The Graceful Skinny

A homeschool mom of one sharing my thoughts, curriculum reviews, organization techniques, and planning ideas with others in the homeschool community.

Weekly Update: Better Late Than Never April 25, 2011

Filed under: Road Blocks,The Weekly Check in — The Graceful Skinny @ 4:54 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My wonderful readers, I am so very sorry for my inconsistent posting this past month. April has been a bit rough health wise and it has caused me to slack in other areas. I stared this blog as a way to be an encouragement to others and try to do my best to keep a positive outlook in my posts. However, this once I must ask your forgiveness if I come across as a bit negative and whiny, because today I just need a bit of time to vent.

I am tired of being tired. I am tired of medical issues and weight issues and fertility issues and pills and hormones. My issues with asthma and the steroids at the beginning of the month started a bit of a chain reaction.  Aunt Flo went weird (yet again). Provera was needed. And now I am left with 7ish pounds of weight that I am going to have to re-loose!

Though as run down as I am, if I stop for a minute and listen it becomes obvious that God is trying to teach me something through all of this.  And while this is something that I have known for years being able to step back and take peace in this knowledge is not all that easy.

It’s at times like these where I feel so run down and frustrated and find myself screaming out to God, “I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE!” It’s at these moments when I finally stop and really listen that I hear God gently whispering back to his reminder that I never could do it, nor was I ever supposed to, and as crappy as all this is to deal with, there is something unbelievably freeing at this reminder.

God is there watching over us and taking control over everything.  When I stop and think about how easy it is to slip into the grind of the daily life and trudge through it all, it is these moments that cause us to break that really bring us closer to God.  And as crappy as they might be to get through, as much as I would LOVE to push the fast forward button on life just to skip all of this, I wouldn’t trade a single piece of it because God has truly used it all to bring us closer to him.

So while I may have my moments of acting like an exhausted two year old, in the end its all good because God is in control and for that I am ever grateful!

Related Articles
 

Weekly Update:Glad to see Spring! March 18, 2011

Filed under: Small Victories,The Weekly Check in — The Graceful Skinny @ 2:59 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

So I’ll fess up now, I had a bit of a re-laps into laziness for a bit there. It was so bad I just completely brushed off my weekly updates. For that I am sorry. I think part of it was that I had a bit of a gain period and I hadn’t fully lost it last week. I don’t think I really wanted to face it. However I am proud do say that I was able to kick myself back into gear and I got a 30 minute workout done this week. Did pretty good to!

 

For those that don’t know, I use my Wii Fit to track my weight and to do my exercise. I like it because it keeps track of everything from your BMI (which is actually a bit more accurate then my Doctors office calculations), it also keeps track of my activity and how much time I spent actually moving.  It then calculates out how many calories you burned. It makes exercising feel less like a chore and more like a fun game. My favorite activity as of late is the 30 minute free ride biking one.  To move you step with your feet on the board just like you would when you are riding a bike.  You work the same muscles but from the comfort of inside your own home which takes away all weather based excuses to avoid the workout.  Not only that but it keeps score for you. It has become my challenge when I do it to do my best to match or beat my high score. This forces me to keep pushing myself and work myself harder and harder. I am also noticing that the more I do it the easier it is to go further. I almost always end with my legs like jelly and exhausted beyond belief but it amazes me that when I started out my high score was 4-5 miles. I was overjoyed when I finally hit seven miles. Now? Well I actually hit 11.4 miles this week.  And on that ride I was shooting for 10.6 miles.  Part of me wonders if I could actually pull that off on a real ride. It might be something I would have to try sometime.

 

Well I have to say that when I hopped onto the scale this morning I was not expecting much. It is a rare day indeed when I show any kind of loss the morning after Aunt Flo rolls in. It’s not uncommon at all for my weight to go stagnant throughout the period.  I was overjoyed and immensely proud of myself when I saw the numbers for the week. It just goes to show myself that if you actually get off your butt and do the work the results will come. (Don’t you just hate it when logic comes back to rub it in your face?)

 

So on to the results for this week:

 

  • This Week: 1.4 pounds down!!!
  • Total Weight Loss: 31.4 pounds down!!!

 

I am very much not ashamed to say that I did a bit of a happy dance around my living room when I saw that number.

 

So dear readers it’s your turn to update me! What is your favorite way to get in exercise? What do you do to kick your butt back into gear when the laziness attacks? How has your week gone?

Related Articles
 

Weekly Update: Aunt Flo takes a visit….. WILLINGLY! February 18, 2011

Filed under: The Weekly Check in — The Graceful Skinny @ 3:13 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Graceful Skinny, "weight Loss" diet blog "Thyroid Issues" "medical Conditions"

So I am slightly frustrated that I have yet again come so close to reaching my 30 pound mark one week just to yet again swing back the other way slightly. However, there are a lot of factors in play this week and for the most part I feel pretty good.

First of all I woke up Saturday morning to the arrival of Aunt Flo. While usually we women would groan about that for me it was a rather good sign.  The royal mess up of blood work from a few weeks back had my doctor’s office swearing that there was no chance for a period this month and said I might as well go forward with a 5 day round of Provera .  However my spidey senses were tingling and despite the nurse’s confident assurances that the 5 day delay in taking the blood had nothing to do with the resulting low numbers, I had a feeling that there was a strong possibility that they were wrong and that the pregnancy like symptoms I had been experiencing were just a very strong PMS reaction due to the fact that this was my first naturally induced period in over a year.  Needless to say my skepticism paid off and Aunt Flo arrived upon her own accord on Saturday.  Boy was it nice to see her arrive willingly!

So on top of the fact that I have been on my period (and have always shown a gain the weeks were that occurs), we also had Valentine’s Day.  And Lastly I have been rather busy this week running errands and doing chores getting ready for my Birthday Party tomorrow night. (My Actual Birthday is Monday.) And when I haven’t been doing chores I have been outside enjoying my wonderful Birthday weather!  So I haven’t been able to get my usual workout in.

So what were my numbers this week?

  • This Week: 0.2 pound Gain
  • Total Weight Loss: 29.6 pounds down

Overall, it’s not too bad all considering.  Especially considering that usually when I have a week of Period Gain the spike is a lot more significant than 0.2 pounds.  I almost don’t even count numbers that small as a  gain.  So this weekend is my Birthday celebrations, and because of that I am not expecting much next week on the scale.  But I did learn from Christmas. This year instead of going to Costco for large amounts of over-processed crap, I went to my favorite little sandwich place that does some catering and have placed my order to let them prepare everything. It turned out a bit cheaper and it will be significantly better quality and will taste miles better. I even get the added bonus of not having to bake everything and deal with a dirty kitchen with guests arriving. I get to just sit back relax and be the Birthday girl.  I have to say it’s a win all around.  Not to mention that this place is always great about proper portions so by just giving them my head count they helped to ensure just enough food. This makes me less likely to have portion control issues.  It also leaves me with fewer leftovers after everything is all said and done. And while some of you might not see this as a good thing, it actually is.

So readers, anybody else have exciting plans for the weekend?

Related Articles