The Health & Wellness Corner was added so that I can blog about my adventures, lessons learned, mishaps, and everything else as I work towards increasing this life’s quality and longevity.

I skipped 2 weeks of blogging; it’s been a busy month.  I asked the Lord for more opportunities to serve Him and how does He answer my prayer?  He surrounds my introverted self with people.

I had the opportunity to serve at a women’s shelter earlier this month.  I had never done anything like it before except the one time when my college roommate and I bought $.39 hamburgers/$.49 cheeseburgers and walked all over downtown Chicago distributing them to the homeless people begging on the street.  I’ll never forget that; it was an amazing experience for the both of us.  At the women’s shelter, I was excited to put my task-oriented self to good use and serve a delicious meal to a group in need.  Everything came out delicious and it was a blessing to serve to such grateful hearts.  The best part was when I was able to sit down and partake in supper with a couple of the ladies.  They provided me with a glimpse into their lives and my ears couldn’t be happier from listening to their stories.  We talked about our children, saving money, we sang gypsy songs, prayed, cried, and laughed together.  It was an absolute joy.  I look forward to making this a regular part of life.

Besides serving at the women’s shelter, my home has become quite the hangout lately.  The weekends are packed with munchies, card games, board games, guitar playing, and great conversation.  Our guest room and living room futon have been doing a great job at giving our late night partiers much needed rest.  It’s been exhausting for the host as well; but there’s nothing like laying my head down to rest and feeling completely spent on being invested in the lives of people.

So that explains the busy month.  What explains the weight loss?  I’m pretty sure it’s not this formulaic but these are just my observations and what’s been working for my body:

1.  I’ve been drinking 16oz of water BEFORE eating breakfast.

2.  Increased my workout time by 10 minutes.  I now workout for a 30 whole minutes.

• I’ve been gradually increasing my levels, speeds, and inclines on the tread & elliptical.  I’ve actually been running on the treadmill for 3.5 minutes at a time!  Yeah!
• My workout partner has been forcing me to stretch before & after workouts.

3.  I’ve been eating more veggies, particularly earlier on in the day so that my appetite is curbed.

I think that once I reach my goal weight, I’ll probably be eating back 50% of my exercise calories so that I remain motivated to exercise.  Hopefully by then I won’t even need to be so meticulous in counting calories because I’ll have already learned enough to know what a healthy portion looks like and what all is in the food itself in the first place.  I already feel so victorious in the level of discipline and self-control I’ve been developing over tempting foods.  I feel more alert and energized because of all the good food I’ve been feeding myself.

In the beginning of March, I re-calculated my goal to weighing 148 by the end of the month vs 149 lbs.  I’m so happy to report that I’ve exceeded my goal again and weigh 147 lbs!  April’s coming up.  Dare I re-calculate my goal again and attempt to be 145 by the end of the month?

PS  I’ll try to get pictures of myself in some of these pictures so that you can see the progress I’m making.  I never did a BEFORE picture when I weighed 156 but I can still get pics starting from where I’m at now.

It all started with my younger sister dropping off 3 boxes of Thin Mints a couple weeks ago. I felt my heart flutter because, guys, cookies are my biggest weakness. And Girl Scout cookies just beg to be eaten by me, Cookie Monster Celi. In fact, my very first word was “cookie”. Instead of birthday cakes every year, just give me a cookie. If I’m feeling down in the dumps, just give me a cookie and watch how quickly I cheer up. If I’m sick, hold the soup and just give me a cookie; I’m convinced that cookies have healing agents in their ingredients, kind of like chicken broth in soup. If I’m sick and can’t taste anything, DON’T give me a cookie, because I will cry. I was smart and very kind enough to share with as many people as possible so now we are down to ½ of a box and I’ve probably eaten only 4 cookies total out of the 3 boxes we originally had.

Now that I think about it, cookies were the final motivator to get me to start eating healthy again and join MFP. In December, my fiancé mastered the art of cookie making and was baking up dozens of the most delicious shortbread, sugar, & oatmeal cookies. I went really overboard and ate sooo many cookies, that I gained 4 pounds that month! By mid-January, I was at my all-time highest weight (pregnancies not counted) when my friend suggested I try MFP. I was probably eating a cookie at the time whenever I signed up for an MFP account, hahaha.

Anyway, I can go on and on about cookies and how amazing they are but I won’t. I do find it interesting how something so unhealthy can lead to something so wonderful. Reminds me of how God allows us to sometimes go through periods in our life so that we can be refined and stronger in our faith. I love how ironic He can be. I really enjoy making connections of how God chooses the unthinkable route or the “unworthy” person and surprises us all. Just when you think you’re not strong or good enough, that’s the moment He chooses to bless and use you. It’s in our weaknesses and most frail moments that we understand just how strong and powerful God is in our lives. And when all 157 pounds of me was sitting on my couch feeling so disgusting while eating my delicious buttery shortbread cookie, I all of a suddenly felt like Superman. I felt like God was telling me, “This is the year for you, Celli. This is the year that I will reveal just how great I am… and I’m going to do it through you.” And I totally believe that. And moreso, I’m seeing its fruition. Side note: Batman trumps Superman any day but for superpower’s sake, I had to go with the latter.

I didn’t get a chance to really go into pondering about this past week and lessons learned from it but I feel like this is a good place to end.

Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one can boast in His presence. – Paul, an apostle of Christ