Last week I asked everyone to consider a fast during this lent season. I know that many people will not be able to handle a 40 day food fast, so we talked about fasting from things other than food, or certain types of foods.
In January Beth and I started a new journey in our life to eat healthy. We joined a Prism class led by our friend Lori Kelly. We tell people that we are not on a diet (at least I do!) but we are changing our habits. Because of that, I really do not have an indulgent food to give up for lent. So I decided to do something different (really different for me)! For lent, I have decided to go to bed early. That may not sound like much to you, but I have been staying up late (past 12:00 am most nights) since I was in college. If my parents would have let me have a TV in my room when I was a kid, I would have started much earlier! So I have developed a 15+ year habit of staying up late and getting up with just enough time to get ready and get out the door.
Now, that may not sound all that bad, but the problem I struggle with is what I do with those 3 or 4 hours past 10:00pm. 99.9% of the time it is spent flipping channels on the TV. If watching TV was an Olympic sport, I would have won Gold in the past 4 or 5 Olympics. I have mad skills! If I could sell advertising space on my remote control, I would do it! So my goal over the next 30+ days is to begin to redirect my time and energy. So I am going to bed before 11:00pm and then transfer that "awake" time to the morning. During that time, while my family is still sleeping, I want to read and exercise. Maybe over the next 15 years, I can develop a habit my mother has (that has annoyed and amazed me for years). She gets up everyday at 4am or 5am, even though she lives alone and doesn't have to be at work until 7am or 8am. There are things that I would love to accomplish that are in conflict with my TV consumption. My prayer is to refocus so wasted time!
So over the past 6 weeks, Beth and I have really changed how we eat. We try to eat things that are fresh and have to be prepared. We still eat out, but we attempt to eat healthy when we do. 2 Things have changed. 1. Our restaraunt expenses have gone down and our grocery store expenses have gone up. 2. Beth has lost 15 lbs and I have lost 25 lbs. I won't post a picture of Beth because I didn't get permission, but below is a "before and after" from our first 6 weeks of "life change!"
4 comments:
So, you mean that we were doing a bad thing in college staying up till 2am eating burritos from Allsups?
That is awesome! Daryl and I are trying to eat more whole foods and exercise more. Now if we could just lay off the ice cream, it's our biggest weakness!
Were you purposefully trying to be awkward in your "before" picture?
Way to go. You look great, and I'm sure you feel better too. Wish Stan and I could get on a healthier track, but we keep falling off. We've had a lot more years of 'unhealthy habits' to overcome. But good job to you both! Keep up the good life!
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