Wellness Wednesdays

In the spirit of The Challenge, here's this week's Wellness Wednesday update.

This week I logged 6 out of 7 days on the dreaded elliptical or following Jillian to the park (where she rides her bike like Evil Knievel and I have to keep up). I've gone 19 1/2 miles. W-O-W. Now THAT's a pretty cool number... And seems like a pretty good number to push myself with... So next weeks update will be more miles than that.

After my "Help me Jesus" moment and getting up off my tush to move, I saw an interview on Fox News that really hit home...in one of those weird voo-doo cosmic sort of ways. Enter Chantel Hobbs and her book Never Say Diet. From the interview I gathered that we had both turned to God to help us finish this problem once and for all. And in the process she went from 350 to 150 pounds over the course of her enlightenment (pun intended). I immediately went online to Barnes and Noble and found her book and journal... and another Phillipa Gregory book... and FINALLY they came in yesterday. (That's the problem with free shipping... you seem to have to wait longer...)

Last night I read through chapter 3 and realized that I'm not the only kook who was living out of control (in the best sense of the phrase) and I wont be the last. However, I hope that with the support of God, Faith and Friends, it'll be the last time for me. It's exhausting being disappointed in yourself on a regular basis. You know how when you read a really difficult problem and you read and read and read and you just can't figure it out, but then you take some deep breaths, and look at it again, it just "clicks"... That's how this feels.

So here's a few things that I learned about this journey this week.

A. I am not alone. I've always been able to spot the exact people in a crowd who have no problems, no worries, no faults. (that's sarcasm people... ) And then compare my poor pitiful self to them... Well guess what? Those people DON'T EXIST! We all have our issues, quirks, problems, faults... It's what we choose to do with them that sets us all apart. We can choose to wallow in our misery or we can choose to not let it define who we are. Period.

B. Move. It's a 4 letter word. For now. I might not like to exercise right now. I might feel like the first 5 minutes on the elliptical are the hardest... but I have stopped letting my lazy inner voice take control. I do not allow myself to get off before I've gone for 30 minutes. Pretty soon, I've gone 15 minutes, then I notice that I'm almost to the 3 mile marker, and then all of the sudden, I'm at minute 28 and I'm having to make myself go back down to the cool down pace and I've finished. Giving up is the easy thing to do. Giving up has given me fat girl arms. Giving up means failure, and people, that's just not an option. I know that in a few weeks, my body will start to wonder what's gotten into me. I know that in a few more weeks, I will be pleasantly addicted to the endorphins and the good nights sleep. All I've got to do is MOVE.

C. After 2 weeks of cutting out most of the crap (processed and junk food) in my diet, I'm starting to feel pretty good! I think that by not buying Slimfast, Lean Cuisine, or diet pills, and focusing on health and not weight, this is really surprising me. I am ... he-hem... "regular" which is a HUGE joke amongst the family. I'm MAKING myself have an afternoon snack (Fiber One bar and a cup of 1 % milk) and I'm doing alright by the time dinner rolls around. I've also realized that just because I think I'm hungry, I'm usually not. I'm usually bored. Take yesterday... Jillian had her first full day of school. I came home, worked out, blogged, ate lunch, cleaned the kitchen, ... then I still had 2 hours before I had to go to car line. Even though I had just eaten, I felt like I was starving! So I drank a glass of water and changed the laundry loads around and folded the clothes. Then I checked the mail, then I did the next load of clothes... I totally talked myself out of the "hunger" and I know it's because it wasn't real. I've even named it Hoax Hunger... just to keep tabs on it and recognize it for what it is. A Hoax.

D. It's ok to have a break... just don't undo all the work you've done! OK, so I probably had too much wine at this past Friday's Happy Hour... but besides that, I had guacamole, salsa, brownies, chips, hummus, and all sorts of SUPER YUMMY stuff in front of me and I had a decent amount of self control! Yep, I had the guacamole. but just a little. No seriously it was a very small bit. and yep, I had the brownie (it was one of those made in the mini-muffin pan). and it was goooood. SUPER YUMMY good. As is all chocolate in my book. But I didn't kill myself on it, and it didn't become my dinner. Well, there's a first time for everything, right???? And in the spirit of the break, I didn't work out on Saturday. Remember the wine? yeah... Note to self... learn more self-control when in the presence of a good Pinot Noir.

So that's been my path to wellness this week. I told Katie that I wouldn't post this, but why the heck not pat myself on the back... I lost 6 pounds since the 1st. It feels good to feel good!