Great Verse To Share

Here is a great verse someone used in a blog the other day that I just felt was so apropos for my weight loss journey. I just wanted to share it with everyone.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

What a great inspiration to keep on keepin' on, no matter what race we are running!!

I Think I Can, I Think I Can

This is from a 1906 Sunday school publication, called Wellsprings for Young Children that inspired the famous story, The Little Engine That Could. It’s titled Thinking One Can:

A little railroad engine was employed about a station yard for such work as it was built for, pulling a few cars on and off the switches. One morning it was waiting for the next call when a long train of freight-cars asked a large engine in the roundhouse to take it over the hill “I can’t; that is too much a pull for me,” said the great engine built for hard work. Then the train asked another engine, and another, only to hear excuses and be refused. At last in desperation the train asked the little switch engine to draw it up the grade and down on the other side. “I think I can,” puffed the little locomotive, and put itself in front of the great heavy train. As it went on the little engine kept bravely puffing faster and faster, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.”

Then as it near the top of the grade, that had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly, but still kept saying, “I–think–I–can, I–think–I–can.” It reached the top by dint of brave effort and then went on down the grade, congratulating itself, “I thought I could, I thought I could.”

To think of hard things and say, “I can’t” is sure to mean “Nothing done.” To refuse to be daunted and insist on saying, “I think I can,” is to make sure of being able to say triumphantly by and by, “I thought I could, I thought I could.”

You can't lose if you don't quit!!

It's Monday!

I must say that it started out looking like it wasn't going to be a good week. I weighed myself on Wednesday and the scale showed no changes whatsoever from Monday, where the week before by Wednesday I was already down a pound. Then I think somewhere during the week I even gained a few ounces. I have to admit I hadn't been eating that great, although I was still within my point range. Then the weekend came and I somehow lost control of my eating on Saturday and had several pieces of Entenmann's Cheese Danish. I was stressed out and therefore turned once again to food. Then Sunday morning comes and I get on the scale only to see I had gained 1.6lbs. Yuck. I was pretty down about it. I had breakfast and then a little while later, I wasn't feeling well. Ended up I had a stomach ache the rest of the day, which was not fun. I don't know if I caught a bug, or if part of my breakfast was bad and caused my stomach to be upset. I finally had something to eat again around 9pm, but I still wasn't feeling all that great.

I think the reason I was so upset about me gaining weight this week was that even though I'm not the best eater and I don't always make the best choices, I am still doing better than I was doing, so why am I gaining weight? There's this supposed rule that it takes 3500 calories to gain a pound, and a reverse rule that you either need to eat 3500 calories less, or exercise to burn that amount of calories to lose a pound. This week I had only gone over 9 or 10 points, which translates to about 500 calories, so it didn't make sense that I would gain 1.6 lbs based on that theory. Anyway, Ray really encouraged me by reminding me that we don't have a working refrigerator and after that I didn't feel so hard on myself as much.

This morning I wake up, weigh myself, and lo and behold, I have lost weight! All week the scale lied to me only to reveal that in the end, I was indeed on the downside instead of up. So, this week is beginning nicely. I do have a headache and my stomach is still not 100%, but I am feeling better than I did yesterday. I guess in the end it really doesn't matter what the scale says on any other day but Monday (well at least for me, since that is the day I officially record my weight). Oh yeah, and no more cheese danishes!

Oh, and the results of my weight loss to date?? I am down 1.6lbs from last week, which makes it a total of 10lbs lost, and a total of 4.64% down.


PS: A belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout out to my sister-in-law Elizabeth. Her birthday was on Friday, and since I wished her a happy birthday in person, I kind of forgot to do it here. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH! Tomorrow is my brother-in-law Robbie's birthday. He is the youngest of the family and he will be the big 18 years old! HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY ROBBIE!!!

Frère Jacques

Saturday my brother-in-law, John (my dear hubby's older brother) graduated from Mayo Clinic and officially became a doctor. He is also in the Air Force, and therefore was promoted to Captain because of his newly acquired doctor status. So here is a big congrats to John, and in my salute I will include a picture of John in his "Captain" swearing in ceremony.

Ha! Ok really, John, we are very proud of you. Congrats!

Happy Birthday

Today is my sister-in-law, Wendi's birthday (she is married to my hubby's older brother).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WENDI!!!!!!!!

Weight Loss

I have decided to blog my weight loss journey in order to, by allowing everyone to see my progress, keep myself more accountable and keep myself on track. I hope that this will in turn lead to my success. It's a very hard journey to be on, and it's even harder to talk about with people who haven't faced a weight problem themselves. I find it's so much easier to be open and honest with people who are in the same boat as I am, but I think it's important for me to get it out in the open and let everyone see transparently into my life and my current fight. I believe that opening myself up like this puts me in a place where I need to be to compete with myself, and ultimately win, since I am a pretty competitive person. Some of you already know this, and some of you don't, but in February I sent an audition tape in for the show The Biggest Loser for the same purpose-- to put myself out there, on the line, in front of the world so that I can try my best and get this done. Obviously, there was a very small chance of even making the show, and while I did get pretty far in the process, it was no surprise that I was not chosen. So that's what brings me here, to my blog, now. I have a goal to accomplish, and I am determined now to get it done.

I can't really remember much before high school, but I know that I've alway been a little overweight. Although, I was always still pretty comfortable with myself nonetheless. I've always been a pretty outgoing person-- the social butterfly, funny, sarcastic, overall happy person. But in the last 5 years, I've put on about 45lbs on top of already being at my highest weight, and it has affected my personality to the point where I really try to avoid being around people other than family members. The outgoing person I once was has become a major introvert and homebody, all caused by weight gain that was all POST pregnancy weight gain. Ironically with both Grace and Nate I was 10lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight only 2 weeks after their births. So somehow all this weight was gained on my own. In high school I was very active in sports, and I haven't really been exercising or active since graduation 12 years ago. Even still, I've only gone up and down weight-wise a certain amount despite my eating habits and have been able to maintain my weight around a certain level, also despite how awful I had been eating in the past.

So, I have tried to lose weight several times in the past 5 years, and each time I get to a point and stop. I think the most I have lost in the past was 30lbs before I throw in the towel, which is why this time I am more determined than ever.

I am currently doing the Weight Watcher plan, and this has worked the best for me in the past, at least better than any other plan I have tried. I am also currently also a part of a group of people that formed online who met one another through the audition process for The Biggest Loser. So far, its working well. Some people have seen weight loss upwards of 40 lbs now. As a group, collectively, we have already lost over 430lbs (even more but we're still waiting for this weeks numbers to come in and be tallied). I can't recall the number of people in the group, but my guess is it's somewhere around 26 people.

Anyway, I will probably blog my weight loss for the week on Mondays. During the week I will probably blog about anything and everything, including any weight loss related issues I am having or vents I want to make. This is going to be a long emotional journey, and I have found I am definitely an emotional eater. But I invite you to see into my journey so that 1) I may possibly be able to help someone else, and 2) so that I can help myself.

I weigh myself every Monday morning, so this is technically the end of week 8--even though I haven't been following my eating plan fully except for maybe about 3 weeks--and I am down 8.4lbs, which means I'm down 3.89%!

Here is my weight loss thus far, week by week:

3/26/07 Start
4/02/07 -1 lb
4/09/07 +2 lbs
4/16/07 -3 lbs
4/23/07 -2.4 lbs
4/30/07 -1 lb
5/07/07 -1 lb
5/14/07 + .6 lb
5/21/07 - 2.6lbs


Thanks for reading!!!

Katie and Eddie

Here is a slide show my wonderful husband put together for his little sister and her new hubby of their wedding. It's put together with one of Katie's favorite songs (this particular version), "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," done by Israel Kamakawiwo Ole.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Congratulations are in Order!!

Last Saturday, my sister in law, Katie (Ray's youngest sister) got married. Here is a picture of her with her husband, Eddie. They are the ones who live on Catalina Island, which by the way, their town made out just fine.

Also, yesterday, my brother in law, Matt (the older of Ray's younger brothers) asked his longtime girlfriend, Danielle, to marry him. She said YES!!! (Like we had any doubts). Here is a picture of them from Matt's Basic Training graduation last May.

Matt is in the Army Reserves and will be leaving on Saturday for Orlando for a week, then he will be off for 3 months somwhere, doing something. After that, it is unknown where he will be or what he will be doing, so please keep him and my family in your prayers. (Sorry this was vague, gotta keep it that way)

Catalina On Fire

The island of Santa Catalina, 22 miles off the coast of California, is battling a wildfire that started yesterday at about 12:30pm local time. As of this morning, over 4,000 acres have burned threatening the tourist town of Avalon. Avalon, as some of you may know, is where my sister-in-law Katie and her new husband Eddie live. They once worked at Camp Fox, a popular camp on the island that was run by the Glendale YMCA until recently, along with my other sister-in-law Elizabeth and her husband Grant (who now live here in Florida). Katie and Eddie's apartment is located in a section that was being threatened by the flames last night and they needed to move to a more eastern location. As of today, state, county, and military officials are bringing in firefighters from as far away as Fresno, including about 70 inmate firefighters, to battle the blaze while the temperatures are cool, the humidity is up, and the winds are down. They are trying to battle the blaze before the winds are due to pick back up later this afternoon. They were expected to have 700 firefighters to fight the blaze this morning, but I haven't heard any more on that.

I have gathered some pictures from various news medias. Here is what I have so far:

View from Whittley Ave

View from the Green Pier

View from East Side of Avalon

View from Whittley Ave in Avalon

Evacuees lining up at Catalina Landing

Evacuees lining up at Catalina Landing

View from Catalina Landing

Evacuees waiting to board a ferry

Evacuees lining up at Catalina Landing

Overhead view of Avalon Harbor and Casino

Fire crews arriving

Ferry leaving around 9pm with a full boat of evacuees

Overhead view of Catalina Island

Navy crews getting the Hovercraft ready to bring supplies to Catalina

Planes dousing fire retardant on the island

Overhead view of Catalina

Overhead view of Catalina

Overhead view of firefighters battling the blaze

Overhead view of Avalon Bay from the north

Night view from the Green Pier

Evening view from the Green Pier

Firefighter near blaze

Firefighters near blaze

View from the Green Pier

Man on the Green Pier

Man watching the blaze get closer

View from the Green Pier

Florida

Florida is currently experiencing a drought. In fact, this may be the worst drought in Florida, ever. When water restrictions are placed in effect, they are referred to in phases: Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III. The biggest difference between the phases is when you can water your lawn, going from three days a week between 4am and 8am, to two days a week between 4am and 8am, to one day a week between 4am and 7am. Currently much of south Florida is under Phase II, however, the City of West Palm Beach has voluntarily adopted Phase III.

Lake Okeechobee levels are currently 4 feet below normal this time of year at 9.37 feet above sea level, nearing the all time record low level of 8.97 feet above sea level. Lake Okeechobee is the center of an interconnected system for Florida. Because the big lake is in the midst of the region-spanning Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades ecosystem, conditions in and around the lake affect lands, rivers, people and creatures to the east, west, north and south. (from the South Florida Water Management website.)

So what does this drought mean? It means fuel to the current wildfires as well as ones that could start due to the dry ground conditions. It means we need to conserve water or we will be in big trouble. The rainy season doesn't really get going until late May, and we already have tons of wildfires burning in Florida alone. Here is a map of the State of Florida and all the wildfires currently burning:



Thanks to a major wildfire up in northern Florida that started in Georgia, and a fire in nearby Collier County, most of south Florida has been under smoke and currently has health warnings in effect until the weekend. Basically, that means to not do any exercising outdoors, and limit outdoor activity to a minimum. Subtropical Storm Andrea has been downgraded to subtropical depression status, however, it was unclear as to how much rain she would bring in to the region to help the wildfire status. Man, it's busy here in Florida for those meteorologists. But where there's weather news, there I'll be. This is Gabbi reporting from Blogger.com weather center. =)


****************************UPDATE********************************************
Water Management officials have now imposed once-a-week watering restrictions on Broward and Plam Beach Counties, setting the toughest limits ever in response to one of the worst droughts in history, according to Sun-Sentinel. For more info, see Sun-Sentinel article.

Here We Go........

Hurricane season already??? Seems so. Three weeks before the official start of the hurricane season, a storm has been named off the coast of FL and GA. Andrea, the season's first named storm, is considered a sub-tropical storm, which according to www.wsvn.com, is a "hybrid weather formations that are usually weaker than hurricanes and tropical storms. They are kind of a half-breed, sharing characteristics of tropical systems, which get their power from warm ocean water at their centers, and more typical bad weather that forms when warm and cold fronts collide."

Andrea currently has maximum sustained winds of 45mph, which is hardly a threat. However, if this is an example of how this season will be, count me out! I think its due to hit Florida....but I don't have time to look it up just yet....I will update this soon. Stay tuned.........