Monthly Archives: March 2011

GO HEELS!

Conquering Fears

There are few things in life that absolutely terrify me.

Those things are as follows:

Needles
The Dentist
Bees
Being Chased
Being Chased by Bees

I feel for Winnie. I would not want to be him.

Seriously, those things terrify me. Sure, the dark is scary. Alleys are scary. The boogie man is scary. But for some reason, those things don’t terrify me. I’m not a “fan” of scary movies, I prefer the suspense, it’s the gory stuff I can’t take. But I digress.
And in the next few days I have to conquer, like, three of them.

Tomorrow I am going to the dentist. It will be the first time in a long time. I don’t even want to say how long. Now, don’t get grossed out, I have a thing about dental hygiene. Because of my fear of the dentist, I avoid going. I do that by brushing multiple times a day and flossing like it’s my job. I have floss on my person almost at all times. But for real, I am so scared. I had a couple bad experiences at the dentist when I was younger and I was scarred for life. But come on, I’m an adult. I know I need to go to the dentist, so I made an appointment. I am going. MAN UP, BUCKLEY. (I’m saying that to myself right now…)
Before I go to Kenya, I have to get shots. A lot of shots. With needles. I knew that when I signed up to go to Kenya that I would have to do this, but I didn’t realize how many. Oh well, I can do it. The people that I will be serving in Kenya do MUCH more difficult things on a day-to-day basis than get a couple measly shots. In fact, the Kenyans would be blessed to have the type of access to medicine that we are so blessed to have. So guess what I’m doing? I’m manning up and getting my shots and I’m not even going to complain. Or wince. Okay, I might wince. A little bit. I also might bring someone to hold my hand. Don’t judge me.
The bees are out. I thought cell phones were killing them off, or something? No, no, no. I don’t want the bees to die. I just don’t want them near me. I’m allergic. And their stingers feel like needles. Which goes back to one of my aforementioned fears. But no joke, I have seen so many bees today. Terrifying.

I don’t plan on playing tag or putting myself in a precarious position to run from someone any time soon, so I shouldn’t have to worry about being chased. I was a horrible kid – like, I never wanted to play tag. Of any sort. Unless I was always it. Can’t do it.

Oh, and one time, I was chased by a bee, in Chipotle. Chipotle is supposed to be my happy place. And there was a bee in there. And it chased me. It could smell my fear. It was like my worst nightmare coming to fruition.

Anyway, I am proud of myself. Because I feel like I am really conquering some of my fears. I know some of this may sound trite, but whatever, they’re not your fears.

Speaking of, what are YOUR fears and what have you done to conquer them?

All for now.

The Dreaded Plateau

4 Replies

So, as I continue on my journey of really once-and-for-all getting healthy to the point at which I am happy with my level of health and fitness, I am learning A LOT along the way. I guess you could say that means this is a good learning and growing experience, otherwise what’s the purpose? Right?

Well, I’ve lost 16.8 pounds so far, and realistically, to get to a weight I’d be comfortable with, I need to lose another 10, but to get to a weight that I really want, I need to lose another 18-23. I’m not on any crazy crash diets or doing any of those “fad” things – I’m watching what I eat, counting my calories, and exercising.

If you’re not good at math (which I am not) this part may get a bit confusing, but this is something I’ve just recently learned. If you know this already, you can move on to the next paragraph, if you don’t, just maybe then you’ll learn something. So, to make something rather complicated sound basic here’s the deal:

3,500 calories = 1 pound
- Basically, this means that for every 3,500 calories you eat, you gain 1 pound, for every 3,500 calories you burn, you lose 1 pound
The average person burns between 2,000 and 2,500 calories per day WITHOUT exercise (that’s just doing your daily stuff like, being alive, breathing, showering, etc…)
They say that the average woman should eat around 1,600 and 2,000 calories a day and average man should eat around 1,800-2,200 calories a day.
- So basically, if you don’t exercise at all and eat around 2,000 calories a day, you’re going to maintain your current weight
- Do know that these numbers are based on averages – not taking into account metabolism, height, weight, etc… but they are good representation
So, basically to LOSE weight, you need to subtract 500 calories from the average daily caloric intake to burn more calories than you eat during a day

There are a lot of websites that can help you figure out a more specific number, here’s one that I used.

So, for the past two months I’ve been eating about 1,300-1,500 calories a day and burning somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 calories a day. (I go to the gym a minimum 5 days a week, most often 6 days a week. I’ve learned that a rest day is SO incredibly important – but those days I’m at the gym, I’m burning a lot more than on days I’m not… duh).

When first heading out on this lose-weight path, the weight comes off like BOOM! POOF! Where’d it go? It’s so easy and you really feel like you’re on a roll. And then, BOOM! POOF! It stops. And you hit… dun dun dun: THE DREADED PLATEAU. The dreaded plateau is when your body gets comfortable with your current lifestyle and says to you, “Nah, I don’t really feel like losing any more weight. I’m gonna hang out here for a while.”

It’s one of the most frustrating things in the world. I know that you have to just keep your body guessing and eventually the weight will come off and the plateau will end, but until then, my golly it’s a process.

I share this information just to 1) Get it off my chest, 2) Share my experiences, and 3) Hope that there’s someone out there who’s reading this and knows exactly what I’m talking about and can either learn from me or heck, I can learn from them. Is that person YOU?

All for now.

I’m Going to Kenya

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So, remember how I told you guys there’s a lot going on? And that big stuff is happening? Well, everything is starting to finally fall into place.

Here’s a little background: one Sunday this past October, Pastor Benji showed a slideshow of a mission trip that New Hope had taken that Summer to Kiria, Kenya. Kiria is a small village located at the base of the Aberdare Mountains, which is approximately 40 miles northeast of Nairobi and approximately 100 miles south of the equator. New Hope has sort of “adopted” this village and continues to support it financially throughout the year. Just looking at the pictures of the trip and hearing about the relationships that were created, the service work that was done, and just the amazing things that the church was doing, I knew that I wanted to be a part of that.

I have always wanted to go on a service trip. In college I remember trying to get an “alternative Spring Break” mission trip together a couple times, but just couldn’t gather the money and resources to make it happen. I was looking for the right opportunity and the right place to go.

I have a passion for loving on and helping people, learning about and experiencing other cultures, and sharing in my faith. It’s not about going into someone else’s culture and imposing rich American philosophies – it’s about immersing yourself in their culture, learning, listening, and really opening your eyes to something different. It’s also about being there as a resource and helping hand.

So, when I heard that New Hope was going back to the village this Summer, I knew that I was being called to go.

From July 28th – August 6th (that’s THIS SUMMER!) I’ll be going. The deposit is paid, the commitment form is in, and I am going.

What am I going to be doing there? Well, in addition to fellowshipping and doing life with the Kenyans, a majority of our time will be spent digging trenches for water distribution lines, building and repairing roads, constructing a concrete pad for water tanks, building and fixing church and school furniture, assisting in the teaching of school classes, and providing medical services where needed.

Okay, so some of you are probably thinking, “Molly is going on a mission trip? THIS summer?” I could probably come up with a list of reasons why I shouldn’t go (life/work/time/money). There’s a myriad of excuses I could use to not go. However, the truth is, I keep coming back to the one reason why I should and ultimately want to go – God loves people and so do I. Going wasn’t a hard decision. When it comes down to it, Jesus laid out a pretty simple religion for us: Love God, love others, and love ourselves. My point exactly. Deciding to go is easy. Paying for it however, is the real challenge.

To be totally honest, I don’t have $3,500 just sitting in my bank account. So here’s where I do something I never do: I ask for money. I would love it and be so appreciative if you could support my mission trip with a donation. A little, a lot, really anything is helpful.

The other thing you can do to help is to pray. As much as God and the church love mission trips, not everyone else does. And there are definitely going to be challenges along the way. So your thoughts and prayers are really appreciated. If you’d like to know more about the trip, I’d be happy to tell you more about it. Just let me know. I’d love to talk about it.

I will, of course, be blogging about my experiences before and after the trip. I would say that I would be blogging during the trip, but the odds of having a solid and/or reliable internet connection in the small village of Kiria, Kenya are not high.

I’m excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. Thank you guys for everything.

All for now.