The knack

The trick is to wear the right clothes.
Clothes that are fun yet sensible.
Clothes that attract but not seduce.
Clothes that appeal.
No clothes that repeal or make the wrong statement.
It should look easy without you looking easy,
simple without making you look simple.
Clothes.
They may make the girl who knows how to wear them.
Who knows who she is.
Her place in the world.
The seat that is reserved for her.
Not the ones that others may want to grab for.
Her seat.
The chair with the garment of righteouness resting on its back,
the one Christ paid for.
so wear the right clothes and wear them well.

Update!

Last night I stepped on the scale and it read back to me: 150.5. That got me really pretty excited. I knew that when I would wake up this morning I would be in the 140's.

This morning I got dressed and then remembered I wanted to weigh myself. Then I saw that the scale was off. The dial needed turning because it was at least two pounds light! Ugh!

I re-dialed the knob and corrected the thing. With my not-too-heavy clothes on, I stepped on to the contraption: 152.5. I think. Not that exciting.

Yesterday I went off the diet a little. Seems like I'm getting off the diet a little bit about twice a week. Why am I doing that?

I suppose that I tell myself two things. First I tell myself that with the exercise that I get I can "afford" to side step a bit. Then I secretly tell myself how awful it will be to be 144. It is scary. I haven't been that low in so many years. Right now, my bones feel like the stick out all over. I tell myself that this is the way that God has made the female body. All those beautiful bones are not supposed to be layered in cushions of soft and goopy fat. They're supposed to be there.

Are fractures of the hip more common when the hip bone sticks out? No, dear one. They are more common in fat, out-of-shape bodies. Likewise more common is diabetes, heart disease, unexcited and bored husbands, osteoporosis and breast cancer.

The unintelligible things our mixed-up minds tell us about our bodies! Anorexic people think they're fat. Fat people think, "except for my weight I am really extremely healthy." Yeah, just because you don't have diabetes yet.... Oh, the wonder of our body to keep working despite what we do to it.

The other day I saw a woman on a break. She had a cigarette and a diet coke. Oh so sad. What would the healthy part of that body say if she could talk? "What I would do for some TLC."

Dear God my Father: Fix our minds right to think accurate thoughts. Re set the dial of our minds. Help us to glorify You in our bodies. Go with us. Bless my blogger friends.

Touch Base

Things are going about an eight in the health department, and that is good, I guess. The day before yesterday I went off my diet and ENJOYED my cake and candy and donuts!!!!! Then I went back on. The week before I went off the diet twice and still lost two pounds, even while getting my period which put my weight up a bit. But that is the funny thing about weight. But I am back on my diet and yesterday went well. Several more weeks to go. I just can't be perfect all of the time.

Today I get my hair done, or should I say dyed. Okay, dyed. Well, it is pretty highlights. The hair dresser does a real good job matching the look to the way I used to look until my hair starting going old on me.

Tomorrow is micro-dermabrasion at the Dermatologist's office.

I am searching to time to exercise TODAY. May God provide a way.

Jesus,
Thank you for dying for my sins. Help me to walk in the light of Your grace. Help me not to compromise in my attitude and in my ways. Walk with me today and bless my blogger friends. Amen.

Opps

I was doing well until it got so hecktic and busy that I missed lunch. The problem didn't begin then. I found a small salad to eat at about 2:00. I was happy at about 4:00 when I realized I could kind of double up on lunch and dinner servings. I got a Quiznos 5 oz prime rib sandwich on flat bread with .5 mozzerella cheese. And a small salad (no tomatos!-those count for a whole bunch) that had lettuse and 1 oz parmessean (spelling, ugh!) cheese. That was delicious. An hour later I was at See Chocolates with my children and I had predetermined I was going go off my di¸

Getting there

I had some fun today because things are starting to come together as far as my body is concerned. I was 152 pounds this AM. Yesterday was 155. My look is getting better.

From a Christian viewpoint, for me, I think keeping my body "together" is a sacrifice unto the Lord, because it is a service & a pleasing attribute for my husband.

As a wife, one of my main purposes on earth is to please my husband. Believe it or not.

How things grow

When I was loosely following LA Weightloss according to my memory of things, my serving sizes really grew. Now being back on the actual plan I can hardly eat any fruits & vegies. Today I had all my veggie servings with one medium size salad. For example a quarter of a cucumber is an entire serving of veggies and there is a total day alotment of three servings.

Right now I am so excited because I still have two fruit servings left (out of three total) and with it I can enjoy an entire grapefruit!

151.5

Wow. What do ya know? There may be a benefit of many counselors.

154.5

I'm in spin class now writing this on my Palm Pilot phone. I only have a little time before the instructor tells us to stand again. (When I stand on the bike I can't write and when I don't stand and the others do then I look like a dwebb, whatever that is, but who cares how I look, but anyway...)

Let me just say I am surviving the hunger pains. Staying 95 percent on the diet and in my activity and also the health (Maker's Diet) aspect (but only 80 percent following that), but....I'm blessed. Praise the God of heaven and earth and God bless you too, and you Kimber!

Hunger Pains

or little gain.

So I decided that I did not have the mental energy to get to 145 on my own, and did go back to LA Weightloss.

LA WEGHTLOSS dieting formally began yesterday as far as my "Gold Plan" goes. And this I learned yesterday-I wasn't losing weight because I was EATING TOO MUCH!

On the little booklet that I write in all that I ate, there is a little spot for "activity" and because of that little blank I was motivated to go exercise last PM. I went bike riding and only had to avoid one car. They don't see bikes.

I had been feeling badly because I had to be part of a "program." Then I realized that for tons of years I have beeen part of a formal Bible Study because I need the structure. So what? So I need a program for eating and exercise? I can live with that. What is my life to me anyway? Isn't it the Lord's and doesn't He pour it out for whatever He wants and to whoever He wants? I can live with this. Now, to learn to live with hunger pains.....

Jars of Clay

The treasure inside of this clay jar is of God and not of me. The jar itself, while made from the dust of the earth, is still is precious to God and formed from His hands. With that in mind Lord, help me to honor You in my body.

Lord, establish Your way in my life and the life of this body! I don't want a life apart from You! I lay down this body of flesh as a living sacrifice. Fill Yourself in me. Give me wisdom and proper motivation to run this body, to manage it. Glorify Yourself in this clay pot.

So much to say, so little time

I'm going to LA Weightloss today.

I haven't exercised in 5 days. I feel new leg muscles in my upper thighs from all the workouts earlier this year.

I want to take my body to a new level where it hasn't been since I was in my early 20's, because I want to buffet my body and make it my slave (St. Paul's words). I don't want to be like Essu who thought he was dying because he missed a meal and sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. I want to value the spiritual, the eternal over the physical. I want to live life on a different plane.

This, my friends, my self, I can not do myself. I am asking God to lift me there.

Diet Fall-out

I was at the airport last night and I could take it absolutely no longer. No longer I tell you. I bought a brownie and a diet coke. Enjoyed it too. Then I ate 100 calorie sack of Wheat Thins. Then I decided that I did not have the mental power to get down to my 143-145 weight and that I had to go back to LA Weightloss. With that having been decided upon, I took it upon myself to call off dieting for the next two days, until I go into LA Weight loss on Monday morning.

When I got home and looked at my mail, I found out that Monday, of all days, is LA Weightloss "Grand Re-opening" and I can lost up to 20 pounds free! Well great. I only want to lose about ten, so I am set. Monday morning I will go.

Today with all restraints off, I hardly even felt like eating that crap that I had craved. Don't get me wrong. I ate ice cream, candy, brownies, chocolate frosting. Let's see if there is anything else....No, I don't think so.

That crap is just crappy. Like I said before, if you ban that stuff all together, it is just a matter of time when you have to compensate, kind of like extra tics after a person with tics holds them all in....Don't ask. A little psychiatric colloquialism there; pardon me.

I didn't exercise today for two reasons, one of which was the fact that I spent a bunch of hours in a spontaneous creative project that absorbed all of my time and interest. The second reason was a felt kind of bad abandoning my kids that are all home right now to go to the gym for two and a half hours.

When I was walking around this evening I felt my pants baggy and loose. And do you know what? These are my goal pants at one time. Almost all of my goal clothes that I have had for the past year and a half I am getting ready to dump.

Being the weight that I was when I was married will really be strange. It has been SO many years. What a trip.

I just let loose today and went off routine, but I think that it is fine. Kind of like a post two month program sabbatical. It will get me ready for LA Weightloss on Monday. I am going to try to incorporate some of the good eating from The Maker's Diet.

154

Well, the weight hopped back down again. I think I should graph my weight and plot it according to when I get my period. Anybody have a program for that and feel like plugging in the numbers for me? Well, just thought I'd ask.

I'm enjoying reading SHAPE magazine. I bought a second issue and found it helpful. I read through the first several pages while I got my nails done yesterday. I keep my nails real short (for fake nails). They look really natural. They are french tip with a light coat of polish. At the SHAPE web site they have a calorie counter log thing, but I decided I didn't want to do that. At least not yet, but maybe I will soon.

I'm getting tired of phase one of Maker's Diet, but only 6 days left and then I will go into phase two, when I think that I can eat things like Barley. I'll have to read about it soon. If by the end of Maker's Diet, the 8 week program that I am on, if I am 150 pounds, I will be happy. Then I'll figure how to get off the final five. Who cares if it takes till Fall? (Well, hopefully not that long - but the trick is to keep it off and not let the pound creep back when I think that I can get away with certain things.)

I'll also have to buy more vitamins. I cut back on all of those pills. That is a lot of money to swallow. I have vitamins at home that I want to use up also. I am going to buy some more though, and try to stick to them a bit, just not maybe three times a day perhaps. I forget about it and so what?

I'm feeling a little less compulsive about exercising today, but I ought not. If I do push-ups in AM and PM and do these abd crunch/bicycle twist things in AM and PM and go for a walk from 5:30 to 5:55 when I have some time. That should allow me to pass for the day. Lord help me.

You know, I am so dependent upon the Lord to even want to do these things. I am so glad that a few of those extra pounds came on that built up over the months. Getting down another ten may reasonably be concluded is impossible in and of myself. I give it to You Lord. Amen.