Saturday, February 19, 2011

The first few days - Journal

Okay, I am sure I am not going to be the best about blogging my journey here, because I have a hard time keeping up with my own blog! But I'll do my best :-)

I've been exercising with a friend of mine. Wednesday and Friday we walked and ran for 40 minutes around our little road here on our mission base. We are both pretty out of shape so on this rectangular road we walked the long legs and ran the short legs. We both hope to increase the running portion more and more but we'll see how it goes. Thursday we did Kathy Smith's "Lift weights to lose weight" DVD - the portion that focuses on the legs. I really like the DVD - it has 2 20-minute workouts, one for arms and one for legs, and then a short abs workout. It's not supposed to be cardio but the pace is fast enough that I work up a sweat which is good. I have actually been doing this workout for a couple of weeks now, alternating legs and arms, and feel like I am getting stronger. So I will keep it up!

I have been doing okay on the eating side this week so far, drinking more water, etc. But I HAVE allowed myself to have a small treat or two each day - a cookie after lunch, a small bowl of ice cream after dinner, etc. Last night we had friends over for dinner, quite a big group, a chip-in Italian meal. I made tiramisu and we also had ice cream. After this big dinner (which I actually had fairly small portions) I was feeling pretty guilty about eating dessert, etc. And then I had an "Aha" moment. I have been reading Dani Joy's suggestions about cutting out sugar, etc, but letting yourself have a free day, and I have realized that is really what I need to do. Instead of letting myself have a small treat or two each day, I just need to cut back on the sugar as much as possible and I think for me that means NO dessert during the week. If I had done that this week, I would not have felt guilty about having Saturday as my "free" day! (It is already Sunday morning here :-)) So I am going to try it. In God's strength, I can do it, right?! I don't think I can give up my coffee/tea (I only allow myself one glass/cup of anything non-water each day, because I put cream/sugar in it!) but if I cut out desserts that is a start, right? I am also going to start keeping cut-up carrots and cucumbers in the fridge for snacks. So that is my plan. Cutting out the desserts but allowing myself one free day. I can do it for 10 weeks!

Edited because Whoops I forgot to tag this post! I'm still learning!!!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like you are doing good trouble shooting. I think that is the biggest part of losing weight. Figuring what works for you.

do you have any SF options? Well, fruit is always a great substitute for deserts too. I am not a big fruit eater. I have to have raisins, pretty cut up fruit for me to eat very much of it. Maybe some fruit smoothies would be good sweet treats for you.

Dani Joy

Sarah DeSalvo said...

Yeah, even living in the tropics we don't have very many fruit options here. It seems like I can either eat mandarin oranges or bananas or pineapple! We can get apples but they are quite expensive (almost $5 for 4 apples). I have been making smoothies, sometimes as a substitute for a mid-morning snack or lunch - a banana in the blender with milk and ice is yummy! And that way I get my calcium, too. I don't drink too much milk here since all we have is powdered :-( So, I'm working on it!

Unknown said...

A banana smoothie sounds great! wonderful thinking!

ARe you all with New Tribes? I met a missionary couple and their baby who are going to Indonesia to work in a tribe that doesn´t have the gosepel. It just sounds so amazing. She explained a bit what it will be like for them. I asume you are not in a tribe as you have internet.

I understand about the apples. I bet you miss really good apples. But then we don´t pinnaples that often. ;)

That´s great you are working on your snack options. Trouble shooting is the best thing to help you lose weight. We have to constantly figure out our bodies.

Dani Joy

Sarah DeSalvo said...

Dani, no we are with MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship.) I wonder who the couple is that you met, and if they are headed to Papua - we know a LOT of NTM families here in Papua! But I know that there are NTM programs in other parts of Indonesia as well.

Don't assume anything because of the internet! We have NTM friends who live in a tribe and have a V-Sat system, and their internet is much faster than ours, in the "city"! So, you never know! :-)

Yeah, I need to be more creative with my snacks. I am just so used to having something sweet after each meal. Like right now it is after lunch, early afternoon, and boy I am craving something sweet! So maybe I should go get myself an orange or something... I did buy some apples at the store today - $10 down but they will be snacks for a while. I also like to pair them with a little PB for some protein.