Vacation

For the past week I've been on vacation.  In my former life vacations meant sitting around, watching a lot of TV, eating what I wanted, and very little movement.  I often cooked but my food choices were either fried or heavily breaded.  My snacks included chips and cookies.  My drinks were mostly soda.  I actually bought into the notion that most of us have laughed about at one time or another that because of a certain situation (birthday, anniversary, or in this case vacation) the calories didn't count.  It wasn't that I believed the calories didn't count - I simply justified not caring because I was on vacation and I could be healthy when I got home.

I know that success on the journey requires a lifestyle change.  I also know that most of the time change is a process.  And I know the calories always count.  I generally vacation at Resorts with a kitchen so I can take care of my own food but often I order in or go out to eat several times while there.  I also have often bought way more food than I needed - mostly because I didn't plan well what I was going to eat or I planned more than what I actually ate.

This week's vacation was mostly about food.  I did do some intentional things to get me to move more.  But my activity level has been significantly lower than my normal daily activity level.  But I was focused on food.  I didn't even trust myself to cook very much.  But here were the changes. 

My snacks were 100 calorie snack bars and Yoplait Light yogurt.  I've had nothing but water and lots of it to drink.  My lunches and suppers were either weight watchers or lean cuisine meals with a bowl of lightlife veggie chili as the exception.  Apples and lettuce complemented several of my meals.  For breakfast each morning I had an egg sandwich made with a large brown organic egg, 2-3 slices of deli sliced turkey breast, and a slice of american flavored veggie cheese on a toasted double fiber honey wheat English Muffin.  Are you hungry yet? :) This sandwich was approximately 260 calories.  Most mornings I added a banana to fill out my breakfast.

I posted a contest on facebook this week with a good number of people responding with guesses as to how much weight I would lose this week.  I didn't bring a scales so I'll be surprised with everyone else.  Based on my activity level I wouldn't have thought I'd lose weight.  However, I've maintained a good calorie deficit every day so mathematically I should be okay. 

But here is the secret to this weeks vacation.  My guess is in past vacations I've added on 10 lbs in the week I was gone.  Granted, I ate a lot of high sodium meals and drank very little water which means I added water weight so some of those 10 lbs may have come off after a couple good days at home.  So what does success this week look like?  Success is living my week differently and healthier.  That has been accomplished.  Success this week is a 0 on the scale because it's way better than I've done before.  I'll be happy with losing 2 pounds - my goal every week at this point on my journey.  Anything more is a bonus.

This week I ate right, I increased my activity level from previous years, and I look forward to seeing how the scales will reflect that.  But because weight loss is not totally mathematical I will claim success regardless of what the scales shows because I know I did well.

So what have I learned?  With God's help I can do this, especially when I focus on the small steps needed today rather than only being focused on the end goal and allowing that to overwhelm me.

Here's to success, one step, one day at a time.

Less of me, more of Him,
Eric

An introduction

Where to start?  Today I'll just introduce the journey and the reason for this blog.  Some of the background things that led to the journey will come in subsequent posts as I continue on the journey.  I also recognize that I've already made some important steps so am starting the blog potentially a little late in the process but there is time to catch up.

When asked about the greatest commandment Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God with everything you have and the second greatest commandment is like it - love your neighbor as yourself.  I think I've done a good job keeping the first commandment.  For 20 years I've also worked hard at loving others but in that time I've spent very little time loving myself.  As a result, I haven't taken care of myself, I've gained weight and become unhealthy and when I'm truly honest with myself - unhappy.  Not all the time - but generally I'd at least say I've been disappointed with how far I'd let myself go.

So, I'm now on a journey to correct that - to take back my life - to love myself by putting myself first so that I can help others.  In the movie, The Guardian, one of the instructions to the coast guard rescue swimmer class was to save themselves first so they could save others.  That's the journey I'm on - saving my life so that I can be more involved in saving others and be around longer so God can use me to save more.

Every journey begins with a single step.  So far I've taken a lot of steps and have a lot more to take.  Since the beginning of 2011 I've lost 50 lbs and feel better than I have in a few years.  I know I still have a long ways to go but having achieved this much in 14 weeks I'm now believing that the goal is possible.  Right now I'm ahead of schedule but my goal is to hit my target in May of 2013. 

I believe that as a result of this journey I will have a spiritual awakening as well and I look forward to all that God will teach me and to how He will use me during this time and after I have hit these objectives.  It is, after all, about Him and for His glory. 

I invite you to join me on this journey by following my blog or on facebook or twitter.  (Twitter updates still coming.)  Thank you in advance for your support and encouragement. 

Less of me, more of Him.
Eric