People often ask me how I went about losing weight over these last several months. I feel very sheepish because I don’t have a good answer, and the stuff I do is in no way original. It’s a very unromantic combination of diet and exercise. No meal replacement. No expensive powders or weird smoothies. Just eating good food in the right proportions and running or walking 4-5 times a week.
That said, here are some tips that have been most useful for me.
Log everything you eat. I use MyFitnessPal, which tracks food and exercise. I’ve also heard good things about LoseIt. The bar code scanner makes it fun. Over time I’ve gotten less anal about logging absolutely everything, but that’s because I’ve got an intuitive sense of where I am. Is that a pain? Yes. Are there days I get sick of logging everything? Absolutely. Would I rather deal with the hassle of logging than backsliding? Yes.
Weigh yourself every day. Studies show that regular feedback is key to achieving goals. I think the conventional wisdom used to be a weekly weigh-in, but that’s not enough input to keep me going. That said, expect ups and downs. Look at the forest, not the trees. But look everyday.
Invest in a kitchen scale and measuring cups. Portion size is everything. It’s amazing how much I can fudge my portions if I try to eyeball it.
Be around people who will support, not sabotage.
This is a lifestyle, not a short-term goal. Which means I eat delicious things that are “bad” for me, and I do it with some regularity. My friend Jay, who’s done a great job with weight loss, put it well: “Be sensible more often than not and you’ll go in the right direction.”
Then again, I’m a moderator, not an abstainer. Figure out which one you are and be that.
Another tip from Jay: when you’re at a restaurant and are starting to pick at your meal after you’re full, sprinkle water from your water glass all over the food. Weird but it works. I’ve done similar things, including (gasp!) throwing away the rest of something that just needed to be out of my house and my life. (See: leftover tubs of frosting after a kid’s birthday.) Sorry, starving children of the world.
Dessert, alcoholic beverage, or a day off from exercise: pick two on any given day. You’ll likely stay in range, but you can still enjoy life and be flexible to the needs and desires of the moment.
Do you have any tips you use? Share in the comments.
Image comes from this post, which I featured recently on Link Love.
It’s been two years since the end of LOST, one of my favorite shows. My brother sent this along:
LOST Producer Damon Lindelof Has ‘No Regrets’ - Entertainment Weekly (Video)
It annoys me that the interviewer fundamentally misunderstood what happened at the end of LOST. But this is an interesting interview nonetheless.
And for the record, the ending did not disappoint me. I thought it was wonderful. And I still miss that show. Frequently.
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6 Ridiculous Lies You Believe about the Founding of America - Cracked.com
Columbus didn’t discover America (the Vikings got here first), white settlers did not carve America out of the untamed wilderness, and more:
The puzzlingly obedient wilderness didn’t stop in New England. Frontiersmen who settled what is today Ohio were psyched to find that the forest there naturally grew in a way that “resembled English parks.” You could drive carriages through the untamed frontier without burning a single calorie clearing rocks, trees and shrubbery.
Whether they honestly believed they’d lucked into the 17th century equivalent of Candyland or were being willfully ignorant about how the land got so tamed, the truth about the presettled wilderness didn’t make it into the official account. It’s the same reason every extraordinarily lucky CEO of the past 100 years has written a book about leadership. It’s always a better idea to credit hard work and intelligence than to acknowledge that you just got luckier than any group of people has ever gotten in the history of the world.
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Ken Burns on Storytelling — The Atlantic (Video and Interview)
There’s a new documentary about Ken Burns and his approach to Story.
[Sorry, can't get the video to embed. But you can see it at the link.]
I would love to chat this up with some preachers. Specifically, I’m interested in his comments on manipulation. Isn’t manipulation an inevitable aspect of writing and delivering a sermon? Of course you want to do it faithfully and with integrity, but yeah, you are hoping for a response. How refreshing that he comes out and admits this. Once you’ve done that, then you can evaluate whether you’ve done it responsibly.
This has been making the rounds among my friends but it bears repeating:
YOU, not the church, are the primary religious educator for your children.Yes, the church serves as a resource for teaching your child about the Bible, worship, theology, and even religious history. But even if a child never misses a week of Sunday school, there is never enough time in that once a week class to reinforce and build upon the lessons of scripture and faith that children have the potential to learn.
You are responsible for building an adult religious life outside of your children. Many parents choose to return to the church and to religious practices once they have children of their own. Most often, then, their faith life and practice revolves around the religious upbringing of their children. As an adult, though, there is a level of nurture and spiritual development that you yourself can benefit from. Without taking that next step in building their own faith, adults can very easily find their lives void of a mature faith life once their children are grown.
More at the link.
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140 Characters Isn’t Enough — Katie Boone
The stories we tell on twitter and other social media:
Story is at the heart of the human experience. Our flight or fight response is the evidence of a collective story about survival. We lull our children to sleep with stories. We collect them, call it history and try to learn from it so we are not doomed to repeat it.
The danger occurs when our stories are rootless. All we need to do is look at the plethora of new social rituals to see the evidence: gender reveal parties, food journaling, push presents, work out diaries and birthday parties for grown-ups. We talk about “personal brand” as if that is a real thing of consequence. These new rituals tell a story, but that story is all about you and your life. All of it is an attempt to ritualize daily life and give it a depth that is not there.
We tell rootless stories when we forget our stories do not begin with us…
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Why Great Ideas Come When You Aren’t Trying — Nature
History is rich with ‘eureka’ moments: scientists from Archimedes to Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein are said to have had flashes of inspiration while thinking about other things. But the mechanisms behind this psychological phenomenon have remained unclear. A study now suggests that simply taking a break does not bring on inspiration — rather, creativity is fostered by tasks that allow the mind to wander.
May you find time to wander this weekend.
Speaking of which, it’s Memorial Day here in the U.S., so here’s one more link: my traditional posting of “Let Them In Peter,” a John Gorka song for fallen soldiers:
Several weeks ago I shared an idea for Palm Sunday worship in which I read the poem “White Flour” while a group of folks from Tiny Church acted out the story. It was a smashing success, a lot of fun, and an unusual way to highlight the themes of Palm Sunday. We had good participation. Which means that not all of the players were related to me.
Though these two were:
A couple of clowns getting ready to go on
The picture book version of White Flour was released this week. I was proud to be a backer of this project on Kickstarter, and we received our five copies in the mail today. Kudos to David LaMotte and Jenn Hales for a lovely work of art and activism.
I am giving one copy of this book away to a Blue Room reader. The book centers around a creative response in the face of hatred, so for the purposes of this giveaway, I want to her about other moments of creativity.
To enter, simply leave a comment describing a creative ministry (or life) moment you have witnessed or taken part in recently. Did you present “White Flour” in worship? Sing a new song? Take part in a flash mob? Or maybe you participated in this response to that odious statement about LGBT people made by the pastor in North Carolina.
Maybe your action wasn’t in response to a dramatic situation, as in the book. That’s not the point. The point is, whether it’s racism or homophobia or just the deadly dull plodding of days that can suck the life out of a community…we need to fight back with beauty.
You have until Tuesday night to enter. May this post be a place to share ideas and be inspired.
A friend of mine likes to say, “Sometimes the pastor’s main job is to be the grownup in the room.”
Sometimes the “room” you’re in is the Internet.
And sometimes we need to model healthy communication, despite the fact that we’re subject to the same fears, insecurities and foibles as anyone else. It’s easy to hide behind a screen.
Do you have rules and norms for social media and e-mail? Here’s one of mine. It’s not hard and fast but I’ve found it to be useful:
When you’re dealing with sensitive subjects, or the potential for hurt or angry feelings, “bump it up.”
In other words, however the person contacts you about an issue, you respond with a more direct mode of communication.
One level up should do it. If they send you a text message, you respond with a phone call. If they send an e-mail, pay them a visit.
What do you think? Share your rule or experience in the comments.
Meet Jacob, a special friend and member of my church whom I visited this past weekend in Minnesota. Jacob, age 7, had a bone marrow transplant 180 days ago. That’s a milestone, but the celebration was rather low-key—we played some Wii (he kicked my butt) and I took his mom out for beers and pub food.
At this point, it appears that the BMT has halted the spread of the ALD, which is cause for rejoicing in heaven and earth. I am so thankful to the as-yet-unnamed guy in his mid-40s who was a perfect match, who gave Jacob a second chance. We will be having a bone marrow registry drive at Tiny Church in November, near the one-year anniversary of Jake’s transplant.
Unfortunately, Jacob has been in the hospital since day 60 or so. He’s had a whole host of issues to deal with since transplant, including graft v. host disease and all kinds of other stuff. You know those drug commercials where they list all the weird, random side effects? And when you ask the doctor she says, “Eh, I have never seen that happen.” Jake seems to have a talent for being the one who gets the weird complication or side effect. He is, to borrow a phrase, the 1%.
You can read his incredible story here, although the latest entry is about me and how I came to be called to Tiny. So let me return the favor by telling you a little of what I saw this weekend.
I saw a kid who was clearly feeling crummy but who complained exactly twice. Who doesn’t like physical therapy but who does it. (Sadly, I missed his 2 laps around the floor on the bike on Sunday.) Who speaks up for himself, who’s assertive to say what he needs or wants. Who swallows handfuls of pills each day, and pillcams the width of a Sharpie.
Who was stronger on Sunday than he was on Saturday.
I also saw a mother whose frustration and fatigue with the situation has gotta be out of this world but who responded with patience, love and attentiveness to her son. Who spends every day and night with him but who takes time away each day because that’s the healthy, faithful thing to do. Who is very plugged into what’s happening with her daughter back home in Virginia and who can’t wait until she comes out for the summer, even though that means an increase in logistics.
Who went shopping for a wedding shower gift, for heaven’s sake.
It’s a cliche to call people like this brave. I’m not even sure that’s the right word. Because they would answer, What choice do we have?
They do have a choice, though. They can become bitter and defeated and curved into themselves—and who would blame them?—or they can write a journal entry that says, “Enough about us—another family here needs our prayers and thoughts right now.”
One of my articles of faith is that people going through hard times are under no obligation to be inspiring to the rest of us. They have every right to be cranky and imperfect, to shake their fist at the heavens.
And when the opposite happens—when grace happens—well, there’s nothing for a pastor, or a person, to do but to notice it and name it. To breathe, bask and behold.
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Title is a riff on a Carrie Newcomer song (video). “Redemption everywhere I look.”
UPDATE: Fixed the link to the family’s CaringBridge site.
I’m in Minnesota this weekend visiting a family from church. The seven year old son received a bone marrow transplant six months ago. The marrow engrafted well, but the poor guy has had a whole host of complications. He has been in the hospital for 120 days.
This morning I ran along the Mississippi River and came upon this bit of graffiti:
It is, it is.
As hard as it is to see this sweet little guy suffer pain and fatigue and fevers and discouragement, maybe that’s the call today. To be a sleuth for grace.
Man Barely Able to Stand Does the Unthinkable — YouTube
I would like to know more specifics about how the yoga teacher helped him, but yes. Amazing.
h/t: Teri Peterson
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Neil deGrasse Tyson Gets Sidetracked While Singing Children’s Songs — McSweeney’s
They get his gee-whiz pegagogical voice just right:
Actually, some might call the wheels on the bus a “discovery” more than an invention, as most things in this world are a discovery of invention, rather than a fabrication out of nothing. This brings up something I want to discuss briefly here, if you will allow, because I think the misconception that a lot of people have, uh, concerning, concerning SCIENTISTS. Oooo, “Scientists.” That word. Strikes fear into the heart of some, and amazement into the heart of, well, me. And probably you, since you are here today in this planetarium, listening to me go on and on about my love for this… hang on a sec, let me… okay, so, we often find people BLAMING scientists for, for, for, these discoveries and inventions… being misused or being funded for misuse. We must remember that the discovery itself is not moral or immoral, it is the application of said discovery that is required to be held to that standard. Also, how cool are wheels on busses, right? And circles, in general. The fact that you can take a circle and divide it by its radius and you get pi, everytime, is astounding to me. Gives me chills every time.
More at the link. And for those keeping score, this is the second week in a row that I’ve featured NdGT on Friday Link Love. Why? Because he’s kind of a big deal.
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The Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen — That Organic Girl
This post offers a list of foods that are most important to buy organic (if possible) and a list of foods for which organic isn’t that critical.
I’m a pretty half-***ed consumer when it comes to organic goods—I basically get what’s available and what my kids are likely to eat. (Caroline just informed me that she no longer likes the big three: apples, oranges, or bananas. C’mon, WORK WITH ME KID.)
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Speaking of food,
The Anti-Diet — The Londoner
As I wrote on my Pinterest boards, “Best overview I’ve read on how to lose weight without dieting. Covers exercise, emotionally based eating, sustaining a discipline, the importance of enjoying food… I don’t know about the cravings piece (e.g. if you crave carbonated drinks you need more calcium) but it’s interesting.”
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Traditional Marriage: One Man, Many Women, Some Girls, Some Slaves — Religion Dispatches
Just so we’re clear:
Time to break out your Bible, Mr. Perkins! Abraham had two wives, Sarah and her handmaiden Hagar. King Solomon had 700 wives, plus 300 concubines and slaves. Jacob, the patriarch who gives Israel its name, had two wives and two concubines. In a humanist vein, Exodus 21:10 warns that when men take additional wives, they must still provide for their previous one. (Exodus 21:16 adds that if a man seduces a virgin and has sex with her, he has to marry her, too.)
But that’s not all. In biblical society, when you conquered another city, tribe, or nation, the victorious men would “win” their defeated foes’ wives as part of the spoils. It also commanded levirate marriage, the system wherein, if a man died, his younger brother would have to marry his widow and produce heirs with her who would be considered the older brother’s descendants. Now that’s traditional marriage!
More. Much more.
Last week a conservative member of my denomination told NPR, ”From the Old Testament and throughout the New Testament, the only sexual relationships that are affirmed in scripture are those in the context of marriage between one man and one woman.” To quote my friend Michael: biblical scholarship FAIL.
You want to be against gay marriage? You can do that. But the Bible doesn’t help you as much as you think it does.
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And just for fun, and to fill my quota on posts from Colossal:
Gale-Force Winds Directly to the Face — Colossal
So very entertaining and bizarre. It’s exactly what it sounds like:
So how do we solve the gender gap in ministry? With women outnumbering men in seminaries today, how we do break that stained glass ceiling?
Our current approach in the Presbyterian Church is to require churches, when looking for a pastor, to interview at least one female candidate. The thinking is, of the final three or four candidates, there would be a woman in the mix, and perhaps even churches with an unspoken default of pastor=male might be sufficiently moved to think outside the box. Not that every church will follow that up with a call to that woman, of course. This is mysterious Holy Spirit stuff, not to mention that there are women pastors who aren’t all that. But churches should at least look.
Do you think this helps? Have you seen this approach be helpful?
[Insert standard disclaimer about how people are complicated and are more than their gender.]
I was talking to some friends last week who were questioning this approach. And here’s the piece I found interesting. People have done studies about how we make decisions, and we do a much better job evaluating when we can compare two relatively similar things to one another. My friend told me about a study (I think I’ve got this right) in which they showed three pictures. Two pictures were of handsome/beautiful celebrities and the third was an image of one of those celebrities, but with the face badly distorted.
So for example, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and George Clooney with big jowls and an enlarged forehead.
Subjects were asked to choose the most handsome/beautiful face. The study showed that people overwhelmingly chose the face that had its own distorted image to compare it to. These images were so much better looking than their distorted image that they ended up coming out on top most of the time. So in the example, George Clooney over Brad Pitt.
OK that might be a bad example. The Clooney always beats Brad.
Anyway.
If this study is accurate, a lone woman among a final four of candidates will not get a fair look-see because there is no basis for good comparison. She becomes a non-sequitur.
So maybe we shouldn’t require churches to interview a woman candidate. Maybe we should require them to interview more than one!
Context: There is a stained glass ceiling in ministry. Granted it has holes in it, but the number of women who serve as heads of staff of large congregations is…small.
Context, Part the Second: This is a rant. A vent. Treat it accordingly.
Yesterday morning I posted a note on FB about having to juggle work stuff and writing stuff with James in tow—his day care provider needed the day off. Within the hour I got three responses from other pastors who were having similar issues that very day: teacher inservice + working on the sermon, well baby visit + writing a presentation, etc.
These folks are all super talented, and I found myself asking “Wow, imagine how far we’d go if we weren’t all doing 2-3 jobs at once!”
Imagine, indeed.
I don’t have to tell you the gender of all four of these pastors, do I.
DO I.
Honestly, I don’t know what I’m testy about. And it’s probably foolish to allow one’s anger to roam, free-range; it’s liable to wander into the wrong person’s yard and start pooping on stuff.
I should probably apologize right now and get it over with.
Because hey, it’s possible that there is some large cadre of clergymen out there wondering how to get the funeral meditation done in between carpool and the lacrosse practice.
But I doubt it.
It’s also possible that all of us minister-moms like our current career trajectory just fine. I certainly hope so. I like where I am, and I’m not just saying that to calm down any member of Tiny who might read this. Solo pastor ministry is fun. Varied. And yes, flexible: James and I had a great day together. I really do love being the default caregiver during the week. If life imitates the Simpsons, and we need to evacuate earth and my kids only get to choose one parent, well…sorry Robert.
But there’s no way that every woman who juggles kids and a call wants it that way. They are limited geographically. Or related, they’ve made a financial calculation that their spouse will be the primary breadwinner.
And that’s all fine. Except that in 2012 we have a gender gap in ministry at the highest levels. That’s a justice issue. An economic issue. A question of power. And our male colleagues may be sensitive new age guys, but they are only too happy to take the big positions and the big salaries while we juggle the pediatrician and PowerPoint.
