It dawned on me that some may think that I'm a little crazy going on this weight loss program. Yes, drinking most of my meals for a while and being on a very low calorie diet is a little crazy. Many people will tell me (whether lying or being truthful) that I'm perfect the way I am and that I'm beautiful at the weight that I am.
The thing is that I know that I'm beautiful just the way I am. I have a fantastic boyfriend who reminds me of that every day, even if he doesn't say that out loud. However, I am not considered to be at a healthy weight. I may be healthy in terms of the fact that fortunately I have no major diseases or issues going on much like I did when I weight significantly less. However, most people who have ever seen my family's medical history would understand why I have to get this weight off! Just to name a few...diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and cancer. Here are some statistics: 42 millions of women have heart disease, 25.8 people have diabetes, and 75 million are considered obese (based on their BMI). Obesity is a "contributing factor" to the other two, along with stroke, cancer, and kidney disease. I fit into one of these categories already (you can guess which one). I don't want to be in the other two!
So...that's why I'm losing weight. Not all of it is vanity, while a lot of my reasons may include that. I need to be healthy. So, I hope that this clears up a little bit as to why I have my resolution and I hope I have everyone's support because this is going to be a long and probably difficult road ahead. :)
Wedding Countdown
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Friday, January 11, 2013
Resolution Update
Finally, I can post an update. :) Everyone may think that I'm a little silly for waiting for this one appointment just to blog, but I'm just really excited about this particular resolution. Anyway, here's a resolution check to see how my first several days of the new year has been.
1.) Start the Good Thoughts Jar.I started the jar! I do have a habit of not putting the piece of paper in the jar, but I do write them down. I even decorated my jar. :) I just have to figure out where to put it because currently I have it sitting as a centerpiece on the coffee table (not intentionally!). Any thoughts?
2.) Read the entire Bible. This has been fairly easy getting started. Like I said in my original post, I'm using the YouVersion app so I can read daily on my phone. I typically do this before going to bed. It has created several interesting conversations between Ryan and I (he knows a lot more about the Bible stories than I do). I have learned that I have this very specific image of God. Some say that many people put "God in a box" and that's exactly what I've done. But I'm learning a lot and enjoying creating this deeper relationship with Him. Anyway, I definitely think I'll be keeping this resolution...just don't ask me for any family trees...I like flow charts but that's too many branches.
3.) Lose weight...a lot of weight. This is the resolution that I've been waiting to tell everyone! :) I started a new weight loss management program called Resolve. Anyway, I had my screening appointment this morning, which basically means that I got several baseline measurements and had my program assigned to me. I won't go into all of the details, but I will have weekly appointments so I can stay on track. If you want to keep up with how much I've lost, I have a little widget to the right --> just below the "Blog Archive". :) Wish me luck.
4.) Be more creative. Hmm. I haven't really started too much on this particular resolution. We'll get back to that later. However, Justin did bring up recently that him and I need to host a Pinterest party. Let's see when that'll actually happen. ;)
5.) Cook one new recipe a month. I'm probably going to start this sometime this weekend. Part of the weight loss program I'm on has meal replacements. They gave me a few recipes to make them a little more exciting. I'll definitely try those!
6.) Save some money. Eh...nope. Not this month. I didn't expect that I would. However, I'm hoping and praying for some good news here within the next few months that will make this a little easier.
7.) Drink more water. :) You should be happy to know that I'm on my third water bottle (like a travel water bottle, not one of those bottles of water from a case) as I'm typing. I'll probably have at least one more before I go to bed. :) Mom will be happy. I haven't done my project yet to help me with this resolution. Maybe I can do that too this weekend to help with my number 4 resolution.
8.) Be more appreciative. This what is kind interesting to update. I don't really think that I have been super appreciative this past week and that's just being honest. Work has been a little stressful, so I haven't exactly been the super nicest person. :/ I guess I have a little bit of work to do.
9.) Take more photos, and not just photos of my dog, Butch. I'm off to a good start on this one. I did take several pictures last weekend at our Phi Sigma Pi SAAC event. Hopefully I'll get a little better at this one. I should have done something similar to Justin where he takes a picture every day and posts to Facebook. Maybe next year I'll do a daily photo post....hmmm...someone remind me!
10.) Blog once at least once a ...month. Well I think that I have done super well already. This will be post number three for me this month. The test will be later on in the year.
Anyway, that's all that I really have right now. Just keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I transition into a newer, healthier lifestyle. The first several weeks will probably be the most challenging. I'm super stoked though. :)
1.) Start the Good Thoughts Jar.I started the jar! I do have a habit of not putting the piece of paper in the jar, but I do write them down. I even decorated my jar. :) I just have to figure out where to put it because currently I have it sitting as a centerpiece on the coffee table (not intentionally!). Any thoughts?
2.) Read the entire Bible. This has been fairly easy getting started. Like I said in my original post, I'm using the YouVersion app so I can read daily on my phone. I typically do this before going to bed. It has created several interesting conversations between Ryan and I (he knows a lot more about the Bible stories than I do). I have learned that I have this very specific image of God. Some say that many people put "God in a box" and that's exactly what I've done. But I'm learning a lot and enjoying creating this deeper relationship with Him. Anyway, I definitely think I'll be keeping this resolution...just don't ask me for any family trees...I like flow charts but that's too many branches.
3.) Lose weight...a lot of weight. This is the resolution that I've been waiting to tell everyone! :) I started a new weight loss management program called Resolve. Anyway, I had my screening appointment this morning, which basically means that I got several baseline measurements and had my program assigned to me. I won't go into all of the details, but I will have weekly appointments so I can stay on track. If you want to keep up with how much I've lost, I have a little widget to the right --> just below the "Blog Archive". :) Wish me luck.
4.) Be more creative. Hmm. I haven't really started too much on this particular resolution. We'll get back to that later. However, Justin did bring up recently that him and I need to host a Pinterest party. Let's see when that'll actually happen. ;)
5.) Cook one new recipe a month. I'm probably going to start this sometime this weekend. Part of the weight loss program I'm on has meal replacements. They gave me a few recipes to make them a little more exciting. I'll definitely try those!
6.) Save some money. Eh...nope. Not this month. I didn't expect that I would. However, I'm hoping and praying for some good news here within the next few months that will make this a little easier.
7.) Drink more water. :) You should be happy to know that I'm on my third water bottle (like a travel water bottle, not one of those bottles of water from a case) as I'm typing. I'll probably have at least one more before I go to bed. :) Mom will be happy. I haven't done my project yet to help me with this resolution. Maybe I can do that too this weekend to help with my number 4 resolution.
8.) Be more appreciative. This what is kind interesting to update. I don't really think that I have been super appreciative this past week and that's just being honest. Work has been a little stressful, so I haven't exactly been the super nicest person. :/ I guess I have a little bit of work to do.
9.) Take more photos, and not just photos of my dog, Butch. I'm off to a good start on this one. I did take several pictures last weekend at our Phi Sigma Pi SAAC event. Hopefully I'll get a little better at this one. I should have done something similar to Justin where he takes a picture every day and posts to Facebook. Maybe next year I'll do a daily photo post....hmmm...someone remind me!
10.) Blog once at least once a ...month. Well I think that I have done super well already. This will be post number three for me this month. The test will be later on in the year.
Anyway, that's all that I really have right now. Just keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I transition into a newer, healthier lifestyle. The first several weeks will probably be the most challenging. I'm super stoked though. :)
Monday, January 7, 2013
Just Hello
I've wanted to write a post for a couple of days now, but I don't really want to do a resolution check, simply because I'm waiting for a particular day...really a particular appointment this week to take place before I update. Anyway, I'm super excited because I see that there are a few people who's resolutions included blogging! I love reading other people's blogs. You get to know a lot about people just by the way they write. Anyway, if you are interested, there are two personal blogs that I've added (look under "Awesome Blogs" to the right) and one blog that I found on Pinterest.
I guess one thing that I can write about is that I have found that this may be a year of unexpected pleasantries and surprises. For example, yesterday, I went to church with Ryan, Kristina, and fraternity Brother, Joanne. As many of you may know, I'm pretty close with several of my Brothers from Phi Sigma Pi. However, I never really thought of being able to share in worship with one of those Brothers. Why? I'm not sure. I just never thought of it that way. However, it is refreshing to know that there are other Brothers who are on a spiritual journey and are willing to continue to grow in Christ with me. This may surprise many of those reading this post as I am not as open about my spirituality as some, simply because I don't want to offend anyone and, more honestly, I don't want to appear as one of those "high and mighty Christians". I guess we will see what the future holds. Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to blog a little bit more about this nice, unexpected experience.
I feel like this year may hold some more surprises this year. Needless to say, I'm extremely excited about this year. I'm looking forward to several adventures, including graduating with my master's degree, traveling again to the Philippines, and whatever else has in store. Well...my brain is starting to lose it's creative will to continue this blog post...so now...I say goodnight. :)
P.S. If you have a blog that I haven't found yet, please let me know! I'll add it to my page. :)
I guess one thing that I can write about is that I have found that this may be a year of unexpected pleasantries and surprises. For example, yesterday, I went to church with Ryan, Kristina, and fraternity Brother, Joanne. As many of you may know, I'm pretty close with several of my Brothers from Phi Sigma Pi. However, I never really thought of being able to share in worship with one of those Brothers. Why? I'm not sure. I just never thought of it that way. However, it is refreshing to know that there are other Brothers who are on a spiritual journey and are willing to continue to grow in Christ with me. This may surprise many of those reading this post as I am not as open about my spirituality as some, simply because I don't want to offend anyone and, more honestly, I don't want to appear as one of those "high and mighty Christians". I guess we will see what the future holds. Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to blog a little bit more about this nice, unexpected experience.
I feel like this year may hold some more surprises this year. Needless to say, I'm extremely excited about this year. I'm looking forward to several adventures, including graduating with my master's degree, traveling again to the Philippines, and whatever else has in store. Well...my brain is starting to lose it's creative will to continue this blog post...so now...I say goodnight. :)
P.S. If you have a blog that I haven't found yet, please let me know! I'll add it to my page. :)
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
New Year's Resolutions
It just came to my mind that I forgot to mention something in my last post which is part of the reason I wasn't successful in one of my resolutions (the blogging every week one) other than I was incredibly busy with school...my computer went kaput! And by kaput...I mean it was too slow to do anything and I was on the verge of putting a bullet in it. Anyway, luckily, thanks to my wonderful parents, I have a new laptop that is super fast! Hopefully it will provide me a little more motivation to blog.
And back to the topic of this post: My new New Year's Resolutions. Like my previous resolutions, I will make ten. Also, I have added a couple of things that will make these a little bit more measurable and not so subjective like they were last year. Here we go:
1.) Start the Good Thoughts Jar. Because of the past several months, I have found out that I have a difficult time realizing and remembering the good moments in life. I actually read somewhere (how unscientific like of me not to remember the source) that said that people have to have four good things (thoughts or actions) happen to overcome the psychological affects of one bad thing (thought or action). So, one day will scrolling on Pinterest, I came across a pin that inspired this resolution. Christie told me that I need to get some pretty paper to write on. Anyway, my goal is fairly large...to write at least one thing to put in my jar every day. It may be a struggle, but I think I will be a better person because of it. Next New Year's Eve, I'll open the jar and read all of the good thoughts/memories that I have had for the year and then start over. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this resolution and then pin the original pin to my "Success" board.
2.) Read the entire Bible. There's a long back story behind this that I won't go into (if you want to here it sometime, let's do lunch after church or something). Anyway, I've never read the Bible in full. In fact, I don't really know most of the Bible stories or their meanings. Thanks to technology, there is an app, YouVersion, that has "reading plans" for various topics and even for the whole Bible. I'm going to do the OneYear reading plan. Wish me luck on this one. We all know how much I love to read!
3.) Lose weight...a lot of weight. Yep...this is one of my resolutions along with thousands of others out there. If you read my post entitled "Vunerability", you would know a little bit about the back story. Anyway, I'm going to a doctor to get a little bit of advice, extra accountability, and hopefully the get weight off in a healthy way. I'm really going to need some luck with this one considering most of the time I hang out with friends/Brothers food is involved.
4.) Be more creative. I've had this one before or something similar. However, I'm going to put a goal on this one that is measurable. I need to complete at least one creative project once a month. Also, I need to host (or co-host, cough::with Justin::cough) a Pinterest party. I already have a couple of projects in mind.
5.) Cook one new recipe a month. (Thanks, Christie for this one!) I guess I should include that I must cook this new recipe. As many of your know, I'm the baker and Ryan is typically the one who cooks at the house. So, with this resolution, maybe I will learn how to cook better and I can try some new recipes out. I recently started using this new app, Next Issue, so I have access to at least four food magazines. I should be able to get some inspiration from that, huh?
6.) Save some money. This one may be a little bit difficult for me, simply because I need to trim some of my expenses in order to do this. Recently, when I have reflected on a few things that I would like to do within the next five years, a lot of it depends on how much money I have saved in order to pay for those items (ex. buy a house, wedding expenses, etc.). So, I will probably work on this throughout the year, first I will need to make a list of what I want to save for and then actually set goals for those things. Maybe I'll update the blog with that list. :)
7.) Drink more water. I know that this probably ties in with my number 3 resolution, but Mom has always told me that I need to drink more water and less coffee or soda. I hate water, mainly because I always have to go pee when I drink enough water. Again, I found another pin (just look at the picture) that may help me with this one.
8.) Be more appreciative. I think that many people have (or should have) this as a resolution. I know that I'm not always the best at saying thank you or I appreciate what you do. I know that I am particularly worst at this to the people that I'm closest to. I will have to come up with some genuine ways to tell people that I'm appreciative of it.
9.) Take more photos, and not just photos of my dog, Butch. This is still one that I want to keep on my list from last year (and probably from the years before). I've noticed that I don't have a lot of updated photos of myself or friends. Like I said, most of the photos I have taken are of my dog. :/ Maybe I should download Instagram and maybe that will give me a little bit of inspiration. What do you think? Any thoughts? Also, I have maxed out my storage space on Picasa because of the mission trip a couple of years ago. I've done Shutterfly in the past, but I don't like the interface as much any more, plus it takes a while to upload pictures. Does anyone have any recommendations?
10.) Blog once at least once a ...month. Yea, I'm not going to commit myself to once a week again. That was super difficult in that I was always trying to come up with new blog post topics! Anyway, maybe with once a month, I'll have plenty to talk about regarding life. :) Also, within my blog posts, I want to have at least one link to something. I'm on the Internet all of the time and I typically find lots of interesting stuff. I might as well share them with my blog readers. I have a few so far in this post, so don't forget to click the underlined links!
So now I make the same call as I do every year around this time...anyone out there going to start a blog as their resolution? I would be happy to place you on my blogroll. Just let me know. If you need a little inspiration too, I would be happy to give you some ideas. :)
And back to the topic of this post: My new New Year's Resolutions. Like my previous resolutions, I will make ten. Also, I have added a couple of things that will make these a little bit more measurable and not so subjective like they were last year. Here we go:
1.) Start the Good Thoughts Jar. Because of the past several months, I have found out that I have a difficult time realizing and remembering the good moments in life. I actually read somewhere (how unscientific like of me not to remember the source) that said that people have to have four good things (thoughts or actions) happen to overcome the psychological affects of one bad thing (thought or action). So, one day will scrolling on Pinterest, I came across a pin that inspired this resolution. Christie told me that I need to get some pretty paper to write on. Anyway, my goal is fairly large...to write at least one thing to put in my jar every day. It may be a struggle, but I think I will be a better person because of it. Next New Year's Eve, I'll open the jar and read all of the good thoughts/memories that I have had for the year and then start over. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this resolution and then pin the original pin to my "Success" board.
2.) Read the entire Bible. There's a long back story behind this that I won't go into (if you want to here it sometime, let's do lunch after church or something). Anyway, I've never read the Bible in full. In fact, I don't really know most of the Bible stories or their meanings. Thanks to technology, there is an app, YouVersion, that has "reading plans" for various topics and even for the whole Bible. I'm going to do the OneYear reading plan. Wish me luck on this one. We all know how much I love to read!
3.) Lose weight...a lot of weight. Yep...this is one of my resolutions along with thousands of others out there. If you read my post entitled "Vunerability", you would know a little bit about the back story. Anyway, I'm going to a doctor to get a little bit of advice, extra accountability, and hopefully the get weight off in a healthy way. I'm really going to need some luck with this one considering most of the time I hang out with friends/Brothers food is involved.
4.) Be more creative. I've had this one before or something similar. However, I'm going to put a goal on this one that is measurable. I need to complete at least one creative project once a month. Also, I need to host (or co-host, cough::with Justin::cough) a Pinterest party. I already have a couple of projects in mind.
5.) Cook one new recipe a month. (Thanks, Christie for this one!) I guess I should include that I must cook this new recipe. As many of your know, I'm the baker and Ryan is typically the one who cooks at the house. So, with this resolution, maybe I will learn how to cook better and I can try some new recipes out. I recently started using this new app, Next Issue, so I have access to at least four food magazines. I should be able to get some inspiration from that, huh?
6.) Save some money. This one may be a little bit difficult for me, simply because I need to trim some of my expenses in order to do this. Recently, when I have reflected on a few things that I would like to do within the next five years, a lot of it depends on how much money I have saved in order to pay for those items (ex. buy a house, wedding expenses, etc.). So, I will probably work on this throughout the year, first I will need to make a list of what I want to save for and then actually set goals for those things. Maybe I'll update the blog with that list. :)
7.) Drink more water. I know that this probably ties in with my number 3 resolution, but Mom has always told me that I need to drink more water and less coffee or soda. I hate water, mainly because I always have to go pee when I drink enough water. Again, I found another pin (just look at the picture) that may help me with this one.
8.) Be more appreciative. I think that many people have (or should have) this as a resolution. I know that I'm not always the best at saying thank you or I appreciate what you do. I know that I am particularly worst at this to the people that I'm closest to. I will have to come up with some genuine ways to tell people that I'm appreciative of it.
9.) Take more photos, and not just photos of my dog, Butch. This is still one that I want to keep on my list from last year (and probably from the years before). I've noticed that I don't have a lot of updated photos of myself or friends. Like I said, most of the photos I have taken are of my dog. :/ Maybe I should download Instagram and maybe that will give me a little bit of inspiration. What do you think? Any thoughts? Also, I have maxed out my storage space on Picasa because of the mission trip a couple of years ago. I've done Shutterfly in the past, but I don't like the interface as much any more, plus it takes a while to upload pictures. Does anyone have any recommendations?
10.) Blog once at least once a ...month. Yea, I'm not going to commit myself to once a week again. That was super difficult in that I was always trying to come up with new blog post topics! Anyway, maybe with once a month, I'll have plenty to talk about regarding life. :) Also, within my blog posts, I want to have at least one link to something. I'm on the Internet all of the time and I typically find lots of interesting stuff. I might as well share them with my blog readers. I have a few so far in this post, so don't forget to click the underlined links!
So now I make the same call as I do every year around this time...anyone out there going to start a blog as their resolution? I would be happy to place you on my blogroll. Just let me know. If you need a little inspiration too, I would be happy to give you some ideas. :)
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