I can't help but notice I've not been posting that much in this space. There's "an elephant in the room" and I'm trying to avoid talking about it. Pretending it isn't there isn't working, so . . . here goes!

Back in the winter when I posted about building my "box," there was something I didn't say. About that time, I'd had a revelation that my overweight was tied to sin and then, later, that it was about rebellion and vulnerability. This was a progressive revelation that I came to understand more fully over a period of weeks.

As often is the case with me, seeing the root cause of my issue set me into a flurry of rebellious activity.  I had a couple of weeks of strong commitment and actual progress followed by several weeks of off-and-on compliance followed by days of sticking my head in the sand. It has gotten so bad that on Sunday as I was standing in my closet, I actually convinced myself that trying to lose weight was pointless and that because my health risks are low I should just accept that this is my weight and learn to live with it.

Fortunately a half hour later I was sitting in church in front of a priest I'd never met (and still haven't) and he somehow brought the whole issue full circle back to sin. He said, "The devil is real and has a trick and I'm going to let you in on his secret. Satan's big trick is planting a seed of doubt." I immediately realized that I had experienced that very thing in my closet epiphany. At this point I realized it wasn't an epiphany at all, but in fact the opposite.

It strikes me as really funny that the opposite of "epiphany" is secret. What do you do if you want to keep something secret? You keep it in the closet! So "closet epiphany" is a bit of an oxymoron, don't you think?

The revelation was pounded home last night by, of all people, Jillian Michaels as I watched Biggest Loser. "This is unacceptable," she screamed at the contestants. "You have this amazing opportunity and you are just phoning it in."

And there you have it. I'm "phoning it in." So I am going to stop writing now, plan my calories for the day, look at how I can get in my exercise and get off my bottom.  How about you?

Friday Tips, Tricks and Inspiration

Happy Friday! Here are your tips, tricks and inspiration to start your weekend strong.

We have a crazy busy weekend planned so I am working to get in two hours of exercise today. To combat the boredom, I am mixing in some new exercises and activities. I found some great tips to fight the flab in my arms.  These exercises use a medicine ball, but you can substitute a cantaloupe   Alternately, you can make your own medicine ball by taking a kids playground ball (the durable rubber kind), cutting a slit in it, insert a ziplock bag, fill with sand or earth, then zip the bag. It's always a good idea to mix up our workouts not only for variety, but to keep our muscles challenged. Here are the instructions on Livestrong.


I decided to refresh my knowledge on Cholesterol lowering foods since one of our kids has a genetic predisposition to high cholesterol.  These foods are actually a health trick since they raise your HDL ("good" cholesterol) which affects the LDL/HDL ratio and lowers your overall cholesterol score. Some studies have found that emphasizing these foods has a much bigger impact than focusing on foods which contain cholesterol. We eat a lot of these foods regularly in our household, but I did find a few surprises.


There was an interesting and inspiring Washington Post article recently on Japanese school lunches. Having spent (too) much time in my son's lunchroom, this style of lunching appealed to me.  The kids in the feature are not used to choices -- there is one meal served and they eat it (kind of like at home!).  They involve the kids in the serving and the meals are simple, healthy and do not contain sweets. For a fascinating glimpse at what "could" be, please check out the article.

Have a wonderful, healthy weekend.