I moved to wordpress. Update your links. The new site is kristisweeney.wordpress.com I'll leave this one open for a few weeks, but I'm definitely moved.

My apologies for not updating when I said I would. I'm sure you've all been beside yourselves waiting for the next post. In the past two weeks I have lost 7.2 pounds, which has amazed me given the way I ate and failed to exercise last week. However, I'll take it and be thankful for it. I just got off the elliptical and it bores me. About the only thing that doesn't bore me is hiking, however, that's not suitable for an every day activity on account of the time it takes up, so if anyone has any useful suggestions I would really appreciate them. Thanks a lot. I'll post something else later on today that is less about my weight and more about something pertinent to everyone's lives.

My apartment is 750 square feet. It's got crown molding, a dishwasher, a garbage disposal, and a full-size washer and dryer. In addition to that, it is furnished with a very nice queen sized bed, with premium linens I might add, a nice red couch that is less than a year old, a leather chair from Dillards that is less than two years old, and a KitchenAid stand mixer. I say all that to say this: I have spent too much money on trivia, on creature comforts. I've spent much time maligning my church comrades for driving their luxury SUVs and living in their giant West Little Rock homes. I've failed to see that I'm spending money the same way, albeit on a lesser scale, but proportions aside, I am wrong. Perhaps they are wrong too, but I cannot fix them. I can only change my actions.

C.S. Lewis (and this is a paraphrase because my copy of his book is downstairs in my car and it is raining) says in his book Mere Christianity that if you are not deprived of something, it is not truly giving. The Bible offers a couple of poignant examples of this sort of giving: Jesus tells a parable about the widow's mite, where she gave all she had to the treasury at the temple. And, all four gospels account the crucifixion of Christ. If that's not personal sacrifice, I don't know what is.

I love the idea of living selflessly. I hate the idea of moving to a hovel, of not being sure where my next meal is going to come from because I have given my money to the poor, of being overly hot or cold because I refuse to waste money on a ridiculous utility bill, of giving up the more than occasional starbucks run, of not buying new books on occasion, of not going to the movies or bowling or out for sushi. I hate the idea of doing without and I wonder if it's possible to live selflessly while having all you want. I'm afraid that God is revealing to me that the answer to that question is a big fat NO. I'm afraid that in order to be like Christ, to be selfless, I have to truly put others first, to give in whatever way I can, not begrudgingly, but joyfully. I do not wish to do this. I wish to have what I have and have more when I want to have more and for other people to have too. I believe it is time to reorder some things. I'm not going to like it.

I have never been a big fan of talking about my weight. I've always found it to be a personal subject and I've always made some semblance of excuse. However, I have found that it is a bit ridiculous, that I weigh more than I've ever weighed in my life, that I am 24, and that I should suck up my pride and post about it so that the entire world can see. I currently have very minor goals, because I know myself, and I know my tendency to tackle huge mountains, only to get discouraged and completely quit, thereby leaving myself in a far worse state than I started in. Because of that, I have elected to start with simply making better food choices and spending at least 30 minutes at least 3 times a week walking or using the elliptical. I fully intend to record my progress on Sundays, and I ask that you all (all 2.5 of my readers) hold me to that. I would also ask that you not make disparaging remarks. Believe me, I can make myself feel far worse than you ever could about any falling off the wagon I might do. Thanks for reading.

I just finished the last workout of the first week and have made a decision to enter a 5K on March 2nd. I figure this gives me enough time to complete the program, and even allows about three weeks for the inevitable winter cold. Spending money almost always gets me to accomplish something. It will also be very cold and very early in the morning, but I'll live. It will be nice to run my first full 5K in years.

I did part two today. It was exactly like part one except that I successfully did the second part of something. Running on sundays is a little harder simply because I'm not yet fit enough to just zone out and enjoy the workout and the television on sunday afternoons sucks. It was nice to know that I had done it though. Part three comes on Tuesday and will consist of exactly the same workout as parts one and two, but will be the last of those workouts. Let's hope I can make myself do it.

I've decided to start running again. My freshman year of college, I got really into running, which was followed by a summer at camp as the hiking counselor, which meant that I was very fit. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but that is no longer the case. At any rate, in the attempt to not be a New Year's resolution, I've started now, today in fact.

I'm attempting a program called Couch to 5K. It seems to be a logical progression to running a 5K, that is, you simply insert longer and longer bouts of running into your walking. Since I'm fairly proficient at walking (must be from all that shopping and those treks across UALR, which has the most inefficient parking I've ever seen) I decided that this would be a good way to start. As is the case with anything I undertake, I have much more success if people know I'm doing it, so I feel like posting on my blog is a good way to get people to know that I'm attempting it. While I have no intention of making this a fitness blog, because who would take my fitness advice seriously, I do fully intend to report my progress on here. After all, look what that same course of action did for Dr. Mark Elrod.

I started the 5K program today. The first week consists of three workouts, each of which are the same and call for you to complete a brisk five minute warm up walk, then alternate 60 seconds of jogging with 90 seconds of walking for a total of twenty minutes, that is, the entire workout is 25 minutes long. It went well, much better than simply running till you get tired, frustrated and probably injured. I left the gym feeling better than I had in months, largely because I hadn't been to the gym in months. I won't do day two of the workout until Sunday, but you can expect a post. If not, you should ask me why I didn't post and why I didn't work out.