Sunday, September 09, 2007
I've taken to sitting on a swiss ball instead of a chair when I'm in my room. If I had to get up extraordinarily early and fall asleep every two or three verses of morning Bible reading, I can sit on this and hurt myself when I give in to sleep and fall over. Very useful, really. I find myself constantly bouncing up and down. Given that fact, I don't know how long it will be before it explodes and I bruise myself by landing on the floor.
The extra exercise provided by the constant bouncing and twitching gives me the
rationale for eating chocolate. I looked for a stock picture of a chocolate bar and found plenty of "free" stock photos. However, "free" things are not always without a price, in this case a membership fee of $199 a month. Thanks to my sister, who always lets me borrow her camera
(even though I once deleted all her pictures accidentally!), I was able to make my own picture. I even took the wrappers out of the trash can I was absentmindedly throwing them into. I had to unwrap three bars for this shoot. Of course, it wouldn't do to wrap those candy bars back up and put them in the bag they came out of. That would just be unhygenic. I think instead I'll do with them as I've done with the rest...unwrap them, set them on their wrapper, and place the wrapper next to the output of my laptop's cooling system. Viola, perfectly warmed, soft chocolate.
According to WIN - Weight-control Infomation Network, nearly two thirds of the population 20 years and older are overweight. Do you fall under that statistic? According to the Census Bureau the population of the US is currently over 302,000,000. According to CBS, 45 million of those each year go on a diet - that's 14%. If you're overweight and are ready to take some action to leave the flab behind, check out this article called 15 Rules For Fat Loss. I've been part of the statistics, weighing in at nearly 20 pounds more than I do now. Click here to see the pudgy faced, 13 year old Bonnie.
I used to hate exercise and complained when my mom asked me to walk with her. My knees "hurt" and I was tired, blah blah blah. Then somehow I started running and I started losing weight. I didn't just start running and become a runner. I must have quit 5 or 6 times, each time losing interest. I'd invariably find a new plan someplace and start running again. I remember running for almost a whole year and thinking that was pretty cool, that was the longest I stuck to ONE running program. I remember somewhere in the middle of that period thinking that I couldn't run a mile, it was just too hard. Then a friend said any able bodied teenager could push themself to run a mile*, so the next time I went out I pushed myself and I finished a mile. After that running continuously instead of running/walking was no big deal. And if I did take a break every mile or so, that was fine with me - I was a real runner!
Now due to an ankle injury caused by pushing too hard too soon (IE 5-6 mile barefoot runs at paces as fast as I could run them without feeling nauseated) I'm not actively running, but I'm pretty sure I could go out there and run a mile without much trouble. I'm still a runner, I'm just not running right now!
So now, through gradual changes to my eating and exercise, I have managed to keep most of the fat off. You can too, just try!
*Don't take this as medical advice, just because a friend of mine said it doesn't mean it applies to you.
The extra exercise provided by the constant bouncing and twitching gives me the
rationale for eating chocolate. I looked for a stock picture of a chocolate bar and found plenty of "free" stock photos. However, "free" things are not always without a price, in this case a membership fee of $199 a month. Thanks to my sister, who always lets me borrow her camera (even though I once deleted all her pictures accidentally!), I was able to make my own picture. I even took the wrappers out of the trash can I was absentmindedly throwing them into. I had to unwrap three bars for this shoot. Of course, it wouldn't do to wrap those candy bars back up and put them in the bag they came out of. That would just be unhygenic. I think instead I'll do with them as I've done with the rest...unwrap them, set them on their wrapper, and place the wrapper next to the output of my laptop's cooling system. Viola, perfectly warmed, soft chocolate.
According to WIN - Weight-control Infomation Network, nearly two thirds of the population 20 years and older are overweight. Do you fall under that statistic? According to the Census Bureau the population of the US is currently over 302,000,000. According to CBS, 45 million of those each year go on a diet - that's 14%. If you're overweight and are ready to take some action to leave the flab behind, check out this article called 15 Rules For Fat Loss. I've been part of the statistics, weighing in at nearly 20 pounds more than I do now. Click here to see the pudgy faced, 13 year old Bonnie.
I used to hate exercise and complained when my mom asked me to walk with her. My knees "hurt" and I was tired, blah blah blah. Then somehow I started running and I started losing weight. I didn't just start running and become a runner. I must have quit 5 or 6 times, each time losing interest. I'd invariably find a new plan someplace and start running again. I remember running for almost a whole year and thinking that was pretty cool, that was the longest I stuck to ONE running program. I remember somewhere in the middle of that period thinking that I couldn't run a mile, it was just too hard. Then a friend said any able bodied teenager could push themself to run a mile*, so the next time I went out I pushed myself and I finished a mile. After that running continuously instead of running/walking was no big deal. And if I did take a break every mile or so, that was fine with me - I was a real runner!
Now due to an ankle injury caused by pushing too hard too soon (IE 5-6 mile barefoot runs at paces as fast as I could run them without feeling nauseated) I'm not actively running, but I'm pretty sure I could go out there and run a mile without much trouble. I'm still a runner, I'm just not running right now!
So now, through gradual changes to my eating and exercise, I have managed to keep most of the fat off. You can too, just try!
*Don't take this as medical advice, just because a friend of mine said it doesn't mean it applies to you.
Labels: chocolate, exercise, food, Running
Friday, April 20, 2007
I need to correct one of the things in my list below. James W. Lanning is actually some guy I met randomly out there. It did have something to do with blog hopping (mine) from comments left at various sites of people who knew each other online, but not he is not directly a friend of a friend of Mrs. Lymans. So basically I'm wrong :) I'll try to be less confusing in my future posts, if possible...
__________________________
This morning I was awakened to a principle I've grossly overlooked. How many of you spend time in earnest prayer for your family? How many of you lay your family's burdens on the alter and pray for God's wisdom for another family member's struggles? I must admit that I haven't even given it much thought. Sure I pray that God will bless my family, but rarely do I have specific thoughts on my mind when I do so. Basically it's like a "bless my family and make us a good witness." But there's so much more to it than that. Sometimes I pray for friends and I don't really know what to pray for. But we who live with family members know each other (should know each other) very well. We know what's bothering people, what they're struggling with, what they need - even if sometimes they don't see what they need. Maybe it's just me who forgets about things like this. If you really love your family, pray for them. Intercede in prayer on behalf of those who are struggling and pray that God would bring conviction where it's needed and to comfort those who are in need of comfort.
2 Samuel 12:16
"David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground."
Luke 18:1
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
And this one is a really good one! (Not that the others aren't.)
Ephesians 6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
If your siblings and parents are Christians, pray for them! If they're not Christians, pray for them!
___________________________________
I'm trying to make bagels. This endeavor is something both my mom and sister have successfully completed. I have yet to see if mine will be a flop or a good batch of bagels. I'm trying to take pictures as I go, maybe when I finish I'll have some pictures to post. The recipe is from a book I got at the library called The Bread Baker's Apprentice, by Peter Reinhardt. The first 100 pages of the book are just info on the process of making bread. The 11 steps of making bread, how yeast works, how to figure mathmatical formulas for bread (ratios). It's very interesting and I'm looking forward to reading his first book, Crust and Crumb.
___________________________________
I went for a run yesterday, it was so nice out! After days and days of rain the sunshine is certainly welcome. We swept the front sidewalk and cleaned. I suppose that's what they call spring cleaning. I can't wait till the temperature outside is higher than the temperature inside - that means window opening is in order. Even yesterday with the sun it was still only about 60 degrees out side and it was a few degrees warmer inside. I figured if I opened the window it'd cool my room down too much and be cold at night. I ought to have opened it anyway, because last night it was too warm to sleep under my two sheep skins and big blanket.
__________________________________
I've got a cold. Hooray. I've been looking online and some people who have started weight lifting don't get enough sleep and don't eat enough so they feel like they have a cold all of the time. Amazingly enough, I'm finding that it's easy to get up in the morning as long as I do the same thing every morning. I went to bed at 8:30 the other night because I thought I was going to need the extra sleep - I got up at 5:30am like I planned (9 hours sleep?)and I was really groggy and sleepy. Now if I go to bed at the normal 10:00pm/11:00pm time, I can get up at the normal 6:30 (7 1/2 - 8 1/2 hours sleep) and feel fine in the morning. I'm guessing if I went to bed every night at midnight and got up at 6:30, I'd adjust to it. It might not be good in the long run, but I'd adjust and wouldn't feel super groggy in the morning.
I deadlifted 117 lbs yesterday and I think it was just a little much. It is hard to lift out of your comfort zone; although I can physically lift that much, I don't want to. My mind says don't do it again. It's too hard to muster the mental strength to tell your muscles to work. While deadlifts have been on my list of questionable exercises because of potential risk of back injury, I think I'm going to stick with them for now. When I was concentrating a lot on my abdominals and not as much on my back I was getting unoften occuring but very painful twinges in my lower back (hip). The same thing was happening when we were working on building a house in Kentucky. Since I've been doing deadlifts properly, I've had less pain and I can sleep on my back again without waking up and feeling like something is stabbing me in my joint. At the beginning, deadlifts did seem like an exercise that was aggravating my hip, but I'm convinced it was due to poor form. You can seriously injure yourself deadlifting improperly, so be careful if you're doing it. Research proper form and don't stray from it. Don't lift so much that you can't have good form. Note that that link I just gave does have a drawing of a guy with no clothes on but it looks like a picture you'd look at to see muscles or something and in my opinion, is not immmodest. I didn't even notice it but someone pointed it out so I figured I'd mention it. Also, the links on that page are bound to be dubious. A lot the stuff in the bodybuilding scene is really ungodly. I never want to compete, and I don't want to be a bodybuilder, but some sites that happen to be about bodybuilding have good information on proper form, whether you're lifting to get glory for yourself or if you're lifting to be stronger. And that's not to say there aren't godly people who are also bodybuilders. It just happens to be that a lot of it is not God centered at all. I wonder why, if I had to go through all of this explanation, did I put the link there to begin with? It's not as if someone who reads this is going to randomly start deadlifting!
__________________________
This morning I was awakened to a principle I've grossly overlooked. How many of you spend time in earnest prayer for your family? How many of you lay your family's burdens on the alter and pray for God's wisdom for another family member's struggles? I must admit that I haven't even given it much thought. Sure I pray that God will bless my family, but rarely do I have specific thoughts on my mind when I do so. Basically it's like a "bless my family and make us a good witness." But there's so much more to it than that. Sometimes I pray for friends and I don't really know what to pray for. But we who live with family members know each other (should know each other) very well. We know what's bothering people, what they're struggling with, what they need - even if sometimes they don't see what they need. Maybe it's just me who forgets about things like this. If you really love your family, pray for them. Intercede in prayer on behalf of those who are struggling and pray that God would bring conviction where it's needed and to comfort those who are in need of comfort.
2 Samuel 12:16
"David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground."
Luke 18:1
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
And this one is a really good one! (Not that the others aren't.)
Ephesians 6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
If your siblings and parents are Christians, pray for them! If they're not Christians, pray for them!
___________________________________
I'm trying to make bagels. This endeavor is something both my mom and sister have successfully completed. I have yet to see if mine will be a flop or a good batch of bagels. I'm trying to take pictures as I go, maybe when I finish I'll have some pictures to post. The recipe is from a book I got at the library called The Bread Baker's Apprentice, by Peter Reinhardt. The first 100 pages of the book are just info on the process of making bread. The 11 steps of making bread, how yeast works, how to figure mathmatical formulas for bread (ratios). It's very interesting and I'm looking forward to reading his first book, Crust and Crumb.
___________________________________
I went for a run yesterday, it was so nice out! After days and days of rain the sunshine is certainly welcome. We swept the front sidewalk and cleaned. I suppose that's what they call spring cleaning. I can't wait till the temperature outside is higher than the temperature inside - that means window opening is in order. Even yesterday with the sun it was still only about 60 degrees out side and it was a few degrees warmer inside. I figured if I opened the window it'd cool my room down too much and be cold at night. I ought to have opened it anyway, because last night it was too warm to sleep under my two sheep skins and big blanket.
__________________________________
I've got a cold. Hooray. I've been looking online and some people who have started weight lifting don't get enough sleep and don't eat enough so they feel like they have a cold all of the time. Amazingly enough, I'm finding that it's easy to get up in the morning as long as I do the same thing every morning. I went to bed at 8:30 the other night because I thought I was going to need the extra sleep - I got up at 5:30am like I planned (9 hours sleep?)and I was really groggy and sleepy. Now if I go to bed at the normal 10:00pm/11:00pm time, I can get up at the normal 6:30 (7 1/2 - 8 1/2 hours sleep) and feel fine in the morning. I'm guessing if I went to bed every night at midnight and got up at 6:30, I'd adjust to it. It might not be good in the long run, but I'd adjust and wouldn't feel super groggy in the morning.
I deadlifted 117 lbs yesterday and I think it was just a little much. It is hard to lift out of your comfort zone; although I can physically lift that much, I don't want to. My mind says don't do it again. It's too hard to muster the mental strength to tell your muscles to work. While deadlifts have been on my list of questionable exercises because of potential risk of back injury, I think I'm going to stick with them for now. When I was concentrating a lot on my abdominals and not as much on my back I was getting unoften occuring but very painful twinges in my lower back (hip). The same thing was happening when we were working on building a house in Kentucky. Since I've been doing deadlifts properly, I've had less pain and I can sleep on my back again without waking up and feeling like something is stabbing me in my joint. At the beginning, deadlifts did seem like an exercise that was aggravating my hip, but I'm convinced it was due to poor form. You can seriously injure yourself deadlifting improperly, so be careful if you're doing it. Research proper form and don't stray from it. Don't lift so much that you can't have good form. Note that that link I just gave does have a drawing of a guy with no clothes on but it looks like a picture you'd look at to see muscles or something and in my opinion, is not immmodest. I didn't even notice it but someone pointed it out so I figured I'd mention it. Also, the links on that page are bound to be dubious. A lot the stuff in the bodybuilding scene is really ungodly. I never want to compete, and I don't want to be a bodybuilder, but some sites that happen to be about bodybuilding have good information on proper form, whether you're lifting to get glory for yourself or if you're lifting to be stronger. And that's not to say there aren't godly people who are also bodybuilders. It just happens to be that a lot of it is not God centered at all. I wonder why, if I had to go through all of this explanation, did I put the link there to begin with? It's not as if someone who reads this is going to randomly start deadlifting!
Labels: Christian walk, exercise, food
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Not that anyone is concerned about calories and things like that ;) but the pie on the left has approximately 1752 calories and the two sticks of butter on the right (that I usually use to make one pie) have 1600 calories in them alone.
Now of course an all whole wheat no refined sugar pie (I used 1 tablespoon of sorghum in the whole thing) does not taste like a "regular" pie. But on the other hand, I can eat it for lunch and not feel like I'm loading up on empty calories.
Now of course an all whole wheat no refined sugar pie (I used 1 tablespoon of sorghum in the whole thing) does not taste like a "regular" pie. But on the other hand, I can eat it for lunch and not feel like I'm loading up on empty calories.
Labels: food
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
We're in Alabama!
My dad is not feeling very well. Please pray for him as he has been experiencing flu like symtoms possibly related to his ankelosing spondolitus (I don't know how to spell it, but it's kind of like an autoimmune disorder if I remember right).
______________________
As I look around me and see all of this stuff that's happening, the Real ID (I'd link to it but my 'linker' is broken and I don't know the HTML), the moving of many people and organizations to build a one world government, etc., it's so easy to become disturbed. Let me rephrase that. It's easy to worry. Thankfully, God has been impressing upon me that we can't worry about these things! Rejoice when you are persecuted. Fear not he who can destroy only the body. It's amazing how detached what we feel can be from reality. If we face death for the sake of Christ someday, is it not to our advantage to become as close to God now as we can? When painful things occur we will be tested. I've been reading a lot of the "brother will be turned against brother" verses and I just keep praying that God would keep me close to Him no matter what would happen. I'm not reading them on purpose, they just seem to be popping out a lot. And in those verses I see a great sadness, because of the terribleness of what sin can do. If we don't wake up now, we'll be swept away later. Fear God! Persecution may come and I don't think it's wise to sit idly by and just think "Well it's not happening here, so I don't have to worry about it." Pray that you may be close to God in spite of the lack of persecution in this country. And remember those being persecuted and pray for them, that they would be strong.
Here's something that I have found helpful sometimes. Anytime you face pain, turn it into a passionate prayer for those suffering pain for the sake of Christ. I remember having to walk my bike because it was broken, I was out about a mile from where I needed to be (huge trial there, eh?!). I thought I can either complain because I have to walk, or this time while I have to walk I can pray that someone in a third country could be supplied with a bike so they don't have to walk 50 miles and in that "bad" situation I can be strengthened and encourage. Don't let yourself stray with discouraging thoughts because of your circumstances. For in Christ, our circumstance is that we have been forgiven a huge debt, and that's just about it! If we would only focus on Christ, we'd be humbled, and then we'd see life in perspective.
____________________________
I'm getting COLD! I'm outside with a fleece, sweatpants and sandals on. It's quite a nice change from New England, but it still does feel cold sometimes. Carol thinks we might be getting wimpy and losing our "northerner" toughness! I think before the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, the climate must have been very nice and not extremely hot or cold. Imagine a place where it never feels uncomfortable to either degree! I think Heaven must be void of unlivable cold or scorching heat, indeed it will be greater by far than any of our expectations.
_____________________________
I made my own granola bars today. I got some whey powder to mix in because it has more protein in it. However, I'm wondering how good whey really is for you. I added up all of the ingredients and I have a little list of how many calories are in them and things like that. As far as I can tell (and if I divided them up evenly) they have 142 calories, 9.2 grams protein, 4.5 grams fat, and 12 grams carbs. Most of the fat is from the flax oil I put it, but there's some peanut butter in them too. It's pretty cool to make those little readout thingies like they have on the stuff from the store with the nutritional info on them. I have been eating what seems like LOADS of veggies, most of them raw, but I seem to crave carbs every day in the late afternoon and usually I crumble and have either a poptart or a granola bar, or a cookie, or all three. I also found out you can make a pretty good dip with mushed up cottage cheese, salt, and garlic powder. You can eat a whole cup of it nearly and still be eating pretty lean, and that means you can use dip generously on a whole plate of veggies.
Just so you know, I'm not going off carbs completely, I'm just trying to cut down on the carbs that I get from simple sources, such as sugar and white flour. I'm trying to get them from brown rice, oatmeal, veggies and fruits. Some people go nutty and cut them out completely but I don't think that's wise. Moderation, moderation...
My dad is not feeling very well. Please pray for him as he has been experiencing flu like symtoms possibly related to his ankelosing spondolitus (I don't know how to spell it, but it's kind of like an autoimmune disorder if I remember right).
______________________
As I look around me and see all of this stuff that's happening, the Real ID (I'd link to it but my 'linker' is broken and I don't know the HTML), the moving of many people and organizations to build a one world government, etc., it's so easy to become disturbed. Let me rephrase that. It's easy to worry. Thankfully, God has been impressing upon me that we can't worry about these things! Rejoice when you are persecuted. Fear not he who can destroy only the body. It's amazing how detached what we feel can be from reality. If we face death for the sake of Christ someday, is it not to our advantage to become as close to God now as we can? When painful things occur we will be tested. I've been reading a lot of the "brother will be turned against brother" verses and I just keep praying that God would keep me close to Him no matter what would happen. I'm not reading them on purpose, they just seem to be popping out a lot. And in those verses I see a great sadness, because of the terribleness of what sin can do. If we don't wake up now, we'll be swept away later. Fear God! Persecution may come and I don't think it's wise to sit idly by and just think "Well it's not happening here, so I don't have to worry about it." Pray that you may be close to God in spite of the lack of persecution in this country. And remember those being persecuted and pray for them, that they would be strong.
Here's something that I have found helpful sometimes. Anytime you face pain, turn it into a passionate prayer for those suffering pain for the sake of Christ. I remember having to walk my bike because it was broken, I was out about a mile from where I needed to be (huge trial there, eh?!). I thought I can either complain because I have to walk, or this time while I have to walk I can pray that someone in a third country could be supplied with a bike so they don't have to walk 50 miles and in that "bad" situation I can be strengthened and encourage. Don't let yourself stray with discouraging thoughts because of your circumstances. For in Christ, our circumstance is that we have been forgiven a huge debt, and that's just about it! If we would only focus on Christ, we'd be humbled, and then we'd see life in perspective.
____________________________
I'm getting COLD! I'm outside with a fleece, sweatpants and sandals on. It's quite a nice change from New England, but it still does feel cold sometimes. Carol thinks we might be getting wimpy and losing our "northerner" toughness! I think before the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, the climate must have been very nice and not extremely hot or cold. Imagine a place where it never feels uncomfortable to either degree! I think Heaven must be void of unlivable cold or scorching heat, indeed it will be greater by far than any of our expectations.
_____________________________
I made my own granola bars today. I got some whey powder to mix in because it has more protein in it. However, I'm wondering how good whey really is for you. I added up all of the ingredients and I have a little list of how many calories are in them and things like that. As far as I can tell (and if I divided them up evenly) they have 142 calories, 9.2 grams protein, 4.5 grams fat, and 12 grams carbs. Most of the fat is from the flax oil I put it, but there's some peanut butter in them too. It's pretty cool to make those little readout thingies like they have on the stuff from the store with the nutritional info on them. I have been eating what seems like LOADS of veggies, most of them raw, but I seem to crave carbs every day in the late afternoon and usually I crumble and have either a poptart or a granola bar, or a cookie, or all three. I also found out you can make a pretty good dip with mushed up cottage cheese, salt, and garlic powder. You can eat a whole cup of it nearly and still be eating pretty lean, and that means you can use dip generously on a whole plate of veggies.
Just so you know, I'm not going off carbs completely, I'm just trying to cut down on the carbs that I get from simple sources, such as sugar and white flour. I'm trying to get them from brown rice, oatmeal, veggies and fruits. Some people go nutty and cut them out completely but I don't think that's wise. Moderation, moderation...
