~ Gotta Get Up to Go Down ~

A long lost blog - I'm back to try again.

My weight issues will probably be life-long (does this count as pessimism? self-fulfilling prophecy?), but I am glad to report I have started to see progress in the right direction!

Ultimately, this came down to my asking a friend at church (Laura) to kinda "mentor" me through my health journey. It isn't that I don't have the knowledge - it's that I lack the self-discipline to apply what I know, and having her ask me about my decisions from week to week - and in a relationship where I am willingly submitting to her instruction and rebuke if need be - is precisely a piece I've both lacked and truly needed.

By my best calculation, I have lost 9 1/2 lbs since we started a few weeks ago.

When you get to be the size that I am, 9 1/2 pounds isn't visibly that much difference, yet. But I can "feel" that I'm less bloated - so I suspect a lot of that was water (also to be expected at the start of anything like this).

Laura has to continually remind me that I must not expect great things overnight. (yada yada yada ;)) Her estimate is that this will realistically take about a year. Much as I wish for overnight transformation, I actually believe a year is an optimistic goal. (Don't tell her I said that! ;))

For now, I find it helpful to find motivation wherever I can. It's like I'm forcefeeding my brain on pep-talks wherever they abound. A personal favorite is catching "The Biggest Loser" on Tuesday nights when I can.

Profound (RE)Realization #1:

I MUST GET MORE SLEEP!

My constant depriving my body of the rest it needs (a perennial problem of mine in case you haven't noticed by now) is like health-suicide; it NOTICEABLY messes with my hormone levels and countermands my best efforts to manage my adrenalin levels. So my battle with my busyness begins again in earnest.


GOALS BY THE END OF THE PROVERBIAL YEAR-LONG JOURNEY:

I hope I'll have lost 100 lbs, have ramped up to 4x 30 min. activity per week (or more) - and that I'll LIKE it!, be consuming a maximum of 1600 calories per day of whole/organic/fresh foods, and wearing a Size 14/16 or smaller -

and, of course, then MAINTAIN healthful habits for life!


FIRST LEG OF THE RACE:

PLAN - For the past month or so, Laura has been coaching me through baby steps (decreasing daily caloric intake and increasing weekly physical activity to a habitual 3-4x per week) to prepare me for a 2-week juice fast (max 1200 calories per day intake) beginning November 1. So I'm reactivating this blog to motivate me to stick with that. :)

Any of you out there want to read this and give an encouraging word, I'm all ears...er...eyes as the case may be.

And if you'll forgive the overt application, I nevertheless pray it will be true that in my life:

~ may the Lord always INCREASE even as I decrease ~