Diving In Headfirst

I've gone on a shopping spree.  The best kind, in that most of it was paid for by someone else.  When I graduated from the COSE Wellness Tracks Program, they told us that we could apply for a $300 Wellness Grant- i.e. $300 to use on health and wellness items that COSE would pay for.  I'm not one to pass up free money, so I've spent the last week deciding what to spend my bucks on.  I got my grant approved yesterday, and immediately got to work on my list.  I plan on reviewing these items individually, as well as posting pictures of the mini-basement gym that I'm working on, but those are all future posts. 

What I've purchased lately- (not all of these were with grant money):
BOSU Balance Ball
Free Weights
Weight Bench
Fit Bit Activity Tracker
Polar Heart Rate Monitor

These items will all either help me get in shape, or help me to figure out the most efficient way to get in shape.  I've read a lot on the LoseIt forums that FitBits and HRM's provide so much valuable information on how your body handles workouts and burns calories.  I've also read that to maximize this information, they're best utilized together.  So I bought both.  I can't wait to try them out, I will definitely be posting about the results I see from these products!  I feel like the more information you can derive about how your body handles and burns calories, the better equipped you are to not only lose weight, but gain muscle and maintain a healthy weight. 

I've found that I really like weight lifting, but I much prefer to do it at home, where no one can see that I look like an idiot.  At this point, I mainly use the gym for classes and not much else- I'm fine with that though.  I feel like I'm still getting my money's worth since I go several times a week.

Weigh in tomorrow- full disclosure, I ate a lot.  Didn't exercise a lot.  That being said, I'm glad my 'high' weights are lower than they used to be after a weekend of bingy eating and drinking.