-0.8

Diet-wise, I had a really good weekend- quite a contrast to how I did during the women's retreat I attended in March. On top of the fact that the food wasn't that great at the campsite where we were, I was just really focused on not letting the weekend throw a wrench in my plans to meet my 215 goal by Wednesday.

If I splurged at all it was yesterday after getting home from the retreat. I had a small slice of meat lasagna and red wine with my husband which was actually quite filling. Later that evening we went out to our favorite tapas bar for dinner. Steak and homemade fries were involved, albeit in small quantities. Our original plan was to go for ice cream afterward, but strangely enough neither of us (particularly me) wanted any after we ate. So we ended up going straight home instead.

I got on the scale this morning just to see where I was after the weekend, and I'm down to 217.6! Another 'new' low and just 2.4 pounds shy of my goal. At this point I'm just thrilled with the new motivation that I now have to continue with losing weight and getting healthy. I've had my emotional ups and downs this month, but in spite of that I've managed to eek out a 9.2 loss thus far, which ain't all that bad. I feel confident going into May, and I know that I can reach my goals if I just stay focused!

Retreat in review

So this weekend was a lot of fun. The main theme of the retreat was centered precisely around my reason for attending in the first place-- standing in unity as a church, staying in fellowship with each other and allowing God's love to flow through us. During our devotionals on on Saturday and Sunday morning we read through some attributes and qualities that the Bible ascribes to this amazing love as I like to call it. We read through 1 Coritinthians 13, a pretty well-known passage that defines what love is and isn't:

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails

I've known this passage by heart for years. But what I love about reading the Bible is how God constantly reveals new things to us, even in reading verses that we can mechanically recite from memory. In reading this passage about love I was reminded that above all things, God is love. So these qualities are actually His qualities which flow through us when we allow Him into our hearts. Consequently, we are to treat those around us with this same kind of love.

Sure, it all sounds easy in theory, but I've missed the mark so many times. As of lately I've complained, been less than patient and, try as I might, sometimes it's tough not to remember all the stuff that others have done or said to me in the past. But this weekend I wiped the proverbial slate clean. I have a new motivation to be a reflection of this love to those around me.

Blessing in disguise

Cold-wise, I'm feeling much better this morning. I'm still on the cold medication and it's working slowly but surely. Hopefully by Sunday I'll be all cleared up.

Last night I didn't leave work until after 9pm. Yeah, I was pretty irritated about it. Mostly because I had to cancel my tutoring session with Jen since we obviously weren't going to have enough time to get through everything before Chechu came to pick me up. Thankfully she said that she understands the new topic they're studying in class pretty well (modal verbs) so the fact that we missed our session yesterday wasn't exactly crucial. We've rearranged to meet next Tuesday evening to review for her quiz the following day.

I got home by 9:30 and sat on my couch for a while, debating whether or not to take advantage of the extra hour I had to myself to workout. I finally decided to go through with it, and I am so glad that I did. I was able to complete the entire Turbo Jam workout, and I ended up gloriously drenched in sweat. I felt so good about myself afterwards- not just in the physical sense but mentally as well. That was exactly the motivational boost that I needed, and I'm so glad that I took advantage of my extra time productively. I got on the scale this morning and I've reached a new low! 218.4!! I'm not sure if I can attribute that to my workout last night or to TOM's exit. Or both. Either way, I'm thrilled with the results. I'm 3.4 pounds away from my goal for next Wednesday. It's a stretch, but I'm sure that with some extra hard work this weekend I'll be able to pull it off.

I've been thinking a lot about my exercise dilemma over the past couple days. One of the biggest pieces of advice I've received has been to build my exercise schedule around what works best for me, rather than setting unrealistic goals for myself and failing miserably at each attempt.

A-ha moment.

For as much as I'd love to be a morning person, I'm just not. That's who I am, and I have to accept it. Getting up early for me has always been a challenge, and barring a miracle it probably always will be. So, in light of that, I need to schedule my workouts either during my afternoon break or in the evenings after work. I'm quite positive that I'll have better results with this plan.

I'm off to the youth retreat this evening, and I'm pretty excited about it. We leave directly after work to head up to Granada, and we'll be back at some point Sunday afternoon. Even though I know I'll have a great time, I miss Chechu already! Hopefully we'll leave earlier on Sunday and that way he and I will have the entire afternoon to spend together and catch up :)

Have a great weekend, all!

Crap

So I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed this morning.

I d0n't feel well at all. Yesterday afternoon at work I started feeling progressively worse as the hours dragged on. By the time I made it to church for Bible study I had a pretty bad headache and a ton of sinus pressure. I'm still feeling the same way this morning despite taking this "Stop Cold" medicine my husband bought from the pharmacy. I'm not sure if what I'm feeling is actually cold-related or if it's allergies. Either way, I feel like crap.

On top of feeling sick I've got a ton of work to do for a change. Lots of research to do, companies to call, emails to write and pending quotes to finalize. I'm not complaining in the least about this because I'm thankful for the work that I do have. I just wish I felt better so that I could feel like I was getting things done more efficiently.

This weekend is the annual youth retreat at our church. I haven't mentioned this before because my original intention was not to go in the first place. Chechu isn't going to be able to attend since he's the only worship team member who can sing and play an instrument, and therefore he's been asked to lead worship during both Saturday and Sunday services so as to allow the rest of the musicians to go to the retreat. I wholly admit that a big chunk of my motive for skipping out on this event was to be able to spend time with my husband and keep him company over the weekend. Or, to put it frankly, if he wasn't gonna go, I wasn't gonna go either.

I feel like as of lately I've had quite a lackluster attitude about participating in church events. The other week it was the concert in Jaén that I felt pushed into attending, even though I ended up having a great time. I honestly don't know why I've been feeling this way, but I do know that it needs to change. After praying about it all I really felt led to attend the retreat even though I didn't really want to. On top of the fact that this week the pastors have really been encouraging all of us to make the extra effort to attend, I'm going to go just to counter this funk I've been in. I know that in doing so I'll be blessed. Surely we'll all have an amazing time together!

I'm not sure if I'll ever be a morning exerciser and that stresses me out too. Obviously feeling under the weather was my excuse for not rolling out of bed at 7am today, but in general I just can't seem to shake the grogginess. I could understand the difficulty in getting up at 5 every morning to work out, but 7am really isn't that bad. I should be able to handle that. So I'm kind of at a loss for words about this whole thing. I'd like to think that I'll work out this afternoon during my break but I just don't know if that will be possible. I suppose I'll just have to make time.

On a more positive note, I have the best husband ever. I got home late last night after Bible study only to find him in the kitchen making dinner and lunch for today. In spite of my offers to help he insisted on me taking some medicine and going straight to bed. The poor thing was up until almost 2am cooking, cleaning and ironing. What an amazing guy ;)

Good morning!

I'm determined to have a positive, productive Wednesday, and it's already started off on a good note. My boss just stepped into my office to see how I was doing. He said I've been looking kind of down lately and he wanted to make sure that I was doing all right. I thanked him for asking about me and said that I'm doing well- just a tad bit tired and I've got a little sore throat going on right now, but other than that I'm great. I totally wasn't expecting that this morning. Ever since we've started working on all these new projects he and I have barely spoken to each other. Needless to say, it's nice to know that he thought of me and stepped in just to see how I was.

After posting my big idea about not getting on the scale until the end of the month (just seven glorious days away!) I did hop on this morning just to see where I was. In my defense, I hadn't weighed myself since Saturday and I was quite pleased to see that I'm only up 0.4 lbs- certainly not the 264598 gain I was expecting to see with how bloated I've been feeling lately. So I'm happy to say that there is hope between me and my goal for this month.

Contrary to my original plan however, I didn't go through with working out last night. I got through the first five minutes of the warm up, but my cramps were too much for me to continue. Plus I just really wasn't in the mood, and that seemed to make the cramps worse.
That sounds like such a whiny excuse.

I think my workout dilemma would be solved if I could just get out of bed in the morning to exercise and get it out of the way. As of lately I've been putting it off until the evenings after work and that has proven to be very inconsistant. Normally I'll set my workout time for 8:15PM but, given the previous track record of leaving the office late, I'm usually still here by that time. In those instances, when I do get home I'm already irritated that I didn't leave work on time and that I have to re-arrange my evening schedule to fit a workout in. That generally translates to less motivation for exercise. This gets even more complicated on days like today when I have church or other activities to attend in the evenings and, consequently, less time to squeeze in a workout.

In short, I really need to aim for morning workouts. This is the only time frame during the day that I can control 100%, not to mention the fact that in doing so I'm getting my workout in before the workday actually begins. That will free up more time for me in the evenings and, on the whole, I'll just feel a lot better. The hardest part of this whole thing of course is not hitting the snooze button when the alarm goes off at 7am.

So, for all you morning exercisers out there, any suggestions? Please? :)

The no-update update

I didn't get on the scale this morning because, frankly, it was too early and I wasn't in the mood to see what it had to say. Even though I had a good day yesterday (with exercise and all!) I feel like a balloon today. I've got annoying cramps and this dull lower back pain. I though birth control was supposed to make all this go away!

April has been a rough month emotionally. I've had some ups and downs. I've fallen off the wagon once or twice, lured by chocolate and ice cream. The important thing is that I didn't stay off track though, and staying consistent with keeping track of my eating and exercise has really helped.

I feel like May is going to be a breakthrough month for me and I'm excited for it to get here. It's starting to get really warm outside, and I've had enough of the exercise dvd's. I'm ready to get my butt out on the pavement and start jogging. Originally my goal was to start jogging once I got down to 200, but I see no point in waiting for that. Next month I'm going to get myself some running gear and get moving. I've got big plans for May!

Nevertheless, April isn't over yet. Even though I cancelled my weigh-in for today, I'm still staying completely on track. There's roughly one week left in this month and I will make the most of it:

1. I'm not going to weigh myself again until next Wednesday, April 30th. I've been stepping on the scale almost daily since the start of the month and I'm not certain that being this conscious of my weight is helping it go down.

2. Between now and the end of this weight loss journey I've got a pretty good bit of weight to lose. But, for the next eight days I'm just focusing on my goal of 215 to reach by next Wednesday.

3. EXERCISE. Daily.

4. Staying on plan and not letting a minor craving throw my day off.

I plan to squeeze in a workout this afternoon, cramps and all, before I come back to work. I just really need to focus on this goal. I need to make this happen.

Blog Award

On Saturday morning I woke up to this spiffy blog award given to me by the lovely and inspiring Cat. Thanks, girl. I feel very honored that you thought of me.

I'm passing this award on to Alli, Ready to Shrink and Briy, all of whom are quite inspiring themselves. Thanks for the encouragement, girls.