A Mind Game

I think to the movie A Beautiful Mind - love it. They are playing this game on the lawn, chess among other things. Those are mind games.
Running. Mind Game. Same sentence.
I've started training again. I started 2 weeks ago and remember texting my friend that I had finally ran 1.2 around a park here in town. Whoohooo. Did that for about a week.
Then, I started running around the campus I work at (about a mile). Did one lap, then ran 2 laps, then did 3 laps, then did 40 minutes w/o stopping. Ok - I can do this.
Two nights ago I went running with a friend and we did 2.7 w/o stopping. Last night, I wanted to at least make it to a 5k length, so I just did a little more - 3.1 w/o stopping! :) Whoohooo.
So, now I'm going to do that for a week or two, then start working picking up my pace.
Does any one have a good work workout schedule for a treadmill or something? I have two goals for the Thanksgiving Christina 5k race in Lakeland:
1. Run the entire thing.
2. Beat my time of 37.28

Running is definitely a mind game. As long as you tell yourself you can do it - you can do it. I don't think I really know another sport like it.
I'm also enjoying it. I like what running (or jogging) does for my legs - how it shapes them. I'm also finishing up Jillian's 30 Day Shred - on day 26 tonight. Still feeling the workout, but I'm glad its only 30 days because I have a feeling it would get boring.
So, for the month of November, I'll run in anticipation of the 5k and do kettlebells 3 days a week. Maybe some abs on the opposite kb days. oh, yeah - bring back the kettlebells! :)

Guest Blogger: KP on her Healthy Journey

KP is a good friend of mine from our church back in Durham where we served on college ministry staff together. I love that she and her family are serving God in another part of the world! Her kids are so adorable.

For all of you that need inspiration - here is her story. She graciously let me post it here.

If you are reading this and think you can't get baby weight off, or you think that cooking for a family and losing weight is hard, be encouraged!

Keep up the amazing work KP - and find your strength only in Him!

The past 6+ months I have been really working on losing some weight and getting healthy. Lately people have been asking me if I have lost weight and what I am doing to lose it so I thought it was time for a blog about it all. I have lost 34 lbs since the beginning of April. It hasn't always been easy but it has left me feeling so much better about myself and I know that my body is healthier. I have so much more energy and have made exercise a part of my day that I really look forward to each morning (or sometimes afternoon, depending on the day.) I have 12 more lbs to reach my first big goal and then I would like to lose another 15 more after that. I have averaged a little more than a lb a week since I started...sometimes more, sometimes less.

One Sunday morning during the very end of March I heard an amazing Sermon (click on the link to download or listen) from my pastor, J.D. Greear about self-control and discipline. I realized then that my eating was really out of control. It wasn't that I was eating everything in sight it was just that I wasn't giving much thought to it and was not having control over my body and its desires. I realized then that I had to make some changes in my life and lose some of the weight that I had put on before and after having Keane and Gracie (unfortunately I can't really attribute my weight to baby weight because I weighed 5 lbs LESS after having Keane and Gracie than I did when I got pregnant with them). I talked to Ryan about it first. I have been on many "diets" in the past but they have all been temporary and lasted a few weeks or days or months and then once the "diet" was over I just went back to old habits of eating and living and put the weight (and often more) right back on. So, I decided that this time whatever I was going to do to lose this weight was going to have to be more about a lifestyle change and less about a "diet". I realized I needed to learn about the foods I was eating and learn how to make small changes and better choices in my life about food and exercise in order to make this change lasting.

I found a GREAT (free) calorie counting website where I could keep an online journal of what I was eating and how many calories I was consuming. It also allowed me to put in my height and my weight and it calculated the amount of calories my body needed each day to MAINTAIN my weight and it showed me how many calories I needed to eat each day in order to lose the weight I wanted to by my goal date. It REALLY helped me get started and learn about the food I was eating. I began to make small changes like saying no to mayonnaise and cheese and ordering foods grilled instead of fried or ordering light dressings on the side of my salad instead of regular on top. I knew that this wasn't something that was going to happen overnight. I knew it would take time and for the first time in my life, I was OK with that. I would rather give a whole year to trying to get to my goal weight and in the process change the way I think about food and learn to eat better than to spend the rest of my life on "quick fix" yo-yo diets, stressed out and self conscious about my weight. When you think about it that way...a year doesn't seem like a long time at all.

When we were in America for our stateside time it was very easy to count calories and keep very strict track of it all since EVERYTHING has calorie information on the labels including restaurant items (you can look up most menu items online and I did. When people would invite us to go out to eat (or when we wanted to ourselves) I would ask which restaurant they were thinking and I would go to the restaurants website and look at the calorie information for each item. Then I would make my decision then and there before stepping foot into the restaurant and when we arrived at the restaurant I wouldn't even look at the menu to tempt myself. I would just order what I had decided beforehand (what I knew was the best calorie choice and fit into my food needs for the day) and by the time everyone had gotten their food and we had all eaten I felt just as satisfied as if I would have ordered the cheesy, fried item that probably would have caught my attention if I hadn't already made my decision. I often felt more satisfied knowing what I ate was SO much healthier for me and I was one decision closer to my goal weight!).

Once we returned back to Nepal things got a bit harder to really keep exact track of (because nothing has calorie info on it here) but by that time I was two months into it and I had learned so much about the foods I was eating and how to make good choices. I knew how many calories were in a cup of rice or a piece of bread (if you don't that is where the calorie counting website will really help!) I learned it is all about balance and smaller portions. There is no magic diet out there and there is really no simple quick easy fix. Believe me, if there was the world would be skinny. It all boils down to: calories in, calories out. If you eat more calories than you body needs each day to live then you will gain weight. If you eat less calories (or burn them off with exercise) than your body needs each day to live then you will lose weight. It really is that simple. If you eat more calories in carrots than your body needs each day (that is a lot of carrots) than you will gain weight. It is not so much about the kinds of food that we are eating but the amount of food that we are eating. The healthier (and fresher and greener) the foods we choose the more of them we get to eat. I love chocolate and I have eaten something chocolate everyday since I started this new "lifestyle". I knew I had to. I had tried to completely cut it out of my diet before but once I stopped the diet then I just binged on it and ate it all the time. This way, nothing is off limits. It is just the amount that I am concerned about. If I eat a big piece of chocolate cake for my friends birthday then I just eat a very, very light lunch or dinner that day. Like I mentioned earlier, it has been all about balance for me. With God's help, I have gained control over my body and its desires for food (I know this will be a lifetime battle that I will always have to be conscious about). I have learned how to know when I am full and when to stop eating. I have learned to say no to second portions when I know I have already eaten enough. I have learned to take only a bite of something and let the rest pass by. My pastor has also said, "Sacrifice is giving up something you love for something you love more." That has been my motto throughout this entire process. I love food (especially sweets) but I love the thought of being thin and healthy and in shape much, much more than the temporary pleasure that the taste of that food on my mouth brings.

Also, since I came back to Nepal and it was harder to know exactly how many calories I was eating each day (although I always have an idea), especially since often we are eating at friends house and have to eat what they give us, I really increased the amount that I was exercising. I exercise 5-6 days a week for about 45 minutes - 1 hour everyday (on top of the normal walking I do around my community). For me, it works best to get up before Keane and Gracie do (at about 6:15 am) and do an exercise video in my living room (I love Tae-bo and Jillian Michaels work out DVD's). We also have a membership to a gym near our home so sometimes I go there as well to swim or run on the treadmill. I can honestly say that I love exercise now. It is not a chore. I feel so much better after a great workout than I did before one. Lately, I have been turning the volume off on my exercise DVD's (once you have done them a few times the commentary gets OLD and BORING and in my mind is a waste of time) and listen to a sermon while I am exercising. Most sermons are about the same amount of time (45 minutes) as many workout DVD's and listening to the sermon makes the time exercising seem to go by so much faster and I feel so refreshed from hearing the Word of God taught while I exercise. It becomes a wonderful 45 minutes for my mind, body, heart and soul.

I pray that you will be encouraged by my story. Believe me, if I can get control of this in my busy life than you can too. It is not too late and it is easier than you think. Just take one step at a time. I am still working on reaching my goals so I am right there with you. Also, maybe it is not food that "controls" you. Maybe you are not overweight but your life is "out of control" in other areas. The sermon I mentioned earlier in this post is a WONDERFUL one for anyone to listen to. As Christians we must NOT let our bodies have control over us. With God's help and strength we can overcome the things that hold us back from being the person that God intends for us to be. We don't have to do it alone and it might take some time but it is worth it!

Time on Pre-Teen Obesity and the Perfect Body

Back in August, I came across an interesting article in Time magazine. I won't repeat the article, because it has been linked, but I do want to point out some alarming things that I underlined.

1. Preteens have the "notion about the ideal body". Good gracious. The culprit: media. Preteen girls already read Cosmo Girl, Seventeen, watch shows such as Melrose Place and ANTM. They think they aren't perfect unless they look like the girls in the magazine. I remember a few years ago a Steven Curtis Chapman song came out: (Fingerprints of God)

I can see the tears filling your eyes

And I know where theyre coming from

Theyre coming from a heart thats broken in two

By what you dont see the person in the mirror

Doesnt look like the magazine

2. With these distorted views, comes the "increased risk for eating disorders". Wow - at 10 and 11. Girls struggling with identity. Girls who destroy their bodies. Girls on a diet. Girls who think they are nothing if they aren't perfectly skinny. If you know of anyone like this, go through some ideas found in Love to Eat, Hate to Eat by Elyse Fitzpatrick with them.

3. "School-based intervention to teach children about healthy body weight and body image have actually achieved some success." I hope they continue! But, still, we can teach them this all day long - but if our hope and our identity is not based in Christ, nothing will fulfill. The image we see reflected in the mirror will never be good enough.

4. Image issues lead to "obesity, concurrent healthy problems such as diabetes to depression." Image is such a problem with teen girls. I did youth ministry for many years - and the girls I knew had such distorted thoughts. Hope for them! Hope is Christ. Share this with them.

How can we help:

1. Teach first that image and being is found in Christ.

2. Educate them on healthy eating - practice healthy eating at home.

3. Love all the girls - don't show preferrance to the "pretty, skinny ones"

4. Love your girls. But, if they are way too skinny and unhealthy, or way overweight, love them enough to not let them stay like that!

Runners World: "Running and Glutton" by David Willey

There are certain words that grab my attention right now. Two of those are running and gluttony. I only took up running in January. I got a subscription to Runner's World, signed up for races, and put runs in my calendar for the week. I also learned that you must keep running to keep being good at it. I now don't run that much - I love variety in my work outs. But, I just signed up for a 5k in my hometown over Thanksgiving so I need to get working at it again (can't let my Dad beat me!) The other one is gluttony. I'm writing some things on this, so the key word is there again. As a believer in Christ - I think any time a "sin" word comes up in conversation or writing - it catches my attention, helps me be on guard.
I sat down to read this month's Runner's World and the Editor's Letter was titled: Running and Gluttony. I immediately tore it out, read it, and am now blogging on it. I usually like what David Willey has to say, and he looks like a young Rob Lowe - so how can he be bad. I didn't disagree with everything - here are some points:
1. Quoting the PC guy (the dude on the computer commercials, John Hodgman): "The problem with nutritionists is that they only care about nutrients." I hate it when people think the healthy food has to be yucky tasting. One of my friends recently wrote on her facebook status something to the effect of - 'gotta get back on my diet, goodbye all the good tasting foods'. I definitely have to disagree. I think a lot of healthy things are very good tasting as well. I love to cook. And nutrients are good for you. Green beans fresh from the field have more nutrients and taste better than canned ones that have been sitting on a shelf for 2 years. If we want to be a healthier America, and healthier individuals, we must change our attitude and stop thinking of healthy as gross or handcuffed just out of reach of yummy morsels. And nutrients propel you to do better running, have better PRs, finish higher in races, etc.
2. "One of my favorite things about being a runner is the freedom to eat both halves of a Dagwood-sized corned-beef Reuben or to say, 'Sure, I'll have another beer' without a moment's hesitation or a trace of regret." Two things wrong with this statement. Do we need to eat both halves of the sandwich - or is one plenty serving and will fill us up? 2. We shouldn't use exercise as a motivation just to eat more. A person related to me once said this about someone else: he exercises because he likes to eat more. How screwed up a view of our bodies is that? Yes, I fail in this many times - eating more because I know I'm going to do a Jillian Michael's DVD later and will need fuel and will work it off. Your body does need more fuel if you are going to go run 26.2 miles. But, we use this excuse way too often - and our bodies are usually unhealthier because of it.
3. "The key to indulgence, as any nutritionist will tell you, is moderation." Yes, I agree. But then are we relegating indulgence just to a type of food and not to the amount of food. I see them as both and.
4. (In light of a burger topped with peanut butter and bacon) "What was decidedly bad was my six-miler along the Charles (River) the next morning. I felt...well, like you'd expect to feel after fueling up on three flavors of fat (with a side of fries)." Then why do it - they all went back later and had more. I know how horrible I feel if I eat too much. But, does that stop me from doing it the next time - not usually. There are commercials with digestion help tablets that joke about how much American's eat for Thanksgiving or Super Bowl or other heavy-feasting days. Why do we do it? We feel horrible. I ate late one night before a race - I could tell it in my running the next morning.
5. "The next days' run was even worse (after eating more PBB). I actually felt remorse. But, I'll probably have another PB&B burger in April. Not just because its delicious but because it offers something by the book nutrients often lack: fun." There's something healthy about that, too." Oh, from the Christian stand point.... Sin is fun. Indulging in things that aren't good for us may be fun - yet we are like dogs returning to vomit - creatures of habit. I don't want to chained to bad food anymore - or good food for that matter. I want to make healthier choices for many reasons: Obedience to God, it makes me feel better, it fuels my body better, and it tastes so good! And you know what - I can have a small cheeseburger on occasion - but I NEVER need a whole Royal Red Robin Burger ever again.
Thanks David Willey for offering me food for thought and fuel for my run.

UpDate!

Wow - its been a while!
Well - here is an update:
1. I am working on some writing on subjects re: health, weight, etc.
2. I am in process to hopefully being employed p/t with Weight Watchers.
3. I finished Bob's 6 week Yoga for Weight Loss - amazing (but my wrists started hurting from doing all those downward dogs and planks).
4. I start Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred today. Since it is only 20 minutes I'll team it with Seneca or other walking on most days.
5. I didn't run the Gaslight 5k - just way too busy.
6. My next 5k is in Lakeland, FL the Saturday after Thanksgiving - around Christina Park/Lake. Should be great.
7. i'm doing walking, sprinting intervals around a 1.2 mile loop. Usually do it twice.
8. I hit my college graduation weight today. That is exciting. Now only one previous goal to go - then on past that to new unreached goals!
9. I love encouraging others with this topic!
10. I love being encouraged on this topic by others - and their successes!

Lifetime Member at Weight Watchers!

Whoohoo! Today is a milestone: Lifetime with Weight Watchers as of 8/28/09!
Ok - for those of you who don't know what all that lingo means - here you go:
1. Mom doesn't have to pay anymore! My Mom has graciously been paying for this (39$/mth) since April 2008. So, now, as long as I don't go 2 lbs over my goal weight - I stay free for life!
2. Lifetime means I have met my chosen goal and maintained it for 6 weeks - without going 2 lbs over. I have lost over 4+ beyond my goal weight.
3. I still want to lose another 10%. I don't know if that is attainable for me, but I will try it nonetheless.
4. Weight Watchers is good on a number of levels:
a. I think it is the best weight loss company out there.
b. There are no X foods. Most weight loss companies limit you on your food or make you eat their foords or say you can't have this or that. Not with WW. WW is all about choices, being smart in how you eat, accountability with meetings/weighing in, and exercising. Simple isn't it!
5. I also bring in the spiritual aspect into my eating. Eating is not comfort. Eating will not make me feel better. Eating too much is a sin. My body is not my own.
6. Encouragement and accountability is so important. I have many friends who have gotten a text from me every week for the past 16 months saying how much I had lost or gained. They are faithful in encouraging me - even when I gained. Some know the way I feel about myself, some know more details than they probably want to know. But - these are great friends!
7. Just because I have lost this weight (again) doesn't mean that I will automatically get married or get the dream ministry job. This is what I have thought in the past. That when I lose this weight and am thinner - than someone will like me - because all the pretty thin girls get married. God has definitely shown me the error of that thinking. But, I still need to be pleasing to God in how I take care of my body.
8. I really love fashion a lot more (but not the high prices) when I weigh less. So, I take better care of how I look, how I present myself to the outside world, office at work, etc.
9. This isn't easy - but it is about choices.
10. And you know - I still love food. I still love cooking for people and baking and everything. But, I also give food away more, learn self control (gift of the Holy Spirit, thank you), exercise more, drink more water, and make wise(r) choices!

Kings Island Diamondback 5k

Well, let's see.....

1. Not my best run - somewhere between 36.5-38.5 but the exact results aren't up yet. We'll see and I'll post updates on here.

2. Most disorganized race I've been to. Granted it was the first one, but computers weren't working, you had to go through 2 check out lines (that means standing in really long lines twice), ran out of 5k medals, were giving folks the 10k ones, no plain water after race, luke warm Vitamin water to drink, no bagels, bananas, etc. 1 hour after race had some granola bars, ran out of t-shirts, started 30 minutes late, ran out of water at aid stations along race course, had almost 90 minutes of down time from end of race till the park opened.

3. I did good stretching before hand because I wasn't sore after race.

4. It was HOT and HUMID that day - everyone was just drenched in sweat!

5. After about 3 hours after race...I had only drank 12 oz of water (that I bought before b/c there was no plain water) and then with the mid-90s temperature, and the roller coasters - I was sick! Finally after laying down on a bench for about 45 minutes, I was better, got some water in me, then finally ate something about 3pm.