Sorry that I am a day late in posting. I must admit I was not too excited to post my progress the past couple of weeks. I gained back a few pounds over the Christmas/New Year weeks but I guess I can take heart in the fact that I still lost weight overall during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Today begins my serious commitment to getting back on track with eating habits and exercise.
OK people… time to fess up and get back to the hard work! : )
- Steve - Current Week: +3.0 Overall: -4.0
- Brittany - Current Week: -3.0 Overall: -6.1
- Sarah - Current Week: +1.5 Overall: -5.4
- Amy - Current Week: +2 Overall: +0.2
Well, this week had to be the hardest week of all… huh? Cookies, candies, prime rib dinners with cheese potatoes, homemade butter rolls, and pumpkin pie cheesecake… you get the picture. So I am not going to ask any of us to post our dismal results - consider it my Christmas gift to us all! : -)
But what I AM going to do is continue the contest until we have given all the prizes away (Check out the “revised” title change). So let’s all get back on track and make it happen. Weigh-in again next Friday. We can all do this! Are you all in???
P.S. Here is a really cool picture of a painting that an artist did for each of our Christmas services this year. He painted it with his HANDS! It was an amazing addition to our services and it was obvious that many people were touched deeply by it. Thought you might enjoy seeing how it looked.
Last week was just OK for me. With all the rain and cold weather, I did not get in as much walking and I “sampled” a few too many Christmas cookies on occasion… but overall I still managed to do better than I would typically do this time of the year.
It is less than a week until our barrage of Christmas services and though we seem to be in pretty good shape, it is still a source of stress for me. Please pray that I can stay focused on the weight loss goal and that all will come together as planned for our services.
How are you all doing ? It’s time to weigh-in!
- Steve - Week 4: -1.8 Overall: -7.0
- Sarah - Week 4: -1.5 Overall: -6.9
It’s only 13 days until Christmas and that means it is time for all of us to kick it into high gear if we want to reach our goal of losing 12 pounds by then! I had another pretty good week. I kept up the walking every evening and logged in around 16 miles for the week. I also ate pretty well but I do have to confess something I did only last night. It is an example of just how hard this battle can be for a lot of us who struggle with weight loss. This time of year is really busy at church and in addition to the normal craziness of planning our multitude of Christmas serves I am also working on a new website launch for the church as well as helping to plan another big project that’s coming up in early 2009. Last night, I was at work until around 7:00 PM and then went to Stater Brothers to find a prime rib roast for our life group dinner happening this evening. After getting home and reading up on a few things on the internet, I took my regular evening walk. All was good until (at about midnight!) I decided I needed to look in the pantry for a small “snack.” Unfortunately, the first thing I saw was a box of Cheez-Its. This was not a good thing because these hold a special place in my life as one of those comfort foods extraordinaire! I looked at the box… it looked at me… and then against all rational thought I ate them all. It wasn’t a full box or anything, but still… I mean it was the night before we were to weigh-in! To my credit, I overcame several big temptations at work last week, including passing on these really wonderful breakfast burritos that they serve every once in a while at our staff meetings, so I guess I can give myself a break. But my point is that this is not an easy process - and I definitely need all of you - to hear my confessions when I stumble, to encourage me when I succeed, and to hold me accountable along the way. Thanks for being there!
Ok, it’s time to weigh-in. Here are the results:
- Steve - Week Three: -1.4 Overall: -5.2
- Sarah - Week Three: -1.3 Overall: -5.4
- Brittany - Week Three: +.6 Overall: -2.3
- Amy - Week Three: +.4 Overall: -2.6
Watch the EDAR video
I was reading this article today on latimes.com about a hollywood producer, Peter Samuelson, who invented this really unique portable shelter for the homeless. EDAR stands for “Everyone Deserves a Roof.” Some of the facts in the video are astounding, and I’m glad that there are people out there like Peter who use their creativity to create practical solutions for seemingly unsolvable situations.
I wonder which of the local homeless shelters are working with his organization to distribute these EDAR’s?
If you haven’t already, you should really watch the video linked above.
Overall, last week went really well! I shared earlier about the RunKeeper program I started using and over the past week I have logged in about 18 miles of walking. I have also managed to be pretty disciplined with my eating habits, which is a good thing, since this time of the year it can be really hard to escape all the extra holiday foodstuff that seems to appear everywhere I look! I’m really glad you are all doing this with me - I know we can do this!!!
Here are our results:
- Steve - Week Two: -2.2 Overall: -3.8
- Sarah - Week Two: -2.1 Overall: -4.1
- Brittany - Week Two: -3.7 Overall: -2.9
- Kendra - Week Two: -0 Overall: +2
- Judy - Week Two: -4.4 Overall: -1.1
Time to weigh-in!
I forgot to mention in my last post a really cool FREE application that I recently downloaded to my iPhone. It’s called RunKeeper and it uses GPS to track where you are and let’s you know how far, how fast, etc. you go when running, walking, cycling, skiing, etc. It seems to be quite accurate and it even gives you this cool Google map of your route if you go to their website and create a free account. It’s a pretty nice way to monitor your exercise progress over a long period of time. If you have an iPhone, you should definitely check it out. If you don’t have an iPhone, there’s one more reason why you SHOULD!
: -)
Happy exercising!!!
I did pretty well this past week all things considering. I could have eaten less, but I definitely did better than usual. My friend, Billie, gave me a pedometer and we have been checking in each evening to let each other know how we did for the day. I actually walked the most (over 10,000 steps) yesterday, which was a good thing, since I pretty much enjoyed the Thanksgiving festivities without reservation!
: -)
It is unfortunate that our first weigh-in is the day after Thanksgiving, but “C’est la vie”… If we are to lose 12 pounds before Christmas we must persevere during this holiday season when temptations will increasingly come our way. I plan to enjoy the season by not completely depriving myself, but being very selective with the treats I eat and increasing the exercise intensity and frequency.
So… I will be the first to go:
- Steve- Week One: -1.6 Overall: -1.6
- Sarah- Week One: -2.0 Overall: -2.0
- Amy- Week One: -2.8 Overall: -2.8
- Judy- Week One: +3.0 Overall: +3.0
- Brittany- Week One: +.8 Overall: +.8
- Brent- Week One: +3 Overall: +3
OK Turkey Trotters… time to weigh-in!
I recently read an article in the New York Times which tells of a new study from the University of Maryland that investigated the differences between happy and unhappy people. It was an interesting angle they took since, as the article goes on to say, most studies on happiness tend to focus on factors like age or marital status while this one focused on the activities of happy and unhappy people.
Here is a quote from the article:
“We looked at 8 to 10 activities that happy people engage in, and for each one, the people who did the activities more — visiting others, going to church, all those things — were more happy,” Dr. Robinson said. “TV was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. Unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less.”
The article went on to say that it was unclear whether people who watch a lot of TV do so because they are unhappy or that by watching TV they become unhappy. I’m inclined to think it is the former, but in any case the article really made me stop and think about how much time I spend staring at the ol’ “boob tube!”
There are so many other more “productive” things I could be doing with my free time - like reading, writing, exercising, or engaging in meaningful conversation, but it is so easy somedays to just come home, eat some food, and “veg out.” This is particularly telling today as I know that later I will stuff my Thanksgiving gullet full and then waddle over to the couch where I will watch the annual holiday football fest unfold before blissfully falling asleep (see couch potato above!)…
Ah Food… Ah TV… Ah… UNHAPPINESS? It’s an interesting idea to consider.
Most of you know that I work as the Worship Arts Pastor at Parkcrest Christian Church. Yesterday, at our weekly staff meeting, Mike Goldsworthy shared his thankfulness for all the members of our staff. It was a touching moment from a guy who we all know is “deep” but who typically prefers to live in the world of thoughts and ideas rather than the world of feelings.
His generous list got me thinking about my own life and just how blessed I truly am. So here is my list of “People I am Thankful For” for 2008:
- I’m thankful for my parents whose love and generosity have been a true inspiration and example for me to follow in my own life.
- I’m thankful for Ronda who has stuck with me through thick and thin, and who could not be a better wife, mother to our children, loving daughter, and friend to all.
- I’m thankful for my sons Chris and Eric who could not make a father any prouder.
- I’m thankful for a sister and brother who love me just as I am.
- I’m thankful for in-laws, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews who provide the richness of family in my life.
- I’m thankful for Eric, Robert, Richard, Bob, Tom, Brady, Paul, and Gary who offer me their friendship and encouragement as they also hold me accountable for the choices I make in my life.
- I’m thankful for Billie, Beth, Deb, Jalene, and all the many friends in my life, both male and female, who offer me a loving community and who gently encourage and challenge me to be the person I was created to be.
- I’m thankful to my friend Keith whose wisdom and unconditional love continues to help me become a better husband, father, and man.
- I’m thankful for my church family at Parkcrest, who graciously allows me to serve alongside them and whose members provide me with the unmeasurable blessings of friendship, accountability, support, grace, and love.
- I’m thankful to serve with our Worship Arts staff, Deborah, Scott, Jojo, Michael, Kozmo, and Kevin whose talents are many and whose easy going attitudes make it fun to come to work everyday.
- I’m thankful for the cast and staff of Orange County Opera whose talent and commitment to the cause make it easy to do my job.
- And last but certainly not least - I’m thankful to God who offers his unconditional love and grace to me in spite of my human frailty, and who continues to mold and shape me into a unique masterpiece for his own good will and pleasure.
Who or what are you thankful for?
