Like so many other American women I am overweight. I'd like to blame it on having 5 children but that isn't truly the reason. I've never liked doing exercise just for the fact that I am doing exercise. The one thing I like more than not exercising is eating and as any person knows not exercising and loving to eat is a very unhealthy combination. With that in mind and my looming milestone birthday in a little over a week I decided to get serious about losing weight.
I've tried so many diets, taken so many of those quick loss pills. I haven't been successful. I've gone on low carb diets, low fat diets, and even tried those horrible cleansing diets....all had the same results little to no weight loss and they left me drained.
I decided to start Weight Watchers. I'd been skeptical of how it worked but when my mom showed positive results I thought I'd give it a go. At first I started by using her old books. I wasn't serious about it, did it when I was feeling good but went back to my old habits when I was stressed. Even without doing the program all the time I managed to lose 5 pounds in 2 months.
Two weeks ago I decided to officially start Weight watchers. I joined an actual program, got the new books, signed up for my handy tools online, and began. The first week didn't go so well. I didn't lose very much at all but I chalk that up to a three day period of stress and some unhealthy food choices.
My second week (Feb 20-27) went better. I lost a whopping 2 pounds. At first I was a little discouraged. I actually worked out for 30 minutes a day three times last week(a huge milestone for me). But after losing only 5 pounds in two months I realized that at this pace I would lose 16 pounds in the same amount of time. That made it seem a whole lot more effective.
My favorite part of the program is that I don't have to order special foods, or eat anything different than what my family does. I don't have to drink two nasty chalky shakes a day. I get to eat whatever I want. My favorite breakfast so far is a two egg spinach omlette with two strips of bacon!!!
The online tools make recording what I eat a lot easier. You aren't required to track but in all honesty it does help you to think twice about whether or not that cookie is worth it! The online tools have all kinds of foods in it and all you do is enter the food and how much you ate and it calculates for you...I also recorded my Wii Fit workouts which they already had calculated. Since the online tools are based off my weight it will change as I change.
So here's to my continued Journey. I'll keep you all updated on my progress with a weekly tracker on the loss as well as what worked and didn't work that week. If any of you have been considering losing weight I would higly suggest using this program.
Love to all
LJ
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Let your light shine
During mass this weekend our selected readings where from the book of Matthew. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. For most of us those words seem pretty straight forward. I am the light of the world....In the same way, let my light shine for others, that they may see my good deeds and will come to know God.
Wow! I don't know about you but that seems to be a pretty intense job. Let your light shine. I know most of us probably remember hearing the Sunday School song "This little light of mine." I know whenever I read that particular verse I do start to sing out in my childhood memories "I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine..." I'm sure for most of us it brings a smile to our faces.
As I sat back and listened to Father Darrell talk about it more in depth I realized that it was a lot more intense than that little Sunday School job could have ever portrayed. See not only are we charged as Christians with maintaining our own light but we are charged with spreading our light around to bring in others.
The task of keeping our light shining in this difficult world is hard. Our light never goes out although due to the effects of our problem and the problems of others close to us it may feel very very dim at times. Our light isn't just our Christianity, although I would bet many a people would disagree with me. I believe our light is our spirit, the joy of life, the beauty and serenity that makes our hearts sing.
Not too long ago my light was dim. Life as it routinely does began to make me feel like I was the only light in a very long and dark tunnel. As I shared with others the darkness that was inside I got so many light sharing moments. Soon I began to see that it wasn't that dark at all in the tunnel, infact I was beginning to see again and my light was beginning to grow again, although admittedly very slowly.
The job of sharing your light isn't an easy task. It's hard because you have to decide that for a moment in your life you are going to stop, listen, talk, and be there for someone else. Some of us make half hearted attempts at sharing our light, we stop and say stuff like "It'll be all ok...we pat the person on the back and walk on by." To really share our light though we have to stop.
It's like trying to light a candle while you are walking. It's a lot easier to light someone's candle, or to make it brighter if we slow down and stop long enough to really light it. It's next to impossible to help someone if we can't stop long enough to really reach out to them.
Some people look at sharing our light as a chore, after all they have cultivated and maintained their own personal light. Sometimes those with the brightest of lights look at those with the dim and say well if they just stopped doing that then they would be ok. They aren't sharing their light, they aren't sharing their souls, they aren't sharing what they have.
Have you ever had a flashlight that you hid under a blanket? When you turned it on the immeadiate area seemed pretty bright but when you looked out from under your blanket it wasn't very bright. The matter being the most of the light was shielded by the covering.. That is what those people have. The light that they feel is so bright is not that much because they hide it or keep it all for themselves.
The goal of us as humans isn't to hoard our light, it isn't to keep, take and not give back. It isn't about acting, or pretending like we are helping either. It's about truly and honestly stopping. It's about really helping someone. It's about taking your light and letting it shine!!!!!
Wow! I don't know about you but that seems to be a pretty intense job. Let your light shine. I know most of us probably remember hearing the Sunday School song "This little light of mine." I know whenever I read that particular verse I do start to sing out in my childhood memories "I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine..." I'm sure for most of us it brings a smile to our faces.
As I sat back and listened to Father Darrell talk about it more in depth I realized that it was a lot more intense than that little Sunday School job could have ever portrayed. See not only are we charged as Christians with maintaining our own light but we are charged with spreading our light around to bring in others.
The task of keeping our light shining in this difficult world is hard. Our light never goes out although due to the effects of our problem and the problems of others close to us it may feel very very dim at times. Our light isn't just our Christianity, although I would bet many a people would disagree with me. I believe our light is our spirit, the joy of life, the beauty and serenity that makes our hearts sing.
Not too long ago my light was dim. Life as it routinely does began to make me feel like I was the only light in a very long and dark tunnel. As I shared with others the darkness that was inside I got so many light sharing moments. Soon I began to see that it wasn't that dark at all in the tunnel, infact I was beginning to see again and my light was beginning to grow again, although admittedly very slowly.
The job of sharing your light isn't an easy task. It's hard because you have to decide that for a moment in your life you are going to stop, listen, talk, and be there for someone else. Some of us make half hearted attempts at sharing our light, we stop and say stuff like "It'll be all ok...we pat the person on the back and walk on by." To really share our light though we have to stop.
It's like trying to light a candle while you are walking. It's a lot easier to light someone's candle, or to make it brighter if we slow down and stop long enough to really light it. It's next to impossible to help someone if we can't stop long enough to really reach out to them.
Some people look at sharing our light as a chore, after all they have cultivated and maintained their own personal light. Sometimes those with the brightest of lights look at those with the dim and say well if they just stopped doing that then they would be ok. They aren't sharing their light, they aren't sharing their souls, they aren't sharing what they have.
Have you ever had a flashlight that you hid under a blanket? When you turned it on the immeadiate area seemed pretty bright but when you looked out from under your blanket it wasn't very bright. The matter being the most of the light was shielded by the covering.. That is what those people have. The light that they feel is so bright is not that much because they hide it or keep it all for themselves.
The goal of us as humans isn't to hoard our light, it isn't to keep, take and not give back. It isn't about acting, or pretending like we are helping either. It's about truly and honestly stopping. It's about really helping someone. It's about taking your light and letting it shine!!!!!
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