Simple Math
Word problems in math can be a bit confusing. A popular e-card that floats around from time to time explains the trouble we can have with word problems.
It seems that word problems aren’t only for the classroom.
Three things in your life are causing you stress. One of them is far away and cannot be removed by anything but time. The second is close – in your face daily – and will soon remove itself. The third is also close but randomly changes from stress to satisfaction and back again. You need to remove a stressor but can only remove one. Do you wait for the first and second to go away on their own? Or do you remove the third because it’s the only thing you have control over.
What if the obvious answer isn’t the one you want? What if you’re afraid removing the wrong one will cause you more stress? Sometimes the solution to a math problem isn’t a positive answer. Some tests will let you skip a problem and return to it later. But often in the exam called life, you cannot solve the next problem until you have answered the one before it.
So, what will it be? Stressor #1? Stressor #2? Or Stressor #3? Will you choose the one you have control over? Or will you wait until the other two resolve themselves? Can you wait that long?
Or is the answer something similar to what intelligence assessors look for: creativity and out-of-the-box thinking to come to an answer no one had proposed before?
DietBet – Week 5, Day 5
So I’m down to three games this week. My own game ended Monday with my weight being higher than where I started. I keep telling myself that I’m losing weight the right way, by watching what I’m eating, increasing my activity and having a caloric deficit at the end of the day. So I didn’t win my first game. But I lost inches, and that’s good.
I used a different scale this morning to check my weight, so I’ll have to double weigh myself again tomorrow morning on my normal scale, but I like the results I got from today’s! And check out the stats for DietBet 3… remember the rules of the game? Lose 4% of your starting weight…
Stats:
Current weight: 164.6 lbs
Time spent exercising: 1105 minutes
DietBet 2 | DietBet 3 | DietBet 4 | |
Weigh-in weight | 170.2 | 172.4 | 168.6 |
% gained or lost | -3.29% | -4.52% | -2.37% |
Hips | Waist | Thigh | Calf | Neck | Forearm | Wrist |
-1.7 inches | -2.85 inches | -1.3 inches | -1 inch | -0.75 inches | -0.1 inches | -0.6 inches |
I haven’t measured myself today, so my inch loss hasn’t changed. But I’m guessing by the progress pictures I’m about to show you, I’ve lost a little bit more. I look forward to measuring myself tonight.
Author’s edit: I measured myself this evening pre-workout. The numbers are now current.
I finally noticed a difference in my size today! Something about the way my shirt fit when I got dressed made me take a second glance in the mirror. Finally, FINALLY, some visible progress to match how hard I’ve been working!
This week I started Week 3 of Jillian Michaels’ “Ripped in 30″ workout DVD. The workout session seems to go much faster than the previous 2 weeks, but Oh. My Goodness. This session is killer!! So much leg work I feel like I can hardly walk when I’m done! I’m not as sore the next day as I anticipated and I feel like I can do more (can’t keep the same pace as Jillian and her minions) and my form is better. I might go back to weeks 1 and 2 before I start week 4. But, man, oh man, am I seeing results.
And just in case there are doubts, I was NOT sucking in my stomach during today’s pictures! In fact, I kept thinking I wasn’t relaxed, that my stomach should have been rounder than that!
So my next game, my own game starts up late next week. I’m hoping that if I just keep doing what I’m doing (1800 caloric intake, Jillian Michaels, 160-170 grams of protein…) I’ll actually win at my own game! If you’d like to join me, you know what to do: http://bit.ly/104UjSA
Author’s edit: Okay, so I can’t help myself. I had to put the first picture and today’s picture side-by-side. I’m sure I’m bragging or sounding conceited right now, but honestly, it’s just pride in myself and my accomplishments so far.
My Child, My Sister
Something wonderful happened this past Sunday.
Em joined our church.
Em has been attending worship services and kids’ activities in our church her entire life. She’s been a member of the children’s choir and led worship services. She’s attended summer camps and bible studies. But she technically wasn’t a member.
Membership in the church is a personal choice. Em decided to answer the minister’s question that is asked of all people seeking to join our church: “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and do you proclaim Him Lord of your life and Savior of the world?” Em chose to stand up in front of the entire congregation and proclaim, “YES!” Em decided that participation wasn’t enough for her, she wanted to make a statement that she is committed to our church and to following Christ’s example in her life. She wanted to be counted among the members of our congregation.
Em has also chosen to take another big step in her faith journey: baptism.
As an infant, Em was dedicated by a former associate minister, a small ceremony in which the whole congregation promises to help raise the child with love and knowledge of Christ. Baptism in our church is traditionally a choice made by a child, youth or adult when they feel they are ready to make that public proclamation of faith. Em has chosen to have our current interim pastor baptize her this coming Sunday. She and 5 other kids in our congregation (who also joined the church this past Sunday) will all be baptized in our sanctuary during our worship service.
There was never any doubt in my mind that Em would join the church and be baptized in her faith. Her thirst for knowledge and understanding of Christianity has always made me proud. I’m sure I’ll be crying when she comes out of the water and joins me in the church not only as my daughter, but also as my sister in Christ.
DietBet – Week 5, Day 1
I knew it was coming. I knew I was going to lose my own DietBet challenge. And yet, I’m still very disappointed in myself. There’s not been one weekend where I didn’t gain weight, either due to water retention or poor food choices. But this weekend was worse. I actually gained inches back! I have until tomorrow night to submit my final weight to end the game, but I know I won’t be one of the winners. I’m still in three other games, so I need to keep pushing forward, but defeat is not easily overcome – at least not for me.
Stats:
Current weight: 170.2 lbs
Time spent exercising: 1045 minutes
| DietBet 1 | DietBet 2 | DietBet 3 | DietBet 4 |
Weigh-in weight | 168.8 | 170.2 | 172.4 | 168.6 |
% gained or lost | +0.83% | 0.0% | -1.28% | +0.95% |
Hips | Waist | Thigh | Calf | Neck | Forearm | Wrist |
-1.5 inches | -2.25 inches | -1 inch | -1 inch | -0.6 inches | -0.2 inches | -0.5 inches |
Though I’m seeing inches lost in my measurements and I can see some changes in my pictures, I’m still not seeing it in the mirror or in the fit of my clothes. I struggled this weekend with what to wear to the Renaissance Faire because I knew it would be hot but none of my tank tops fit properly yet. I hate looking like this.
I decided to use my picture from 4-15 because it’s closer to what I looked like and weighed when I started this game.
The scary part? I weighed 3 pounds more 24 hours after taking this picture!
I’d adjusted my caloric intake numbers last week, but I’m struggling to actually hit that number without going over. During the week I’m so strict about what I eat at work so I have enough left for dinner that I frequently don’t get enough calories in before bed. But on days when I do eat enough at work, I seem to be even more hungry at dinnertime and go over what I’m supposed to consume. I know that being under one day and over the next is okay, that it’s pretty much the average that counts, but I’m not seeing a loss like I should. My weekly TDEE was calculated to be 18237 last week and I ate 12284 – nearly 6000 calories below – so I should have seen a loss of at least a pound, if not 1.5 pounds. Instead, I stayed the same weight and gained 2 inches all around!! I’m not going to change my TDEE – 20% just yet; I’ll give it a few more weeks. But it is very frustrating to see reverse results when I feel like I’ve been working really hard the last 4 weeks.
Not at all happy with my gain in inches.
My stomach looks just as round as day 1.
So I lose. I’ve got 3 more games to complete, so I can’t give up just yet. But it’s going to take some serious digging to find the motivation to continue. Because we all know what the definition of insanity is…
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