Day 42

I have not been inactive.... Went for vacation. We walked 3-5 Kms in the mornings and also got an hour of canoeing in! It was soo much fun! Canoeing in Lake Louise and giving it our all was a great feeling. Although I am not in the best shape, I saw how well I did when it came down to my stokes in comparison to others (alright I have to admit... I have gotten taught how to hold a paddle, and took a few canoeing lessons as a child) but still.  I haven't canoed in YEARS! Another thing that has happened which I must let you know of is.... I have now accepted the fact that I need to do strength training again. For some reason I had developed this misguided stereotype of weight training. I read that if one lifted weights then they would get bigger muscles, but would still remain fat. Maybe if I JUST lifted a massive amount of weights, and did absolutely no cardio then there is a chance of that happening, I am not sure completely. But since muscle burns more calories then fat does, and I LOVE to eat, it would make sense that I should have more muscle in-order to eat lots of food while still maintaining my weight! At one point of my life, I lifted weights. I was already slimmer, and I didn't pay that much attention to what it did to my body. But back then I was way more active in general. What happened since then? And why didn't I see the great things that exercise did to my body? Because something was missing and I wasn't in tune with myself. Like I have said before, I gained ALOT of weight! But having gone through such a drastic weight gain, it allows me to look for the real problem. Did I not love myself enough to care about my body? My body is my foundation... yet I let it become weak. At one point, I was lifting 20-25 pounds and now 5 pounds are tiring me out! Wow! I think just looking at cardio as a means to becoming thin was extremely unrealistic. While I am excited to complete a 5KM jog, I am feeling extremely relieved to have found another piece to  a very confusing puzzle.. my health. This is the one thing that I must never lose sight of again. I remember when I was younger thinking : "so what if diet pills make me gain weight later on, by then I wont care how I look, right now I want to look hot" I didn't care about what diet pills did to my heart, or how they messed with my bodies natural ability to maintain itself. I didn't know my body, or know what it needed, my caring for myself was superficial. I now want to be healthy. Weight training combined with cardio and healthy eating I believe will help me achieve optimal health. I just finished reading that book that I was telling you about and it was AMAZING! You must grab a copy of it! I have never had such a greater understanding of what I should do to achieve optimal health. I will not be giving this book away :) Anyway I am exhausted from my day. I got 3Km in today and 27 mins of strength training. Have a great day!