Things that Rhyme

There once was a girl

who liked to twirl;

So she learned to dance,

while she planned her life in advance.

As she got older 

she grew a good bit bolder;

And she grew and she grew

until she turned twenty-two. 

At this time, you see,

her boyfriend got down on one knee.

He asked her to be his wife,

and be together for the rest of their life.

She said "Yes!" of course,

and without any force;

They planned their dream day 

and let nothing stand in their way.

As the wedding day drew near

the girl began to fear,

that her dress wouldn't fit, 

and she couldn't stand the thought of it.

But when the day came,

her worries were in vain. 

She and he said "I do"

on beautiful September twenty-two. 

After they wed,

as many have said,

they both put on some weight,

which the girl began to hate. 

"Enough is enough," she wrote,

in her blog she wrote a note. 

She vowed that she would work hard

and always be on her guard.

She opted to follow 

the Couch to 5K plan without a wallow. 

But she needed something more,

so that running did not become a bore.

She searched online and Pinterest

until she found something of interest.

A plan for the month of Feb

that was pre-written on the web.

Today she's presenting it to you,

so maybe you'll join in too! 

It starts out looking kind of easy,

but I doubt it'll be much of a breeze-y.

Thanks for reading my cheesy rhymn! I hope I didn't take up too much of your time :)

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P.S. If you want a PDF version of this plan, just email me and I'll send it to you. I'm having to catch up right now, so I'm doing two-a-days.

Getting Things in Order

I started blogging consistently a little less than a year ago. My blogging journey started when I decided to participate in a week-long cleanse before I went wedding dress shopping. I blogged about the cleanse, my battle that I've always had with my weight vs. self-esteem, the changes that I've made in my diet and exercise over the years, and finally, my decision to bring a doctor into the mix.

Wedding dress shopping...post-cleanse.

After about 6 months of blogging about this topic (among others), I've had some difficulty writing this blog. I sit down to write, and I think about what's going on in my life. Things have settled down some for Jason and me as far as traveling and big life changes. I like writing about marriage and being a newlywed and the emotions/hurdles/joys that brings, but I don't want this to be a blog that is solely about that. When I think about my life, the constant struggle that I have is my weight and self-esteem. But yet, I haven't been able to bring myself to write about it since October. So, as of today, I'm going back to where this blog began and I'm going to give you an update.

As always, I don't write this just so people know what's going on with my life. I write this in hopes that someone who reads this might take comfort in identifying with me, find hope in the truth that we are all God's creation no matter our struggles, and maybe even take steps to identify the source of their frustration/worries/hardship.

Before I update you, if you haven't read about my journey to find answers, take a look at this blog post.

Right before Thanksgiving, I went back to my doctor to have some follow-up blood work done. After Thanksgiving, Jason accompanied me to the doctor to hear the results. When I was 16, I was diagnosed with insulin resistance and PCOS (to find out about what in the world that means, click here). After high school, I didn't really pursue any treatment for it, but I've always just aimed to eat a low carb/high protein diet and exercise. I knew that losing weight would be an uphill battle for me. In college, things were kind of up and down when it came to my weight and self-esteem (read more about my battle here). Then, post college, working a sedentary job, being on a budget, and falling victim to lots and lots of life changes has put me at the highest weight, most out of shape, and lowest self-esteem I've ever experienced.

My feelings x 100

Now, for the results. My doctor informed me that my insulin levels had spiked. They were definitely in the high range, but I'm not diabetic (yet). He said that my results were consistent with insulin resistance and PCOS. He put me on an appetite suppressant for 3-6 months, told me to follow the nutrition rules he gave me over the summer, and increase my exercise. After 6 months, he is planning on putting me on a medication that will help keep my insulin levels down.

Honestly, I was satisfied with those results. I'd been praying that I would get some sort of answer, but that nothing HORRIBLE would be wrong with me. This, was definitely a manageable result and all in all an answered prayer.

Month One: December went pretty well. Although we were crazy busy, I managed to lose about 5-6 pounds. I was down 8 pounds, but then Christmas happened. My doctor told me at my one month check-in that he was happy with how things were going. Me, being the crazy over-achiever that I am, didn't think I'd done enough though.

Month Two: January was weird. About a week into January, I went to another doctor who I've been seeing for about 5 years. She got onto me about my weight and challenged me to get back into running and aim for 150 minutes of medium-high intensity exercise a week. My month two check-in was yesterday, and my doctor wasn't super stoked about my results. I got about 1-2 pounds off, but we all know I can do a lot better. We talked about my goals and I clearly realized something: I've got to work harder.

Eating pretty healthy doesn't cut it right now. Exercising when I have time or when I feel like it is not enough. I've got to eat really good. I've got to get out and sweat. I can't make compromises or talk myself out of this thing. I can't settle. This is no longer just a physical desire to look better or be skinnier - this is a health issue and it's about time that I start acting like it.

Obviously, I have some ideas of what I'm going to do to work harder in mind. I completed day one of week two of the Couch to 5K running plan last night. Talk about humbling. I used to be able to run at least a mile and a half without having to walk...even if I hadn't run in a while. Now, after about a minute, everything hurts. But, I'm not going to let that stop me. I'm determined to accomplish this and not quit. I also want to do some sort of weight training 1-2 days a week in addition to my running plan. If you have ideas, let me know. I also am cutting back on my sugars. I usually just look at the carbs that I'm taking in, but I haven't ever paid enough attention to the amount of sugar that foods have. Time to start. My goal is to not eat any refined carb/sugar after lunch, and any carbs/sugars that I do eat need to be whole grain or natural (coming either from dairy or fruit).

Will someone people buy this in mural size for me?

Yesterday went well, but it's going to be an uphill battle. Fortunately, I have a great support system in Jason and I'm thankful for that. I'll keep my blog readers posted (haha, pun intended) on my progress along the way. Please be praying for discipline and grace for me through this.

Last, but certainly not least, I love hearing from people who read this. Whether it's encouragement, ideas, questions, or just a random comment, it really is all great. Community is so important and I want to know how I can be praying/encouraging you as well! 

I know this is long, so thanks for hanging in there and reading to the end :)

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I Said "YES" - It's Been One Year

Jason proposed to me one year ago today. I'd like to say that time flies, and it some ways it does, but I also feel like we've just always been married...I suppose that's probably a good thing :)

Anyway, I wanted to post our proposal story, because it's awesome of course. I was going to just repost the blog that I wrote about it, but then I realized that I never posted a blog about it. I did however, post the story on our wedding website. Since September 23rd marked the day that I never did anything wedding related again, our wedding website is still up. So, here's our proposal story (complete with awesome photos), one year later.

Enjoy!

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Jason proposed on February 4, 2012. I have known Jason was very romantic all along, but I this night he was on a whole new playing field.

So...here it goes:

Jason told me that he wanted to take me on a date Saturday night. He said that earlier in the week, but he never really said anything else about it. So Friday night I asked him if he still wanted to go out Saturday night, and he said, "Yes, be ready at 5:30."

Well, I was ready, but the bottom dropped out of the sky at about 5:20 that night. So we made a run to the car with my somewhat functional (but usually broken), leopard-print umbrella. We barely got out of my apartment complex and he pulled out a blindfold and told me that there were 5 parts to our date, and I had to be blindfolded in between every part. Honestly, I wasn't as shocked as I probably should have been when he handed me the blindfold. He did the same thing when he asked me to be his girlfriend on September 22, 2010....it's kind of his trademark :)

Me with my awesome blindfold.

So the first two parts of our date he basically took me on our first date again. We went to Rojo for dinner in Highlands area. He didn't let me take off the blindfold until we were literally walking in the door, so I felt silly, but that's okay because I knew something special was coming. We ate, and I honestly can't even remember what we talked about because I was so giddy/excited/nervous.

After dinner, he took me to Morris Ave. downtown. On our first date, Jason took me to a place there to hear one of our friends from church play. On our first date, we walked around the unique area of Morris Ave. before the show. February 4th, he walked his blindfolded girlfriend through the same street. He guided me all the way down the cobblestone road to this random chair sitting in the middle of the sidewalk. Then he told me to sit down, and he got out his backpack  (I asked if we were going to school).

Our "song" is called Goodnight Moon, and a while back I bought him the children's book with the same name because he'd never read it before. So while I was sitting in the random chair in the middle of Morris Ave., he told me that he had a story to read to me and he read me Goodnight Moon (the book). Then he told me that he had something for me to read, and he got out this beautiful custom made hardback book that had all of these pictures of us in it. He'd written the book to be like Goodnight Moon, except everything was "Hello [fill in the blank]". I started crying about three pages in. Then on the last page it said, "Do you want a new last name? Will you marry me?" And when I finished reading he was on one knee with the ring out.

It looks like a scene from a movie. Good job Kyle (aka our spy photographer)

On one knee. Love this.

 After that, we went to Homewood Park. The first time we went there was some sort of pilates class going on or something so Jason and I made fun of them  by dancing on the tables trying to immitate them. So Saturday when we went to the park he got out his iPod and we danced on the table...sounds silly, but it was really sweet and cute...and let's face it, Jason and I are a pretty silly couple.

Fourth stop was O'Henry's coffee shop in Downtown Homewood. Jason took me in (still blindfolded) and set up his computer and he had my family on the other end of it so we could video chat. That was probably one of the best parts of the night because all of them were just sitting there waiting and SO excited for us! We talked for almost an hour, which I later found out was good because Jason wasn't sure how he was going to delay us for the fifth and final part of the night (he totally underestimated how much four girls can talk).

Video chatting with my family

Last stop of the night was at our friends' apartment. Our small group from church and a couple of our other good friends had thrown us a little engagement party, which was so wonderful and sweet of them. We got to celebrate and text all of our friends and family. We also got to eat some yummy ice cream cake and just share our story and fellowship with the people we share life with here in Birmingham. Before we left, our friends prayed over us and our engagement and our future marriage. It reminded me how truly blessed we are to have each other, our friends, and our families who are all so encouraging and supportive!

Our engagement party!

Dun-dun-dun-duuhhhhhh...THE RING...or should I say, THE BLING!

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