So much to catch up on - ONWARD towards the good wife's body and predisposition!

Here's the "bottom" line - no pun intended, but maybe it should have been (intended, that is).

Okay - exhale, deep breath, get set, go.

Food was good on the cruise. How does one NOT order the lobster and shrimp plate along with the prime rib and not have the desserts too? Warm chocolate cake with the gooey chocolate center with a side of vanilla ice cream? "No, thank you?" Pleeeaaazzzzeeeee! Hey, I skipped the rolls and butter every single night and one night I didn't even order an entre (how do you spell that stupid, useless word?). (Where does the period go if the question is inside of the paratheses?)

Gained 8 pounds on the cruise! Exercised like mad. Some of the weight gain HAD to be muscle weight gain. In fact, I had a repeat of the test from the Polar thing and it said that my fat percentage went down like 1.4% over the course of 3 days. I kept thinking about Kimber's 5 hours per day work-outs and the concept of the "fun" "exercise vacation!" However, the guy punched in the same weight amount and didn't re-weigh me, so maybe that messed up the results?

Before I left for the cruise, I had my measurements taken at the LA weightloss place, and while I lost about 1.2 pounds, or some silly amount over that past 4 weeks, I had absolutely no change in my measurements, which wasn't much of a surprise, since I had been exercising significantly less. I was interested in learning what happened with the measurements.

Let's see...

When I got back, I switched my eating to what LA Weightloss calls "Fast Forward" where you eat only meat, raw vegies and juice, to trigger your metabolism and take some rapid weight off. The "Maker's Diet" talks about this too, and I think he refers to it as detoxing. The first couple of days back, when I was "detoxing" I felt almost sick, and lethargic. Then, yesterday, I began to feel better, then today, a lot better. I think I was literally detoxing a lot of crap out of my system from all the food I ate (gross).

I got back to my yoga/pilate routine and went to a spin class this week and feeling better physically - back to where I was, I think, before I took the time off from exercising a few weeks back. There is something good to be said for routine. It is good to be home, although the trip was great.

Yesterday I started the regular LA Weightloss diet (once again) and I am continuing to work towards that elusive goal of 145 pounds and body beautifully sculpted. Well, is it okay to dream? Or better yet, as Paul says, "I buffet my body and make it my slave," and "Having sufferred in the body you are freed from sin, no longer living for your lusts but for God (my paraphrase)." Hey what is the rest of the world doing with the five hours per week that it takes to stay in shape? It is the mental focus that needs to be so empowered to make it happen that it has to come from the throne of God Himself. As Paul said, that physical endurance/training is benefital for a time but godliness is benefital for eternity. Therefore, physical endurance/training is benefital for this time and when done in Christ's power, it is freeing us from the temporal.

I cancelled my appointment for LA Weightloss for today beacuse I was SO embarrassed, and I didn't want to have to pay extra dollars since I was so far behind on achieving my "goal weight." It is risky skipping a week's appointment (counting it as more vacation time) but hopefully I can follow my diet and exercise, with the Lord's help, successfully this week and can go back next Thursday on track once again, and go from there, onward, onward, towards that elusive goal...

Today my scale showed 149.5. That is a lot better, so some of the weight is starting to fall off, like I hoped that it would. The difference between my scale in the AM straight outta bed compared to my weight at LA Weightloss (the scale that counts) in my typical dehydrated state wearing the lightest clothes I find handy in my closet, is about 4 pounds. Therefore, my LA Weightloss weight is about 153.5. It was 148.8 when I left for the cruise. I wonder if I could be down to 150 by next week? How can someone actually gain 8 pounds in a week and take 3 months to lose 8 pounds? OBESITY is my natural destiny. But thanks be to God...

Oh, I found those size four pants and wore them yesterday. They still fit, but I actually CAN SEE where the weight that I gained actually went. You'd think that I really binged. I didn't think that I did. I did overeat at times, but I could binge so much more effectively if I wanted...I was ...trying to stay on a proper eating schedule...sort-of. I think I gave up about mid way through the trip, but, like I said, not completely. I still had one hand at the side of the pool. One foot in the water and one foot out. Oh well. ONWARD! I love goals. What about these four categories with regards to "the body": 1) Prioritize, 2) Set Goals, 3) Write a Mission Statement, 4) Ask myself, "Where do I see me in 5 years?"--(Does "more wrinkled" count?)

Lastly, I am wondering if I had a hot flash this morning. I think that I had one about three months ago. Oh, the delights of being 44, and the veins popping in my hands (and even my feet) look like my mother's. Come on girls (girls? girls? that's what old ladies call each other) it's hard getting old! And Paul said in I Peter 3 not to consider the outer beauty more than inner beauty. And Job's girls were the fairest of them all...And Ester had like a year of beauty treatments....Well, in running the race, let us run hardest toward and after Christ Himself, but meanwhile, let us be good stewards, in God's strength and perspective for the gifts and body that the Lord has given us, and such care is a godly gift for our husbands. Which wife would you want to live with and introduce as your wife, if you were a guy? Sure, he loves us either way, but which body shows our respect for our husband? "Likewise wives should be sure that they respect their husbands..." God bless!