A Telling Photo and Plans for Tomorrow's Feast

Wow. I am absolutely amazed at how quickly 6 weeks went. When we started this book club on October 20th, 6 weeks felt like such a long time. It was a blink, and I still have so much to learn. I will definitely be re-reading the book.

I did really well with my weight-loss goals during the first 4 weeks, but Week 5 was a stumbling block for me. I just stopped making wise choices. I'm trying to get back on track before the holiday season gets going full swing.

Take a look at this photo. I laughed so hard when I walked down the stairs and saw this on my coffee table. There is just something very telling about it all. : )

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I'm trying to make some plans ahead of time. Yesterday's reading, "Avoiding Pitfalls" was a good one to read before Thanksgiving. I've been thinking about this quote:

"Part of our journey toward eating sanely is learning to think through our weaknesses and temptations ahead of time, rather than being caught off guard by them. " (pg. 163)

On the Today Show this week they said that the typical American Thanksgiving dinner comes in at over 4,000 calories. OUCH!!!!

Here's my plans for tomorrow:

1. Exercise in the morning.

2. Drink water all day

3. Only eat what I really like. Sometimes on the holidays I eat everything because it is there. I plan to be more selective and decide what is actually worth the extra calories to me.

4. Plate around- This is a trick I learned from Weight Watchers awhile ago. When you fill your plate, there should be space on the plate between every item, nothing touching.

5. This is the first year I will not be hosting Thanksgiving myself, so it will be nice not to have a bunch of fattening food leftover. I plan to enjoy the meal and come home without any leftovers.

Here are some other quotes that were good for me from this week's reading:

"A short-term euphoria is not worth the long-term anguish which inevitably follows loss of control." (pg. 165- From "Food For Thought")

This one was especially meaningful to me because I have felt like a failure lately:

If you are feeling weak as you consider the temptations at hand, praise God! Remember God loves to be strong in weak people! (pg. 164)

Well He must be having fun with me lately! : )

I actually gained 1/2 a pound when I weighed in on Monday. I was relieved because I expected it to be worse. I'm praying that I'll start going down the scale instead of up it beginning next Monday. I really want this to be the first holiday I lose weight instead of gain it. I don't want to be another one of the statistics.

Happy Thanksgiving! : )

How Goes the Journey?

I've been trying to get to the computer all day and haven't had a chance. I just wanted to check in with you all. How goes the journey? Did you have a good weekend? Can you believe we are starting Week 6 already? Where did 6 weeks go?

Be Back Soon. : )

Tough Week and Biggest Loser

I'm having a really hard time staying on track this week. It's funny how my life circumstances keep lining up with whatever the current reading topic in the book is. This week while we are reading about choosing, I'm making terrible eating choices.

On Sunday, I let myself have a piece of birthday cake at a party. A normal, sane person would have been satisfied with that one piece, not felt guilty, and moved on. Not me. I felt guilty and less than "perfect" and allowed it to trigger more sugar eating. I've also been battling a cold and wanted comfort, so to food I've been a-going.

I think when I started this book, I hoped it would be six weeks of losing a whole bunch of weight and being fixed. Instead, I'm finding ah-ha moments where I'm doing things right and figuring stuff out, but there are also moments of making mistakes that I have to learn from also.

I'm hoping to take the opportunity to analyze my bad choices this week, see what's causing them, and work at stopping before I sabotage myself.

Here's some things I'm thinking:

- a choice to have some sugar does not allow me to then go on a sugar binge. It should be a once in a while treat and end there. I need to enjoy it, not feel guilty, and then move on. I want to remember how much better I feel without sugar. I love the feeling of being free from it. It surprises me how much havoc sugar can reek on my life. It really is addictive and makes you feel gross. You don't notice it until you get rid of it for awhile.

- perfectionism is definitely my enemy. I need to pray about this some more. Whenever I stop being perfect, I tend to quit altogether. Help me conquer this Lord and just live a healthy life.

On to other topics....

Any Biggest Loser fans out there?

I want to see Vicky go home so badly. Do you think it possible or does she still have too much power?

Wasn't it interesting and depressing to learn about how much our society has changed since 1980? Here were a few facts that stuck out to me:

- Obesity rates have nearly doubled
- Percentage of adults with diabetes has increased 300%
- The average size dress a women bought in 1985 was a size 8, today that average is a size 14.
- Women today eat an average of 385 extra calories a day as compared to the 1980's.

I found this all so disturbing. I know I'm right there with my culture. What has happened to us? What do you think is to blame for these dramatic changes?

Any predictions on who wins Biggest Loser?

My vote? Go Michelle!

God is Doing a Good Work

I had a rough week last week being sick yet again. This time it was a horrible sore throat and the only thing on my mind was crawling back into bed every chance I had.

I didn't fit in many blog posts, but I did do the reading. This book is so full of great wisdom. Some of the thoughts about patience have been sticking with me. Especially the idea of "Keeping Short Accounts" and the promise that because I have surrendered this to God, "the process is working. He is at work. If you are staying in his presence in prayer, then you are changing, whether you can see the changes right now or not." (pg. 116).

I really needed to be reminded that even in a week of being bedridden, God was doing work in me. The idea of progress vs. perfection is an important thing for me to get. I am one of those people who wants to get normal as fast as possible. I want to be "totally 'fixed,' 'healed,' 'skinny,' and 'perfect' right now." (pg. 117) My impatience and perfectionism will keep working against me.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

"I am learning to look at hunger as a good, positive feeling- a sensation tinged with the excitement and anticipation of all that God, our provider, has in store. He wants us to be hungry for his best. He wants us to live in patient, faithful anticipation, trusting him to fill our hungry lives with good things." (pg. 120)

"Perseverance is a key ingredient in success of every kind, and our challenge is no exception." (pg. 122)

I'm looking forward to this next week reading about making choices. I know what the right choice is usually. I need help knowing how to master my appetite so I actually make the right choices.

Here's How I'm Doing:
Weight lost this week: -1.o lbs.
Weight lost since beginning of book club: -5.0 lbs.
My goal is to lose 50 lbs by March 31, 2009
I've lost this much so far: -16 lbs.
34 to go! : )

How goes the battle?

I'm Still Here

Hey fellow book club readers! I'm still here. : )
Thank you for being patient with me with keeping up on blog posts. I'm glad that patience is the theme of this week. I've been sick again for the last three days, but feel like I'm on the mend. I'll be back with a post soon!

I hope you are all doing well. I'm excited to hear how it is going.

Patience- I Need Some

I am loving these readings on patience. I didn't get to this place quickly so it will take time and I need to be patient.

A lot of the extra weight I'm carrying right now came from times of sadness- the loss of my babies, adoptions falling through, etc. I'm impatient to see it gone because it represents a time of grief and I don't want to be reminded of that sadness any more. God has done so much healing in me. This weight loss journey is just more of the process and it, too, will take time and my patience, especially if I want lasting change instead of a quick fix that will need to be redone.

I thought today I'd just make a list of some of my favorite quotes, phrases, and words from the reading I've done lately:

Patience is an undervalued virtue in the present day.
Concentrating on lasting changes rather than quick fixes
Patience is a virtue born out of faith. And faith is a gift.
We are on a journey that must be traveled one day at a time. (Sometimes even one hour or one minute at a time!
The Lord gives us this day our daily bread. Accept it gratefully. Put aside tomorrow and the next day and the next. Stop hurrying. Relax into the moment.
Experience
Breathe
Lean on God in the now
Gradually
We need to sit still before the Lord and ask him to slow us down and teach us to listen to our bodies.
Goal: Serene and normal life.

Here's how I'm doing after Monday's weigh-in:
Weight lost this week: -1.o lbs.
Weight lost since beginning of book club: -4.0 lbs.
My goal is to lose 50 lbs by March 31, 2009
I've lost this much so far: -15 lbs.35 to go! : )

One of the activities we are supposed to do this week is to set small goals. I need to spend some time coming up with more, but here are a few:

1. I will continue losing between 1 and 1.5 lbs. a week.
2. I'll be back to my pre-pregnancy weight (this most recent one) within the next three weeks.
3. I will make it through Thanksgiving and Christmas without gaining any weight this year. (Need to start planning for that)
4. I will meet my weight loss goal by March 31st
5. I will run in a 5K race I have planned in May.

Your Turn:
Insights?
Challenges?
Prayer Requests?
Progress Reports?
Celebrations?

Hope all is going well for each of you....(even you lurkers out there who don't comment) : )

Don't Give Up! Keeping Short Accounts

Well, I have been a lazy blogger on here lately, huh? I have a lot of excuses. If you read the comments section on the last post, you already heard some of them:

-Busy
-Turned into a Facebook addict (If you don't know what this is, don't try to find out. You'll regret it because you'll get addicted and hours will disappear) : )
-Got distracted by the elections
-Kids have been out of school all week
-Wanted to let you talk to each other in the comments more

The real reason is I have been having a less than stellar week following my eating plan and doing my reading. I have battled with wanting to quit and feeling like I'm failing again. Today's devotion, "Keeping Short Accounts" was a perfect one for me today. I'm amazed at the timing! I don't know how the writers timed this devotion to come on the day I felt like I was blowing it, but they did. It was a God thing.

How often have I traveled down the road of, "Well, I've already blown it, so I might as well just ___________." And the line of "it occurs to you that this is already Thursday, so you might as well wait until Monday and really blow out the whole weekend." I was mentally preparing to forget this all until Monday when I read that line.

I promised myself that this journey would be about lasting change and breaking free from the insanity of doing the same old thing over and over again. I don't want the same results, so I have to change my approach. And this is my M.O. I'm excited to have an ah-ha, breakthrough here. My all or nothing behavior has to stop or I will constantly be dieting and regaining and dieting and regaining. It feels good to have identified one of the ways I self-sabotage myself in this effort. When I mess up, stop, pray, get back on track. Don't give up. Keep short accounts. Ditch perfectionism.

I think people who are not perfectionists would believe that a perfectionist has it all together all the time. They would think it was someone who is perfect. But a true perfectionist knows that perfectionists are those who give up when they can't be perfect. That's me.

If you haven't read today's devotion (Keeping Short Accounts), please read it before the weekend starts. I think we've all been struggling with weekends and I think this will help us. Pray, repent, start over.

I also need to be praying more. It is interesting how the theme this week is prayer, and I have struggled to pray at all. There has been a block in me for some reason, and I've found it so difficult to pray. I'd rather be doing anything else but praying even though I know that is my lifeline. Why do I resist something I need so much? Something I love so much?

Day Two hit it right on the head. So much of our lives as Christians involve spiritual battle. Whether we want to admit it or face it, it is reality. And prayer is critical. It really is easy for me to think about my weight loss journey as a battle. I just need to do a better job of using the weapon of prayer in this battle. It is kind of like exercise- I resist it, but once I do it I love it and wonder why I didn't want to do it.

Personally, I took the election results hard and have been feeling unsettled and anxious. Insecurity about what the future holds has my stomach in knots. It might sound weird to others reading this, but it really has affected me, and I've turned to my typical anti-anxiety medication: FOOD.

Instead of quiting or waiting for Monday to "restart," I'm going to finish up this journal entry and go pray. Then I'm going to just keep on living this new lifestyle instead of thinking, "Man I blew my diet, might as well quit."

Some Notes About the Book Club:

1. Don't worry if you get behind. Put a pencil mark on the devotion you miss and just keep going. You can go back later and catch the ones you miss. There is so much in this book, I know I'm going to need to reread it several times to get out of it all there is for me to learn. Don't be a perfectionist. : )

2. There are seven readings in each section. So Monday= Day One, Tuesday = Day Two, etc. with Sunday being the final day.

3. I try to blog often, but even if I don't put up a post, check the comments section for new posts from other people reading the book. When you leave a comment you can check the box that will have all additional comments on that post emailed to you if it is easier for you to keep up with the conversation that way instead of having to come back and check.

Here are some prayer requests:

- Pray for Sally while she is on vacation. She was able to go on an unexpected vacation with her husband and was worried about being able to stay on track. Pray she'll have a great time and will be free from worrying about overeating and will come home refreshed and ready to continue with all of this, not discouraged in any way.

- Pray for Sally A. (My mom) who is on a business trip with my dad and will be living in a hotel for two weeks. She wants to stay active and to eat well without having to live on salad alone.

-Pray that Renee's family will all be healthy again and that she will be able to stay encouraged, too.

Did I miss anything? How are things going? Anyone else needing to keep short accounts? : )

A New Week Begins

I'm celebrating this morning. I lost 1.5 lbs and it is a miracle. I had such a rough week with being sick and injured, I didn't expect much. This loss this morning was really a gift.

The reading in Faithfully Fit has been so good for me lately. There is so much in it that is applicable, I think I'll probably have to go through it more than once in order to get everything I need from it.

Some of the thoughts that stood out to me from the Point of View chapters were:

1. Expecting God to do a miracle in this, believing He will heal me from the overeating and emotional baggage, and trusting Him to get me to the place I need to be to stay healthy and fit, instead of believing it is impossible. I read this post on Lysa TerKeurst's blog this morning and it really spoke to me in this area. It is easy to believe that all of this is impossible. I loved how she said that we "were not made for impossibility."

2. Quit allowing food and dieting to be an obsession. Love this quote because it describes me:

But seriously folks, I would not even dare to calculate the number of leisure hours I have logged thinking about food- what I know I should eat today, what I shouldn't eat but am really hungry for, what I have eaten and wish I hadn't, what I resisted eating but wish I'd given in to. Ad nauseum. (pg. 70)

I want to "set my mind on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:1). I'm tired of thinking about food and dieting all of the time. I want freedom here.

This morning, I read Prayer, Day One. (I read one devotion a day, and start a new week every Monday. This is Week Three)

It was so good for me to be reminded of my need for prayer. I loved the way they said this:

The 'transforming friendship' that grows during our prayer times will be the key to our becoming all he would have us be. (pg. 79)

"Transforming Friendship" is an awesome way of describing what happens when my life is characterized by prayer. I started thinking about how transforming it would be if I was really, truly seeking Him before every food choice. Or if I would really "Ask him to show me what to change in my daily circumstances in order to bring about his will for me." (pg.82)

This chapter was my favorite so far. There is just so much practical wisdom in it and it really inspired me to be praying more about all of this. I've been praying, but not in a way that makes me truly reliant on Him to win this victory for me.

How are things going for all of you? We all seemed to struggle with the weekend last week. Was this one better, the same? Any personal insights you found in the reading? Praying for all of us! : )

(Remember you can join in on the discussion at any point, even if you aren't reading the book with us.)

Here's How I'm Doing:

Weight lost this week: -1.5 lbs.
Weight lost since beginning of book club: -3.0 lbs.
My goal is to lose 50 lbs by March 31, 2009
I've lost this much so far: -14 lbs.
36 to go! : )