The I-40 West Test

I'm getting ready to borrow.  I've taken the Sunday's in July off from working at Christ Pres, and have been attending Brentwood Baptist.  The reason for this is I know if I attempt to attend a church at which I normally work, I'll get distracted.  And this way, I'm anonymous.    Mike Glenn preached a sermon on Sunday about Micah, and how we know better, but we don't want better.  Did that hit home this week (HA, because we're so far into this week.  It's only getting started).  


Right now, today, I want to eat EVERYTHING I see.  Even things that really shouldn't be eaten, like the washcloth my poor, sweaty hands are resting on to spare my laptop from the sweat.  I have to focus on knowing better, and it's not easy.  


Now to explain the I-40 West test.  Mike noted that he talks to young adults that are in a mess in their lives that they don't want to be, and don't know how they got there.  When they start examining their decisions, they are stunned to find out that every decision they make leads to the place in which they are.  He said that when you get on I-40 West from Nashville, you will always end up in Memphis.  There are signs the whole way.  You may not want to go to Memphis, or think you're going to Memphis, but you're going to Memphis!  


Here's how I relate.  When I start giving into emotional eating, and give in to my over active appetite, when I'm not hungry, it snowballs into undoing all the good work I've done in the last few weeks and I will end up in me gaining weight.  Every time. Every single time.  Every one!  So I know better, I have to read the signs this time, and understand that if I do give into the emotional eating, I'll end up gaining (going to Memphis).  So I am paying attention to my body's signals.  If I'm physically hungry, then I'll eat.  But if I get a craving to eat just because, I need to distract myself with something else.  Like blogging.  I don't even know if the tactic of munching on veggies will be effective, I'm in emotional training right now.  I need to train my brain that it doesn't get food if it's not hungry, not even something with 0 points!  I will chew gum faster than a chain smoker though.  It's not going to be fun, but I'm stronger than this!  I can defeat my mind!  


It's a pretty interesting sermon, check it out if you feel so lead....



July 24, 2011 | What God Wants from Brentwood Baptist Church on Vimeo.



Until next time,
:)

It's not that I don't HAVE time, it's that I don't MAKE time

I know I said I was going to bed.  Well actually I think my last words were it's past bedtime.  Regardless, I had one more ponder I need to share before my mind is able to shut down for sleep.


I was pondering tonight while watching TV, that it might be nice to have the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes and Noble Nook, or something similar.  Only for reading, designed for reading.  Then I observed that I haven't really done a whole lot of reading in the last year, year and a half, two years, etc.  Instantly, my mind went to the, "well it's because I haven't had time" excuse, when actually, its that my priorities are constantly changing such that I don't make time to read as much as would be ideal.  Will I someday have, nay, make the opportunity to read more?  Probably.  That's when it will be nice to have a Kindle or similar.  When I graduate college, my life levels out a little, when I finish my weight loss journey and move into weight maintenance stage, when I (to use the cliche) settle down.  But for now, I'll stick to reading calculus problems from a textbook, and know that one day, I'll get to return to one of my favorite pastimes.  Maybe I'll make time for more photographs too.  That'd be pretty nifty.  


Now, I'm going to bed.  For real.  No, seriously.  I'm no longer here, you don't see me....literally  :)


Until next time,
:)

I'm not the only one

I obviously never thought I was the only one in the world that blogged.  That's insanity, and ignorant.  But to read complete stranger's blogs, is fascinating.  Getting to peek into other people's lives, people to whom I have no connection other than this website, has been a pleasure.  


At the top of this page, there's a link that says "Next blog".  Click on it, and read a bit, then click again, and again, and again.  You'll be occupied for hours (like I was) with other blogs. All the ones I read are runners, which is interesting to me.  Then go to your blog and click next blog link and see who is posting around you.  Might just open our eyes to a view from a different window.  


Past my bedtime :)


Until next time,
:)

Ah, the bliss of getting an entire list of things on my to do list....DONE

I've been doing variations of the same happy dance all day.  Today has been a fantastic day.  


First, I went to Weight Watchers.  I lost 3 pounds this week!!!!  Hot diggity!  I'm so excited that I've kept up my momentum, now it keeps going, and will continue this week!  We have a pretty good fruit sangria recipe that I want to try and a dessert recipe.  I'm pumped.  


The major weight losses is my body getting rid of all the junk.  I expect the weight loss to level out now, and go to about 1-2 pounds per week.  But I certainly won't complain I lose more than that.  :)


The great thing is I don't feel like I've "given" up anything this time.  Even though I set out to "give up" sodas and fast food, I just don't have the craving for those anymore.  Have I eaten fast food in the last few weeks.  Yes!  But only a couple times (like once per week) and I made really good, healthy choices, only got the sandwich or whatever the menu item was (not combo) and a cup for water, which cuts the points almost in HALF!  I haven't had the craving for the big, juicy 25 point burger, but when I do, I have a feeling, I'll be able to get a lower point substitute that's just as "satisfying" and doesn't put me on a guilt trip.


I realized, that over the last two weeks, I've lost 7.6 pounds, entirely WITHOUT exercise.  Yup, that's right.  Without.  Nada.  None.  Nothing.  Okay you get the point.  This only strengthens my position that it's about what you put in your mouth!  Ask Rush Limbaugh, he'll agree.  :)


This doesn't mean I'm not going to exercise.  I still think I need to work out my heart, and strengthen and tone my muscles.  I'm just not going to put the emphasis on certain exercise goals in conjunction with weight loss.  I might start doing what my mom does, after dinner, she walks about a mile on the treadmill while watching TV.  I also was gifted a Pilates DVD.  Yummy :) Cardio and muscle toning.  I'm going to try it and still work on continuing my shoulder strengthening.  Of which, by the way, I did not do at all this week.  Oh well.  I'll do better this week.  Not going to worry about it.  For some strange reason, I could not wake up until 7:30 and have to be at work by 8.  Luckily I shower at night! :)


I've been playing on my computer all day.  First I took some typing lessons from a newly downloaded app, in which I learned I don't type how I'm supposed to.  First, I use the left shift key for everything, and second, I use only my right index finger for the space bar, not my thumb, or even my left index finger.  


I un-installed programs from my PC to clean it up, a cleaner program is now running.  


I also installed a few programs on my Mac, moved all the rest of my files, got my work Citrix account to work on my Mac, no small feat I might add, and then I've been working on my finances, another large sized feat.  


I've decided something, financially, that's taken a little bit of a burden off.  I'm going to start a debt snowball, something Dave Ramsey does.  I listed my debts from smallest to largest.  I pay the minimum payment on all except the top, I chunk everything to that one until it's paid off and keep going down the list.  I've got one credit card paid off, one halfway, and then I just have one more credit card, and a few other things.  I currently technically have 4 credit cards, but one is through Firestone, so it doesn't really count.  Out of the three remaining, two have pretty large credit limits on them, and they are going to be deposited into my safety deposit box at the bank.  I use the third one for everything, and it has a $300 credit limit.  :)  After my credit cards are finished, I'm going to concentrate hard on my car.  This means I'll be paying it off closer to 3 years instead of 2.5.  Am I disappointed?  Definitely.  Am I still ahead?  Yes.  Am I still going to pay it off early?  You bet.  Am I being smart and getting my house in order?  I think so.  


I know I don't normally discuss finance, but it's been weighing on me, and I do discuss weight.  I know, I'm so punny :)  HA!


Well, I'm off to eat dinner.  Oh wait, it's only 4.  Well, then I'm going to play a little more on my computer then have dinner!  


Until next time,
:)

Orange, Green, and Yellow jellybeans anyone?

Here's my current dilemma.  I've been in all the meetings where we talk about how our tendency is to celebrate with food.  It's so true!  We eat when we're happy, when we're sad, when we're bored, etc.  Tonight, I found out I passed a Calculus test I was SURE I had failed, so I decided I'd go out for ice cream.  I was also a little hungry, my dinner didn't stay with me very well.  I had 2 points left over for the day.  I got a Sonic blast (Reese's) which was 15 points.  Sounds steep.  


But here's why I don't take issue with using ice cream to celebrate: Before the blast, I had 44 of my weekly points left to use until Friday night (that's 5 days including today).  I didn't plan for it necessarily, but it's a pretty good use of my weekly points.  I now have 31 of my weekly points to go through Friday night, which not counting today (I don't plan to eat anything else) is 4 days, which means I have 7.75 points a day for the end of the week.  I'm still above average for number of points per day, not like it matters, because that's what the weekly points are for.


Here's why I do take issue with using ice cream to celebrate: It's all mental!  I tied passing a Calculus test with ice cream.  Is that a bad thing?  Eh, that's a grey area.  I'm going to go with, if I don't make it a habit, I'll be okay.


I've noticed that if I parcel things like jellybeans out, I enjoy them more than if I eat them directly out of the bag.  I also don't tend to eat the flavors I don't like.  What's the point of eating something if you don't like it?  Especially something as points costly as jellybeans.  I'm going to get my points worth, so by golly, I'll only eat the red, pink, and purple ones if I want to :)


I'm full, a little sleepy, and supervising an import process into iPhoto.  I'm going to go do a few sit ups to make myself feel better, and continue my babysitting until I go to bed to solve the sleepiness.  


It's been fun.


Until next time,
:)

Ring around the rosy...

It doesn't really matter what circular object you want to equate, think of a merry-go-round if you like, but I've been going in circles, and it's time to stop spinning my wheels.  


This week, I did fantastic, tracked every single thing, honestly, that I ate, made good choices at that, and worked out...a little.  No soda, and even though I did eat out, I made REALLY good choices.


And with no further delay.......I LOST 4.6 POUNDS THIS WEEK.  WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!  Just goes to show, when you work it, it works.  I would try to dig out which other posts I have used that in this journey, but this post is #78, so that would take a while.  


I was thinking of holding the number of posts until I got to something a little more anniversary-ish, but hey, 78 is a big number.  Goodness knows I was doing something silly at 75, so let's celebrate 75+3.  Hm, that's even less anniversary-ish.  Okay, I give up, 78 it is!  He he.  


Wow, I got distracted for the last hour looking at pictures, importing and etc into my new computer.  No earthly idea how I got on that tangent.


Anyways, I'm tired, so real quick goals for this week:
1. Continue my no-soda kick.
2. Continue taking my lunch to work
3. Do my shoulder exercises at least three times this week.  (I've decided to get my shoulder back to normal before trying to run again.)
4. Track every little thing.  
5. Be conscience about eating out.  It's "allowed" obviously, but I need to continue to make good choices.  


I'll be blogging throughout the week because I'm back!


Until next time,
:)

Wait, so I'm an adult and that means I have responsibilities? That doesn't sound fun.

Okay, so about those goals.  You know this thing called life, well it got in the way, at least of one of them: exercise. 

I need not beat myself up though.  Here's a run down on my goals I laid out in this post:

One of my goals was to stop eating fast food, and to take my lunch (and dinner on school nights) to work.  Check. 

Second goal was to not touch soda.  Check. 

The third one is the only fuzzy one.  Running (or exercise more generally, since I included my shoulder).  So far this week, I worked my shoulder on Monday.  The end.  Tuesday morning my car was in the shop so I had to catch a ride, and do so early so I could go pick up said car in the afternoon.  DRAMA, another story for another day.  Last night I locked myself out of my house.  Brilliant.  That's an even longer story definitely for another time. 

Fourth and last goal was tracking every thing I eat.  Check.  The funny thing about this one, is I've not used my app once.  I've done all my tracking on the computer.  It's very interesting to me, and disturbing that about 90% of that has been at work, which means 90% of my food has been eaten at the office.  More interesting.  And that percentage might be a little high. 

So hey, 3 out of 4, is REALLY good.  Good enough for a bravo sticker on Saturday.  :)

My most hoped for is that starting to eat well again will cure the 23 bumps on my chin.  They WON'T GO AWAY and they're making me NUTS (no comments from the peanut...ha ha...gallery please). 

So I'm not beating myself up.  Sometimes life just happens, but what I'm very positive about is I have not given up, and I've kept up with what's really most important: FOOD.  After all, weight loss is 80% what you put in your mouth.  It's SO true too.  I can prove it.  But won't.  :)

I'm hyper again, so I took an Ibuprofen PM.

Good night moon.

Until next time,
:)