Wellness Wednesday #10

Hello Everyone! Did you have a nice Christmas? Ours was busy but fun and this year I think I enjoyed most our church services. For me, I always have felt inside that Christmas ends and begins the year. Today I feel ready for 2008 and facing challenges.

Facing Challenges...the hard part first. I considered foregoing it this week, because afterall, I am not the only one who gained weight over the holidays. Then I realized that it would not be honest and foregoing now could lead to hiding it in the future. So, here goes. Weigh In: 321# That is up 2#. I would not be human if I was not disappointed, but I made the decision to not beat myself up over it. I was not dieting. I ate cookies, fudge, mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, fruit salad with real whipping cream and way too many Hershey's kisses. In short I ate too much, too much junk and I learned a lot. Even though I gained a little weight, I feel like I learned some things about my eating and patterns that I did not understand or realize before and therefore this is still about moving forward. So, what did I learn:

1. Eating too much sugar gives me a sore throat.

2. Eating too much chocolate increases mucous production for me.

3. Eating too much sugary foods kicks in my anorexic symptoms. I eat too much garbage and then I do not want to eat period and the thought of cooking turns me off, until I am nearly fainting from lack of nutrition. This was a major breakthrough as I go through these periods from time to time and I never had an awareness of what brought them on!

4. Some of the stuff doesn't even taste good and I just eat it out of habit because my brain thinks it will. I'd be lying if I said some of it doesn't taste good but I think in the future I will choose to eat the things that really do taste good if I want to splurge and leave the things that just taste like chemical experiments, alone.

5. Since eating a lot more white sugar and white flour, as well as less fresh fruits and veggies, I have increased arthritic pain in my hip and my finger joints are swollen. Before I started my wellness journey I was considering going to the doctor to rule out rheumatoic arthritis as my finger joints were so swollen and painful. It took me an hour every morning to warm up and get things moving. After eating better it just went away. Now after this last week or two of bad eating, I have swollen finger joints again. As I begin to work on getting the yuck out of my diet again, it will be interesting to see what happens.

6. In spite of minor setbacks, I feel this is my time and place to make a change and to lose weight. I have been trying the majority of my life, but right now I feel strengthened by God and like all the pieces have come together. He has been working on my heart and mind and I have all the tools I need to do my part. I feel 2008 will be a year of great change. My hubby married me the way I am (we celebrate 9 years tomorrow), well, I was about 20# lighter than right now, but I also had 3 kids in 17.5 months! LOL I know that he accepts me for who I am, not what I am, but I would love to give him less of me! :o) We are planning a trip to Juneau, Alaska this summer to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary and my goal is to weigh much less and be more fit! God has been supplying our needs since we went out on a limb to purchase the Vita-Mix. Two lovely friends gave us a check to help and I was able to sell some of my photography to defray the cost. We were also given a grocery gift card. I feel this confirms the decision and risk we took and we have continued to use it every day!

7. By journaling here and keeping it honest with you, it helps me to keep on track and I hope it will help at least one other person in this same journey. I also feel that I need to incorporated more Scripture in my journey. If I keep His precious word in my mind and heart, then the words of the enemy trying to tear me down, will be faint and in the distant!

As we begin a new year, I would like to commit to praying for each of you that leaves comments on my wellness wednesday posts or on the posts at my journey to wholeness blog (link at upper right). Not everyone is trying to lose weight, some just want to be healthier. If you leave comments I will pray for you. God Bless you on your journey! Thank you for all the encouragement you have given me!