EA Sports Active: Day One

As readers of my blog know, I am trying to fit into a dress for a wedding August 1st. As of right now, the dress doesn't zip all the way up. I have 18 days left to get into the dress. Yikes!
You may remember that I posted about Frugal Upstate hosting a giveaway of EA Sports Active in an attempt to win the game. Well, I won the game! Jenn promptly sent me my copy of the game, and it arrived last Thursday. I am going to try to use the game every day between now and the wedding, in addition to my regular outings at the gym. Hopefully the increase in exercise, combined with monitoring what I eat more closely, will zip the dress up the last little bit. If not, does anyone know if they sell white duct tape?
I'm not going to post about the game every day, but I will post about my progress on the game from time to time. Today, I spent 19(?) minutes doing exercises with the game, and according to the game, I burned 133 calories (funny how I remember EXACTLY the calories, but I have to guess at how long it took). I'm sure that if I had exerted myself more with the running part I would have done even better.
Overall, I like the game. There was a learning curve for me, but I'm not terribly coordinated. None of the exercises I did today are hard to do, I just had to get my form right. I like the fact that the game told me when my form was off. As I understand it, having the correct form can really effect the results you get from exercising.
The running exercise was frustrating for me because the game didn't think I was moving fast enough when I thought that I was. But the game probably thinks I'm in better shape than I am ;) I also felt a little silly running in place while holding a game remote, which might have also affected my mobility.
At the end of the exercising, the game charts your progress and saves it for future comparison. I'm looking forward to seeing how I progress. I have one more trip to take before the wedding, and this game is going with me on the trip!

Diet Update

Ugh. I'm still plugging away at the gym and counting calories. But with no progress. Here's how things are going to far:
4/15 - really fat
4/19 - down 2.1; hooray!
4/21 - up 0.8; what happened?
4/23 - up 0.7; this is not good
4/26 - down 0.3; thank God!
4/30 - up 0.1; not encouraged
Now you might helpfully suggest that I'm being a tad obsessive about weighing. Really, weighing 6 times in 2 weeks might be a tad much. But I keep trying to be optimistic and stepping on the scales, hoping that a miracle will happen.
I don't understand what my problem is this time around. I've never had trouble at least initially losing weight. I've always started off really well, and then crept to a crawl. So I'm not real happy right now. I'm going to keep tracking calories and working out 5x a week, but I'm wondering if I need to do more. Hmm... any thoughts about the pros/cons of a personal trainer? Maybe I need someone to yell at me and kick my butt while I'm at the gym. I think I'm doing pretty good at the gym, but apparently not. Exactly what should be my goal for a good workout? Time spent there? Calories burned? Looking for insight here...

Motivation

As readers of my blog know, I have been trying to eat healthier and exercise more. I've signed up for the 30 x 5 challenge, joined a gym, and I am tracking calories over at Spark People.
I have exercised every day since last Tuesday, except for Sunday. I hope to make this a new lifestyle for me, but I'll be honest. Right now, my efforts are also to fit into a dress come August 1st. My friend is getting married and the dress does not fit. As in, not even close.
I have ordered the biggest size dress that the company makes, so going up in size is not an option. I have to lose weight. And quickly. As of today, there are 102 days until the wedding. I'm going to round off and call it an even 100. I am guessing that I need to be about 3 dress sizes smaller, which is 20-40 pounds that I need to lose. I've never done that in my life. I've lost 25 pounds once, over a course of 5 months. I've never tried anything like this before. Drastic measures are called for.
In an attempt to motivate myself to reach new heights of self-discipline, here are some motivational posters I'll be using to help keep me focused on my goal.

Okay, this has nothing to do with dieting. But I thought it was funny (and pretty accurate). Does William Shatner do commercials for a law office where you live, or is it just here in Georgia?

Mmm... yummy. A big juicy burger on a fat sesame bun slathered with ketchup, mustard... but I digress. That has nothing to do with dieting. I wonder if you put some lettuce and tomato on it, you might be able to get away with calling it a side salad?

I hear caffeine is good for losing weight. I'm tempted to think this isn't true though. Programmers really do live on caffeine, and a lot of them are fat.

Perhaps this church would allow me to run up and down the aisle, a la Rocky? I bet I might even be able to do this during the church service, judging from what goes on in some places...

So THIS is what I've been doing wrong! Man, all this time I kept taking BB for walks and I never got any results!
All kidding aside, though, this one says the truth:

The only problem with this one is that it makes me think of donuts. You know the kind with sugar and cinnamon on the outside? I don't normally eat that kind, but it sounds really good at the moment.
I leave you with this:

Yeah, it doesn't have anything to do with dieting either. But any post about motivational posters must include this.

*Sigh*

Kim passed this information on to me. For someone who has never enjoyed being hot, sweaty, and out of breath (well...), this is a big deal. So if you know me in real life, bug me about this when you see me. And if you want to join in on this, you can sign up over at 2nd Cup of Coffee.

After Easter

In my post about Lent, I wrote of my good intentions for the upcoming Easter season. Little did I know at that writing how my Lenten season would turn out. I started off doing fairly well, yet when BB broke his leg, I got off track. Gradually over the 5 week period, I slipped back into my old eating patterns. Instead of spending more time in prayer, I found myself vegetating whenever I had a free moment. I'm not surprised that I missed my original goals. I think that if I had spent my free time in prayer as I should have, I would have stayed the course. However, I did learn a lot during Lent. I wrote about one of the lessons I learned in this post and also in this one.
As you all know, BB's cast was removed 1 week before Easter, which gave me a time of rejoicing to follow my time of sacrifice. Like all celebrations, our celebration involved food. So now I find myself back to where I started in regards to eating. I will not be discouraged, however; the Resurrection brought new life to us all. I will use this as the perfect time to bring new life to my desire to have more control over my eating habits.
Now if I can just resurrect my exercise gene. I know I must have one - somewhere...

My Interview

The "other Heather" over at Want What You Have has been conducting a series of interviews of fellow bloggers. As I can rarely pass up a chance to talk about myself (therefore, I blog), I signed up to be interviewed. My questions and answers are as follows:
1) Like me, you recently began a diet and exercise plan, and your ticker says that you've already lost 11 pounds! What advice can you give to other who want to lose weight and get healthy, but don't know how to start?
For a frugal (re: free) weight-loss program, check out www.sparkpeople.com. This site offers exercise guides, suggested menu plans, an on-line calorie tracker, health articles, and so much more. When I use this site regularly, I have great results.
I would encourage anyone who is trying to lose weight to spend some time learning how their weight came to be a problem. For many people, being overweight is so much more than just eating too much of a good thing. If the person is an emotional eater, than dieting alone is not going to be a long-term fix.
One thing that I am doing differently with this diet is praying several times a day about eating. I pray when I wake up that I won't eat too much or eat when I'm not hungry. I pray before I eat to not only give thanks, but to also be able to know when I have had enough to eat. At the end of the day, I give thanks for any success I might have had, and I pray for strength for the next day. I know this approach isn't for everyone, but for me, it really does seem to help. I haven't been as hungry as I normally am, and I haven't had as many instances where I have just pigged out on something. I am much more conscious of when I am full.
2) You used to teach in the public school system, and based on that experience, you've decided to homeschool your son. Can you explain your reasons, for those of us who are still on the fence about homeschooling?
Whew! This subject is a soapbox issue for me. I have written about homeschooling before on my blog here. To give a short answer, I will say that DH and I believe that one day we will have to give an account to God for how we parented BB. I want to make sure that BB has a strong foundation in both academics and faith. While BB is young and impressionable, I don't want to expose him to things that will undermine what DH and I are trying to teach him at home. For a more specific answer about a part of homeschooling, please feel free to ask me. I'm more than happy to give my opinion to anyone who asks! ;)
3) You are the mother of a little boy. What do you think is the greatest joy, and greatest challenge, of raising a son in the world today?
The greatest joy for me would be to see BB grown up to be a Godly young man. To one day be able to see this accomplished is certainly the greatest challenge as well. There are many day-to-day joys with any child. My day-to-day challenge is to remind myself that I am not raising a child to simply live in the present - I am raising a child to become a man in the future.
4) When I read your blog, I'm always impressed by the balance in your life, and the amount of time you devote to your faith. What advice can you give to other moms who are struggling to find time for God in their busy lives?
I know it has been said before, but getting up early is key to making sure that you have a daily devotion. I find that when I get up early to have my devotions, the rest of my day flows more smoothly. You don't have to have hour-long devotions. My favorite devotional is My Utmost for His Highest. I have read that countless times, and I find something new each time. I often pair the day's reading with either a Psalm or Proverb. When I am participating in a group Bible study, I will do the Bible study's assignment instead. If you have trouble fitting in a devotion, grab bits and pieces throughout the day. There's nothing wrong with leaving your Bible open in a prominent place to remind you to read!
5) If you could have one day to yourself, with no obligations or responsibilities, what would you do?
You don't know how good that sounds to me right now! Although I never thought I would be the type to say this, I am currently in love with the idea of going to a spa. I've never been to a spa, and the idea of a manicure, pedicure, massage, etc. sounds so lovely. If I weren't going to a spa, I would sleep in, take as long as I wanted to in the shower, and then find neat little antique or thrift stores in some quaint little town. I love looking through other people's junk!
Thanks Heather for the great questions! If anyone reading this would like me to interview them, please e-mail me or leave me a comment below. I'll look over your blog and then send you 5 questions for you to answer!

Lent

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent. For those of you who don't know (and those who know more than me, feel free to correct me), Lent is a 40-day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Technically, Lent spans 46 days; however, Sundays are exempt. Fasting used to be the norm during Lent, although it is now permitted to give up other items instead.
2009 marks the first time that I have ever participated in Lent. Last year, I read several excellent posts regarding Lent that inspired me to try it this year. At a Hen's Pace has a good post up this year that provides links to several Lenten posts for those interested.
When I began to reflect on what I should give up for Lent, I didn't really know how to choose. I thought about giving up the computer or TV, but I can easily substitute another activity for those and not really miss them too much. Then Jenn over at Conversion Diary started posting about her "Saint Diet." I won't try to describe Jenn's writings on this. Instead, I urge you to go over to her site and read what she has to say. I think that many of us can agree (or be convicted) about what she has to say on the subject.
As most of you know, I have been trying eat healthier and exercise. What I have not written about is that I have also been paying attention to when I eat, why I eat, and how I feel after I eat. My conclusions so far are that I eat more out of boredom than anything else. I am an emotional eater; I eat when I am feeling abandoned, neglected, or generally just bad about myself. Making the problem even worse, I tend to indulge myself on junk food or comfort food, which makes me even more emotional. Clearly, eating my emotions does not help. I found myself agreeing so much with what Jenn has written on this subject. Too many times I have sought to console myself through food rather than turning to God. To be brutally honest, turning to anything other than God to help me with my problems is a sin. Eating my emotions is nothing more than me trying to rely on my own ability rather than to turn it over to God.
During Lent, I will be limiting my unhealthy food choices, but I hope to do it for more than just physical gain. Because I have noticed that I seem to be more short-tempered and irrational when I fill up on junk, I think that severely limiting these foods will help me learn to focus on God to help me through the day rather than myself.
More importantly, I am going to make a conscious effort to eat only when I am hungry, and then only until I am full. I hope that by the end of the 40 days, my conscious eating will be a habit.
This may not be a true Lenten sacrifice, but purposeful eating is a big deal to me.
Of course, you don't have to do anything for Lent. I think a lot of Evangelicals don't participate in Lent because it seems like works instead of faith. I don't think that participating in Lent will make me more of a Christian or anything like that - I am doing it as an act of bringing my human desires under control, which is something all Christians are commanded to do.