The Long Haul

Okay first off, we are officially half way done with fall semester. Say whaaat? Time and superman have one thing in common: they really know how to fly.

Those of you who read my blog consistently know (thats assuming there is someone who reads it consistently...), I embarked on my very first sweets fast a couple of weeks ago. I did it for just 7 days. It was hard, but it felt so good. I was so fresh and energized all week long. And so now, i'm doing it again. Except this time i'm in it for a longer haul. Between now and the end of the semester, i'm going to really test my will power. I'm scared! Nervous! Hopeful! Excited! Mom is going to try and do it with me, and my friend Grant and I are making a bit of a contest out of it.

I'm going to win.

Okay so here's my deal. If I do this, if I make it to the end, I want to reward myself somehow. But I don't want to reward myself with food, because I am not a dog. I want to do something for myself that I would never do otherwise. It has to be a real treat that is still reasonable (in other words, i'm not loaded with mula). I need ideas! Help me out here!

Anyone else want to join? Are you brave enough? Do you dare take me on? :) I'm gonna post my rulebook for the next 2 months below, and I think if you want to join you are free to modify it in any way, you just have to stick to whatever you decide to do and then be consistent about it. You'll see that i'm not as intense as some people when they do this. I'm taking some days off and allowing myself to take a few 24 hour breaks. That way I know I won't go completely crazy. I'm trying to be reasonable here.

THE RULES

• No chocolate

• No candy

• No doughnuts

• No cake

• No ice cream

• No pastries

• No nutella

• No cookies

• No cupcakes

• No sugary muffins

• No sugary cereals

• No frosting

• No brownies

ALLOWED

• Frozen yogurt

• Peanut butter (limited)

• Sugar free/fat free pudding

• Fiber bars

THE EXCEPTION DAYS

• Race day

• Halloween

• Thanksgiving

• 3 additional days of your choice

THE REWARD

~Undecided~

Ready or not, here we go!

Sick And Sad

Newsflash: Throwing up is a super gross experience. I had forgotten the truth of this statement until yesterday.

Okay so we hang out at a certain guys' apartment pretty much all the time (you know who you are boys!), and a couple of them got a little flu bug this week. For some odd reason, I felt that there was no way in heck i'd be susceptible to contracting whatever they had. It was no big deal. They seemed relatively fine. And I had a flu shot in September! So nestled in their apartment I stayed, sitting on the same couches, eating the same food, high fiving, and just hanging around as usual for hours. I felt great, so what could possibly go wrong?

3 o'clock in the morning. My eyes opened, because my stomach was doing this not so awesome little churny and tumbly dance. Ohhhh no, I thought, I refuse to be sick. I'm imagining this. I haven't had the flu since 6th grade, so maybe this isn't really what it feels like?... And so I willed myself to stay put and try to fall back asleep. Well, after 2 hours of pointless self talk, I decided I should probably not just lay there anymore. I got up, walked to the bathroom, and let me tell you, I had barely pulled back my hair and assumed the infamous kneeling by the toilet position before the inevitable happened. I'll spare you the nasty details, but wow. Puking is NOT fun. I had forgotten how UNfun it was. And I sincerely hope its a long long time before I have to experience the UNfunness of it again. Those boys in WQ3 made it look so easy! They'd throw up and then be totally fine like 2 seconds later. Me, I was an epic mess. It was gross.

So then my friday turned into a serious pity party. If you didn't know, i'm pretty dang good at feeling sorry for myself. So I spent the day being sick and sad. I slept, sat outside on the front steps where I could breath some fresh clean air, had a repeat of the grossness mentioned above, slept, watched some TV, slept some more, and then watched some more TV. Then I had a Priesthood blessing. And oh how grateful for that I was. I am grateful to be in a place where I am surrounded by so many worthy men who can exercise their faith and their ability to administer to other people. It was a great comfort to me and really did make me feel better. I then proceeded to waste the rest of the day watching movies, sleeping some more, and trying to move around a bit without letting my head explode. I even was able to stomach some lemonade and canned pears that my wonderful mamma just sent me.

I am so grateful for everyone who helped me yesterday. For Christina for rubbing my sore back. For Lindsey for buying me peanut butter (that was NOT eaten immediately, I think it was the first time it has ever not sounded good!) and for fetching every little thing I needed while I layed pitifully on the couch. And for sticking around with me all day when she could have been out partying it up. And for Grant and Austin for being awesome gentlemen willing to take some time on a friday afternoon to come over and help me out in a very special way. You are all amazing and will be blessed for your greatness :)

And guess what? After all that, I woke up feeling great (in comparison) this morning. My head and back still hurt, but the nausea was completely gone. I was able to move around, get some homework done, eat some food, and even go for an easy jog. Thank goodness for the short term bug.

So for tonight's tip to the world: Try really hard not to throw up. Its hard. And really icky.

And now, i'm ready to move on with the rest of my weekend. And i'm going to enjoy it, because i'm healthy and happy! Wish me luck on my sunday school lesson tomorrow!

Uh-Oh

For those of you who know me, you know that this empty jar of peanut butter poses a problem. A dangerous one. Shopping day isn't until friday. We'll see how this goes...

Just Keep Running

Its official. I'm obsessed.

Fitness/health blogs. With encouraging pictures. And quotes. Some of them are so cheesy, but everywhere I look are images of encouragement and inspiration. I've been trying really hard the last few months to be healthy and happy with myself. I've still got a long way to go, but i'm working on it! And its hard sometimes to make good, proactive decisions when all I want is to stay home and be lazy and stuff myself with the candy corn that is now filling the shelves in every grocery store (i've resisted so far this year! We'll see how long that lasts...). So, i've taken to looking at these blogs to help me be good. I've printed tons of stuff out and put it where I can see it everyday. I've copied it out and posted it all over my apartment. They're my background on my computer. I'm telling you, its everywhere. Because it helps me. It makes me feel strong. Brave. Able. Unstoppable. Confident. Encouraged. Fierce.

So anyway, don't be surprised if I just post some of my favs every once in a while, especially if i'm having a particularly tempting or off day.

Here's just a sample :)

Spoons Gone Wild

Ultimate fat kid move to finish up this weekend: I was getting a spoonful of ice cream (yes, straight out of the carton) and my spoon SNAPPED, right in half, just like that. Yikes. That wasn't just my brute strength at work there people.

Time for Jannette to cease with the fat kid moves for a while I think. Starting tomorrow, monday to monday, i'm going sweets free. And nooo, its NOT because of the snapping spoon incident. I decided it during my awesome run on saturday. I have been craving way too much lately. Candy, ice cream, cookies, doughnuts, anything I can get my hands on. So i'm just going to give myself a little break from those things for a few days. Let my system start running on something besides sugar and fat.

Wish me luck, I might need it once my body starts going through the withdrawals ;)