He restores my soul

My "health" blog has been unintentinally on a bit of a break this summer, as are my healthy efforts, but I miss writing the blog and had some other thoughts I wanted to write about tonight...

Growing up in church and getting most of my education at a Christian school, I feel like I've heard the 23rd Psalm more times than my own name. Not that this is a bad thing, but sometimes we can hear something over and over until it begins to lose meaning. But I love it when something jumps out at you when you least expect it.

I was at a funeral yesterday and Psalm 23 was read. As the speaker was reading... The Lord is my shepherd... He makes me lie down in green pastures... He restores my soul...

He restores my soul.

Dicitonary.com defines restore as "to bring back to a state of health, soundness, or vigor."

I can't count the times I have needed my soul restored. I have felt depleted, I have felt empty, I have felt exhausted, I have felt I'm at the end of my rope. I have felt like a failure, I have felt alone, I have felt broken.

I feel the opposite of someone restored.

Then God finds a perfect way to remind me that I am His. Even if I have screwed up - and believe me, I have. Countless times. He loves on me, reminding me that I am His baby girl, the one He loved more than life. He reminds me that He doesn't love me because I'm perfect and when I'm imperfect it doesn't change His love for me. He just loves me. Period. Nothing I could ever do will make Him love me more and nothing I could ever do could make Him love me less. He just loves me.

And He loves me enough to continue to restore me, over and over.

When God restores, He really restores. And I am thankful.

Stepping it up a notch :)

So, it's been two weeks since my last blog. I posted about how great the Memorial Day 5K went and how I had made a weight-loss goal, yay me, blah blah blah. Well, since then, I have done nothing :(  I haven't exercised even one time and I had several instances of eating things that were bad for me. Consequently, I have put 4 pounds back on. Not surprising. I know I tend to resort to food when I am happy, sad, stressed, etc. I have felt a little bummed and stressed over the last couple of weeks, for various reasons, and easily turned to food, knowing that it wasn't the answer.

But... starting today, I am stepping it up a notch.

After talking about needing to exercise again, the husband wisely commented that I seemed to stick to this whole exercise thing better when I was following the Couch to 5K program (which, if anyone is interested in checking out, and I highly recommend it, can be found at  http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml ). I decided I need a new plan. So... today I began a 10K training program! :)  Yay! If anyone else is interested, it is found here: http://blog.c25kapp.com/about-bridge-to-10k/ . Tonight I did the first run for Week 1 and it felt great! Why did I wait so long?

Oh, and to the left is my most recent pair of goal pants. Super excited about some day fitting into them :)

I ate well today - banana and Nutrigrain bar for breakfast, followed by a grilled chicken sandwich and baked potato for lunch and two Fresco chicken soft tacos and a side of rice from Taco Bell. I even drank water today. That's right, I drank water. I am a serious pop drinker, and while I have been drinking diet pop since the weight loss plan began, I drink a lot of it and no water. So today, I limited myself to only drink pop with my meals, and not putting the Cherry Coke Zero on my desk to sip on throughout the morning. I drank water.

While I am very excited about how today has gone, I am apprehensive to assume the rest of my week will be equally successful. I am hopeful though. Tune in next week and I'll tell you, good or bad :)

Thanks so much for reading! :)

Memorial Day 5K and Outback :)

It's been waaaayyy too long since I last posted anything. I can blame it on a couple of things... I have been really busy (but I was busy when I was posting regularly too, so it's not a good excuse)... and I have a hard time writing a peppy blog when I am crabby, and I had a few crabby days. I also am ashamed to admit it, but I had a couple of bad weigh-ins at home and some not-so-stellar exercise weeks, along with more-than-average bad eating days (hence the bad weigh-ins), and I became uninspired. However, things have picked up and I have made a little progress.

I'm not even sure where to start on pounds gained and lost, so I will go straight for the grand total of weight loss since the beginning of the year... Here it comes.... 35.5 pounds! I'm so excited about this. This was precisely my Memorial Day goal. Some may consider it cheating, but I did wait to weigh myself after I ran today's 5K and then walked in the parade. I was a half of a pound away from the goal, so I promptly stripped the sweat-soaked T-shirt and sports bra off, along with every hair clippy in my head (sorry for the graphic image, haha) Once everything removable was removed, my weight was exactly what I had hoped. I'm counting it :) 

Like a said a minute ago, I ran a 5K today. The Veteran's Memorial Day 5K in Ironton. Shawn, Noah and I ran it together. It was the first one for Shawn and Noah and my third. Because I have already done this before, and Shawn hadn't, I told him I would stay back with Noah and that he should go on. That was clearly not necessary! Noah ditched me after about a mile and a half. I am still amazed. Just last Saturday, Noah practiced with me at his maw-maw's house and we both circled her neighborhood enough times to equal 3.1 miles. He did great, but stayed right with me. A few times I waited on him to catch his breath or tie his shoes, so naturally I assumed he would be slower than me. If we would have bet on this I would think I have been hustled! :)  He was awesome. I can't believe it, but he ran the whole thing in 33:29! Shawn did great as well, finishing at 29 minutes - this after he couldn't even finish it a few nights ago in our neighborhood. My time, while not nearly as impressive as either of theirs, was 36:53! I'm very happy about this!! My goal each race - other than just finishing it alive - is to beat my last time, and so far, that's what I have done. Yay!

Eating out at restaurants and trying to stay healthy is difficult, I have decided. We had a great time this weekend with family from out of town, and had dinner Sunday at Outback. I decided to peruse the menu Saturday night to make sure I knew what healthy item I could order. I am so glad I did! I would have chosen

grilled chicken on the barbie and a house salad, which sounds very healthy. When I calculated the nutritional information on the restaurants website (which is super cool that you can do that), those two little seemingly healthful foods would have had 43.5 grams of fat!

So, I looked at side options and ways to cut some fat grams. Apparently they put butter on EVERYTHING in Australia... or at least at Outback in Barboursville. I do love me some butter. In fact, I remember my mom saying I used to eat butter sandwiches for snacks at my grandmother's house. (Could explain the high cholesterol these days, huh? :)  Anyway, when you take the butter off the chicken, it went from 20 grams of fat to just 8. I ended up ordering the 6 oz. Outback special, no butter, with fresh vegetables, minus butter, and a baked potato with only sour cream and chives on the side. According to the nutrition tool on the website, the entire meal was only 18.6 fat grams. Much better. Oh, and technically, it was fewer than that because I had a lot of sour cream left on the side :) Yay :)

Thanks for reading, and I will hopefully be posting again soon! :)

Jen

Back on track, 5K, and goal pants :)

Better week :)  I weighed in Monday, losing the pound and a half I had gained the previous week! Yay. I feel a little back on track. My eating habits have been much better this week. I'm pleased. I'm hoping for good results Monday morning :)

My thyroid medicine is a different story. As usual, I finished my month's refill, and forgot to call in a new refill. :(  I will do this though. I will get back in the habit.

Now, for the best news. I ran in another 5K! My second one ever! I was so hoping to beat my last time, but I was concerned I might not, because the last few weeks, my running sessions have dropped dramatically. First I was busy, then didn't feel so great, then I would get these weird head pains that would pop up right when I thought about running... strange, huh? :)  I had lots of excuses, and then finally, I'll admit it, I was just lazy. Even the idea of running was  exhausting. But I haven't given up.

So I went to the 5K with my friend Christy, and I'm so glad I did. I met her in Hurricane bright and early Saturday at 7:30 a.m., and we left from there to go to the state capitol, where there was a ton of people! We lined up at 8:50 and shortly after 9:00, we were off...  It was great! Well, after it was over it was great :) 

The view was great! Right beside the water, and the ground was flat. But it was still hard. I'm not sure why, but I guess I assumed it would be so much easier this time, since I have been running longer than when I tried the last 5K.  I had all sorts of mental excuses as to why I couldn't go faster... too many layers on making me sweaty, not bringing my iPod to have something distracting me, and that super heavy 10-ounce bottle of water that they handed me and I couldn't finish, but couldn't stand to toss on the ground with the hundreds of others. It was like running with a weight. :)

I did okay though. I was concerned about 3/4 of the way through, when I felt a little dizzy... I thought of how embarrassing it would be if I just collapsed on the road, not making it to the finish line. How could I blog about that??! That would have been humiliating. But, thankfully, I didn't. I kept going.

I tried to keep track of my time with my stopwatch feature on my phone, and restricted myself to only looking at it at the halfway point, and then near the end. My halfway time was pretty good, then when I got close to the end, I glanced down and saw that it was something like 26 seconds. I was worried for a minute that I had gone longer than an hour and it might have rolled over... Yikes! But fortunately, I must have pushed the clear button or something.

All in all, I am happy with how I did. I was concerned during the race when I was passed by a sleeping baby. By the time the sixth sleeping baby passed, I was traumatized to the point that I had to laugh about it. I started looking around at the few people still running, and didn't see any numbers on their shirts. So everyone around me were the non-timed runners or walkers. Not a good sign. :)  

Turns out, I finished the race in 38 minutes and 26 seconds!! I even finished before 62 other timed runners! Never mind that I came in 688th place, being beaten by 92 percent of them...  I beat 8 percent of the other timed runners :)  Yay!! (How's that for an optimistic glass of 8 percent full? :) 

Seriously, though, I was really proud of myself and it totally made my day. I think it inspired me to run more. I even ran tonight after church. I'm sore, but it's worth it :)

On a side note, I have picked out new goal pants!! I went through the archives, i.e., bottom drawer, and chose a pair of black pants that I hope to be in, comfortably, eventually :)

I also set a new, short-term goal, of losing 6 1/2 pounds by Memorial Day. We'll see if it happens. Not a big deal if it doesn't, but it would be great :)

Thanks so much for reading! I weigh in again tomorrow. Wish me luck!! :)

Jen

Dude, Where's my wagon?

OK, so my attempt at referencing an Ashton Kutcher movie is pitiful, especially since I have never seen the movie, but it was too easy, so I had to. I have fallen so far off the dieting/exercise wagon, that I am not even sure where it is.

Last Monday I lost a pound, so a brief Yay for that :)  But at today's weigh-in, I gained a pound and a half, so Boo for that. Turns out I have lost my motivation, or so it seems.

As I was writing the previous blog, I really felt I was doing better, that things would be looking up. My eating habits were stellar. My exercise was not bad, not amazing, but easy to increase, right?

This past week, I have only exercised twice. I ran Wednesday, but it was a shorter run, only 25 minutes, not the usual 40. I was sure Saturday would be a turn-around, as my expert running cousin was in from out of town. I haven't seen her since I was probably 10, so I was doubly excited about this. Not only to learn tips and hints about running, but also to catch up on our lives. Although, I have to say the catching up might have been hard to do as I'm gasping for air during the run :)  However, I'm sad to say it rained. A lot. With lightning. And we all know, When thunder roars, stay indoors. So, no running outside. I did run on the treadmill, for about 30 minutes. And I did up my speed a little on the treadmill, so I felt good about that.
I did have one really good eating moment (I think). We went to my cousin's wedding and I refrained from eating food or cake, though I did drink a Pepsi... Bummer... I forgot about that. And party mints. The good part comes in a minute I guess.

So after the wedding, we went to see my aunt in the hospital, which was a great time as I haven't seen her in a while and she's so fun, and then we went to Tascalli's. I REALLY, and I mean REALLY wanted the cheese ravioli, which they serve half with marinara sauce and half with Alfredo sauce, and top it with mozzarella cheese. Delicious!! How could I turn that down? But I refrained. Instead, I chose the chicken with the sweet and tangy sauce (BTW, if any of you know the nutrition facts of this meal, I'm not sure I want to know. I'm afraid that I will find out it is worse for me than the ravioli...) along with mashed potatoes and wild rice. It was yummy and I felt good about the choice. (Actually, I only ate one of the chicken breasts and forgot that I brought the other one home, so yay me... lunch tomorrow! :)

Sunday, however was a different story. It was Easter. We went to Shawn's mom's for dinner after church. I fixed a few things to take there and couldn't make myself stay away from the bad things. Macaroni and cheese (which you might think isn't the traditional Easter dinner, but it's kind of like bread for us - perfect with any meal :)  and ham and a piece of chocolate pie. My stomach is growling right now...

And now for today... I took Noah to the orthodontist this morning. His braces were supposed to be removed. Yay, right? It should be a happy occasion!

The appointment was at 8:30 a.m. We were a couple of minutes late and Noah went back after a few minutes. I settled into a good book, waiting on things to happen back there. I really had no idea how much time I expected it to take. I've never had braces, so this is all new to me. Noah hadn't been back there long, when his orthodontic (assistant? hygienist? not sure what the right term is, but I will go with assistant) comes to get me. She said "We need you." Yikes. I go back and Noah is completely freaked out. Crying. She said, "He doesn't want to get the retainer." I don't know why it didn't occur to me that he would have to get a mold made to form the retainer. The mold had seriously traumatizd him from the initial braces.

I tried to give him the pep talk. Noah, it's going to be fine. You're brave. You can do this. It's going to be okay. I'll be right here... blah, blah, blah. That's what he heard. So he says, "No! I'm not doing it!!" My perfectly obedient child goes through some sort of metamorphasis of evil when the pink goo for the mold comes out. The assistant and orthodontist both seem pretty frustrated, as this is not a quick process. She would try to put the tray in his mouth, he would clamp his lips shut tighter than my size 8 jeans. When it was finally wedged in there, the gagging would commence...

This went on for what seemed like decades of my life, until the orthodontist stepped in and said he would try it. He said the mouth trays were too large for Noah's tiny mouth, so he whittled some down smaller and Noah tried it, unhappily, but without gagging. So he rushes over to the sink to mix the goo to put in the tray that will soon be placed in Noah's cute perfectly straight-toothed mouth. Only Noah is wiping his tears and his nose when the orthodontist comes over to quickly put it in (apparently this stuff has a short window before it becomes cement). The orthodontist, understandably frustrated, says we're probably going to have to come back another day. He comes back a minute later and says Noah and I can go into another room to talk. So I go back to the room. I'm torn between threatening grounding for eternity and bribing him with, well, anything he wants. I didn't. Seeing him in tears brings me to tears, but I try to control it. We're in public after all, and there are probably 15 other patients and parents in the same room as Noah getting their own teeth tightened and gooed.

He  finally feels like he can do it, so we go back out. The job gets done, even though he still gagged during a lot of the process, but it is over. We left to get a drink and a snack and had to come back 30 minutes later to get the retainer. He was a super happy and relieved kid when it was over. I, on the other hand, remained stressed for a while, and took him to lunch at McDonald's before taking him back to school (we were at the orthodontist so long, his lunch time at school was already over). I ordered a 10-piece McNugget meal, with fries. Fries and deep-fried chicken parts! What was I thinking?  It was like some sort of natural reaction. Like something just took over.

Not proud of that. And not that it's an excuse, but at least it explains it.

So, here's hoping for a better week. A week of more exercising and fewer McNuggets. And hopefully a week of more pounds lost, as well as a new desire to find my wagon.

The dress! :)

First update is that I weighed in Monday (4/11) and lost another 2 1/2 pounds! Yay :)  I am doubtful that tomorrow morning's weigh-in will go that well, but I am still happy from this week, so that's okay :) Here is the big news... drum-roll please..... (da, da, da, da... )

I bought the dress! And an even bigger accomplishment... I wore it!
If you've read my previous blogs, you understand what a big deal this is. I haven't worn a dress in several years. I hated how I looked in dresses.

Now, whether this means that I have lost enough weight and exercised enough to tone various places on my body, or if it just means that I have become comfortable enough with my body to not be incredibly self-conscious about what I look like, I am not sure. But I have to think that either of those is a good thing :)

I realized I haven't posted any pictures of this whole process on here yet, and in all honesty it was probably because of fear. But here we go. I'm posting a couple of "before" pictures here....These were both taken toward the end of 2010.

Now... If you can take the focus off of my messy kitchen or my 80s clothes, lol, you can get the picture. I will call these my "before" pictures. I'm not sure what to call my next picture. I can't really say "after," because at 27 1/2 pounds of weight loss, I am only halfway to my goal. So I guess we will call this my "during" picture :) 

I feel a little more in the groove of things this week. I have exercised a couple of times, though I admit it should have been more. I have eaten healthfully. All in all, an improvement. :)

One thing I seem to have forgotten in all my years of not wearing a dress... Wind and full dresses. Yikes! My apologies to everyone driving on Rt. 60 in front of Foodfair this evening :)

birthday cake icing, the wagon, and sadness

Last Monday (3/28), I weighed in and it was bad, but not as bad as I expected. I gained 2 pounds. I had not been eating or exercising like I should have been. Or taking my thyroid medicine. So, really I'm glad it was just 2 pounds.

The rest of the week didn't get a whole lot better as far as my commitment. It was a crazy-busy week. I worked a couple of evenings last week, and then there was Noah's birthday party planning and cake-baking. The icing... Oh, the icing. I sampled way more than I should have, as of course it is much easier to lick it off my fingers than to wash my hands, right? And I had a piece of cake and ice cream at the party. Yum :) 

In the midst of all the busyness, I neglected my exercising the entire week. I was super scared that it was going to be the end. It seems the longer you put something off, the easier it is to put it off a little longer, until it seems impossible to get back to it. I was afraid I was off the wagon. Or is it on the wagon? Not sure, but I was afraid it was bad.

When I chose to do this blog, I knew there would be bad weeks. I committed to writing about the good stuff and the bad crumminess. I had full intentions. Then, in the midst of all the busyness and stress of last week, I didn't write. I can't help but feel that if it were going to be an exciting, braggy blog for the week, I would have felt more inspired. Slightly disappointed in myself about that...

But this week is a 2-for-1. Or maybe a 3-for-1, as there are some other things on my mind tonight in addition to my health, but we'll see how it goes.

I made a couple of goals for myself on the last blog - choosing new goal pants, setting a new goal and reward for myself, get my prescription filled and take my medicine regularly, and drink lots of water.
Here's how that went -

I did get my medicine filled and am back to taking it regularly. Yay! I have not chosen my new goal pants yet. I considered choosing a goal dress (I'm still super excited about the idea of being comfortable enough with myself to wear a cute dress this summer), but decided it was too subjective. It wouldn't be so much that I fit into the dress, but whether I thought it would look good enough, and I'm not that nice to myself. I don't know how long that could've taken... So I still need to choose the pants. Will do it by next week.

In addition, I will set a new goal and reward for myself. I failed to do that also. I want it to be something far enough away that I will have to work on it, but not so far that I can't see it happening. And the water... the water. I am not drinking water at all. :(  I hope to do better with that this week too. Wish me luck on that one. Cherry Coke Zero just tastes so much better!!!

Sunday night, I did get back into the swing of things in my exercising. Yay! It amazes me how God sends the right people with the right words to encourage me. I had several people over the weekend tell me how great it was that I had lost weight, (okay, they said it much nicer than it came out typed....haha), and that it was awesome that I was able to run a 5K. After hearing all the nice things, I couldn't let myself down and skip for even one more day. So I climbed on that treadmill, Ipod in place, and listened to a good podcast along with a few songs at the end. My goal for running was 41 minutes and 2 seconds, to match my 5K time. I did it!! Yay!

This brings me to this week's weigh-in. Monday morning (4/4/11) I weighed in losing the 2 pounds gained the previosu week, and losing an additional 2 pounds! A total of 4 pounds that week. This brings me to a grand total of .... Wait for it... Wait for it... 25 pounds!! yay!

I also ran again today, which felt great. I ran outside. The weather was beautiful, perfect actually. Blue skies, sun shining, birds chirping, breeze blowing :)  Thanks God :)  I ran a little over the 3.1 miles of a 5K and did it a little faster than I have in previous weeks. Success :)

I couldn't be happier about that. But tonight I am also sad. About something completely unrelated to my health, failures, or successes.

I got a call on the way to church from my friend Lori from work. She told me about a wreck that happened this afternoon, killing a high school senior. The reason she wanted to tell me was that it was a student I had interviewed earlier this year for a story.

At the time, I was interviewing some of the best students of the county, one from each school district. So I think I covered somewhere between 8 and 10 students in a short amount of time. When she first mentioned his name, I couldn't place him right off. But then I remembered him.

He was in the middle of gym class when I had stopped by the school to talk to him. I didn't spend a whole lot of time with him. Maybe 10 minutes. He was a great kid. Polite, smart, athletic. Perfect grades. I also remember him telling me how influential his church and his youth pastor was in his life. I came home and re-read the story I had written earlier this year. I saw that he had plans on going on a missions trip to Ecuador this summer. My heart is breaking for his family.

Of course my thoughts went to Noah, and the horror I would be feeling if it were him. I can't imagine what that student's parents must be going through.

After I got to church, I couldn't help but look around the room in our youth group at each of those kids and feel so much. I love those kids like they're my own. The idea that someday, it could be us getting a call that something has happened to one of them kept filling my mind. My heart was so heavy as I was thinking about each of them.

I worry because not all of them say they have a relationship with God. I want them to know Him the way He wants to know them. I've always wanted that for them, but now it just seems so much more urgent. Please pray for me, in lots of areas, but that I will do my best to encourage these kids and show God's love to them.

And pray that I can stay away from the Girl Scout cookies in my pantry...

Thanks for reading,
Jen

***Update - Ok, so I'm glad I didn't list the student's name, because he wasn't the one who died in the car accident. Lori texted me this morning to say that our source for that bit of information wasn't all that reliable and it was incorrect. It might have been his father who passed away, but I'm not positive about that either.

But either way, as sad as I was during the time I thought it was the student, it made me really think about a lot of things and put some things in perspective, and for that I am thankful.

bad, bad and bad...

This is gonna be a super depressing blog, so consider yourselves warned... :)  I have had quite a few positive ones lately, so I guess it was due.

First off, no weight loss. I was pleased that when I weighed in Monday this week (3/21) that I didn't gain anything, but bummed that there was no loss.

Secondly, I also finished my thyroid medication and forgot to get the prescription filled :( Bummer. So I missed about 3 days so far this week. I need to get it filled this week for sure. This is the point when I usually stop taking it. i forget to get it refilled, then months later, I have to go back to the doctor and ask for a new prescription because I am suddenly wanting to be healthier. Yikes. I need to get it filled...

Thirdly, Bad eating! I went to a winery on Thursday for a magazine assignment and I ate snacks (too many to actually tell people) on the way up, then a big dinner, complete with a lemon-berry torte for dessert, at the winery restaurant. :(  It was delicious, but so bad for me!

My family and I went skiing this weekend, and I told myself I wasn't going to worry too much about what I ate on the trip. I didn't want to stress about it. I would make the best choices at wherever we were. I definitely didn't stress about it, though I kinda wish I would have. I ate some yummy stuff.

On Friday night, we went through the Chick-Fil-A drive through and I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich combo, kinda healthy other than the waffle fries, and when we drove off, it turns out I got a breaded chicken sandwich...with cheese! I couldn't dare take it back, you know, we were in a hurry to get started on the trip, etc...so I toughed it out and ate it... :) On Saturday, I ate at Pizza Hut for lunch, and it was quite cheesy and delicious. Then for dinner, Uno's and I had fettuccine Alfredo, my favorite. In fairness to myself, I have to say I tried to find something healthy on the menu. I asked our waitress if the codes on the menu (highlighted green and highlighted brown) had anything to do with the nutrition. She proceeded to explain something about pizza and toppings, and I realized she didn't know. So instead of suffering through something not-so-yummy when I'm not even positive it's healthy, I decided to eat something I knew I would love. Bad choice, but it was yummy!

I feel very certain I will be up several pounds when I weigh in in the morning. :( 

My friend Terri texted me this week to say she was off work early the next day and would like to run with me if I went. I was super excited to see her and to exercise so it was going to go great, right? We met at Barboursville Park and we started off running. Within a few minutes, I was struggling. I did about a lap and a half and had to walk. :( 

I don't know what happened. I came up with plenty of excuses though. I decided it could've been because it was hot. The sun was bright and it was early afternoon. Or... because it was gravel when I am used to a treadmill or pavement. Gravel gives with your feet so you have to work harder to lift your legs and to keep stable and balanced.  Or... I started off too fast and exhausted myself too quickly. Pick one, any one. I just couldn't do it. Bummer.

I did try to redeem myself at the end, and we ran a final lap.
Our hotel had an exercise room, so i decided to try it out last night. I ran for 35 minutes on the treadmill and did 20 minutes on the eliptical. It felt great! I needed the exercise after all the crummy eating. I hope it is going to reset my thinking this week.

I'm going to try not to get too upset if I am way over tomorrow when I weigh in. This is going to be a new week with a new attitude.

Some goals this week - First is to set a new goal. My cupcake goal worked well, so I am going to pick a new goal weight for this phase of the weight-loss and then pick a reward for when that is reached.

Secondly - I need to hang up a new pair of goal pants. Since I can wear the ones previously hanging (yay!) I need to replace them for inspiration and motivation.

Thirdly, I need to drink more water. I have been doing terribly with this. Water is important and I drink none.

Lastly, I need to get the prescription filled and take the thyroid medication this week.

I kind of dreaded writing this one, displaying all my bad behaviors this week, but I needed to get it all out there. Thanks for reading and wish me luck for a better week!

Thanks for reading!!
Jen

Goal jeans, 41:02, and a cheerleader

This has been a seriously great week, as far as my goals are concerned... I'm not gonna lie :) 
First off, I will report an exciting 4 1/2 pound weight loss this week when I weighed in on Monday. Yay! That brings me up to a 23-pound loss so far! Still have plenty to go, but that was some major progress for me.

Due to this big week, I decided to try on my "phase-1" goal jeans. These jeans had been hanging on my treadmill for months and months, and then when I finally started using the treadmill, I moved them to the closet door. I wanted to be able to see them and inspire myself to keep working at this. I wanted to be back in those jeans! Ideally, I have a couple of sizes more to go down after those jeans, but this is serious progress.

So, I tried them on today, and..... they worked great! I wore them to church Wednesday!! :)

More big news...I completed my first 5K!!! I was pretty nervous about it, because I hadn't ran that much at once before. I ran 2.7 miles Thursday, but I needed 3.1 to complete the 5K. I was very nervous. I am so glad my friends, Lori and Michelle, did this with me. I doubt I would have done it alone. And a big thanks to my family for their support :)

When the shot was fired, I started jogging, and was passed by a lot of people. But I kept reminding myself, the tortoise and the hare, the tortoise and the hare...

The first mile or so I did pretty well, but for a large part of the time I was jogging alone, which leaves a lot of time for thinking. It's amazing how the things on your mind can affect the way you run. A couple of times I really thought I would just sit down in the grass on the side of the road. But I had to change my thinking. And I prayed a lot. God heard a lot from me the last mile and a half :)

When I was nearing the end, probably the last 1/2 mile, I was running along the street with a lot of space between me and the other runners, and I heard this adorable little girl yelling out from her front door, "Go, girl, go!!" It was just what I needed. My personal little cheerleader on the side of the road. I yelled "Thank you!" and kept going.

That little girl reminded me how important it is to have cheerleaders in our lives. Having someone encourage you and not let you give up when you feel like you can't keep going makes all the difference. I want to be more like that little girl.

I finished the race in 41 minutes and 2 seconds. I finished 121 out of 202. I realize this isn't awesome, or even good really, but it made my day! I wasn't last!

I have to say I really loved having a number! Pinning that 178 on my shirt made it seem a lot more real :)

I can't wait to do it again!!

Thanks for reading!! I'll write again soon :)

Jen

Paula Vega, legs, and Saturday

Three inches of white frosting swirled on top of a golden yellow cupcake, topped with a plump, fresh, enormous blackberry. One bite into the cupcake, and you get the surprise of blackberry filling that is more scrumptious than words can describe. I can only imagine that if we eat in heaven, this is what will be served :)

I lost my 1/2 pound I needed this week to get my cupcake!! That was all I lost, but it was enough. I headed to the Paula Vega Cupcake stand inside of the third & NINTH deli in Huntington this afternoon, right after lunch. Amazing! It was so yummy. Paula even told me that she has a customer who has lost 30 pounds by cupcakes (well, sort of). If that customer eats right and exercises all week, she rewards herself with one cupcake each week :)  I like that idea, but I think one a week is too much for me. I'd better pace myself :) I haven't decided what my next reward will be... Still tossing some ideas around :)

Oh, and an amazing thing happened. I was sitting in church Sunday, and without thinking, I crossed my legs. Comfortably :)  Yay!!

I didn't make up my exercise time last week. So I only ran one day. I was kinda disappointed in myself about that. But I was back at it last night. My cousin texted me to see if I would like some company while I ran, and she came over last night to run with me. I'm so glad she did. I would have found an excuse last night to keep myself from running if she hadn't, I'm sure of it. We ran outside, and I drove afterward to measure the distance. It looks like I ran 2.7 miles! Yay! I didn't time it though, but I don't think it was completely terrible. And I am not miserably sore today. I'm starting to like this!

The real test is Saturday. My first 5k. Lori and Michelle, two great friends from work, have promised to run with me and I am very excited about this. I am hopeful that I will be able to run the whole thing, but if I can't, I'm not going to be bummed about it. I also don't want to be the very last person to cross the finish line. But if I am, that is okay too. I am just excited that I am feeling brave enough to do it.

Thanks so, so, so much for reading! I think that is another important part of this whole thing that has kept me going. If no one was reading this, it would be easy to not care if I had to put disappointing updates. But I want to do a good job so I can post good reports. Thanks so much for inspiring me to keep going :)

Jen

Miracle, a couple of pounds, and advice...

So, Monday was a good day. I weighed in and lost 2 1/2 pounds!! Yay :)  Grand total so far... ready? 18 pounds! And the best part is that it hasn't been completely horrible. Or completely hard. God must be giving me some kind of miracle self-control, because I typically don't have that. I am so close to the cupcake I can almost taste it!! :) 1/2 pound to go (if I'm counting the extra pound to compensate for the cupcake damage).

I haven't done so great this week on exercising, until tonight. My usual schedule is Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays for running, and I was pretty busy Wednesday, so I skipped, with plans of doing it Thursday. Didn't happen. I was feeling all blah and just didn't have it in me. So today I felt like it was a must. If I can do it Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I'll have all three days in this week.

So, today was beautiful. Sunshine, 60 degrees. I decided I had to try it again. Running outside. After the last outside run, I mean disaster, I was apprehensive about trying it again. But I received some very helpful tips from some great friends. Thanks again to everyone who gave me advice and ideas. I tried it. This afternoon, I told Noah I was going to run, and he decided to go with me. He made it for 17 minutes, which I think was fabulous. That was just enough time to make it back to our house. I kept going. I ran for the full 30 minutes of Day 1 of Week 9 of the Couch to 5K program!! I still can't believe it! After the pathetic attempt last time, only making it 3 minutes, I never thought I could do it, but I did!!

After we rested a few minutes, I drove around the neighborhood to see our running mileage. I don't know that this is a really authentic way of checking, but it made me happy, so I'm counting it :)  Noah ran for 1.2 miles in his 17 minutes, and in my 30, I ran 2.2 miles.

I know it had to look pretty slow to anyone who saw us. Noah even said we were running like old ladies. He said his grandmother could probably run faster than me, and he's probably right :)  But I did it. I didn't stop. I didn't walk. I kept going :)

So Sunday is my last day of the Couch to 5K program schedule. Almost completed 9 weeks! I need to spend this week trying to decide the next step. I don't know if I should add more time or try to go faster during that time to increase my distance. Any advice?

Thanks so much for reading!
Jen

Cupcakes, thanks and ...What?

I lost another pound and a half this past Monday! :)  Consistency is good, right? It's going to take a while to get to where I want to be, but as long as there is progress, I am pleased :)

I was in third &Ninth Deli in Huntington last week, and then again this past week (eating half a turkey sandwich with a fruit cup and some carrots and celery from the kid's menu) when I saw the Paula Vega cupcake counter. Wow! Those things looked amazing!! I survived my first trip there without getting one, but on the second trip, I decided I would be kind and get one for my husband and one for my son. Noah's not a big cake eater, but he does like icing sometimes. I would be lying if I wasn't secretly hoping he would turn it down and then I would be forced to eat it so that it wouldn't be wasted ;)  That's exactly what happened. But then I couldn't bring myself to eat it. I took the thinnest sliver ever just to taste it, and could have smushed it back together and you wouldn't have even been able to tell I did it :)  It was a delicious morsel :) 

In light of that, I decided to make a goal-reward for myself. When I lose 10 percent of my original self, I will allow myself to get a cupcake of my very own and eat every single crumb! I am already thinking about what flavor I want! I'm thinking one with raspberry filling. Yum!! I decided, though, that I should make sure it's10 percent and an additional pound to compensate for the damage the cupcake will do. Including the extra pound, I have 3 more pounds to go. I weigh in again tomorrow and I am hopeful to be a little closer. We'll see... :)

Medicine is going well... Haven't forgotten any this week :)

I have finished day 2 of week 8 in the Couch to 5K program!! I am so close!! It's a nine week program, with 3 days of training each week, so I have 4 more workouts to go!! Yay :) It certainly won't be finished then though. I have so much to do, going longer distances, as right now I should more accurately describe my training success as the Couch to 2 1/2 K program :(  But I'm getting there.

Thanks so much for everyone who has emailed or Facebooked or told me some tips on how to progress in all of this. I was so super discouraged after trying it outside, and your tips helped tremendously. I haven't attempted it again yet, but I will. I must.

One last thing before I go - I was checking email from my Gmail account, and there are ads along the top of the screen, or the bottom of the email, tailored to a topic it thinks I would be interested in. Due to my emails and posts about running, there was one at the bottom that said, no lie, "Runners Diarrhea? We can help!"

Of course I had to Google it to see if it was a for-real problem ... I'm officially scared ...

3 minutes, forgetfulness, and the dress

I tried it. Wednesday I decided to try running outside to see if it was doable. I had hopes it was easier than a treadmill, but was afraid it was harder. I was right. It was torture! I did a 5 minute warm-up walk and then ran for 3 minutes before I had to stop. Any more and neighbors would have found me in need of medical attention right there on their lawn. Three minutes!! On my treadmill I can do 25. What is the difference??

If anyone has a tip or suggestion or thoughts on what might be wrong, please share! I'm a little discouraged about it. Hoping it's just something psychological or because it was cold out, or because I put my left shoe on first instead of my right one... anything fixable. I had, okay still have, high hopes that I will be able to participate in a 5K in March, and I'm pretty sure these things are outside, so I need to improve quickly.

I lost a pound and a half when I weighed in on Monday. YAY for that! I would be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for more. But it's good. It's still progress. There is just so much still to lose. I'm not giving up though. I am moving forward and loving that I am getting closer. I even have downsized into a pair of jeans I put away at Christmas because they were so tight and uncomfortable. Now they fit. Yay again :)

I somehow forgot to take my thyroid  medicine Sunday =(  But the other days were fine, and, after a reminder, I even called to get it refilled (this is where I always have stopped taking it because I forget to get more). I'm sure I'm back on track.

Now to a less serious issue, but a time of honesty. I know my theme word for the year, "Health," is why I am making changes, but as I've said before, the idea of being thinner and fit doesn't sound too crummy. It sounds awesome, actually. In line with that, I have a goal of sorts for the summer.

I haven't worn a dress or skirt in years, not counting the floor-length denim number I have worn about as many times as I can count on one hand. I hate the way my legs look when I am reasonably happy with my weight, so throw on some extra pounds and I'm hiding them. No one will see them.

When I feel the breeze of spring and sunny days become more and more frequent, I silently wish so much that I could put on a cute, knee-length sundress with an adorable pair of sandals and feel, well,  adorable. But I don't. I stick to my long capris or jeans. I really want this summer to be different. I know this probably sounds superficial and unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but I really do want this. So, wish me luck as I keep working at it...

Thanks for reading!
Jen

Getting picked

If you were a good athlete, or maybe even popular as a kid, you might not be able to relate to this - just warning you. But since you're here, you can keep reading :)

When I was a kid, shockingly, I was a terrible athlete. Terrible. I hated the whole thing. I wasn't just lazy and I didn't mind losing. I hated the idea of messing up and letting an entire team down. A team who might actually care about winning. Often I would freeze up and not know what to do next. Add that to the lack of athletic ability, and you can imagine I wasn't the first choice when it came time to pick teams.

But I was also not second, or third, or... you get the idea. Nearly always picked last. My better memories are when there would be one person picked after me. Sorry for their luck, but it made my day much better to know I wasn't dead last.

I wish I could say I knew it wasn't personal, that it didn't bother me, and that it wasn't a big deal. But I can't. It always made me sad to think that I was so terrible that no one wanted me.

Bear with me while I seemingly digress for a moment...

Since I have been running, I have found that it helps me to focus on something other than the time left when the running gets too overwhelming. I realized that when it felt too overwhelming, even the task of thinking things seemed to make it worse. So I would find myself reading the letters on the base of my treadmill just to keep my mind from wandering. The problem is there are only four words on the treadmill, so that didn't take up too much time.

What I finally did was write a passage from the Bible on a piece of paper (with a purple Sharpee - pretty girly things always make things better ;) and read it slowly, focussing on it, while I keep going on my run even when I think I can't.

It's funny how you can read something over and over and get different thoughts and ideas depending on when you read it. I had read these verses for weeks, and just a couple of days ago, a new thought occured to me. Here are the verses (It is the Message version, which I love) found in the book of Isaiah, toward the beginning of chapter 43 -

Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you.
I've called your name. You're mine.
When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you.
When you're in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end -
Because I am God, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you:
all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That's how much you mean to me!
That's how much I love you!
I'd sell off the whole world to get you back,
trade creation just for you.
So don't be afraid: I'm with you.

Read the second line again...
I've called your name. You're mine.

The God of the universe has picked me and wants me on His team. That makes me smile :)

Diet soda, lemon cake and a 5K

I weighed in on Monday and was ecstatic to see I had lost 3 1/2 pounds this week!!! That brings my total to 12 1/2. I weigh less now than I have in a long while. I have a tremendously long way to go, but it is progress and I am pleased.

Everything else with the diet is going well. Except for the pop thing. I saw this week that drinking diet soda regularly makes a person much more likely to have heart problems. With my family history and my bad cholesterol, I really don't need even one more thing to add to the list. But I can't stand the thought of not having it. This is something I am going to have trouble with. I've had a few of them today, as a matter of fact. But, right now, I am drinking a glass of water.

I went to a Valentine's Dinner tonight at church, which was catered and consisted of a lot of good food. But, I tried to keep my portions small, drank water, and even skipped the cake. They had lemon, which sounded and looked amazing!! I'll imagine it was :)  I came home and had a fat-free banana split flavored yogurt. Not quite the same, but still yummy.

I did day 2 of Week 6 in the Couch to 5k program and am pleased with my progress. Tomorrow, I will finish up the week and will be running with no walking breaks from here on out. I never thought I could do that. And, with the help and support of my coworkers, I am thinking about doing a 5k in March. Very excited about this. I am going to try to practice this running business outside soon though, because I am sure it feels differently than running on a treadmill. To be honest, I am afraid it's going to be much harder and I am afraid I can't do it. But I'm hoping it will turn out to be easier. I will let you know :)

Thanks for reading! :)
Jen

Sadness, happiness and a desire

Ok... Big news of the day... I ran for 20 minutes today with no walking in-between! I realize everyone else's big news of the day most likely involves the Super Bowl, but I was way more excited about the run : )
I completed week 5 of the Couch to 5K program today. I can't believe I have been at this for 5 weeks and haven't given up yet! It's a great feeling of accomplishment.

I am not as excited about the weight loss, or lack of weight loss this week. I weighed in on Monday, as usual, and I lost nothing, as I predicted. But... my clothes fit better and I do feel like there could be some muscle-building going on (I told you I would use this... :)  I weigh in tomorrow and I am hopeful, but not expectant, that I will lose something this time. Fingers crossed...

My eating habits have been better this week, other than a pretty fattening breakfast Saturday. My book club friends came over Saturday morning to discuss "Intervention" by Terri Blackstock and I wanted to make breakfast for the occasion. I have been having a hard enough time coming up with new ideas of yummy food that is healthful for myself, and couldn't take the pressure of doing it for company. So... I bought a pastry ring from Panera Bread, made a fruit tray, muffins, hashbrown casserole and mini quiches. I didn't eat excessively from the naughty choices, but ate a serving of everything. I also tried to make some good choices with the ingredients. For the casserole, I used low-fat sour cream and 2% cheese (thanks to advice from you guys). I couldn't tell a difference and it tasted great. 

I made a goal to drink more water and have done a little better, but have a long way to go. Maybe it's something you have to train yourself to do. It's not coming naturally to me, as Cherry Coke Zero tastes so much better... But I will keep trying. :)

I am happy to report that I am taking my thyroid medication regularly and it is becoming more of a habit that I don't have to think about. I should probably mention that I am also supposed to be taking cholesterol medication, but stopped it a long time ago. I would like to think I am managing it well through diet and exercise,  but that hasn't worked in the past. My overall cholesterol number goes down, but the sub-categories are all out of whack. Getting that checked out should probably be a new goal in the near future...

Also, I do feel renewed in my mission to be more helpful to and thoughtful of other people. I think dropping the word helped. Yay :)

So, I am ending this week with a minor sadness that I lost no pounds, a huge happiness that I have finished week 5 running (ok, really a mild jog, but a huge improvement for me) for 20 minutes, and a desire to do better this week. :)

Thanks for reading and for the support! I will update soon... But right now, I think I need another Cherry Coke Zero... :) 

Jen

Smaller pants, water and downsizing

Okay, I will start with good stuff... I lost 3 more pounds this week! Grand total of 9 pounds lost! Yay!! I successfully completed week three and have been working on week 4 of the Couch to 5K program this week! I had no idea I could run that much. I am super psyched about that. But, like all previous weeks, I am certain next week's assignment will have me on the floor of the guest bedroom (i.e. treadmill room, Jacob's room, etc.) having a stroke right in front of my Taylor Lautner posters (don't judge...) :) 

Food has gone pretty well this week. I had a couple of days where I ventured back to normal food like pizza, but tried really hard to not let the pizza win. I ate two tiny slices with a whole lot of salad (fat-free dressing, of course). :)  Overall, not too bad, but I am skeptical of what the scales will say tomorrow on weigh-in day. In preparation for disappointment, I am telling myself that all of this exercising has surely been building muscle, which weighs more than fat, so it makes perfect sense if I lose nothing. My size-smaller pants were worn successfully Saturday night and that couldn't have made me happier. I am one size away from my Goal #1 pair of jeans that are hanging as inspiration beside my treadmill.

I am still taking my thyroid medicine as instructed... yay me! I could definitely up my water-drinking though. I've slacked on that a little this week. I will make that my goal for this week. (Pop just tastes so delicious!)

Now for some less than stellar news... I am downsizing my words. I wanted to have two theme words for this year, rather than just one. I chose "health" and "others." I have decided that "others" is no longer an official word. At least not one I am going to blog about.

I did much better at thinking of others and helping them before I made it an official goal. After setting a goal with it, I started thinking of it in an entirely different way, wondering what people reading this blog would think of whatever it is I am announcing I have done. Would it be good enough, too show-offy, etc. All things that got in the way of me being helpful.

Another reason is it was uncomfortable to talk about things I did for other people. I felt very braggy and it took away from the real reason of why I wanted to do it to start with - to focus on others. Instead I was shifting the focus onto myself.

Now, don't get me wrong, I haven't given up my desire to help people. I think I will have a renewed commitment to do this now. I just won't be tooting my own horn about it :)

Thanks a million for reading!! I will post again soon...

Jen

Progress, confession and fat free cheese...

I'll start positively... : )  Progress- I weighed in on Monday (after two full weeks of eating healthier and exercising) and have lost a total of 6 pounds!! The total for week #2 was 4 1/2 pounds. Yay!! It is getting a little easer too. I am not wanting food as often as I have in the past. I have used food to solve a lot of my problems over the years (wow... It's like I jumped right into the confession portion of the blog... I'll go with it) If I'm happy, I like to eat. If I am sad, I need to eat. If I am bored, eating gets my attention. I have tried to be more alert when it comes to why I want food. Big step for me!

I'm not sure if this is a progress or a confession, but I have continued to take my thyroid medication daily, except for one day that I forgot it. Either way, much better.

I sucessfully began week #3 of the Couch to 5k program! Wednesday was Day 1 of Week 3 and it was rough. I had to run and walk, at times in 3-minute increments... I survived. Yay!

Oh, and I have, so far, successfully avoided a fabulous-looking box of chocolate-covered Krispy Kreme donuts. I ordered them at work from a fundraiser, with the intent of Shawn and Noah eating them, but there are still some left. I will admit I cut one-fourth of one off and gobbled it up, but it could have been so much worse. Way to go on self-control, right? :)

As for my other word... "others." I am still doing terribly at that. I haven't focused on that nearly as much as I need to and I need to do better. Finally, Noah and I decided we could buy a jump rope for Johnny, a kid we sponsor from World Vision, and send it to him. Some progress there, but I haven't written him yet or mailed the jump rope, so there is still work to do :) 

However, here is a big confession. We have sponsored Johnny for 3 years. We picked a kid with Noah's exact birthday, who also likes soccer and is an only child. Noah says he is his brother from Columbia. I had such grand plans of corresponding with Johnny every month, sending him little gifts and pictures and words of love. In three years, I am sad to say we have only done this about three times : (  We have prayed for Johnny twice a day since we got his name... once in the morning before school and once in the evening before bed. I must vow to do better... I feel bad.

On a completely different note... Fat-free cheese is terrible. Yuck.

Thanks for reading and I will update soon :)
Jen

Snack cakes, jogging and one little card...

Week 2 and I am moving right along with one of my 2011 theme words! Yay :)

I would be lying if I said losing weight had nothing to do with choosing "health" as one of my words. My health is one of the reasons, knowing my cholesterol is at a ridiculous level and that I have zero energy, not to mention my lack of consistency in taking my thyroid medication. But seriously, I need to shed some pounds.

So... I am pleased to say week 1 has made me 1 1/2 pounds closer to where I want to be, and for that I am happy. I instinctively feel like I need to follow that with something like, "Only 58 1/2 more to go!" But something like that belittles my progress and makes the task insurmountable. I intend to keep trucking along on this road to a healthier (and hopefully thinner) me.

Some perks to this health thing, in addition to the weight loss... I have wasted less money each day by eating breakfast at home and taking my lunch to work. I feel good about my food choices. Somehow, exercising has actually given me a little more energy.

I did eat out a couple of times this weekend, but I made good choices when I did. (And it wasn't a huge discussion in my head about how it wouldn't hurt just this one time to have something bad...I just went in with a plan to order something tasty that is also low in fat... Yay for things getting easier!)

Oh, and one day this week, I was at work, when Little Debbie snack cakes were being passed out all around me. I tried not to look, but I am pretty sure they were the delicious Valentine's Day cakes. I avoided it and stuck to my yogurt and banana. I have to say I was pretty proud of myself, but am also sure it was only with God's help :)

I started week 2 today in the Couch to 5K program and can officially jog in 90-second increments without passing out :)  Progress!

Now... moving on to week 2 in theme-word number 2 - "Others." I am doing terrible!! I haven't done a single thing on purpose this week for other people, until tonight. I decided to send a card, a note, to some people who I really appreciate, but don't get to talk to often. I guess I picked a bad time to try this, because, as I picked up my pen and my first card, my mind went blank. I wrote one card and that's as far as I got, and even it was a lot less inspiring than I had hoped. Blah.

But... I still have many weeks left this year to improve, right?

More updates soon... :)

Salads, treadmills, and a football :)

Four days later and I'm still doing it!! Yay!

I am (mostly) successfully still sticking to my resolution/theme words for 2011 - "health" and "others."

Day one, I started off simple, trading my usual Coke for water during the morning at work. I ate oatmeal for breakfast and traded chips for pretzels during lunch.

Since then I have had a lot of salads and fruit and skipped the drive thrus. I am ashamed to admit it, but just about every day that I worked, I have had fast food, not once, but twice. Breakfast and lunch, not only filling my body with cholesterol and calories, but wasting a chunk of money too. This week - so far anyway - no fast food!!

Oh... and I almost forgot! Yesterday I even exercised! I started the Couch to 5k Program and did a
combination of walking and jogging on the treadmill. I was exhausted, and a little concerned that I could have a stroke, but I survived!! Yay :)

I have also successfully taken my thyroid medication 4 days in a row! 24 more days and it's a habit, right? :)

As for the "helping others" thing - I'm kinda stinking at that. I don't understand it. As a general rule, I think and pray about how to help other people often, and now that it is a focus of mine, it is harder and harder :(

Day one - I bought a kid a football. Sounds good, right? Except that I had ran over his football to start with   : (   So I guess that one could be looked at as a little selfish becuase I was feeling so bad about it. Thursday, on my way home from work, a football practically fell from the sky, and I tried to dodge it, I really did, but my reaction time stinks and I ran over it... twice :(

Day two, I took the football to the boy's house ( I know there is no way that should count...)

Day three, I gave a friend some flowers to cheer her up, but I don't think that should count either, because I would have done that anyway.

Today I cut it close. I had gone all day without doing anything nice, or even thinking about doing anything nice, and my time was running out. Late this evening I got a text from a friend who needed a little financial help for someone else, so  I got it in just in time :)

So, now you are officially updated.

It hasn't been super easy. Even today, I went to the grocery store after work for dinner stuff, and Noah wanted cheese for dinner, so I went to the deli and picked up some provolone and colby for him. Everything in me wanted to rip open those bags and eat every last morsel of cheese myself before I even got to the register, but I controlled myself. :) I picked up some frozen cheese ravioli with marinara sauce with a modest 3 grams of fat per serving :)

More updates to come... :)

New Year's Resolutions

Ok... On this 2nd of January, 2011, I am thinking of New Year's resolutions. Maybe number one should be something about not procrastinating =) 

My sister-in-law told me something she heard on the radio about having a theme word for the year, rather than a specific resolution. I kind of like the idea, so I am starting out with that. The only problem is deciding which word... There are a million things I am sure that could use changing or improving, a little tweaking, so trying to narrow it down to a single word sounds difficult.

Do I try to improve my organizational skills... or develop some, or maybe try to stop complaining and look at things a little more positively? Writing more? Spending less? Where in the world would I begin?

I decided to focus in on two words, because one was just too hard. First word... Health. I could list a million things in this category, like eating less, eating healthier, exercising more (or at all :), taking my medicine, drinking water, cutting out caffeine, limiting cheese (that's crazy talk).. But ultimately, with this one-word business, it seems a little easier to just think of that one word when I am making a decision during my day. If I am trying to think about what to have for lunch, maybe my one-word theme will help me to choose better.

My second word... Others. While focusing on other people isn't something completely foreign to me, it is definitely something I could stand to do more of. Doing something kind for someone else isn't entirely selfless, as it almost always leaves me feeling better. Kind of a win-win. It may not be something big everyday, but even a tiny thing, done with the right attitude and on purpose, can make it a better day.

So... Here I go. Starting tomorrow (better late than never, right?) I am going to try to focus more on my health and on other people. And, I am going to write about it more often, giving an update on how it is going. Kind of a way to make sure I keep it up.

Wish me luck :)