I haven’t written about exercise in a while, but that does not mean I’ve been neglecting it. Especially as I go into the high stress part of my year, with end of school activities and yearbook deadlines, exercise is extremely important to my frame of mind.

DD and I continue to go to the fitness room in the subdivision three days a week. I’m always pushing myself to increase either repetitions or pounds on the weight machine. I know it’s good for my bones, and it certainly is strenuous.

Tuesday night for the first time I lifted 60 pounds! It was on one of the leg machines. I often say that my lower body is larger than my upper body. My lower body is also much stronger. There are some of the upper body exercises where I still struggle with 20 pounds. I was pleased. Sixty pounds is a milestone.

I can tell a difference in my overall muscle tone since we started this routine. I can see flesh and muscle covering some of my upper body bones, where there was none at the first of the year. This inspires me to keep pushing myself.

I can also see better muscle definition in my legs. I fight the menopause skin on my thighs and upper arms. But there is nothing to do for that but take HRT, and I’d rather have goosey skin than take a chance on cancer.

DD finds herself liking aerobic exercise more and more, in spite of being a Type A. She never enjoyed competitive racing, and she abandoned aerobics in favor of dance and stretching when we started the BTD. However, when she wanted to lose weight and tone her legs, she realized that there was no substitute for the harder work that aerobic exercise demands.

One thing DD and I are both struggling with is the competition between exercise and sleep. She is every bit as busy as I am, as high school senior with three dual credit courses. There is not a spare minute in her day.

Both of us just run out of hours sometimes. Last night at 11:15 we had a choice to make. I chose sleep; she chose exercise.