I have still been struggling, and recently I’ve seriously started asking God why. Here are some things I know.

God wants me to be healthy.

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple. – 1 Corinthians 3:17

I can be disciplined.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. – 2 Tim. 1:7
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control - Galatians 5:22-23
we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – Romans 6:6

I can be thin and healthy.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. – Philippians 4:13

This is not just a physical fight, and I don’t have to simply trust my own physical will. As a child of God I have the resources to realize this goal. When wanting to isn’t enough, He Is.

-j

I just wanted to make a quick update and say I lost 2 lbs at camp. I probably could have lost more, but I noticed that as the week went on the amount of healthy options decreased and the amount of carbohydrated options increased. Probably due to conservation of food. Anyway, I will still call it a success. I’ll try to keep the momentum going!

-j

The Argentinians from Canada have finally arrived at Eastern Camp. I have been waiting for them all week! I wanted to sit in the afternoons and drink tereré and speak Spanish with them but their son told me they weren’t coming til Friday. This afternoon I was walking around drinking my never-ending iced tea and I heard someone say in Spanish, “who’s drinking mate?!” We didn’t even say a word of English for several minutes after that. It was like a breath of fresh air! I miss my castellano (but she would say ca-ste-SHA-no) and its special ways of saying things.

Anyway, before I was through with the termo of water, Kathy and I were invited (when she gets here) to their house in canada for an asado.

I’m glad they’re coming to Richmond this weekend! They’re even giving me some of their yerba! Mmmm…I enjoy RosaMonte.

-j

Those of you that read this blog and know what Eastern Camp is are probably here (except Jenny ), so for the rest of you I’ll explain that it’s one of our church denomination’s yearly conferences. This one, as it is so aptly named, is on the east side of the US. I usually gain weight here because the food is abundant and we tend to eat more cookies and pizza than is necessary for human consumption. Especially when the family gets together.

I decided that this year would be different. I created the Eastern Camp Challenge for myself. The goal is simple: lose weight at camp. Putting it into practice *should* be fairly simple, but we shall see. At this campus, there’s lots of walking and most of it is uphill. My heart rate is accelerated every time I go somewhere. I am trying to eat right – lots of veggies and fruits and not a lot of fatty things and fries – drinking lots of water (I mean tereré), and taking the stairs everywhere. My room is on the 3rd floor.

I suspect I’ve lost 5lbs already, what with all the sweating and exercise I’m getting (I’m kidding, but I wouldn’t be surprised). I’ve eaten well so far. I’ll let you all know on Monday or so how it’s going. I may post some pics here and there if I feel like taking my camera around.

-j

This morning the scale read 303 on the button. It was actually better than I expected. It’s nearly impossible to lose weight when you are surrounded by way too much food. I haven’t learned how to go against the grain and eat well instead of eat like everyone else was. Baptism weekends do that to a guy. But I’m not concerned about its ability to come off. It’ll be gone here in a couple days.

As you can see, my mileage hasn’t gone up in a long time. I have gone back into my old habit of staying up too late and not being able to get up in time to run. I know, I could run in the evening, but we all know that doesn’t happen. I will get back out there tomorrow. There, I just committed to it.

For some pictures, here’s something interesting I found. It tracks your mouse positions and graphically represents it over a period of time. They look neat.

-j