The hidden benifits of weight loss and fitness.

And they shall remain hidden. :D

Peach Pie

So, the last few days have not been the best. That's largely due to peach pie. Who knew it has somewhere around 400 calories a slice? And if you have homemade ice cream in the house of course you have to have a topper. Consequently, I've gone over on my calories several of the last several days and today finds me feeling guilty. But I really need to find balance here because these are the facts: 1. I like sweets, particularly ones I've baked myself. 2. I get great satisfaction from baking, not just the eating afterwards. 3. Despite the 15 quarts of homemade ice cream and 5 fresh peach pies that have been in and out of my house in the last 5 days, I have only consumed a total of 2 pieces of pie and 2.25 cups of ice cream, not even nearly one helping every time it's been served. 4. On the days that I have decided to enjoy some, it was a choice, not a giving in, and I was careful to balance my other eating (today all I had for lunch was pie. :))5. I still lost 2lbs last week which, though lower than the other weeks, is still twice my goal. All in all I've dealt with this temptation with self-control and restraint and not fallen below my goal for the week. Then why do I feel the need to eat nothing but 100 calorie cereal today to make up for the weekend? This is the point I've often come to in my many attempts to overcome bad eating habits: for a few days I fail to meet my standards, I get discouraged and I decide that I'm not going to be able to keep it up and I quit. It's the perfectionist in me. But no! I am not going to do that this time! I am still seeing results! There is a place for baked goods in this world and in my diet. I enjoyed them and now we move on. I do not need to feel such guilt and let it drag me into more setbacks. I'm not falling off the wagon, I've just had a few bumps and need to hold on and say "weee!" :) (Because they were very tasty bumps) Eating pie and ice cream is not the unforgivable sin. Ok, enough pep talks; on with the healthy eating. It also helps that I've discovered that every time I eat that ice cream I get a really nasty stomachache. Enough to make me leave it alone.
In other, more successful news I had two women say this weekend "have you lost weight? You look really good!" Now, I didn't think it made that much of a difference already, but it's still nice to hear!

...coming out the other side..

Well, I survived the ice cream party. I ended up eating a small bit of chicken salad for lunch and then having ice cream then. Partially so I could sit down and really enjoy it and partially so that I had more of the day to burn off the calories before bed. I also tend to eat less when other people are around so I knew that the temptation would be less when everyone was actually there. So I had one delightful cup of mint cookies and cream with fudge swirl ice cream for lunch and then two bites as I was dishing it up later that night. And that was all. I ended up going over my calorie goal by 92 but I also got my walk in for the day, so it evened out and I ended up under the 1500 in the net. :) Today is another Friday and I historically have had trouble on Fridays: little activity and lots of boredom. And tonight I'm planning on baking as many peach pies and I can muster. This weekend promises a lot of sitting and not much bike riding. Hm...that doesn't sound to good but we'll see what we can do. Tomorrow we're driving over to see my sister in a play and then probably spend the rest of the day with them as well. It'll be fun, but my family tends to center around food rather than activity. That's always a challenge. Not to mention that I"m the one bringing pie and ice cream. :)

GQ Man

Enter, Homemade Ice Cream

We're having a bunch of people over from camp tonight and Mike made 4 batches of homemade ice cream to feed them. Now, I could manage with just vanilla, I would only need a bit of that and be fine letting it go. But then we also made fresh peach and mint cookies and cream with a fudge swirl. Yeah. So, I'm trying to formulate a battle plan on that one. First of all I'm eating as few calories today as possible, to save room for ice cream. :) At that's as far as I've gotten. In better news, I saw a neighbor this morning and she said "well you're sure looking skinny." No matter that she tends to try to be optimistic and encouraging, so I take her with a grain of salt, but it still sounds good. :) Speaking of which, I need to finish logging my calories from last night and start today. Do I even want to know how many calories are in homemade ice cream? I'm guessing not.

Wednesday

Well, I promised I'd write more today and Grandpa is here playng with Parker so it's my perfect chance, but I forgot what I wanted to write...The weekend went fast of course. But it was pretty good. Perfect weather. Unusual for July, but I'm not complaining. Monday we spent in Ames which of course I loved. I was needing a cup of real espresso in a real cup in a real coffee shop. :) Don't worry, I made sure it was skim with no whip. I was so proud of my 16 month old too. He got a cup of milk which he sat in the booth and sucked right down and then proceeded to study his alphabet book all with the air of one completely accustomed to spending time in a coffee shop. We'll sure have him ready for college...The other highlight of the day was a stop at the Story City Carousel. I'm always a fan of that ride and it was Parker's first so it made for a memorable moment. I had some pictures to post but I forgot the cord for my camera...Our last purchase of the day was a half bushel box of Missouri Peaches. As of today they are perfect and ready for eating. Yum! Fresh peach pie, fresh peach ice cream, peaches in the freezer for winter,peach smoothies, and just peach in a bowl. And me on a diet. Hm...trying to figure out a good time to fit a piece of peach pie into the calorie count because I don't think I can let this whole box go by without at least one pie. Anyway, I'm excited about my peaches and the fact that I can enjoy them for the most part without blowing the diet. Another weekend find that I'm excited about are the mini Quaker Rice Cakes called "Quakes" and coming in cheese flavor. I think they taste like cheetos. They just hit the spot when you're in need of a munchie snack and only 50 calories per bag! And camp can get a case of them for .98! So that's what Parker and I eat when we go to camp.

In other not as exciting news, Mike's bi-annual trip to Canada with his dad is coming up. I'm excited for him to get to have a break and enjoy this time, but I hate the fact that this trip takes precedence over any family vacation and that it's very exclusively for the men. What if I want to take a vacation with my husband? If we could do both, that would be one thing...but with Mike's busy schedule and the cost of this trip, it means that that is the only trip Mike can afford this year and so we take a summer vacation separately. If he can't take time off to spend with his family then why is it just assumed that he's going to make time and budget space for this trip? Another thing is that is always falls on or just after our anniversary and his dad acts like it's an annoyance that we should have to plan around something like a wedding anniversary. :P And that is my final bone of contention with this trip: I think I would be more for it if it was a trip where Mike could go and get good accountability and teaching and encouragement for being a man of God. However his chances are about 2 out of 3 that he'll get bad advice and examples if any and those aren't exactly the type of men that I want my husband finding his example in. So those are the reasons that I don't look forward to this trip. This year I'm trying to focus on the good break it will be for Mike and the enjoyment I know he gets from it and pray for the time he'll have with his dad that maybe some healing of all the old relational hurts they have between them. And in the meantime I'm going to stay with my Mom so that I have less of a chance to sit home and brood. :P That's always dangerous...

Update

I think I will write more tomorrow when I am at church and looking for something to do...but I did want to post an update. I weighed Saturday night and had lost another 5lb. Hooray! Especially after an especially craving filled week. I'm beginning to think that my metabolism is really kicking in though because I'm hungry all the time. Also in the hooray catagory, we went to Ames for the day yesterday and when I came home and tallied up my calories, I had one to spare! :) In reality, when you count the things of Mike's that I just had a taste of, I probably went over by about 100 or so, but I did get a workout in last night too, so I think it'll even out. So I was grateful for that, because I had a good day, got to have a few of my favorite treats, and just made some wise choices in the other areas, like McDonalds. So, like I said...more tomorrow!

A thought...

Listening to podcasts while I enter the membership records from the last 100 years :P...but the speaker just made a comment that made me think: Am I striving to be the best wife in the world or the best wife for my husband? The latter is what I've been called to...if looking for some wise counsel for women listen to podcasts from www.reviveourhearts.com. She's the author of "Lies Women Believe" and not only has her own good stuff to but has good guests as well.

The Bible is true!

Just kidding...I mean it is, but yeah, wasn't any doubt on that fact. You know how it says, "if you think you're standing firm be careful that you do not fall." Yeah...just two days ago I was celebrating how well things were going for me with my eating habits and how it had been relatively easy and freeing. So, then Thursday comes along and I am ridiculously bored at work and so naturally my thoughts turn to food. I caved in and ate some crackers when I wasn't really hungry and the whole morning was just rough. The time couldn't pass fast enough. So when I got home I ended up taking a nap rather than eating lunch and when I woke up there was a tray of still warm baked goods on my counter! Ahhh! They won't leave me alone! I ended up leaving those alone (they're for the coffee shop, and I wanted something more chocolate if I was going to eat something) and I made my own double chocolate cookies and then ate 6 of them. :P Then I calculated the calories that I had just consumed (if I had eaten the entire bowl of dough it would have been about 2095 calories :)) and to my happy surprise they were only 47 calories apiece. Hooray for substituting half applesauce! Granted, I still didn't need to eat six of them, but after being careful what I consumed the rest of the day, I still ended the day 200 calories below my goal. Very happy about that. Part of that was due to my supper, a turkey and green bean omelet. Now, don't knock it until you've tried it. I've got to use the vegetables that I've got on hand you see. So I chopped them really small and sauteed them with green onions and garlic. Then some oven roasted turkey and cheddar cheese and it made a very large and tasty omelet. It was a little odd to have the flavor of green beans...but not bad. All in all, it wasn't a bad day. While eating six cookies does not exhibit self-control, it did show me that occasional indulgences are ok, and I don't need to be over the top obsessive about this otherwise I'm just going to set myself up for greater falls. I just need to not indulge every day...occasional means not every day. We'll have to work on that. The end of the week is almost here. I'm excited to see what my results will be. Oh, I've decided that if I make it a whole month (they say that's how long it takes to make a new habit) of meeting my goals then I'm going to reward myself with a bottle of that Nivea cellulite melting lotion. I don't know if it will really do much...and it costs $10 but I figure that it will make a good reward and a little moral boost after a month, even if it's only a placebo effect. And if it helps, more's the bounty!

I think I need some ice cream

It's been a long while since I've had any and while before I was satisfied, I'm starting to crave things. Like the little plastic toy brownie in the toy kitchen looked good to me. So my decision is, do I indulge in something of that nature (not plastic) now and do it in moderation and control and make sure it's worth it; or do I try to abstain and get myself over this hump hoping that on the other side there is less of a desire for such things? Am I wanting to do this cold turkey or should I have more of a "brownie patch" approach? I think that I have no need or desire to completely abstain, however, I also have nothing in my house that is worth indulging in. And that is on purpose. And if I make something myself then I have a whole pan left to tempt me after I enjoy my "moderation." Hm...I'm in a quandary.

In better news I've been enjoying a lot of green tea and frozen blueberries. And really I've been quite satisfied. I've been able to munch on blueberries for those times when I don't really need to eat, I just want something to munch on, and you can't eat that many of them because they're cold. The de-caf green tea selection in this part of the world is lame (as is a lot of the selection for anything that might be considered "health food") but I did find one Lipton Honey Lemon that was really pretty good. I also tried chai green tea, and it was good, but not the same. Think I'll stick to the black on that. Another new product I wanted to give a whirl was Special K's Protein Plus. Only 100 calories with 10g. of protein. However when I sat down with my 3/4 of a cup and 1/2 c. skim milk next to Mike's overflowing bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, I was sorely disappointed. It wasn't bad really...and I'm not hungry yet, just not satisfied either. Pretty sure it's not worth its $3 a box.

Yesterday I rode my bike around both of the twin lakes. It's still about 12 miles I figure, however most of South Twin's trail is just a gravel road so that was a little harder going. But enjoyable. I burn a little over 800 calories on a 1 hour bike ride, (or so they say, there's no way to count in that I'm also pulling a baby cart) that makes me think I should start counting that as a workout rather than just as my "something active." Monday I did my workout video and so with that and after my bike ride, I could barely walk last night.

Oh, one more thing and then I'll end this already long post: I met a guy yesterday that informed me that they have mixed martial arts class in Pocahontas! I know, I'm a nerd, but really, I'm excited. I loved Karate when I took it before and having it as close as Pocahontas might just be the best find I've had since we moved here...waiting on more information,and praying that Mike might agree to do it with me. That's going to take a miracle but God is powerful! ;)

Things you never would've imagined...

Everybody likes to listen to music when they have to drive somewhere. However, my choices are now limited to "The Bible Book Bop" or the new techno version of "The B-I-B-L-E." Oh, and sometimes I can talk him into a circle of life-esq "Jesus Loves Me." Not bad choices really but still....they get old. But when I think about it,I'm glad he's getting good messages poured into his head so early. Because he really does listen. I realized this when he started going around the house singing "b-i, b-i." And I realized that I really better be careful what I listen to when he's around because it's going in and sticking even if it isn't always coming out yet. Therefore we don't listen to Mitch Hedberg on the ipod when he's awake...I've been teaching him Bible verses too and it's really neat how much he likes them. I'll ask him if we should read his Bible verse and he gets a big grin and rushes around trying to find the book. He can do the sign for "Jesus" so we call it his "Jesus" book. Last night he was in the middle of a fit about something or another and I said "do you remember your Bible verse?" and he immediately stopped to listen. Maybe he's like Father Tim's dog in the Mitford books and is controlled by scripture (if you don't know what I'm talking about you really need to read those books.)Just one other thing I want to say, first of all, teaching him sign language has been great for us. Saves us a lot of frustration and I think him too. He's very communicative. My favorite word just might be "help;" he's just started to do it this last week or so, but it really saves us a lot of fits. He'll start fussing about something, and then stop and sign "help" so that we know he just needs help with something. Soooo nice. That's my two cents worth, things you never would've imagined yourself getting excited over before you have kids...

Temptation, thy name is peanut butter cookie!

But despite my moment of weakness, it only set me back 210 calories and it was really yummy. And I was able to eat just one, so it's all ok. After another bike ride my net calories for the day are about 950. Hm...no wonder I'm hungry! Oh and I had the most delightful sandwich for supper with a chunky chicken salad (Thanks Amy!) and a warm whole wheat biscuit. Yummy. Mike has not been a big fan of my cooking latly, he is tired of leftovers I think and very tired of salads made with chicken and beans...but I think it's very tasty and am delighted with my new found freedom in cooking healthier meals. Oh, and another tip that I got from that blog I like, frozen blueberries are a great snack. A little bit expensive, but they're cheap as they'll ever get right now..and even Parker likes them! I've been having a hard time getting him to eat fruit.
And tonight was my moment of truth: it's been a week, I should have lost a pound. So I got out that dreaded scale, and ta da! I lost 3! Who Hoo! If I keep up at this pace I will get to my goal by Christmas. that would be nice. But not going to count on it. It could just be water weight anyway, but still that is a testament to cutting back on the sodium. So, I'm excited tonight, and very grateful that things are happening. And praying that I can stick with it. Oh, I also calculated that I rode my bike something like 42 miles this week, so that probably helped...not sure if I will have the time to keep that up. To celebrate, I'm going to have a biscuit. :) I know, I shouldn't award myself with food, but gosh darn it, I'm hungry!

Enough fitness talk, how about just some good old mud?

Closer to success!

Yesterday was a good day, but I didn't have time to write. When it was all tallied up at the end of the day I was told I still had 388 calories that I could consume that day! That's coming a long way from being almost three times over not even a week a go and even being 400 over the day before. Granted this was after a 45 minute bike ride was also figured in, so really I went over my goal by about 250 calories, but that's still coming a long way, and I'm not being too strict with the 1500 mark because like I said before I believe that is set up for a person who isn't active at all and especially isn't nursing. I also read yesterday that even if you're completely sedentary, you burn 1000 calories by being alive, so add that to my bike ride and I only had about 200 unused calories before counting what I burn by keeping house, running after a toddler, doing some woodworking, and going to camp yesterday. Who-hoo! And I even had an iced coffee and popcorn for a snack. So how did I do this this particular day? Since I"m already eating pretty good stuff, I just needed to eat less of it. So I took half of the meats and carbs out of my lunch and supper and replaced it with more spinach! So I still felt quite satisfied and had a big old bowl of taco salad, just less calories. So, that obviously was my success for yesterday, my setback was that I didn't do my sit-ups. Not because I was lazy though but because my back has started to hurt so I thought I might need a break. Maybe I should move to sit-ups every other day? I was just reading the blog that got me started on all this and she was talking about how it appears that green tea has kicker her metabolism into high gear. That's what I need! Perhaps I'll give that try. I have a feeling that today won't be as successful due to the fact that I'm working at church all day. It's hard here to not snack because I have nothing else to think about apart from how hungry I am. It's easier to bike on an empty stomach than it is to sit...strange no?

Ah, NMSU...

Very bored at work today so I thought I'd take the opportunity to write about something I've been reminiscing about lately. During my bike ride on Tuesday I was recalling the times of my life so far that I've been in the best shape. Arguably the best would be my semester at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. That wasn't my lowest weight ever, but I was in shape. The reasons why were three-fold: 1. After homework I didn't really have anything else to do other than workout. 2. I didn't have any money so I ate very little and not at the cafeteria. 3. I was dealing with some grief/control issues and so being over the top disciplined was one of my outlets. This last reason had Mike very concerned and at times mad at me (that was the day I did 500 sit-ups :P) and perhaps I was headed down a dangerous path, but oh, it's so nice to remember that lifestyle of self-control and activity. My typical day was up at 5:45 to read my Bible for a bit then off to the gym for a workout; either weight/machines or a swim in the outdoor pool. Oh, the outdoor pool! One of my favorite memories of that place is watching the sun rise as I swam, outside, in the morning, in October! Anyway...after that I came home for a breakfast of plain yogurt and a package of instant oatmeal mixed together. Not cooked, just mixed; it really was pretty good. Shower and change and off to my 45 minute Karate or Personal Defense Class. Those were also a very good workout involving using muscles I usually didn't, holding it, and lots of flexibility. Then off to some other more sedentary classes during which I would eat half of a white tortilla with a piece of cheese. Lunch was the other half of that tortilla and cheese (sometimes there was ham too) and an apple. More class, then, on some days, to work. I worked on the production crew at NMSU's equivalent to Hilton and it was a very physical job doing something like moving boxes, lifting and assembling staging, or picking up the gym floor. After a few hours of that was a supper of usually a package of ramen, then off to my other job, reffing at the AC. This involved running up and down the gym floor with the players and if I got a break from that I would go jog a mile or two or climb the rock wall. I think I probably ate some snacks in there somewhere, but I never really had much on hand. Sometimes candy from the care package I got and once I bought a package of amazing mint oreos. Other times my roommate would bring me a quesadilla or something from the cafeteria, but mostly my diet was pretty steady. Oh, on Wednesday mornings I did forgo the first work out and went to the coffee shop and "splurged" on a cup of coffee and a toasted plain bagel with butter. Mmmm, those were good mornings. Add to that the fact that I either walked or rode my bike everywhere (including several miles and back to get groceries twice), like all over the city, and I think that would equate to my being in pretty good shape. I did go out for ice cream now and then or had a free meal at an activity with the church, but those weren't all that often. Maybe just often enough to keep me alive. :) I didn't really have friends to go places with to eat so, what's the point of spending the money? Did't have a kitchen to cook in, and I did most of my shopping at the natural grocery store across the road, so I couldn't afford much. Don't forget happy hour at the International House though! Then I would ride my bike the maybe three? miles to get coffee drinks for a $1 and I'd drink two. :) Ah, those were pretty good days. Granted, I was ridiculously lonely and homesick, but looking back now, it was a good time. So that's my story of how to get in good shape in less than three months. I suppose if you're looking for a good crash diet, it would work, but it does require no social life. :)

A day in review

Well, I was thinking I did pretty good today, but when I actually stopped to calculate my calories, I am again over my intake goal. Granted, it's still over 1000 calories less than I was eating last week at this time...but still more than I want to be eating. I'm eating better things, I just still need to eat less of them. So...I guess I'll work on that tomorrow. I really am eating way better things though. For instance for a snack I had an apple cinnamon rice cake with peanut butter. Tasty and very filling. And for supper I made bean dip that is only 312 calories for 1 cup and I added chopped spinach to it(I've been adding chopped spinach to a lot of things; if you chop it small enough you can't really tell it's there) Then I made my own tortilla chips with whole wheat tortillas so that they were low in sodium. They were yummy too. For dessert/fruit I made a peach smoothie with tofu. I'm not a big tofu person but it really does add a lot to a smoothie in the way of smoothness and it's really low cal while really high in protein.
Anyway, those are some of my good discoveries. Let's see, today's high point...I avoided the sub sandwich I was offered at work and I got a workout and a walk in. Low was definitely that I still was about 400 calories over my goal. I was going to say it was when I gave into temptation and had that other half of a rice cake, but that was when I felt better about how I had did today and didn't realize that I really hadn't done that well...:) Oh well, still better than last week at this time. And my body feels happy. Like I'm giving it good fuel.

Successes and Setbacks

I didn't do so super good yesterday, but I did learn some stuff. As I have time, I want to post about at least one success against temptation along with at least one "setback." What started me off wrong yesterday was that darn mocha. Because what I learned was that when I start my day with all that sugar, then I just want more sugar all day. It wasn't a horrible day because I had a 12 mile bike ride and a walk and my big "splurge" (after the mocha) was a handful of chocolate chips. The whole day together just ended up being over my calorie goal. One success however was that I didn't have the chocolate mousse that the offered at camp for dessert but rather opted for chocolate granola with skim milk. Although I really didn't need that either, at least it had a lot more nutrition. Another good thing is that my sodium intake is way down and my protein intake way up. And it hasn't been that hard. I know my blog is getting rather boring just rattling on about nutrition stuff all the time, but this is my way of staying accountable. I'll write better stuff if I can think of any...

Only 362 Days to Go!

Day three of my new challenge to myself. I meant to update my blog sooner, but you know how the days go. I’m especially finding that trying to log my calories and activities each day takes up the little bit of time I would otherwise use to blog, so, oh well. No big happenings yet anyway. Well except the revelation I received on Friday and Saturday of how much too much I’m eating. Wow, I really didn’t think I ate that much but after eating just pretty normally and logging it I discovered that I ate something around 2.5 times the amount I wanted to in order to lose weight. Yikes! No wonder….Actually on Saturday night I just gave up logging anything after I was already to 3000 calories and hadn’t even added the trip to Pizza Ranch yet. Oh my, no more Pizza Ranch for me! The good news is that improvement has been speedy now that I am aware. My goal is still around 1500 calories a day, however I’m going to be pretty flexible with that because that was a number set for someone being inactive and not nursing. Neither of which is me. Sunday and Monday I consumed a net of around 1400 calories after taking out what was burned during a workout and a bike ride. After that I’ve still got all my normal daily activity keeping house, working, and running after a toddler so I think I’m doing pretty well at burning more than I take in. I’ve been doing pretty well at being satisfied with these lesser calories, I mean I’m hungry a little more often , but the fact that I have to log everything I eat makes me wait until I really need something to eat and then make a wise choice. I’m having trouble finding high protein, low calorie/low sodium snacks, but we’ll keep at it. I’m beginning to think that I am trying to cut out too many things at once but when I started to log what I eat I was also blown away by how much sodium I consume, so I’d really like to fix that. I spent a lot of money at the grocery store yesterday but I hope that can be attributed to the amount of fresh fruits, high protein snacks, and tofu that I bought. Yes, you heard me right, tofu. I’m not a big fan, but really it’s not that bad in smoothies and dude, it’s 50 calories with something like 14g. of protein. That’s hard to find. Granted it’s soy protein so I’m not going to OD because I don’t want to become ubber girlly J but, it’s worth a little bit I think. The other victory these last few days is that I really haven’t felt deprived nor have I been wanting to eat that ice cream in the fridge. I think that’s really a God thing because usually I’m all about the sweets. But I’ve good without them and instead enjoying the high I get from knowing that I’m eating right and on my way to being a hot wife. I would really like that. I mean, Mike has never said that he thinks I’m not…I just would like to be confident that he has reason to think that and even have other people be jealous of him. J Oh, another thing I feel like I am overcoming is coffee!! I found out that a Jamocha shake is almost half of my daily calories and out the door it went. I think it helps that I know I can have one, I just would rather not have the extra work that would have to come with it; or the guilt. Now, today I did have a mocha but that was a choice and I needed to taste my wares that I have recently adjusted.

Mike is also being really supportive. He’s willingly listening to my babble about calories and workouts and reminding me that maybe I don’t need to eat whatever it is right now. And he’s taking the baby so I can workout. Oh, another reason for his supportiveness is that I have suggested we buy a Wii for our anniversary. Yes…you two with your mouths hanging open right now….I know who you are… I suggested it. They have a lot of fitness programs for the Wii and I’ve heard it’s really fun and I’d really like the options and change of pace and challenge that they say it supplies. I really want to do Karate and I think I could do it on there where I can’t find a good program other places. Anyway, it’s just a thought at this point, but Mike was all for it.

Now I know, this is a lot of excitement for only being on my 3^rd day. But there’s only 362 more days to go!! Next 4^th of July is my goal to be at 150 lbs. Oh, and I said I would post these soon, so I guess now is the time. Weight and measurements as of July 4, 2009. Ick, I hate to type them. But here’s hoping I will never have to claim these numbers again!

Weight: 198 lb (oh, Pizza Ranch, you kill me!)

Waist: 40 in.

Hips: 46 in.

Arm: 16 in.

Leg: 28 in.

Oh one more thing I’d like to point out, is my “calorie counting” program. I tried one that was just and igoogle widget and it was lame. Then however I came across www.livestrong.com and the “my daily plate” feature. Wow is that ever fun. Not only is it easy to log calories and activities, it tallies them all up for you and gives you charts to analyze them every which way. And it offers you “healthy” alternatives for everything you eat as well as suggestions of how to burn them off. If I had the time I could log and get credit for everything from getting dressed to having sex to folding laundry. The only think I don’t like is that it’s very calorie focused and not so much on nutrients, but that’s really to be expected. So anyway, check it out! It’s fun if you are a nerd like me.

Now, after all this focus on physical appearance and training, how about a moment for spiritual training, because contrary to appearances, I’m not forgetting that part. Yesterday during my working I continued listening to a podcast on “The Beauty of Meekness” from Revive our Hearts. Good stuff. I highly recommend giving the series a listen. It’s not easy, but it’s good. I’ve got the 16^th century Puritan book that it’s based on, on its way to me as well. Looking forward to the challenge that will be. Oh, and in the meantime I’m reading “The Power of a Praying Wife.” Something I’ve wanted to read for awhile. I’m not too far into it but looking forward to learning how to better pray for Mike. I do now, but it feels extremely inadequate. Mike and I have also been praying together every night. That’s way exciting. Granted, I’m the one that suggests it, but as far as I can tell, that’s ok. I’m not usurping his authority. It’s not anything long winded or terribly deep, but it’s the fact that we’re doing it, and I think God will bless that and grow it.

Now, I’d better get to work. I’m supposed to be running a coffee shop here. Have had a total of one customer this morning. If it wasn’t for the cost of being open, that would be fine with me because I like the quiet time…but we need the business. Going for a bike ride after this. Whoo-hoo for exercise!

New Goal

I was inspired yesterday by a new blog called "Bikini by 30" to get on the stick, set some goals and get rid of this weight that's been hanging around, my waist specifically. So I've been thinking about it and talking to Mike. He's on board with it for a change, so that's a huge help. Some of his suggestions were that I focus on eating more protein (reminds me of Mrs. Hartman...:))and that I aim for loosing one pound a week. That sounds doable to me. So my goal is 1 lb. a week for the next 46 weeks. That sounds slow, buy maybe when I get back into a good swing things will happen faster. My timetable comes from 1. the suggestion that Mike got from a coach somewhere and 2. I really want to be to a size that I can live with before I get pregnant again and that is our timetable for that. (scary to think that less than a year from now I want to be pregnant again.) I weighed myself this morning for a starting weight but I'm going to save that disclosure for when I have starting measurements as well. The blog that I was reading is going by measurements rather than weight and I like that idea; seems like it might be more encouraging. I'm going to do a combo I guess. So apart from eating more protein and less carbs, I'm also going to start counting calories to get an idea of how many I do eat in a day and aim for 1500 a day. Does that sound high? It does to me, but an idea from that same blog was that you take your target weight and multiply it by 10 and that is the number of calories you should eat in a day. So I guess we'll try that for awhile anyway. I'm not planning on being a nazi about this the whole time, but at least at first so that I can get a better idea of portions, etc. Also, I'm going to exercise in some fashion at least 3 times a week for starters. I'm hoping to up that eventually, but a lot of days it's more of a stresser than a help to try to find 45 minutes to myself to exercise. Along with that though, I also will do at least one "active" thing everyday, biking, walking, etc. And finally, sit-ups. My goal is 100 sit-up type exercises everyday. Again, I'm hoping to increase all of this, but this is my starting point and it seems doable to me. But that's where I always go wrong; I feel confident and gung ho for a few days and then crash and burn. So, the very first thing we're doing is covering all this with prayer. That God will grant me self control, opportunities to be active, and a vision to see this through. I'm not doing this from vainity I don't think, although that is something to guard against. I'm doing it first of all because I want to be healthy and take good care of this body, and I don't feel like I'm doing that as is. Also, I want to be in an active lifestyle and setting a good example for Parker as well as be able to do more with him and keep up as he gets more active. And be willing to be in pictures with him. It's a guilty avoidace I have now, but I HATE pictures of myself and that's sad that I don't have any pictures with my little boy. Last but not least, I'd just like to feel more sexy so that I can wear things my husband would like and do things...etc. :)

So that's my plan and those are my reasons. I'm posting them all here as accountablitly. Although I don't have a huge readership, I still have a few so I can't go back on it now! As Christy likes to say, "onward!" And I'm hungry....

Business Time

Just kidding Amy...:) just have that stuck in my head.
Still not much new today. The weather is perfect, so if I'm not at work Parker and I have been outside gardening and biking. Well, or inside napping. Yesterday I guess I spent most of it inside because I had a lot of budget to catch up on. But, hooray for us, we got our budget for June wrapped up on July 1. Usually it's more like a week in to the next month and that's just confusing. But this month it is done. And wonder of wonder, we have money left! God has really blessed our budgeting efforts and although we aren't rich by any stretch of the imagination, we have enough and a little left over. We are able to meet our needs, have a little fun, and give when the opportunity arises. A lot of that comes from Mike's burning the candle at both ends and being willing to do this, as he puts it, "so that some day we won't have to." My fear is that by that time we won't have a family relationship to enjoy. Beyond that, though, I'm grateful for how he provides for us. I mean this month we bought a car, and so while our "business" didn't make money, we also had had it saved up, so nothing took a shock. I"m also really grateful that we've had wise guidance to get us set in the right path. Our financial adviser got us set up and thinking of future needs so that we started right away to put a little bit towards things like cars and appliances. This way, we didn't waste that extra income when we had it and when the time came that we needed those things, the money was there! I can't forget the fact though that God just plain takes care of us. Between the two of us, we work four paying jobs, but none of them bring in the big bucks. We recently got an up in Mike's pay though from someone offering extra "missionary support" so that gives us a little extra breathing room and is a huge blessing. Now I'm working on curbing my spending. I used to be good at it, but out here there's not much to do for entertainment beyond shopping or eating out. I always wondered why I saw people doing that so much...If I stay home I am pretty effective at not spending money, but then I also tend to get bored and depressed or sometimes I shop online. In reality I would probably spend less money if I had the time and venue to go to a coffee shop because then it would be just one coffee and hours of entertainment. :) Oh, and another blessing is that our cost of living is very low. All in all, it adds up to doing pretty good. For the first time in my life I don't have to worry about money and having spent 21 years with it hanging over my head, that is a relief. On the flip side though, I'm grateful for those years of worry because I got to see God do some cool things. That makes the place we are now even neater though because as we are faithful in discipline it seems we just keep getting to see him bless us and provide. I hope this doesn't come across as bragging, because if anything it's humbling to be in such a place. I'm just grateful, that's what I am.

Monday...Wednesday

I am so confused, I have no idea what day it is. After being on the road and then at camp most of yesterday. It really feels like Monday to me. But you know what else is funny? I was with people this weekend, and now I find myself with nothing to blog. See, we had conversations, and so that just goes to show you why I blog. I guess I got all my words and thoughts out for awhile. :) It's kinda nice.