it only works if you talk back.

So, going for my second time for this analysis, I was hoping for good results… and they sure were!

Weight: 209lb (down 14lbs from 223)

Total Body Fat %: 25.5 (down 5.8% from 31.3%)

My goal weight is up (3lbs) to 181lbs with 14% body fat.

Some other interesting things:

- my lean body mass is up around 2.5lbs (this is why my goal weight went up)

- my lean body mass to fat ratio is up to 2.9 to 1 (from 2.2 to 1)

So there have been some awesome improvements in my physical shape!

I forgot my extended syllabus at home for Luke-Acts today… that means that I’m pretty lost in terms of what is being said. Greek grammar and sentence structure is lost on me at this point. Next year, maybe not so much.

Monday/Wednesday/Fridays are not the best school days… Counseling is pretty much my least favorite class this semester, I then have a useless spare, followed by Luke-Acts where I can’t really follow anything. The only class which is pretty decent is Pastoral Life Issues, and that’s just a bunch of guest speakers coming in…

Someone asked me today “what’s new?” I said “not much.” That’s not really true. There’s a lot that is new, mainly a new relationship that puts a smile on my face everyday. Sure, a lot is the same: school, work, other things. But a lot has changed in the last few weeks: I’ve been changing my eating habits even more, going grocery shopping more frequently, and cooking up a storm. That’s new for me. I’ve struggled in this last week to get to the gym 3 times, but because my eating habits have changed I’ve actually still lost weight. I’m down almost 10lbs since my first “Fitness Assessment and Body Composition Analysis” and I’m not scared to go do another one, which I need to schedule soon.

March is a jerk, and I have a major project due almost every week, and sometimes even 2 in one week. Right now I’m working on my New Testament Theology paper, which is about the theology of the temple in Paul and Revelation. It’s been a fascinating study and there is so much to say that I hope to do some justice to it in 10-12 pages. I am so deeply indebted to the work of G. K. Beale that I just want to give him a big hug. Once I get this paper done (4:30pm Thursday at the latest) a fairly big load is lifted off, until I start again on a Pastoral Life project, then Counseling… It just keeps going and going.

I’m taking a class at St. Stephen’s College at the U of A this semester called “Just Sex”: Integrating Sexuality and Spirituality. It’s been pretty good in terms of challenging me in my understanding of how they integrate and getting some great conversation going in 3 hour chunks every week. One of the unfortunate things is that there are only 3 people in the class… yesterday I was the only one who showed up… class was cancelled. While I certainly had a lot of work to do on other things, and I was ok with it being cancelled, I felt bad for the professor. This is a class that is barely surviving, it wouldn’t even have run if there had been only 3 people registered from the beginning… I hope that more people show interest in this course, as it has been fantastic for important discussion, exploration, reflection, and self-discovery.

I cannot wait for this semester to end. I always look forward to working with bugs/reptiles in May and June. I’m not so sure what July and August will hold though, and beyond that into next year… I won’t be in as many classes next year, and I’m planning on doing a course online this summer to further lessen that course load for my fall semester. Hopefully I can get a job in July (or maybe as early as May) that I can maintain through the school year. While I’m sure I could return to Starbucks, it’s not the environment I want… especially not a drive-thru store.

Speaking of driving… That’s something that I don’t know if I will or won’t next year. I need my car for May and June for my bug job, but depending on what I do over the rest of the summer, I may need to keep it around for the whole year. I’ve actually really enjoyed taking public transportation over the last 6 months or so. It certainly has it’s less glamorous moments but overall it has been good. I’m paying for a U-Pass anyways, so I might as well make use of it. It’s also really nice to not pay for insurance, gas, and maintenance. If I’m able to make it another year without using my dumb car over my last year of school, it might be worth it… It’s not that I don’t like driving, I just don’t like the cost :)

Speaking of money… I don’t have a lot of it in my account right now. In fact, I have barely enough to cover my MasterCard bill (which isn’t that big) this month. For the first time in my life I may not actually pay my entire MC bill off this month… at least not completely before the payment due date. I get paid a few days after it’s due, so it’ll probably be covered then. Everything will be gravy once May hits, but I’m scraping by right now… Though, to be fair, I could just call my investment person at IG and get her to transfer some $ into my checking account… It’s probably best to do that rather than incur some unnecessary interest. I should also do my taxes ASAP, I think I have a few $$ coming my way (not all that many though).

Well that’s probably enough useless info for you people…

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this thing… I’m still alive, doing things, but I’ve yet to update this.

First things first, I have been maintaining my commitment to World Health. I’ve been faithful at least 3 times per week, doing the routines that my trainer set out for me. I just started week 5 right now, and I’ll have another 2 weeks before I set up another fitness assesment & body composition analysis. I’m hoping that shows more progress than the scale, as I’ve only lost around 7lbs.

The weird thing is that I actually enjoy going. I wish I had less homework, especially over reading week, if that were the case I probably would have been there everyday…

Over mod-week I went to the PAOC Ministers’ Gathering in Banff. It was actually a lot more fun than I expected. The drive was kinda painful, but my time there was enjoyable. They had the wickedest pool area I’ve ever seen, complete with a eucalyptus steam bath. I was glad to show off my hot bod… Oh wait, nope, not yet…

One thing I am not looking forward to: March. March may very well be the month where I suffocate and die due to homework. I will try to stay on top of things, but I expect many late nights…

Speaking of homework… I should be doing that right now.

Later.

So, if you’re actually reading this (which I know some of you are) you may have noticed that I didn’t post anything over the weekend regarding my eating habits or anything… There’s a few reasons for that.

First of all: this weekend sucked in terms of eating habits, and there was no significant exercise.

Secondly: I was busy.

So anyways, this week I’m starting my program. Today I was working my arms, it was tough, but good.

So I’m calling a mulligan, technically in counselling terms it’s called relapse. Whatever you call it, I did bad, I do better next time.

I knew today was going to be a big day. I had an appointment with my trainer at 8:30, so I had a piece of toast with a little bit of jam and cream cheese (160 cal). I’m glad I did have that because my trainer was pretty ruthless.

Now I have a 3 day program that I can commit to, working different muscle groups every day. I need this to actually improve my core and upper body strength. My core strength is actually awful, upper body strength is bad, lower body is pretty ok. For the next 6 weeks I am going to commit to this 3 day program (also spending a day or two just doing cardio). I’ll post the exact program later.

I decided it would be a good idea to weigh myself again after running through my program. I’m glad I did because I was down to 216.5 (that’s 6.5 less than my initial body composition analysis). That’ll help with my weigh in at Urban Losers this week.

Running through a 3 day program in an hour is exhausting, and I needed something in my belly. I opted for a ‘Pomegranate Punch’ from Booster Juice. Delicious (400 cal).

Lunch was not as healthy, but not really that bad either. I had a small vegetarian burrito from Mucho Burrito. (which according to the limited nutritional information I have, is about 500 cal). My Community Life Group and I went there. I also got a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper.

I had an appointment with a nutritionist this afternoon too… That was… well, a good kick in the butt. It’s not like she said anything I didn’t know: “80% nutrition, 20% exercise” “3 meals, 3 snacks” “don’t drink your calories” etc. The sad reality is that it’s expensive to eat properly, it’s expensive to buy good food, and eat 3 meals and 3 snacks per day. I want to have all the right groceries in my fridge and cupboard, but it’s hard. She wanted to set a meal plan for me and junk, which would probably be beneficial, but would cost me around $240 over 6 bi-weekly payments. I don’t know if I can afford to do that.

Dinner was fine, I had a bowl of soup and some flatbread with cream cheese, and the remaining pickles in the fridge. I seriously have no food in the fridge, there is half a container of cream cheese and a little bit of raspberry jam left. Oh and some left over chick pea thing (which I won’t buy again). I also have some tofu and ground round in the freezer, and I have no idea what to do with them. Actually, now that I think about it… I should make a lasagna with the ground round… yeah…

The only other thing that I ate yesterday was a few carrots with some dip at our film/discussion at Vanguard. Oh, and when I was watching Community with Curtis and Kristin, I did have a few chips with some salsa, and a couple of Kristin’s chips.

This weekend: grocery shopping.