Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Kick the Ice or Pick It Up?
Had what I would call a dumb epiphone. I was getting ice out of the ice maker the other day. As often happens, a piece of ice made a break for freedom. now here was the whoa moment. I bent down and picked it up I mediately. Historically, I would have taken a second to debate "pick it up or kick it under the refrigerator?" On this day, I realized I had become a "pick it up" guy!! I like that guy!
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Exorcising A Buffet Demon
Oh that heaven we know as a buffet bar! Remember all those days of just getting giddy when you pulled into your favorite buffet (for me it was chinese buffets and pizza buffets) cause you knew it was fixin' to be ON!! I don't have to cook it, I don't have to pick one thing only, and they just keep bringing out your favorite dishes!! Aaaaahh.
I have recently been trying to get a handle on my eating by just being aware of the dangers ahead of time, and most importantly, praying that Jesus remind me He is by my side to push me out of the way of danger zones! So about three weeks ago, I told my daughter to choose where she wanted to eat and as always she chose our favorite local chinese restaurant, Vincents. I am the guy who never actually piles my food up on a plate, because of all things, I don't like my things to touch on my plate. Figure that one out. So my plates never have a lot of food on them. I just used to get 4-5 plates. I am proud to announce that on that day, I got one. Flash forward to yesterday. My buddy Jeff whom I have been running with lately, pops his head in my office and says come to lunch with me. I said sure. We wind up at the 2nd best local pizza buffet. Know what I did? I had a plate with a salad and then a plate with 2 slices of pepperoni pizza (smaller slices at that). I walked out from a potentially dangerous situation with my head held high and my heart thankful. I never really felt any urge yesterday to throw caution to the wind and just get after that buffet. That old familiar tug just wasn't there. And I even had a good rationalization available to me. We were going on a run in a couple of hours, I could have just called it carb loading.
I am thinking my buffet demon is exorcised. I know my snack demon is up against the ropes too. I am consistently eating fruit and carrots with hummus as my snack now. And sometimes not even that. Slowly but surely, I seem to be transforming rather than modifying.
I have recently been trying to get a handle on my eating by just being aware of the dangers ahead of time, and most importantly, praying that Jesus remind me He is by my side to push me out of the way of danger zones! So about three weeks ago, I told my daughter to choose where she wanted to eat and as always she chose our favorite local chinese restaurant, Vincents. I am the guy who never actually piles my food up on a plate, because of all things, I don't like my things to touch on my plate. Figure that one out. So my plates never have a lot of food on them. I just used to get 4-5 plates. I am proud to announce that on that day, I got one. Flash forward to yesterday. My buddy Jeff whom I have been running with lately, pops his head in my office and says come to lunch with me. I said sure. We wind up at the 2nd best local pizza buffet. Know what I did? I had a plate with a salad and then a plate with 2 slices of pepperoni pizza (smaller slices at that). I walked out from a potentially dangerous situation with my head held high and my heart thankful. I never really felt any urge yesterday to throw caution to the wind and just get after that buffet. That old familiar tug just wasn't there. And I even had a good rationalization available to me. We were going on a run in a couple of hours, I could have just called it carb loading.
I am thinking my buffet demon is exorcised. I know my snack demon is up against the ropes too. I am consistently eating fruit and carrots with hummus as my snack now. And sometimes not even that. Slowly but surely, I seem to be transforming rather than modifying.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Sooooo Close!!
I been saying soooooo close here lately. I tried on my goal shirt this past Friday. Soooooo close to fitting like I want it to. I made it a goal to get my running intervals to a 5 mph average. I am averaging 12:30 a mile on the run intervals, so I am sooooo close. I vowed to be a smart eater all three days of our Texas trip. I had too much shrimp on Saturday night. I was sooooo close.
The best part is, I was also soooooo far away. Soooo far away from what all of that would have looked like 6 months ago. I didn't even have a real goal regarding getting into smaller clothes. I wasn't running but maybe once or twice a month. And I wasn't putting any REAL effort into curbing my bad eating habits. All of those were on my mind, but none of them were in my life! So long story short, being so close was not a loss, but a major major win!!
Far too often, I think that we set out with goals, and if we don't meet them exactly, we only focus on the fact that we didn't get to the finish line like we wanted to. But in reality, if you shot for 5 pounds lost in a month, but only lost 3, so frikkin' what? You lost 3 pounds dude/dudette! It is 3 pounds less than you weighed last month! It is progress. Learn to celebrate, not deflate!!
I am now resetting my goals to the exact same thing, just giving myself two weeks to get them accomplished. And if in two weeks, I am still a little off on the shirt, as long as it is a bit looser than it was Friday, sweet! If I am averaging 12:15 a mile on run intervals, awesome. I moved forward and will be soooooo close to the end goal.
The best part is, I was also soooooo far away. Soooo far away from what all of that would have looked like 6 months ago. I didn't even have a real goal regarding getting into smaller clothes. I wasn't running but maybe once or twice a month. And I wasn't putting any REAL effort into curbing my bad eating habits. All of those were on my mind, but none of them were in my life! So long story short, being so close was not a loss, but a major major win!!
Far too often, I think that we set out with goals, and if we don't meet them exactly, we only focus on the fact that we didn't get to the finish line like we wanted to. But in reality, if you shot for 5 pounds lost in a month, but only lost 3, so frikkin' what? You lost 3 pounds dude/dudette! It is 3 pounds less than you weighed last month! It is progress. Learn to celebrate, not deflate!!
I am now resetting my goals to the exact same thing, just giving myself two weeks to get them accomplished. And if in two weeks, I am still a little off on the shirt, as long as it is a bit looser than it was Friday, sweet! If I am averaging 12:15 a mile on run intervals, awesome. I moved forward and will be soooooo close to the end goal.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Today has been a day of reflection so far. The following are things that have stood out:
1. The Good= I noticed it myself, but it was nice for my wife to say that my favorite red shirt was looser on me this morning! Plus, and this is exciting, I was FORCED to go ahead and tighten my belt one more notch this morning. I had been ABLE to get it one tighter but today I HAD to make it one tighter!
2. The Bad= I am getting thinner in my face, thinner in my arms and thinner in my waist. The the reality is I wish I could have kept the size in those for more loss in my midsection! It goes on first there, and it comes off first there!! aaaaaargh!
3. The Ugly= The run I took with a friend this morning was ugly. I struggled for the entire second 15 minutes. But the upside was that was the fastest pace I had run in a looooong time, and i survived!!
Honorable mention is the fact that my wife has been cooking soooo much healthier the past month or more! Plus I am taking metformin to help get my blood sugar down. I see good things in my future! And Sean Anderson, I think I deserve them! How is that for progress? haha.
1. The Good= I noticed it myself, but it was nice for my wife to say that my favorite red shirt was looser on me this morning! Plus, and this is exciting, I was FORCED to go ahead and tighten my belt one more notch this morning. I had been ABLE to get it one tighter but today I HAD to make it one tighter!
2. The Bad= I am getting thinner in my face, thinner in my arms and thinner in my waist. The the reality is I wish I could have kept the size in those for more loss in my midsection! It goes on first there, and it comes off first there!! aaaaaargh!
3. The Ugly= The run I took with a friend this morning was ugly. I struggled for the entire second 15 minutes. But the upside was that was the fastest pace I had run in a looooong time, and i survived!!
Honorable mention is the fact that my wife has been cooking soooo much healthier the past month or more! Plus I am taking metformin to help get my blood sugar down. I see good things in my future! And Sean Anderson, I think I deserve them! How is that for progress? haha.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Despite Being Aware......
Isn't if funny how you can know the solution to a problem, and still not employ the solution? I have been a complete grump butt the last 3 days. Been feeling depressed, overwhelmed, anxious.... whatever you name it. Part of the problem was I haven't been running. Now lets be clear. I could have been, but I used the deluge of rain we have been getting as an excuse to not run. I also got knocked off my routine on day 1 of those days by having to go to a birthday party for my aunt rather than meeting with my Run for God group that afternoon. But in reality, if I had prioritized it, I could have made the run that evening.
So today, I get back to work and I go at lunch in get day 1 of week 2 of the Run For God Couch to 5k completed. I FEEL LIKE A MILLION BUCKS!! All it took was one good run! all my blah passed away and I feel like I could conquer the world!!
BE SMARTER SHANE!! GO FOR THE RUN, KEEP THE GOOD ATTITUDE!
So today, I get back to work and I go at lunch in get day 1 of week 2 of the Run For God Couch to 5k completed. I FEEL LIKE A MILLION BUCKS!! All it took was one good run! all my blah passed away and I feel like I could conquer the world!!
BE SMARTER SHANE!! GO FOR THE RUN, KEEP THE GOOD ATTITUDE!
Monday, October 6, 2014
Modification vs. Transformation
Full Disclosure: I am stealing this premise directly from a sermon at church from a couple weeks ago.
Transformation. Modification. They sound like the same thing, right? Turns out, they are not. Especially when you are on the path we are.
When you modify something, you make a change, but it is more of an external change. Like I can modify my car to look like a tank on the outside. However, at its very core, it is still a car. It don't have the horsepower of a tank, it doesn't have the firepower of a tank. It just appears to be a tank to the naked eye.
When you transform something, you change its essence. A caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. You have a whole new thing once the transformation process is complete. The thing transformed is changed at its very essence.
So what you say? I think I have spent far too much time trying to modify my behavior, rather than transforming me! I am walking and lifting weights and tracking calories and making goals. But in my mind, I am not enjoying whatever results I may be getting. Because I feel like I am being deprived of something I love. I love food. I love gooey, yummy, greasy, fat filled, sugar laden food. So while I am making changes in my life, they are aesthetic only, and will remain that way until I can TRANSFORM myself into a person who sees food as fuel only, not as a filler for emotional hurts or hang ups, or as salve for the wounded soul. I have to transform my mind and my heart to a healthy attitude towards food!
Romans 12:1- offer your body as a living sacrifice to God. I can't help but think of the fact that the Holy Spirit lives within me, and with each poor food choice I make, I am dumping trash in God's Temple. And that makes me sad. On to transforming myself for the Glory of my God, my Savior, and my Strength!!
Transformation. Modification. They sound like the same thing, right? Turns out, they are not. Especially when you are on the path we are.
When you modify something, you make a change, but it is more of an external change. Like I can modify my car to look like a tank on the outside. However, at its very core, it is still a car. It don't have the horsepower of a tank, it doesn't have the firepower of a tank. It just appears to be a tank to the naked eye.
When you transform something, you change its essence. A caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. You have a whole new thing once the transformation process is complete. The thing transformed is changed at its very essence.
So what you say? I think I have spent far too much time trying to modify my behavior, rather than transforming me! I am walking and lifting weights and tracking calories and making goals. But in my mind, I am not enjoying whatever results I may be getting. Because I feel like I am being deprived of something I love. I love food. I love gooey, yummy, greasy, fat filled, sugar laden food. So while I am making changes in my life, they are aesthetic only, and will remain that way until I can TRANSFORM myself into a person who sees food as fuel only, not as a filler for emotional hurts or hang ups, or as salve for the wounded soul. I have to transform my mind and my heart to a healthy attitude towards food!
Romans 12:1- offer your body as a living sacrifice to God. I can't help but think of the fact that the Holy Spirit lives within me, and with each poor food choice I make, I am dumping trash in God's Temple. And that makes me sad. On to transforming myself for the Glory of my God, my Savior, and my Strength!!
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