Week Two: Day Seven

Hello!!!  I am so happy to be back and writing again!  Well, let's be honest - I wrote a TON over the weekend at the retreat, but I mean back to focusing on my diet again.  Don't be thinking I slacked off, though!  I stuck with it and was completely thinking about the accountability of this blog the whole time.  Quickly, first, to address the retreat...

There aren't words to describe my weekend.  NONE!  I took pictures of the sunrise and the beauty and wonder of that magic that occurs every day...well, still not sufficient, but it comes close to portraying how my heart has felt for two days now.  Awesome.  Inspiring.  Uplifiting.  REVEALING.  CLEANSING.  Quiet.  Eye-opening.  Surprising.  Lovely,  Just all around EXACTLY what I needed!  I am new, I am God's creation, I am focused, and I am ready to LIVE MY LIFE.

Back to the diet...

DIET:  Well, since I haven't written since Thursday evening, I will detail Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Friday I knew I would be leaving the house kind of at an awkward time, so I switched things up and ate a 500-calorie lunch.  I had Zoe home because she had a random fever that morning, but while she took a nap I ate some sausages and sugar snap peas.  Strange, yes, but delicious and filling!  And only 500 calories.  Otherwise that day, I had two shakes (one at breakfast, other at dinner), and the required 100-calorie three snacks.  I'm pretty sure that I had an orange and two Slim Fast bars.  Saturday I was at the retreat, but I managed to stay OUT of the dining room at breakfast and lunch!  I had taken some of the Slim Fast meal bars and there was fruit available, so I stuck to "plan" for breakfast, snack, lunch, and snack.  I made a nice salad for dinner off the buffet and had a piece of chicken.  Since I had no way of knowing the calorie count, I did a little extra "exercise".  To be detailed below.  Moving on, this morning I realized I hadn't brought enough meal bars!  So, I had an assortment of "snacks".  100-calorie granola bar, handful of cashews, an apple, and a banana.  This was throughout the morning, from waking up at 6 for the sunrise, then sitting through our final meeting at the retreat, and during the ride home.  When I got home, I had a shake because I was feeling really, really hungry and sleepy and thought the energy would do me some good.  I then had a snack at the appropriate time and made a General Tso's Chicken meal for Shaun and I this evening that was the required 500-calories.

EXERCISE:  Well, I definitely exercised spiritually over the weekend!  I am pretty exhausted tonight and just reflecting on the past couple of days tires me out a little bit more.  Friday, Zoe and I did some shopping during the day to make sure there was sufficient food here at home and that I had all the things I would need for retreat!  Saturday evning, as I mentioned above, I wasn't sure about the calorie count, so I really felt I needed to do something extra.  There was a bonfire Saturday night and everyone was planning to drive there, but a few other girls and I decided to walk.  It was so beautiful.  There were more stars than I have EVER seen in the sky!!  Just amazing.  We walked the whole way which turned out to be 1.8 miles.  Yay!  It was quite a bit colder when it was done, so we caught a ride back rather than freeze.  Today, when I got home, I was so excited to implement some of the ideas I had from the retreat, so we did some rearranging and then I took Conner and Zoe to run a couple of errands.  No real exercise, but I sure do feel worn out!

BEVERAGES:  Would you believe I had only water the whole weekend?!  No coffee.  No soda pop (2 weeks now!).  Fantastic.

ISSUES/TIPS:  Over the weekend it was so nice to spend time just being in the peace and quiet, and I have never felt so close to God.  I loved not thinking about food and planning meals and just obsessing over what was going to be next for my meals!  I don't recall being hungry...I just recall being so filled with the Holy Spirit and reflecting on my life and planning for the rest of it.  I plan to teach my children this by observing a family "quiet time" each day.  One part of the rearranging today involved moving a bookshelf into the dining room.  Our dining room is combined with the kitchen and I just want the whole room to have more purpose than simply eating.  It's a large room and we have a very nice dining table, so I think it would work well for arts and crafts time and reading.  These are activities I know my kids love and I want to do more of! 

I will weigh tomorrow morning and let you know the results!!  Next week I will continue Slim Fast, but I am going to switch my meal to lunchtime and plan to go for a 30 minute walk at 5:30 each night while Shaun and the kids eat dinner.  Wish me luck!!

Good night!!