Roughin' It?

I've been on Survivor: Costa Rica for 3 months already. Now that we're here, I can say things aren't quite as I thought they'd be.

For starters, our house is much closer than we anticipated. Instead of a 20 minute walk every day, we have less than a ten minute walk. And while we've consumed bags of rice, there haven't been a whole ton of beans in our diet, a diet that remarkably resembles our normal diet back home. The biggest difference is that we're only eating out once a week (on Sundays). And speaking of eating out, while actually getting to fast food restaurants takes a bit of effort (or some colones for the bus or taxi), they are actually far more accessible than restaurants at home.....because they deliver! Yes, you read that right! That's just what a dieter needs...

Don't get me wrong. I have actually lost some weight. I'm not sure how much, exactly, but all of my pants are quite a bit looser, and my face has thinned out an iota. But the weight isn't just flying off, as I originally imagined. (Man, there's a mental picture for ya.)

The biggest disappointment came last night when, out of curiosity, I dug out my wedding ring and crammed it on my finger to see if it fit. Oh, it fit, all right. But it immediately began cutting off all circulation to that finger. (Not good.) After yanking, soaking in cold water, and more yanking, I had to admit defeat. Troy got out the bottle of vegetable oil and pour it over my finger. Bingo! After more yanking and twisting, it came off. I won't be trying that again for awhile. The disappointment came in realizing that I can't just keep on as I've been if I want this weight to come off. I think it would, but it would take a long time.

Glad we brought my friend Leslie Sansone and her gang of walkers along. I think I'll be spending a bit of time every day with her.

Survivor: Costa Rica

In August, I will embark upon Survivor: Costa Rica.

Before you get all impressed, it's not that Survivor. Admit it, I know what you were thinking. "She's gonna be on that show? Well, I know who's going home first..." (Don't worry. I'm right there thinking the same thing. The idea of me being on that Survivor is....laughable.)

The best parts? I get to take my whole family. I won't have to live on a secluded island without a flush toilet or air-conditioning. I won't have to put up with people who scheme, connive, and lie just to get ahead.

So what do I mean? Unless you are regular subscribers or readers of either my writing blog or our ministry blogs (links on the home page), you haven't heard the news. Our mission board (yes, we're missionaries) cleared us to leave for language school in Costa Rica in August. We're doing a shortened term; one year in Costa Rica learning Spanish, then one year in Mexico City.

Aside from the amazing news that we're finally leaving, after years of funding, here's the really cool part and what it means for me:

We'll be without a car for ONE YEAR. Which means that we'll have to either walk everywhere or take public transportation. Our home will likely be at least a 10-minute walk, one way, to the school. So, five days a week we'll be walking to and from school. Then on weekends, unless our church, the market, etc. are really too far away to walk, we'll be walking on those days as well. Combine that with not having fast food as accessible as it is here, and a regular diet of (lots of) rice and beans, and that means that the pounds will be coming off.

If other ladies are any indication, it would not surprise me in the least if at least half (if not more) of what I need to lose will be shed before the year is up.

When we return to the States in 2014, a very different looking Jenny will be stepping off that plane. Just like often happens with contestants of the other Survivor. I may not be in the running for a million bucks. But I will have received something far more precious than money at the end of my stint on Survivor: Costa Rica.

My life.

Bad Report

We received the report back from our physicals. Sigh. The news was not good. Not that I'm really shocked, mind. It's just depressing seeing those words in black and white. So here goes.

The good news is that my cholesterol is in acceptable levels. For now. And I'm not yet diabetic. But I'm working my way there. The extremely bad news is that I do indeed have high blood sugar and asthma. What I did not expect, however, was that I am also anemic.

With the exception of the asthma, all of these things can be improved with diet and exercise. He recommended 30 minutes a day, most days. I can do that. He also recommended getting the asthma under control before we move to Mexico City. Did I mention that there is an intense smog problem in Mexico City, and that it is about 5,000 feet above sea level?

I've poo-pooed this whole weight issue for far too long. If my own poor health is not a major motivation for me to really take this seriously, then my family's future should be. What if we can't go to Mexico because of me? And what if I could've done something about it but didn't? That would be awful. I've simply GOT to get this in gear.

Maybe I need to type up a reminder of this on little note cards and place them all over the house. For those mornings when I don't want to get up and exercise. And for those times I want nothing more than to dig into a giant cheeseburger with greasy, salty french fries.

Today's weight: 206 (which, for the record is 5 lbs less than the day of our physicals, March 8. But 5 lbs in almost 2 months? Pitiful.)

Back to Business

Our mission board requires all overseas missionaries to have physicals before departing for the field, and since we were at our HQ for my anti-human trafficking training this last month, we went ahead and got ours done. Yikes. My blood pressure was through the roof! Part of it was that I was nervous and the cuff was freakishly tight (felt like it was gonna cut me in half!). But as much as I want to rationalize it away and say it was only high because of that, I know in my heart that it's still high. The doctor retook it after the physical, and it was still high, but it had come down some (he never would tell me what it was). As he didn't immediately prescribe blood pressure medication or hospitalize me, I'm assuming it wasn't immediately threatening. I had told him about signing up for My Fitness Pal  and that I'd lost 20 lbs last year. I'm sure he's expecting me to pick things back up now that we're not away from home (we hope to arrive back home sometime tomorrow).

So here I am. When I get home, I want to find an accountability partner--someone who will call me every day and ask me if I've exercised. If I logged my calories and remained under the set goals for calories and sodium. We are praying to be fully funded and able to leave for language school in August. By that point, I want to be down 30 lbs (that's 1.5 lbs a week between now and August 1-ish). As of the doctor's appointment last Thursday, I've gained back all but 6 of the pounds I lost. Hmm. Not cool.

I've got to do better than that.

Big Talk, No Action

Big talk, no action. Yup. That's me alright. How many years has this drug on now? Way too many. All I know to do is to pick myself up and try again. And just keep trying until I get it right.

I only have two resolutions for this new year: (1) To finally get my weight under control and get down to a healthy weight, and (2) To finish (and publish) my novel. I would love to have something BIG to celebrate at the end of 2012. It would be really amazing to celebrate the publication of my first book at a much smaller size--a size I am finally not ashamed of.

I think instead of setting mini goals for myself, I'm just gonna try taking things one day at a time. That's all. Just one day at a time. If I mess up today, there's not really any reason I'll necessarily do it again tomorrow. I just need to focus on today and let tomorrow worry about itself---something that is a really good practice to master. Some of the best weight loss advice I've ever heard was not even about weight loss...nor from a real person. This year, as often as I may stumble, I want to "just keep swimming, just keep swimming" and keep picking myself back up. So thanks, Dorie, for the sage advice.

So, here we are on January 10. Starting weight tonight (on the bedroom scale even) was 208. Let's just see where tomorrow takes me.