MOMENTUM!!

I started writing this blog four weeks ago.  Three weeks ago I started waking up before work and exercising.

Tuesday I went to the doctor.

For the first time I can remember, I weighed less than I did the time before.

My good cholesterol is up.  My triglycerides and very bad cholesterol are down.

My mind is a bit boggled!

This weekend, my wife and I attended our church’s Fall Retreat.  It was held in the same spot as the youth summer camp.  The auditorium sits on a giant hill. 

I noticed halfway through my second trip to the summit that I was moving faster than I did in August.  I was winded, but less so!

Honestly I thought it would take longer to build momentum.

I’m ready to start again this week.

Part of me expected to have failed by now.  I already had excuses ready for when someone asked how the blog was going.

What’s more, my knee is sore AND I’m NNOOTT using it as a reason to stay on the couch.

Instead of setting unrealistic goals and failing before making it out of the gate, I have set a long-range goal and am content with small victories. 

I’m even starting to think I’ll get there.

And the next time I meet that hill, I’ll sprint up it…

You know, unless this knee’s acting up.

Baby Steps to 150.

Méfiez-vous du fromage

My wife’s family’s annual gathering was this weekend.  She is one of 29 first cousins.  Every year at this time, the family makes the trek to Granny’s cabin.  The population of Mulberry Grove, Illinois doubles when the gang’s all there.

This is my ninth trip to the shindig.  We go for good food, great conversation and Kubb.

This is the first year I’ve gone to Granny’s weighing less than I did the year before.   Pretty impressive, eh?

For two weeks now, I’ve gotten up early and worked out before going out to work.  I’m getting into a pretty firm routine.  My muscles are killing me and I’m loving it.

I had a few options as this weekend approached.

Option A:  I could have avoided it and worked out instead.

 Who would have objected if I stayed home to help incubate this newborn workout ethic.

Option B:  Attend, have fun, eat sensibly.

Probably the best bet.  I could go, make mostly healthy choices and indulge in a few treats.  Hopefully the rest of my life will look like Option B.

But there ended up being a third option.

Option Jay:  Attend, have fun, eat way too much for way too long.

Woops.

We were on the way home before I realized, “Hey, maybe I should have thought about what I was eating!”

For 48 wonderfully terrible hours I reverted back to Eat Everything Guy.

And I blame the cheese. 

A friend of the family brings this garlic Velveeta contraption that captures your imagination.  It boggles the mind.  It controls the will.

I would walk through walls for that stuff.

What is it about family gatherings that tend to make us revert back to what we were? 

I should have asked for help.  Surely one of my wife’s 28 first cousins could have talked me down off the cheese ledge.

I should have gone to the opposite side of the yard where I wouldn’t have heard the siren call.

Instead, I start over this week.  I don't know how much weight I put on this weekend.  I do know that I begin again tomorrow.  

So, what’s the best way to keep motivated at family get-togethers? 

Do you revert?  Do you stand strong?

I'd like to know.  Because knowing is half the battle.

Where's there's a Will there's a Jay

May I interest you in a bit of Sunday Morning Rambling?



I've been thinking a lot about my will lately.


One of Webster's definitions is, "the power of control over one's own actions or emotions."


I've read it five times since I pasted onto this page.  


As a follower of Jesus, I seem to drift to two ends of the extreme.  I either put my faith in my own actions and talents or I don't do anything and use Grace as the reason.


What's the proper view of grace and action in the life of a Christian?


Paul, the author of 2/3 of the New Testament railed against church people who used their resumes as currency yet he also said that he "beat his body" to make it subject to Jesus.


I wish I had a profound answer.


It's strange that I started feeling freedom as I began a stricter regimen than ever before.

Tuna Fish Face

My wife made lunch one Saturday afternoon about three weeks into our marriage.  Anything my beautiful bride did was perfect.  She could do no wrong.  Birds joined her in song and forest creatures helped tie bows in her hair. 

She placed the plate in front of me as I expected a perfectly cooked steak...  And what do my eyes behold? .  Tuna salad on baby spinach leaves.

The familiar scent from my youth mixed with the dreaded sight caused my eyes to roll and head to tilt back into  Sense the Sarcasm territory.

Much to my surprise, my reaction didn’t sit well with Rachel.  She picked her plate up and silently ate in the living room.  (To her credit, she did NOT throw me out the kitchen window.)

I thought I hated Tuna.  I thought I knew better.  My opinion of Tuna was more important than hers…

And that’s been my setting for as long as I can remember.  My opinion good. Your opinion baaaad.

I’m reminded of a passage in Philippians, “…in humility, consider others better than yourselves.” 

I’m wracking my brain trying to count the number of times I’ve done that. 

It’s 10:50 pm and I’m in the middle of a text argument with a friend about a Facebook post.  His opinion is not as valid as mine.  His points aren’t as wise as mine.  His B.O., on the other hand, is definitely better than mine.

How hard is it to give REAL worth to the ideas and opinions of others? 

Even more telling…  How hard is it to even LISTEN to someone giving an opinion that differs from my own?

The International Listening Association (and with a name like that, who can argue?!?) gives a devastating statistic:  Most of us are distracted, preoccupied or forgetful about 75% of the time we should be listening.

That knocked the wind out of me because I think my stats were WORSE!

Instead of planning my next verbal assault, what happens if I attempt to understand what my smelly friend is feeling? 

What if I look for common ground with him from which we can work out the disagreement?

Change comes slowly, doesn’t it?

Seven years into marriage and I’m just NOW starting to listen actively to my wife.

I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I would have just learned from the tuna. 

After Rachel left the table, I followed her…

“No!  Please!  Comeback!  Look! I’m eating it.  I’m EATING IT!

… 

“Wait.  This is pretty good!  Seriously.  It’s good!  NO, I’M NOT JUST SAYING THAT!”

I love tuna salad.  Maybe there’s hope for the future.  Hopefully I win this battle before my son has to do the same.  Tuna salad all around!

Woops.

Anyone know how to get five year old eyes to roll back down to normal?

Freedom to Work Hard. Wait. WHAT?!?!

Can adults become disciplined? 

Looking back over the first 32 years of Jay, I’ve noticed something.  I like doing things I enjoy.

That last sentence should earn me a Pulitzer.

I like doing things I enjoy.  And I seem to enjoy things that aren’t too difficult. 

I was good at baseball and basketball.  If I would have spent time away from practice working, I could have been really good.  I never got there.

I played the saxophone and, with practice, I could have been Boots Randolph good… nope. 

I tried learning Spanish with cds recently… No bueno.

So the fact that I have purposefully (and a few times, FORCEFULLY) been active this week has surprised me.

I haven’t been this faithful doing something I didn’t enjoy in years.  Seven years to be exact.

During our first few months of marriage in 2003, my wife and I decided to try the Atkins Diet.  We survived the strictest two weeks.  We were proud and surprised.

Jay – “Good job us!”

Rachel – “We should celebrate.”

Jay – “Dominoes?”
Rachel – “Thin crust.”

Jay – “I’ll call”

Best pizza EVER. 

The wall’s coming.  I’ve hit it before and bounced off.  I don’t know if I can feel it or if I’m just scared of it.

So, what is it that keeps people going down this road? 

Desire?  I have it.  But I’ve had it before.

Dedication?  But how do you keep it? 

Fear?  I’m scared of what will happen if I don’t get healthy, but is fear a good enough motivator?

Is this the time passion overpowers apathy?

I once felt stuck.  Stuck in my emotional cage.  Stuck in this obese body.  The stuck-ness led to a malaise that overwhelmed any desire I had to reach out or change.

I gotta be honest.  As I type, I’m surprised I DON’T feel that anymore.  (Maybe I should write a few drafts before posting things!)

It’s like Jesus has taken an emotional ice cream scoop and dug out the old parts of me that kept me from acting.

I used to watch The Biggest Loser and think the emotional breakdowns were just something producers engineered to make the show more endearing. 

I now see the point of their existence.

It’s the wound.

Very few people get stuck like this without one.

Life wounds us and we try to find ways to deal with the pain.

It has to be cleaned out before we can heal.  But I always chose the known pain over the unknown risk.

Maybe it’s not a matter of discipline.  Maybe it’s about Freedom.  Freedom from bondage.  Freedom to work at something that’s difficult.  Jesus promised that whoever he set free would be “free indeed.” 

He has set and is setting me free. 

Unhindered by emotional baggage, I can set my sights on whatever’s next in my life. 

I want to WANT to work out.  Yet part of me still wishes God would see my desire and miraculously turn me into a free runner by morning.

Now I know that I’ll get there, but it’s going to be step by step, inch by inch. 

And one morning in the not-so-distant future, I will wake up a free runner.  Or a SCUBA diver.  Or a tri-athlete.  Or a break dancer… 

…

Well, maybe not a tri-athlete.