Week 7

Ditto.

Did I mention I'll be putting an extra $10 into the pot this month?

Sigh.

Week 6

At this point I'm planning on setting aside some extra $$ for the pot--and I'm getting pretty disgusted with myself! Why can't I stick to a schedule and follow through?? Why am I so perpetually LAZY all the time?! Argh! I'm getting really frustrated by my indifference to my own health. What is wrong with me? Seriously. Well, maybe some righteous anger will finally be enough to propel my hiney off the couch. The one day this week I actually completed my schedule I felt TERRIFIC! By 7:30 AM I'd had my devotions and did my walking DVD. I took a shower, actually making sure to wipe down the shower walls with a squeegee when I was finished so that more icky gunk would not build up on top of the icky gunk already cemented to the shower walls. I was on top of the day's load of laundry instead of letting it fester in the washing machine or being completely useless in the dryer forcing my children to yell for some clean underwear and me yelling back at them to just keep on the same pair. (Shocking, isn't it?) I lovingly fluffed and prettified my house. I prepared a reasonably healthy dinner for my family and ripped my shoulder muscles clean off my body on the Total Gym (well, at least that's what it felt like afterwards). By the time my head hit the pillow at the end of the day, I felt GOOD. So why do I blissfully ignore that feeling each day, that feeling of accomplishment and self-control (something I obviously lack or else I wouldn't be blogging about this topic right now)? I'm going to have to do some thinking about this and try to figure it all out, but not tonight. Please keep praying for me and encouraging me--those words of encouragement mean so much to me!

And since I promised to keep it real, here's the week's record-- 4 out of 7 days of devotional study, 1 out of 2 days of Total gym and 2 out of 4 days of walking DVD. Sigh. I hope to have some better results next week.

Aging Gracefully

I was paging through one of the many magazines I subscribe to (something I'll have to put on hold during my coming year's sojourn in Costa Rica) and I couldn't help but notice all of the articles and advertisements about "looking younger". As a 34-year-old woman who has always appeared younger than my years, I usually don't even give these articles a glance. But for some reason, this time it really annoyed me. Why are we as women so focused on looking younger? For that matter, men are guilty of this too. What's wrong with aging gracefully? Does looking younger (and let's face it: most of the older celebs who've been "freshened up" don't really look younger--they look SCARY. I mean, have you SEEN Kenny Rogers lately??) actually make us any younger? And why is it that older men are "distinguished" but women are just old?

Why stress about each gray hair? Shouldn't we at least be thankful that we still have hair? Why stress about each little wrinkle? Aren't they the hallmarks of a life of mirth and laughter? Why stress because once perky body parts aren't quite so perky anymore? After all, we're not Barbie dolls. Gravity does take its toll in the most interesting ways. Most women say that they wouldn't go back to the days of their youth for anything, so why do we vainly grasp at the way we used to look?

I absolutely love seeing pictures of Diane Keaton. She looks her age. She is graceful and elegant and beautiful, wrinkles and all. She takes care of herself (which we all should) but doesn't appear to go out of her way to look 30 again. I dearly wish more Hollywood actresses and celebrities would model this graceful aging mentality.

At any rate, I plan to keep all of my gray hairs--no coloring for me, thank you. I will not be purchasing miracle serums that promise younger skin overnight. I plan to keep those wrinkles, as I get them, moisturized and in plain sight on my face. During this process of developing a healthier me, I will not fret if my skin (or anything else) is not as taut or firm as it was in my younger, thinner days.

And I will certainly never shy away from telling people how old I am--even when my appearance has caught up with my age and I no longer look younger than my years!

Week 5

This was a much better week for me, as far as sticking to my schedule, or at least getting in the main goals I had for each day. I made time for my devotions every day (yay!), did my walking DVD 3 out of the 4 goal days, but was unable to work in any of my Total Gym days. I think I need to pick new days for that, or else have Troy set it up for me in the morning before he goes to work. Aiming for Tuesday and Thursday evenings after he gets off work is not cutting it--especially now that those are the days when the kids have their music lessons. So I'm going to have to do some thinking about when would be the best time for that and work on doing better this week.

Month # 1 Stats

I can't believe we're already at the end of the first month! It's gone by so fast.

Well, despite my failings during the month (and there were many), I lost in several areas. Small losses, granted, but I'll take them!

Chest - 45", a loss of 1 inch from last month's

Tummy - 48", a loss of 1 inch from last month's (which is the money area--the area I need to lose the most fat from)

Hip - 48", which stayed the same (hey, at least it didn't get bigger)

Thigh - 23", down 3 inches from last month (I'm not positive we nailed the same spot, we'll see next month. For next month, we'll measure where my fingertips end up with my hands at my sides)

Arm - 16 1/2", up 1 1/2 inches (but again, not sure where we measure from. For next month, we'll measure at the upper arm, almost to the top, where it's the thickest)

Weight - 210, a loss of 2 lbs since last month

Yay! I'm very excited to see what happens when I really put some effort into it because 2 pounds a month is going to take a while. But hey, when I get there, I get there.

Week 4

I think I need to discover a better routine for weeks in which we are traveling. I'm not sure if it's due to the fact that I'm getting older, but each time we have a trip, it seems like it is harder and harder to recover from it once we get home. I'm not quite sure exactly why. But this week, even the thought of having to pony up an extra $10 for the month for the clothing fund did not motivate me to get moving each morning.

So, the progress for the week was pretty much squat. Now, I'm not snacking (which is good) and I did get in my 2 days of Total Gym that was on my goal list for this first month. But that's about it. So, I guess I'd better set aside that extra $10 now because I'm sure my sister did MUCH better than this. I wonder if schlepping groceries from the van, up the stairs to the porch, and into the house counts as exercise? Or how about dancing (okay, not dancing, per se. More like fast stepping) around in my living room with the Swing Kids soundtrack playing in the background? Oh, and I get to include my weekly cleaning, don't I? If so, then I wasn't a total slug all week.

I've got to step up to the plate this week and, as they say at Nike, just do it! My monthly weigh-in and measuring is in 5 days and I don't feel prepared for it.

ONE DAY AT A TIME! What a motto!