3 Steps

A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions.  The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.  Proverbs 27:12 NLT       A modern, similar phrase is “If you fail to plan, your plan will fail.”

I don’t leave a lot to chance in my life.  I plan vacations, I plan my craft projects.  I plan when I’m going to play my harp for various groups.  I plan my landscaping.  I have NOT had much of a get healthy plan.  

I've heard the phrase "insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results". Since what I’ve been doing hasn’t resulted in weight loss, I decided I have to do something different.  SO, I moved all of the “evil” food off the counters and out of my line of sight.  It’s surprising how well the “out of sight, out of mind” actually works.  And yes, I started recording everything that I ate.  If I know I have to write it down, I’m less apt to put it in my mouth, which is SO silly when you think about it.  Do I really think that if I don’t write it down, it doesn’t have calories?   Not keeping a list was putting me in denial regarding the number of calories I was really consuming.  I’ve always hated writing down what I eat; but it’s now to the point that I hate the extra weight more than I hate writing it down.  I also found an accountability buddy.  Woohoo. . .I’m now doing THREE things right.  I’m being prudent about the dangers of eating the wrong foods, or eating too much of any food.  I’m taking precautions (about eating incorrectly).  I will no longer be the “simpleton going blindly on”.  I will no longer “suffer the consequences”.  I’m following Proverbs 27:12! 

Guess what!  My scale moved.  HALLELUJAH!  Ok, technically, the scale is in the same place, but the little needle finally moved to the left.  Granted, it didn't move much; but, a smidgen of a move is at least a start. 

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Phil 4:13 NASB

Gluttony & Vomit

My first blog was on 1/3 and I was determined to get healthy by eating right and exercising.  Are you wondering how it’s going?  Well, let’s just say that if I was crocheting, I would rip the last couple days out and start over.  If I was a golfer, I would ask for a mulligan.  The good thing is that I can start over.  I really don’t have much of a choice.  Quitting is not an option!

One of the things I’m doing in January is reading a chapter from Proverbs every day.  Today I read the following:  do not forget my teaching but keep my commands in your heart and they will prolong your life many years.  I decided to find a few “teachings” in the Bible that could help prolong my life.  Proverbs 23:2 says “and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony”.   THAT is harsh!  Proverbs 25:16 “If you find honey, eat just enough – too much of it, and you will vomit”.    Ok, that is just gross.   The verses may be harsh and gross; but, the advice is sound.  Eating too much in general and sugar specifically have led to too many pounds on my body.  It’s time to cut back on both in order to “prolong my life many years”. 

For years I’ve heard that to lose weight it helps to have a food diary.  UGH!  If I write down everything I eat, that means I have to face reality.  My choices will be in black and white.  It means facing facts.  Reality and facts can be SUCH a downer.  On the flip side, reality and facts could lead to losing weight.  Losing weight is a good thing.   Decisions, decisions, decisions.    OK, today I will record every bite that passes over my lips.   I’m not promising to do this every day; but for today, I CAN DO IT!  I WILL DO IT. 

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Phil 4:13 NASB

Getting Started AGAIN 1-3-2011

1-3-2011  It's already 3 days into the new year.  It’s time to get started AGAIN on my quest to "get healthy"; which in my  life means to lose weight.  My weight "issue" is definitely described in one of the definitions I found for the word "weave".   WEAVE:  TO MOVE ALONG IN A WINDING OR ZIGZAG COURSE; MOVE FROM SIDE TO SIDE     That definitely describes my weight through the years.   Zigzag.  The weight goes up, the weight goes down.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to stay down. 

This past year I’ve started crocheting.  My first attempts were really bad.  My “shawl” would start out 16” wide and then it gradually was 12” and then back to 18”.  I did a lot of unraveling and restarting.  Seven months and six shawls later, things are much more consistent.   Hmmm.   Consistency.    I seldom stick with a healthy eating/exercise plan for 7 months.  If I would, I could be much healthier.  Time to unravel the ways I’ve been eating and not exercising and restart.  It’s time to stick with the healthy eating and exercising long enough to make it a habit.

Now my thoughts are zigzagging.     I like to do a lot of things; and, I’m pretty good at doing most things I try.  So, why can’t I get this weight this right??????   Is it because I don’t like most vegetables?  Is it because I get bored SO easily with exercise?  Is it because so many of the things that I’m pretty good at doing involve me sitting on my rear and not exercising my body enough?  To use the popular “answer” of today’s society:  “WHATEVER!”.   The why and the past don’t really matter.  What matters is that today I’m starting over.  Today, I start my health quest by using another definition of weave.  WEAVE:  TO FORM BY COMBINING VARIOUS ELEMENTS OR DETAILS INTO A CONNECTED WHOLE.  TO WEAVE A PLAN.

I’ll weave into my life things like writing frequently, finding someone to hold me accountable, finding inspiration to get back into shape, taking the time to plan healthier meals and exercising more.   The best inspiration can be found in my Bible so I’ll be sharing tidbits I find there along with other things I find to weave into my day.  If there is anyone out there who wants to be an accountability partner for or with me, drop me a note or call!

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Phil 4:13 NASB

Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it.   Thomas Mann

Closing 2010

It's the last day of 2010.  What a year.  New health problems. . . . asthma/allergies like never before.  Hospitalization with pneumonia & lung infection.  WAY too many days on steroids, which I'll say is at least partly to blame for weight gain at the end of the year (especially since I had been losing weight until the health problems built up 3rd-4th quarter of the year) Allergy testing in Wisconsin.  Seeing my son get divorced.    Good times though, too.  Vacationing in the black hills, working on landscape & gardening projects, learning to crochet/prayer shawl ministry, seeing "old" friends,   What will 2011 bring?  MY PLAN. . . . spending more time in meaningful Bible Study.  Not just the "read the Bible" so I can say I read the whole thing, again; but this time studying it.  Waiting quietly to see what God wants me to learn from what I'm reading.  Waiting on HIM.  Following his will more fully.  Waiting to see his miracles.