Checking "Out"

Checking out for the week - just going on record that I achieved my goal of 30 minutes of indoor exercise without letting 2 days in a row go without... That added up to four days.  I'm feeling FIT and FINE. 

My plan is to continue the pattern next week.  After a third week, I'll consider it a "habit"!

Fast 5 Goes to California

Next Monday, my husband and I will be attending a conference that we attended a year ago.  This year it is in California!  I am suddenly aware that I'll see people who haven't seen me between conferences.  I weigh 45 pounds less than I did then.

The thought amazes and humbles me - both at the same time.  I am SO thankful for the past year.  Lessons learned. Health enjoyed.  A new "lease on life" (as some call it).

Though meals will be provided and scheduled at "normal" eating hours, I will continue to practice my Fast-5 lifestyle while there.  

I'm excited to escape the frigid weather
we are experiencing here in northeast Indiana

and hope to see some SUNSHINE.

Finally

Well, this morning I FINALLY added 30 minutes of exercise to my day. (Hangs head in shame.) I find Leslie Sansone's "Walk Away the Pounds" to be do-able at my age.  Plus it's something I can do without leaving the house or buying equipment.  However, I must say, the 45 pounds I've lost with Fast-5 last year happened without the discipline of deliberate exercise! I find that amazing.

My intention is to continue the 30 minutes of indoor walking without letting two days in a row go without it.  

Eating Out

 

 Lemon pepper broiled trout, baked sweet potato (is that a hint of cinnamon I detect?) and house salad with bleu cheese dressing.  And biscuits, of course!

Just sayin'...

Oh!  Have I said this before?

Phewwwwwwwww!

....that's all I can say!

Well.  Not quite all.  In the past, I let one incident (or day) of veering from my "diet" divert me, depress me, and derail me.  I seem to gain weight very quickly, and so after a few days of indiscriminate and uncontrolled eating, I would pack on five to ten pounds before I knew it.  THIS time, I stopped it before that kind of weight gain happened.  I woke up the next day and ate sensibly and stayed within the Fast-5 window.  And then the next day, too.  And today is Day 3.

Phewwwwwwwwwww!  That's all I can say.

Meanwhile -

...hope I don't alienate any of my thousands of followers :)

Checking In

I said I'd check in - so this is me being accountable to me.

I stayed within my window,

ate sensible portions,

and had about 5 bites of my husband's blizzard.
Now THIS "feels" better!

"Firm Prior Resolve"

My experience is that the absence of firm prior resolve results in regular rationalization.

Like when to go to bed, etc.  (a John Piper tweet)

When to go to bed is not my personal issue,

but I HAVE caught myself regressing into rationalization lately.

I have begun THIS day replacing rationalization (before it becomes "regular")

with FIRM PRIOR RESOLVE.

I'll report in tomorrow.

Chocolate

"I'd give up chocolate, but I'm not a quitter!"

I saw this hanging on the wall of a writer's office

in a blog post this morning.

Kind of says what's on my mind this morning.

I DO need to cut back to a sane amount, though.

Moderation in ALL things.

Little Foxes

Oh, how I HOPE you can read this!
Especially the paragraph that starts with "Compromise....")
 It's those darned "little foxes"!

I know what some of mine are,

and I'm "on" them today!

(This is a page from More Precious than Silver: 366 Daily Devotional Readings,

by Joni Eareekson Tada.)

The Thing about Inspiration

Have you noticed?  

There's SO much GREAT inspiration out there

that it's possible to be "hooked" on inspiration 

and never actually change ourselves?

 (I was going to copy/paste an example....

but it was too large & I couldn't make it fit.

But you've seen 'em.  Those clever pictures and quotations...)

They're REALLY good,

but at some point you have to leave the pep rally 

and start the game--
and STAY in the game!

Fish

Fish.  I don't catch 'em.  I don't like to "fix" 'em.  

But I like to eat 'em.

Especially grilled or broiled or baked.

We've eaten out a lot lately.

Two times this week, I've enjoyed Cracker Barrel's 

grilled lemon pepper trout.

With a baked sweet potato.

And a house salad.

And a biscuit with real butter.

I think their tartar sauce is tops, too.

Maybe that's why I've lost another pound this week...

Do YOU eat a lot of fish?

My State-of-Heart

If you aren't a regular reader of my Life and Godliness blog,
I invite you to today's post.

In it you will find my current State-of-Heart.
Wishing everyone on the journey to health
and a Happy New Year (a few days late).
I've been spending a lot of time getting acquainted
with my new "SmartPhone"!

Just Because....

 Breakfast is included in the price of rooms at Heritage Inn

this weekend.

 Just look at all the things we don't have to eat just because they're available!

 (I STILL have a hard time remembering it's not necessary to eat things

 just because they're offered, are part of the package price, 

 or even because they are healthier than other choices!

Plain and simply, my "window" for eating is not open.

Seeds of discipline produce a harvest of strength. Keep planting them daily.

(from Motivation to Live Well in my sidebar).

Hope & Help for the Holidays

The "title" of my blog REALLY comes into play during the Holiday Season, I'm noticing!

Each of the three words/concepts seems to take on a WHOLE 'nother dimension when sharing the house and mealtimes with additional people - of all ages, sizes, needs and preferences.  For today, I'm working on LOVE while giving up some POWER
 and maintaining SELF-CONTROL. 
(Can anyone relate????)

This is challenging,

but I can and WILL do it

with the help of God.

Holiday Appetites

In anonymous: Jesus' hidden years and yours, by Alicia Britt Chole, these words grabbed me last night as I read them.  How I needed them!  Particularly in this holiday season with its appeal to my appetite!

The second thieving rationalization that causes us to underestimate temptation in the area of appetite...says, It is better than...

In this lie, we abdicate our responsibility to discipline our appetite by convincing ourselves that what we are doing is the "lesser of two evils."  So we listen in silence to a slanderous rumor, but at least we did not start it.  We punish someone repeatedly in our thoughts, but at least we are not doing it with our fists.  We fantasize about impurity privately, but at least we are not engaging in it physically.

This kind of reasoning almost makes it seem as though we are doing God a favor by sinning, as though he should be satisfied or even proud that we are not doing something worse.  But when tempted in the layer of appetite, the question we need to ask ourselves is not, What is this better then?  but "What is this feeding?"  Whatever we feed will live to tempt us another day.

How ABOUT that last line?  

Whatever we feed will live to tempt us another day.

By the way, the FIRST "thieving rationalization" is 

"it is just until....."

as if today doesn't really count or that we will deal with the issue later.

"Today always counts," she writes.

"If we fail to deal with issues today, they will deal with us tomorrow."