Monday - November 17, 2008

Today starts the carb deplete cycle for myself and my "Keepin On" friends at Lowcarb Friends. I am running late.

Ooops, just got an email. No workout today. I will be going into work early. Tonight I will do a workout video. I will! :)

Word of the day:
Memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, religious
Gospel
Lk 18:35-43

As Jesus approached Jericho
a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging,
and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening.
They told him,
“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”
The people walking in front rebuked him,
telling him to be silent,
but he kept calling out all the more,
“Son of David, have pity on me!”
Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him;
and when he came near, Jesus asked him,
“What do you want me to do for you?”
He replied, “Lord, please let me see.”
Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.”
He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.
When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.

Thoughts from the cornfield:
Again we are reminded of the importance of persistence in prayer. When Jesus healed, the physical healing was always a manifestation of the spiritual healing taking place. In this case, the eyes Bartimeus (Mark 10:46-52) are opened, but it is the eyes of the soul that cause him to follow Jesus and give praise to God. But we need to remember that while God always answers prayer, he doesn't always do it the way we would have him do it. Sometimes spiritual conversion takes place without a physical healing - and this too is a means of giving glory to God. If you have never heard of Gianna Jessen, I urge you to go to Youtube and listen to some of what she has to say about the "gift of cerebral palsy" that the Lord gave her. The video below shows a bit of her story. It is an amazing testimony to the power of forgiveness and the wonder of how God can take even the most hopeless situations and use them for his glory. What a blessing he gave us in Gianna.



God bless our troops!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008 - Cycle 1 - day 7

Today is the last day of Cycle 1. It seems to be doing what it's supposed to do since I am down 8.2 pounds since I began cycle 1. I did some more reading in the book last night and apparently I have not been doing cycle one as Wendy wrote it. Farther on in the book I found the meal plans. It would have been nice if those pages had been up front where the plan was outlined. But I think that staying under 20 carbs was the most important factor in depleting glycogen and I did that so I am going to move on to cycle 2 tomorrow. It's a little more complicated so I am just going to take it one day at a time. I am finding myself having arguments with Mary Ann each evening. She shows up about 7 o'clock and starts her stuff. I have been hanging tough and each day when I see the scale drop - and more importantly, when I feel so great - it makes it easier to ignore her.
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(Kelli, I am going to talk about Biggest Loser so you may want to skip this part until you see the tape.)

So Jerry went home last night. I was amazed to find tears rolling down my cheeks as he and Coleen discussed which of them should leave. Each selflessly thought the other should stay. I was pulling for Coleen to stay because Jerry looked so sick that I didn't figure he would last more than another week anyway, plus his pulled hamstring would be an impediment. I figure that with Jerry gone, Coleen would dig in that much harder. It was wonderful to see him in the "see the contestants as they are today" segment. He looked so much healthier. I was really afraid that he was going to drop dead during the challenge. I'm not finding myself as excited about this season. I find myself missing Ali and Betty-sue, Jackie and Dan, and even Mark and Jay. That was such a charismatic grouping of contestants.
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Life is ramping up on me. I have a rehearsal tonight, a staff meeting tomorrow morning followed a funeral, work at school, a wake service tomorrow night - which means the girls are going to have to load up the craft show fixtures without me, then I have Mass on Friday morning followed by another funeral, work at school, and setup for the craft show Friday night. Saturday is the craft show which I will have to leave early to do a wedding followed by Mass. Then I get a break - hopefully.

Type: Treadmill and weights
Route: Exercise room
Time: 31 minutes
Average heart rate: 121
Maximum heart rate: 148
Down 7.2 from last Wednesday (whoo hoo!)

Word of the day:
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church
Gospel
Lk 9:57-62
As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.” And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home.” Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”

Thoughts from the cornfield:
Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. Put your money where your mouth is.
The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. It's all about priorities.

God bless our troops!

Thursday, September 25, 2008 - Week 1 - Day 1

The sun is burning off the early morning fog and it looks like it is going to be a great day. I finished our stocking orders from Sunday. They still need to be steamed and packaged. Then have 2 more to do from an order yesterday, The Ebay ad has produced zip, zilch, nada, but then I usually see nothing from that until mid October. I won't bother to list there again until then.

I read some more of Wendy Chant's book. I think I am going try it. It looks like the only bad week I will have is the first one. I may not make it through the first week if my sugar tanks, but I will take it one meal at a time. Last night was grocery night so I am all set for the week. So, today is the first day of the first week. I have everything planned out for today. According to the thread on lowcarb friends, day 3 is murder. Day 3 will be Saturday. If I'm going to have a bad day, Saturday would be the best time for it - I don't see a lot of people on Saturday. We shall see.

I am testing some of our simmer scents - today's is Hot Apple Pie. It's very nice, but I think my favorite so far is Orange Clove. I can't seem to find the simmer crocks that used to be around - the little ones made by Rival. All I can find are the Little Dippers, and you have to buy a whole roaster to get that.

Gotta get moving, I'm late for my walk!

My stats for today:
Type: Outside
Route: Deadend and back
Time: 31 minutes
Average heart rate: 109
Maximum heart rate: 127
Up .8 from last Thursday:

The trees are beginning to turn. My route takes me between two farm fields. As I headed east, to my left was a small tree that has turned a brilliant orange.
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The first week on Wendy Chant's program is the Carb-Deplete cycle. Soooo, for breakfast I had a half cup of cottage cheese and a cup of coffee with cream and DaVinci sugar free syrup. I've packed my required cup of broccoli which I will top with a slice of cheese. I have also packed tuna and mayo. With that I am taking a package of sliced turkey just in case I need it. Tonight I will have Wendy's Egg Cheeseburger. The idea is to stay under 20 grams of carbs per day for the week in order to deplete the glycogen stores. This will convert the body from burning glucose to burning fat. None of this is new to me, but this isn't exactly like Atkins induction. Fats are limited a bit more. By day 3 the glycogen stores should be depleted and fat should be the source of energy. If one is using ketostix, it is at this point that they should start turning purple.

Word of the day:
Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel
Lk 9:7-9
Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening,
and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying,
“John has been raised from the dead”;
others were saying, “Elijah has appeared”;
still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.”
But Herod said, “John I beheaded.
Who then is this about whom I hear such things?”
And he kept trying to see him.

Thoughts from the cornfield:
It's ironic that though Jesus repeatedly cautioned people not to tell anyone of his works, the word spread mighty quickly. It's all the more amazing when you consider that the news media in Jesus' time was limited to word of mouth. It's also interesting that when people were trying to figure out who Jesus was, the thought that he might be the Messiah never entered their heads. I wonder what it would be like today with our present media - that sure would be something to see. In this day and age when people are seeing the face of Jesus in everything from a plate of spaghetti to graffitti on a bridge - I wonder if we would be any more likely to recognize him.


God bless the troops!