Weight Loss Progress Report

Hey, Bloggerbuddies, this is the weekly update I posted on Dr. Nick's website today. Most of it will be "old news" to those of you who read my blog regularly, so you may want to just skim it. I'm at a new low weight-wise, but it's coming off very slowly. I've lost 18.8 total, but I started last Oct. 15. Oh well, they say if you lose it slowly it's more likely to stay off. Hope that's true.

I'm in a small group about worship at my church, and last week’s study was about how the Bible says WE are the temple of God. We learned that we are mobile temples of the Holy Spirit, Winnebagos of Worship! If we were traveling in an RV, we wouldn’t trash it up with garbage like litter and rotten food and dead animals and other gross stuff, would we? Nor should we treat our temple like that, huh?!

Melodie and Robb asked how my high-tech shoes work! Well, there’s a computer chip that fits in a little space under the insole of the left shoe, and it sends messages to my iPod Nano. The Nano has a little screen so you can see, as well as hear, your stats as you run, if you want to. You can set it to monitor your running by time, by distance, or even by calories you want to burn. I usually set mine by time. It tells me every 5 minutes how much time has gone by, and it tells me when I reach the halfway point. Then the second half it counts down how much time I have left. At the end it tells me my distance, pace per mile, and calories burned. Oh, and it has my history, so if I set a PR (personal record), Lance Armstrong or somebody will come on to congratulate me! All the while I’m still listening to my favorite running music. Is that cool or WHAT?

I’ve set a goal to run the Women Can Run 5K race on May 12 in a town about 50 miles away. I used to run a lot of road races, and they’re very motivating. This race is a big event in Arkansas because there are 10-week clinics beginning soon in 23 towns. Women train together and the race is their graduation event. My town doesn’t have the clinic, although perhaps God will lead me to start one here someday, you never know. I’ve decided to hook up with a group that’s about 30 miles away so I can feel like part of a group (each group wears its own T-shirt design in the race). I’ve been emailing the leaders and they want me to come whenever I can, even if I’m not regular. I think I’ll know some of the people when I get there because their school sent teachers to my workshops for the last 10 years before I retired recently. My daughter did the clinic and race last year, and she loved it. She can’t do it this year because of her pregnancy, so this year is my turn!

OK, about my week. Sunday I wogged from my house on a hilly rocky country road I’m going to name Shorty. I went 3.16 miles in 45 minutes (and 49 seconds—I didn’t get it stopped very quickly) at a 14:27 pace. It was a lot harder than the flat places I’ve been running on lately, and I had to walk some of it. I was sore afterwards, but I was sore before I started, too—ha!

On Monday I just took off from the place where I’d left my car to get the oil changed. I set it for 45 minutes, wogged through a couple of neighborhoods, turned around when “the voice” said I was half-finished, and wogged back. It turned out to be exactly 3 miles. My body was really tired so I walked a lot of it, resulting in a 15:07 pace. It was a beautiful sunny day and I loved it! One of the things I like about walking/running is that you can do it nearly anywhere anytime! It was a great chance to “redeem the time.” Otherwise, I would have just been sitting there waiting, and enduring their TV blaring. (I think TVs are so rude, the way they yell at you.)

On Wednesday I wogged a nature trail in a neighboring town where I attend Bible Study Fellowship. I covered 3.33 miles in my 45 minutes at a 13:29 pace. That’s actually the fastest I’ve done on a non-flat surface for 45 minutes, although I’ve done 30 minutes faster.

On Thursday I wogged “Shorty” again a little bit faster, but on Friday I fell apart. I was at a new beauty shop my hairdresser joined, and they were having a grand opening with refreshments. I had never had a bon-bon before, so I thought I’d just TASTE one, and it turned out to be like Edmund with the Turkish Delight (in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). The more I ate, the more I wanted. It was ugly, and it led to more ugliness the rest of the day. It didn’t have to happen. It would have been easy to avoid—if I had resisted that first taste, it never would have happened! So on Saturday I took a page from Dr. Nick’s update and fasted for 24 hours to show my body who was in control, and I’m back where I belong mentally!

BTW, God did a cool thing for me while I was at the beauty shop, and it really shows his grace because I certainly didn’t deserve it, especially at that time--I signed up for a drawing, and I won it! I’m getting a free facial and body wrap on Tuesday! The body wrap is supposed to help me lose weight for the following three days if I drink lots of water and not much caffeine. I’m leaving for Denver on Wednesday, so with that little motivation I’ve decided to consider my trip a radical sabbatical and really watch what I eat and make it a point to exercise while I’m gone.

I hope everybody has a good week! I’ll leave Wednesday and be gone about a week. I’m not sure if I’ll have internet access on my trip or not—hope so! I know I won’t have a scale—hey, I’ll try to remember to pack mine! Remember, “When we are weak, then He is strong!”

OK, bloggerbuddies, that was probably TMI (which I now know means Too Much Information, thanks to Laura), but it sure was easier cutting and pasting my report to Dr. Nick's website than it would have been writing a whole new blog entry, and Sunday IS a day of rest, after all!