Falling Down

Hey there all,

Sorry it's been a couple of weeks. I didn't realize it had been that long since I posted. I feel good, but I don't feel like I've lost any weight. The week before last I didn't exercise at all! I was having trouble sleeping through the night so I overslept my alarm almost every morning. We have this new mattress, and my husband loves it, and I don't. He sleeps heavier now, so even with a CPAP mask on, he snores and the stupid mask blows cold air at my face, and makes this high pitched whistling sound; it's aweful!! So, I'm not sleeping very well.

I realized that with major morning exhaustion, I'm going to have to work out after work. So, I joined a kickboxing class. My sister, Lexi, with the perfect body and metabolism, takes kickboxing 2-3 days a week and has been trying to get me to join with her forever. I went last Tuesday and it was crazy.

I didn't want to go. All day, I thought, "How can I get out of this?" So, I called my mom and offered Lexi ride, thus obligating myself to go! I only had one real goal for the class Tuesday. Some might think that it should have been to feel good. Others might think it should have been to enjoy myself. But my one real "WIN" for the night was, "Please God, don't let me fall down!"

You see, I have this problem. Whatever a person has in their brain, or chemistry, or equilibrium that helps them to always walk upright and not bump into things, I don't have it. I fall down all the time. Sometimes I trip over obvious things, sometimes I trip over nothing, literally, NOTHING! In fact, one of my favorite Selah moments involves me falling, but that is a story for another day...

So, my "Win" for the night was to stay upright and not look like an idiot in front of a room full of strangers. I bet you're wondering if I accomplished my one goal.

I did not.

About 3/4 through the class the instructor made us take some laps jogging around the room and his wife jogged along side me. Her fatal mistake was speaking to me while I was trying to do something athletic. She asked how I was doing, and I responded by falling on my face! Lexi ran by with a grin on her face, and my friend Kat, who also takes the class, just didn't look down at me (but I'm sure she was laughing!). The instructor and his wife helped me up and told me it wasn't the first time someone fell, and I told them it probably wouldn't be the last time I fell.

I went to Fitness Kickboxing 3 days last week. Saturday was the worst. The instructor took caffeine before class, and turned up the heat. I almost puked! But I made it through, and I will be joining the club next week when my 2 free weeks are up.

I'm very excited about this. I pick my sister up for the class making it hard to flake, so it provides me the perfect accountability. Plus, it is kind of fun. Not a lot fun. :)

I hope you are all doing well. Maybe my next post will be the story of my infamous fall after a Selah concert.

amy

Choices

Hey there all, sorry I didn't post earlier. I've received a lot of emails and posts asking how my 6 day slim down went, and all I can say is, ok. I don't feel like I lost an ounce. But that's very typical for me. I'm a "late bloomer" when it comes to weight loss. I felt great with all the veggies and fruit. In fact, I'm loving the fruity protein shakes for breakfast and the afternoon pitted cherries. I've also been almost enjoying the exercise. I actually walked from my apartment to the Target by us, 1.21 miles away in like, 90 degree weather. It was nice. I walked there, bought my items, and promptly called Jake to come get me 'cause there was no way I was walking back!!

Last night I had a little incident with some pizza at 9pm...not a good time to eat pizza, but I didn't eat the whole thing, so there's a vast improvement from my life 5 years ago, when I could have. But I figure every once in a while I'm allowed my indulgences. I'm learning not to describe my choices as "bad" or "good". When I do that, there is guilt associated with the "bad" choices, so I just say that I made a choice. I was thinking about some of my "bad" choices the other day, our praise team went to see Hillsongs United; they ruled, by the way. And there was a moment that just transported me back to 11 years ago when I was engaged as a young lady to a boy I was not supposed to marry. That was not a positive 2 years of my life. Then I started to remember some of the other choices I had made in my life; some "bad" financial and relational choices, but a lot of "good" ones.

I chose to break up with a guy that called me "too fat to marry",
I chose to attend the Oasis Worship Centre in Nashville, where I learned to truly worship God in Spirit and in truth,
I chose to say, "Yes", when a guy named Jake asked me if I wanted to have lunch,
I chose to proposed to him 5 months later (yes, I proposed to him!).

I've made a lot of good choices in my life and those good choices have brought me to where I am today. I've also made some pretty bad choices, but I don't regret them, because the good WAY outweighs the bad, and the bad ones have made me who I am; strong, independent, easygoing.

I've been listening to Michael English's new album, The Prodigal Comes Home, and I absolutely love it! My favorite song is "Don't Think I'm not Thankful". It basically says that everything he's been through has made him who he is today, and he's so thankful to God for it all, the good, the bad, all of it. If you don't have it, go out and buy the cd and the book that goes with it. You will weep at God's redemptive power.

Today try to think about the good choices you've made in life, and if there are a couple of bad ones in there, just remember how they've shaped your character and made you who you are today.

amy