As most women I know, I struggle with weight. I am not one who can eat whatever I want and not gain a pound. I am not really overweight either. My struggle right now is my post C-section body. It just didn't bounce back the way it did after my first 2 kids with natural deliveries.
I actually lost most of the baby weight while nursing my youngest. But then I stalled. After I quit nursing last spring, I started exercising. Fairly regularly. I would walk and try to run some (which I hate!), I was using free weights and doing ball exercises. I could not lose a single pound more. One problem I think was that I was still eating as if I were nursing. I could literally eat as much as my husband who is 6 feet tall. That was not the best for me. But I kept exercising all summer and into the fall. I finally stopped when things got crazy busy with soccer and the holidays. Guess what happened? I lost 3 pounds. Crazy I know. So 2 things happened I think. I finally started eating less. That was good. But I can only guess that I also lost some muscle. I have no other explanation.
Now, I am trying to exercise again. But I am not walking. It wasn't doing me any good. I tell people all the time to walk, that it is great exercise. But I think for me, I need something a little more and my body probably also adapted to the walking.
I have started doing Jillian Michael's workouts from the Biggest Loser. She is tough. It is really hard and is pushing me to my limits for sure. I love having On Demand. I am getting to try all of these exercise videos for free. And it has gotten my husband exercising again. We both have no excuse when we can do it inside for 30 minutes and get a really good workout.
This week it looks like I might have lost another pound. I don't really count it as a loss however, until it stays off for a couple of weeks. My weight tends to bounce around a little. But it is encouraging to see a change. What I want more than the lose pounds though, is to lose this post C-section stomach.
So I am off to exercise.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
My Hero
I bought a dress for my princess. I debated on what size to get and stupidly picked the smaller size. I always buy a bigger size especially if it is for an upcoming season that is still a few months way. But I looove the dress! It looks so good on her, it is brown and pink and she really looks beautiful in it. But nonetheless, it was going to be too small by summer. So, I thought I would just take it back and exchange. Went to the Target in Salem, they didn't have a 5T. Okay, so sent my husband to the one in Sherwood where I originally bought it and I know they had a 5T just a few days ago. But no, he couldn't even find the rack at first that held the dresses. He wandered all over the girls section with 2 cranky girls (one was also poopy) and finally found where they were only to discover they did not have a 5T. He called me, he knew I loved the dress and I suggested he ask a sales person to track one down. Well, they apparently had one somewhere at the Sherwood store but he was not going to look through every nook and crany to find it, they had 1 in Wilsonville and 2 at Washington Square (these places are in complete opposite direction from each other). He decided to try Wilsonville and if they didn't have it to backtrack to the other store (I would have gone in the direction of the 2 dresses, but that is me). Fortunately, they had it in Wilsonville. Yay! I will post pictures later and you will see what I mean. Okay, so "hero" might be too strong of a work, but the fact that he was willing to drive all over the place to find this dress for his daughter (and for me since I loved it so much) just makes me love him more. 4 years ago I bet he would never have imagined doing that.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Difference between men and women
We had a meeting with the women of our church last weekend. The pastor's wife and assistant's pastor's wife shared part of their testimonies. It was really amazing to hear and I just had to share part of one from our pastor's wife. It just solidifies my gratefulness in being a part of this amazing church body. Hopefully she won't mind my sharing it here.
She became a Christian at age 19 and engaged sometime after, I am not exactly sure when. But our pastor comes from a very strong and Godly Christian family and she was feeling shame for her past, like she would not be able to measure up. (Of course I am summarizing quickly here). They were at someone's house who had a pool and it was fall so they were sort of bundled up. The pool hadn't been drained or covered and had leaves in it that were rotting and soggy and gross. She was poking him and teasing him, and being silly. He told her if she poked him again, he would pick her up and throw her in the pool. So of course she did it again (wouldn't you have?) He picked her up, threw her over his shoulder and marched to the pool. When he got to the edge, he put her down and jumped in himself. As he came out all dripping wet, cold and covered in who knows what, he said this is what Christ did for you.
Of course she tells it better but what an amazing picture of God's love. And an amazing picture of a man who is so confident in that love and such an amazing teacher that he would take that opportunity to show someone how much God truly loves us. I have always prayed that God's light would shine through me, but do I do it in actions like that? I wonder if I have had moments in my life where God has presented that opportunity to me and I failed to convey His message. I am certain I have never shown Christ's love in such a literal way.
Anway, if you are wondering what my title to this post means, it is what my husband said to me when I started crying just retelling this story. "If I have ever seen the difference between men and women this is it" (or something to that effect). He thought it was a good story, while it brought me to tears. And still does.
I am grateful to be a part of this man's church. I can see I have a lot to learn from him.
She became a Christian at age 19 and engaged sometime after, I am not exactly sure when. But our pastor comes from a very strong and Godly Christian family and she was feeling shame for her past, like she would not be able to measure up. (Of course I am summarizing quickly here). They were at someone's house who had a pool and it was fall so they were sort of bundled up. The pool hadn't been drained or covered and had leaves in it that were rotting and soggy and gross. She was poking him and teasing him, and being silly. He told her if she poked him again, he would pick her up and throw her in the pool. So of course she did it again (wouldn't you have?) He picked her up, threw her over his shoulder and marched to the pool. When he got to the edge, he put her down and jumped in himself. As he came out all dripping wet, cold and covered in who knows what, he said this is what Christ did for you.
Of course she tells it better but what an amazing picture of God's love. And an amazing picture of a man who is so confident in that love and such an amazing teacher that he would take that opportunity to show someone how much God truly loves us. I have always prayed that God's light would shine through me, but do I do it in actions like that? I wonder if I have had moments in my life where God has presented that opportunity to me and I failed to convey His message. I am certain I have never shown Christ's love in such a literal way.
Anway, if you are wondering what my title to this post means, it is what my husband said to me when I started crying just retelling this story. "If I have ever seen the difference between men and women this is it" (or something to that effect). He thought it was a good story, while it brought me to tears. And still does.
I am grateful to be a part of this man's church. I can see I have a lot to learn from him.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Contentment
This is something I am working on. It is so easy to get caught up in the "wants". I find this especially hard when I am trying to cut back on my spending. It just makes me want to buy more. I do this with food as well. If I even think about trying to "diet", I instantly crave everything I shouldn't be having.
I don't indulge myself a lot with things. We are definitely on a budget and with the plan of 2 kids being in private school next year, we really need to watch what we spend. When I do spend money, I almost always buy things on sale and try to get the most for my money. But it is hard. When I am around other people who are a little more casual about their money, or don't have to worry about it so much, or who can buy expensive things etc...it gives me the wants.
Then I have to look around and realize how much we have, we are never wanting for food or clothing or a warm place to sleep. So what if we can't go out to eat in a restaurant all the time or go to movies. We are truly blessed and this is something I plan on focusing on this year.
I don't indulge myself a lot with things. We are definitely on a budget and with the plan of 2 kids being in private school next year, we really need to watch what we spend. When I do spend money, I almost always buy things on sale and try to get the most for my money. But it is hard. When I am around other people who are a little more casual about their money, or don't have to worry about it so much, or who can buy expensive things etc...it gives me the wants.
Then I have to look around and realize how much we have, we are never wanting for food or clothing or a warm place to sleep. So what if we can't go out to eat in a restaurant all the time or go to movies. We are truly blessed and this is something I plan on focusing on this year.
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