Benefits for everyone all around

You all may recall that when the kids started their school year that I started exercising.

My quest began with walking. I'd take a loop around our neighborhood. It's a nice 2-mile loop with a slight grade, so I go down one end and up the other.

A couple weeks ago I started running the loop. I'm still not running the entire way. When I started running I walked a whole ton. Now, I usually walk for just a little bit. What's great is that I don't feel horrible when I'm running. I feel winded.

I'm not exclusively running. I alternate between the 2-mile loop run with a 3-mile loop walk. This way I give my legs/feet a softer cardio workout some days.

Y'all? I feel SO much better. My legs look and FEEL stronger. My calves are more defined. My thighs are definitely thinner. When I tighten up my thigh muscles, I can see that they're thinner and leaner. Now my tummy? I am starting to see the bit of definition along the center. My waist is gradually getting more defined. I happened to hop onto our scale this morning and I can see that I've dropped a couple pounds. But I'm more happy that I'm seeing that my body is stronger. Woohoo!

Although I felt like crap that first week of exercising? I feel SO better. I feel so relaxed after I finish up my walk/run. And another added benefit? My mood seems so much more cheerful in general. And I've been more cuddly with the Hubs. We seem to be getting along better because I feel better about me. So everyone wins now that I've etched time into my schedule for myself.  YEAH!