Higher Jesus, Higher!

Last week I told you that I was going to try and start eating according to 'The Zone' diet. Well, I had intended on going to the store and gearing up for the first week of being in the zone, but that didn't happen until Sunday morning, so I've not been on the diet for more than 12 hours now, but it feels good so far.

The way you eat breaks down like this:
- Food is broken up into one of three macronutrient categories: protein (for rebuilding muscle), carbohydrate (for sustained energy), and fat (because your body uses it as a lubricant if you will).
- Blocks are used to denote how much of something you should eat to get the correct amount at each meal (1 block protein = 7 grams of protein, 1 block carbs = 9 grams of carbs, 1 block fat = 1.5 grams of fat).
- I'm trying to eat no more than 20 blocks in a day, meaning that at each of my 5 meals, I'm trying to consume 4 blocks of protein, 4 blocks of carbs, and 4 blocks of fat.

It takes some getting used to, but I'm confident that this last 25-30 pounds will come off relatively quickly if I can stick to this diet closely, then I'll reevaluate and determine where I'd like to go from there.

I dropped down to 248.8 pounds this morning. That's significant because last Wednesday I was down to 249.6, and I was thinking that it was just lost water weight, but with this finding this morning, I'm thinking that it's actual fat being burned off. I'm going to start seriously looking at taking creatin (sp?) to build up some more muscle. Who doesn't want to be totally jacked right? Well not me, I'd just like some more wiggle room within my diet.

--End of workout post, beginning of church related post--

Last night at church we discussed more of what we as Christian's should be hoping for about heaven. Both the physical and the spiritual side of things, and how that relates to the bodies that we presently occupy here on earth. Thad didn't go too far into things, so I'm not going to sit here and discuss something I don't yet comprehend, but he did ask a fun question: what is one thing that you're really hoping for when we get to heaven?

Some of the answers were typical:
- Seeing Jesus
- No more pain
- Seeing loved ones again
- Big pearly gates

I had an answer in mind, but in an effort not to look like a total attention whore, I didn't speak up. You know when you have a baby that's about 7-11 months old or so? They are at that point where they are able to interact with you and have fun, laugh, and smile (I do really well with these babies, not so much with the ones who can't yet emote). I love throwing them up in my hands, letting them just escape my grip and then catching them again. The babies seem to love it as well. Well my dream for when I get to heaven is to have Jesus do that with me. Silly huh?

Back to Basics

I was told this morning that I hadn't blogged about working out/losing weight in quite a while. There's a reason that this is the case, and it's mainly because I was feeling a little narcissistic about always detailing how I'm trying to change myself and look better. It was beginning to feel like one of those crappy reality shows where some 'celebutant' is trying to better herself and expecting us all to enjoy watching/reading about it.

I will say though that I've gotten down to 250 lbs. as of this morning. That seems crazy to me. 250 lbs! It's taken a bit longer than I would have expected a year ago today, if you had asked me then I'd have told you that by now I'd be at around 200 pounds. Things change and the process has gotten a lot harder than it was at the beginning. I'm still trying to tighten up my eating routine, trying to find new and more fun ways of working out (riding my bike, playing basketball, playing ultimate frisbee), and trying to be open in this whole process.

Nighttime eating is still my biggest problem. I try and have my big meal at breakfast, usually about 400 calories after a workout, with black coffee, or around 300 calories if I don't workout one morning, with black coffee. Then snack--lunch--snack--dinner--snack. It's that last three that really start to throw me off. I love carbs and sugar, and comfort foods (which typically involve lots of thsoe three things!). Danny has agreed to loan me his Zone Diet book. From my knowledge this is the diet they put olympic athletes on, and we've all seen how cut up they are. well... that's sort of my goal, but not entirely.

I'll keep you posted early next week when I've started on the Zone with a few earlys thoughts about what it's like.

Plus the Aggies lost, and that sucks.