Learning to love - myself included

Okay, that's my "start" photo. Obviously, I didn't feel the need to get dressed up before I took it - stained t-shirt and all. oy. But, that's me, and I thought it was a good representation of what I look like at home most of the time. Mainly because this IS what I look like at home most of the time. Somebody call "What Not to Wear" - PLEASE!

As far as the journey goes, I had a great day and a horrible day. I did not eat well. I didn't do BAD, but I didn't even start drinking water until about 6 p.m. when my son came in and I sat down to talk with him.

Here's what I ate today:

breakfast @ 9:30:

• my usual 2 cups of coffee, each with 1 of those little creamers (vanilla - i.e. sweetened) and each with a scant spoonful of regular. (I quit the Splenda a month or so ago and now I'm working on losing the sugar all together. But I'll keep the creamer, thank you very much.)
• 2 pieces of whole wheat cinnamon toast (instead of my usual 3)
• 2 pats of butter
• 1 skim milk string cheese stick (instead of my usual 2)

food @ 5:30 because I was too into what I was doing to stop and eat when I was starving:

• microwave chicken and potato CRAP that I grabbed out of the pantry

late snack @ 11 p.m.:

• large granny smith apple I couldn't finish
• about 1/2 cup of cottage cheese (MUCH less than I'd normally have)

I should have started water MUCH sooner and I really really need and want to get my meals for the rest of the week planned and then go shopping. Or else this is what I tend to do.

HOWEVER, I spent most of the day working on my journal. Printing stuff out. Making goals. Making log sheets. And making this:

I didn't make that as an inspiration page or as some kind of warning. I just was looking at my old photos and I felt like it. But I did learn something, so the process was useful. It was interesting to see all the changes - in EVERYthing. Especially my hair! Wow. And, obviously, my body, too. And it's interesting to me, and kind of sad, that I didn't appreciate what I had when I had it. I'm NOT planning on getting bigger. But other things could happen. I could have a stroke. I could get hit by a car and end up a parapelegic (I've been watching too much "Trauma: Life in the ER".) My little toe that's broken might never heal. You just don't know. And that's the lesson for today that I want to take away:

Love the body you're in while you're in it because you don't know what the future holds and because it's the only one you've got at the time.

I wasted so much time not loving what really really needed to be loved. I did not treat my body well. I didn't appreciate all it was able to do with ease. I didn't appreciate my mind. I didn't use my mind! I didn't appreciate the gift God had given me. I lent it out, put crap into it - ate crap, used crap, drank crap - I was wreckless and was not a good steward with it. And that brings me to a whole 'nother thing. The whole spiritual side of all of this. God created me. He loves me. I am unique to Him. I have a responsibility - a response actually - to Him that needs to be mindful of what HE thinks of me and what HE created me for and what HE gave to me. Such a perfect verse to be thinking about through this journey is:

I Corinthians 6:19 and 20: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. I'm glad I went there. That helps me solidify my goals.