did.  Thursday night is my Odd-Day routine, where I do arm exercises while doing the steps.  When I was doing 500 steps, I only did 5 arm exercises, 100 for each, in sets of 20, and I would work up to doing the arm exercise for about 15 out of each 20.  When I graduated to 600 steps, I simply did 120 for each of the 5 exercises.  At 700 steps, I added 2 more arm exercises to do and still did 100 for each, with 10 out of each 20 steps doing the arm exercise, and the remaining 10 holding the weights in my hands.  By that time I was up to the 10# weights.  At 800 steps, I started doing 120 steps for each of the main 5 arm exercises, and 100 steps for the remaining 2.  Now at 900 steps, I do 140 for each of the 5 main exercises and 100 for the remaining 2.

It was quite a challenge to jump from 800 to 900 steps, but I got it done.  The next night, Friday night, was my Even-Day routine of doing the steps with added weight equivalent to what I've lost during this current plan.  On Friday night, that was 28 lbs.  I use ankle weights, wrist weights, and a weighted vest.  Even though I'm doing nothing but the steps, the added weight is quite a challenge, more so than the Odd-Day routine.

In addition to the added difficulty of the steps, I've been doing a lot of yard work.  So I'm very, very glad today is Sunday and I can rest from all my labors!

I'm getting very close to my 2nd short-term goal of breaking through the 184.2 low that I set twice before -- as the weights for the last three mornings are:  185.4, 184.6, 185.0.    I'll wait until I've broken through before publishing another chart, since I just published one a few days ago.

As far as weights, if I were using a scale that showed only lbs, there wouldn't be any change for days.  It all comes out in the wash, but there is a definite psychological advantage to see some incremental improvement.  At least I think so.

If you are looking for a good scale, I recommend HealthMeter.  I picked mine up at an Alco store years ago, and it's so dependable and consistent.  If you can't weigh yourself 2-3 times consecutively and get the same weight, you don't have an accurate scale.  If you can't weigh and then pick the scale up and move it to another place, and weigh again with the same results, you don't have an accurate scale.  With my HealthMeter, I can do that.