Candy Low

Today I consumed an entire bag of Cookies n' Cream Kisses.

I feel gross.

I am tired.

I can't finish my harder workouts these days.

Why have I not learned?

I haven't gained any weight.

I haven't lost any weight.

I get frustrated at night because I have little energy.

Thus I am not a very good mom.

Lesson: Eat Well. Feel Well. Act Well.

Patience: A Virtue

I have not written this past week or so..... and I think that is mainly because I have not been doing what I am supposed to be doing. Of course by not writing I am negating the purpose of this blog, but after coming back from vacation I just got knocked off course.

This past week or so has been filled with Andes mints, Cookies and Cream Kisses, and Hot Tamales. Now of course, this is only counting the candy... much less everything else I ate.... In my head, I wasn't really thinking about it; I just let it happen. I also tried to convince myself that the light walking, and occasional sit up counted for my exercise. Then, tonight I listened to a talk given by Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and now I have learned a little more about what it takes to really do this. I am going to quote from his talk given at Priesthood Session of this past General Conference below. Maybe you will also see how this relates to how you balance your life with food and exercise.

Waiting can be hard. Children know it, and so do adults. We live in a world offering fast food, instant messaging, on-demand movies, and immediate answers to the most trivial or profound questions. We don’t like to wait. Some even feel their blood pressure rise when their line at the grocery store moves slower than those around them.

Patience—the ability to put our desires on hold for a time—is a precious and rare virtue. We want what we want, and we want it now. Therefore, the very idea of patience may seem unpleasant and, at times, bitter.

Nevertheless, without patience, we cannot please God; we cannot become perfect. Indeed, patience is a purifying process that refines understanding, deepens happiness, focuses action, and offers hope for peace.

As parents, we know how unwise it would be to indulge our children’s every desire. But children are not the only ones who spoil when showered with immediate gratification. Our Heavenly Father knows what good parents come to understand over time: if children are ever going to mature and reach their potential, they must learn to wait.

Because of this section, I understand how much learning to balance my food, learning to withstand a bag of candy, or just learning to have only one piece is so much bigger than just losing weight. It is about control and maturity. This isn't something that will only last till I am 150 lbs, but it needs to be a deepening process of my self-control.

I learned that patience was far more than simply waiting for something to happen—patience required actively working toward worthwhile goals and not getting discouraged when results didn’t appear instantly or without effort.

There is an important concept here: patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!

Impatience, on the other hand, is a symptom of selfishness. It is a trait of the self-absorbed. It arises from the all-too-prevalent condition called “center of the universe” syndrome, which leads people to believe that the world revolves around them and that all others are just supporting cast in the grand theater of mortality in which only they have the starring role.

From this, I learned that this past week was silly. I just need to work hard and keep working hard. I have to be patient, and keep plugging along.

Patience means staying with something until the end. It means delaying immediate gratification for future blessings.

You can see how the gospel goes hand in hand with being fit and making wise decisions on how we treat our body. When something is true, it is true in every aspect of your life.

I am now renewed to give up my bags of candy and my lazy mornings because as he says "delaying immediate gratification for future blessings". I want those future blessings.

False sence of Freedom

Today I was thinking back on a conversation I had with a friend in college. I asked him when living the gospel would be easy? when I could just stop working so hard? etc. He responded, You can't ever stop, but you will find joy in it the more you do it. So it does get easier as you learn to enjoy the process.

This concept goes hand in hand with how I am feeling today about this journey I am embarking on. Thinking in the future... when will it be easy? when can I just sit back and relax? and the answer is probably never, but I will want the results and enjoy the process.

Thinking about the future it makes me a little sad that I can't just sit back with a bowl of caramel popcorn or eat as much yummy pound cake as I want. I feel a little like I am losing my freedom. Then I think about the law of chastity, and that you are not very free, when upholding that particular law, at least not free in the moment. But in the long run, you have so much more freedom and joy. So with moderation, I can still have pound cake every now an again, and who knows maybe it will end up adding up to more pound cake over my life time than I can eat now, because I won't die early of a heart-attack....

Calories in Bread

Do you know how many calories are in a slice of bread? What about a foot long sandwich from Subway or those gargantuan sandwiches from Wal-mart which could possibly feed you for a week?

For just a normal slice of bread it is between 70 and 100 calories. So to make up a sandwich with the two slices it uses up more than half of my calorie goal for lunch....

I say this so you can understand that today was difficult :) I did have a sandwich for lunch but used the sandwich thins which only have 100 calories together. But since Roger was flying out to South Carolina today, I had bought him one of the gargantuan sandwiches from Wal-mart. Alas.... I ended up eating the extra sandwich bread with honey. It was very delicious, but I am still amazed at just how many calories are in bread products.

There is a new philosophy I have...
You choose your lifestyle and you are sized accordingly. Of course, there are proabaly a few exceptions, but it's also proabably a very few.

If you choose healthiness 100% of the time, you are a stick.
If you choose healthiness 50% of the time, you are medium.
If you choose healthiness 0% of the time, you are rather chunky.
And there is everything in between.



I came to this philosophy while thinking back to my mission, where I ate beans and rice everyday, didn't really snack a ton, and walked miles upon miles. I figure if my life were like that again, I would lose the weight like I did there, but currently my life is sitting in my kitchen with Ginger while something is playing on the computer from netflix or hulu snacking on cake or fruit, etc. So right now, I am trying to change my life style from a 50% to a 25%. I figure that I will still eat a slice of pound cake occasionally (just not 5 slices). I don't think I want a 100% lifestyle, but I think a 25% would be great!

And though today was difficult and I might have eaten too many dehydrated apple slices... I just have to take it one day at a time and know that every step counts.