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| Happy St. Patrick's Day! The End of the Rainbow.....Potters Pond |
We had Stake Conference today. I really enjoy listening to President Sharp any time he speaks to us. He talked last night, and again at the end of this morning session. Last night he spoke about abuse and how we do have a problem right here in our stake with people being abused in various ways, and people abusing in various ways. He was stressing more the physical, verbal, emotional, and spiritual abuse, not so much the drug abuse. Some of his remarks really made me think. He talked about how the person receiving abuse is sometimes told they are 'making' the abuser abuse them, which is so far from the truth. The abused have nothing to do with the choice of the abuser. The abuser is in total control of his/her own actions. That is why the abuse is usually committed in private. The abuser chooses to abuse in a private setting, not where people can witness. This makes it a conscious act, and they know what they are doing. They can just as well choose not to abuse. Another thing he stressed is that sometimes the best love for the abuser is to help them get out of the situation where they can continue to abuse. That means, love them enough to get out of the situation where they can continue to abuse you, or your loved ones. If you really love them, help them stop abusing by not allowing them to be where they can continue their abuse. That might mean getting away from them so they can no longer abuse. He also stressed that the abused person will not feel better until they accept the atonement in their life, accept that the Lord is there for them, and doesn't hold them responsible for the abuser's actions. And that forgiveness does not mean "forgetting" the abuse happened. My notes didn't do justice to the spirit we felt in the meeting. I just love President Sharp and am so glad he is a personal friend.
So......for my personal journey of weight loss. I didn't have a good 'eating' week this week. Usually felt I was eating more than I needed to be, or should be eating. I wasn't expecting much of a positive change on the scales at all. However, I did improve with my walking. I walked more than 0.6 miles on Friday. (I think it was 0.62, but not exactly sure.) It was on a 'rolling hills' setting, so the elevation went up and down. I didn't have it on a very high elevation, but I could tell it was a change. It helped me to put in my weight (I don't like to see it at all!) because then the calories burned is SOOOOO much higher! That is one of the good things about putting in the weight. More weight means more to carry along, which means more calories burned! It all works out, don't you think? One day at school we had a birthday party to celebrate in the faculty room, and I was really good and didn't eat anything. Well, it really wasn't difficult because it was ice cream, which I don't really enjoy too much. But the chocolate brownies sure did look good. But I was a good girl. However, the crackers here at home kept calling me late at night. Then, the other day I received a package of Macadamia nuts in the mail. That sure did me in! But did you know that you can eat a whole 1/4 cup and only count 1 point? Or was it 2? At any rate, it wasn't many, and since I hadn't eaten all my points for a few days, I was able to eat quite a few. (I wonder if I have any left in my desk for next week!) So with all that eating, I wasn't expecting anything great when I got on the scales on Saturday morning.
Saturday morning came. I got ready to weight, expecting to be back up a few pounds. I sure was surprised when it was about the same as before. I stepped off the scales and then got back on, thinking it must not have registered well, like maybe I was not stepping on it enough, maybe my foot was off-centered or something. When I got back on the weight flashed up and down and finally settled......on a weight loss of 3.7 pounds! By now I am sure the scale is wrong, so I go ahead and get into the shower, thinking with the water on my body and hair I will try it again. Which I do. And again, just what was recorded the last time. I tried it again this morning and still at the same weight! So I guess it was better than I thought. The clue for me is the walking.....of course after watching my food intake. Last night I wore the dress I wore to conference was one I didn't wear at all last year. I tried one a part of ....what do you call those pants that are mid-length? Not 'shorts' but just below the knees? Anyway, I never felt comfortable in them last year because they pulled across my middle, but they are lose on me right now! I'm not in the one pair of pants that were too small yet, but almost! So I guess all this walking is doing me some good. Still can't see it much myself, and not hearing much from other people, but Garth says he can tell it. Maybe when I am not wearing the same clothes people will be able to see the difference.
So total loss depends on when I start counting. I went to the doctor's at the end of December, and a few weeks later, when I had gained 3 pounds. I didn't start the on-line program until after Garth's knee surgery. That was a few weeks later. Between the doctor's appointment when they said I had an enlarged heart, and when I started the on-line program I had lost 12 pounds. So total from that last appointment it is now 35.8 pounds. Not bad in my judgement. But it is truly the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I am not a walker. I still can't walk without holding on to something. Don't ask me to walk around the block, I just can't do it. I hold on to the handles of the treadmill. I lift a few weights....I mean I do the weights with the machines at Pro-Rehab. I do the total gym squats and lift my own weight by standing up and squatting down. (I'm not sure what it is all called.) It helps to have Garth there to encourage me. I don't mind walking that way. But walking alone......with nothing to hold to....NO WAY! I can't walk on the playground the way I can walk on the treadmill. The eating isn't so bad. Garth is a great cook and we are eating lots of salmon and pork chops, etc. As long as I have grapes or bananas or something like that at school to snack on after school I'm ok. And I just go to bed when I get the urge to snack at night. I still think I am losing a lot of fluid from my legs. We aren't doing the massaging as much as we should, because it takes so long. But I know it will have an affect on it all. (Or is it effect?) Anyway, it is coming along.
Reading while I am walking also helps me. I finished the first book I was reading, and am now reading about a doctor (neurosurgeon) who contacted a deadly form of E. Coli and was in a coma for a week, during which time he visited the spirit world and learned so much that he wants to share it with others. He is not a member of our church, but his insights are so close to what we believe. It is really an interesting read.......
So that is the weekly review. This week I have report cards coming out. Parent/Teacher conferences on Thursday afternoon/evening. A district training on DIBELS math assessment for 3 days at the district office! (Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning, Thursday afternoon.) Along with piano lessons on Tuesday and Friday (because of conferences it is moved to Friday.) Should go to the Relief Society Birthday Party on Wednesday but probably won't get there because of everything else happening. And on Saturday I should go to the organ workshop given by Seth Bott and BYU organ department here at our church building. If I make it, I do, if I don't I still know how to play the organ. But that is another post!
Sorry to bore any of my 2 readers. But this is my life.
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