Less Is More

Guest Blogging at Mary's Place

Hi Everyone.  Are you wondering how I am doing?  Check out the continued story at my friend Mary's blog.  Yes, I took her a meal from chipotle on Monday night.  She just had the most beautiful baby girl. And yes, I included two packages of cookies.  I suppose I am living vicariously through my friends by giving them the things I am so craving myself but cannot afford the calories to actually eat them.  Enjoy the cookies Mary.  Wish I could be eating them with you.

A Word About Weight Loss

I am tracking my calories on my Fitness Pal  app on my phone.  It automatically adds up my calories for the whole week.  According to my app, eating 1,800 calories a day, I will lose .1 pounds a week. Talk about a slow weight loss...that is only 5.2 pounds in a year.  Hmmm...I know weight loss is not the goal of this challenge, but I was hoping to lose maybe 15 to 20 pounds this year.  ugh.  I don't like this discovery, but I am afraid to lower my calorie intake because I don't want to fail the challenge. 1,800 calories is maintenance calories for the weight I think I should be at....(which is about 20 pounds less then where I am right now)

I usually do the yo-yo thing.  I go on a 1,200 calories a day "diet" and then I lose weight quickly and then I put it all back on and then I do it again. Repeat, repeat... every year for the last 10 years.  So maybe 5 pounds a year for the next 4 years means I will keep off the 20 pounds for the remainder of my life?

But alas, this challenge is not suppose to be about weight loss.  There I go, making stuff about me (again) sigh. 

Eating only my fair share of the world's calories in 2014

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 870 million people of the world's 7.1 billion are suffering from chronic malnutrition.  That's roughly 1 out of every 8 people.  

This is a staggering reality that I have trouble knowing, remembering, believing, thinking about or dare I even say "caring" about. 

While starvation is a reality of the world stage, I continue to happily eat more then my fair share of the world's food.  I know that global hunger is a very complex and complicated issue.  I realize that my over eating is not related necessarily to someone else's under nourishment.

However, I am beginning to believe that my over eating is keeping me numb in thought and feeling to the plight of so many. 

So my challenge in 2014 is to eat only my fair share of the world's calories in hopes that I will daily remember that there are those who are desperate for this luxury.  And in the remembering, I will continue tobe moved to action.

Honestly, this will be a monumental challenge for me.  I LOVE food.  It is my drug, my comfort, my mood enhancer...

It is with a little bit a lot of fear that I actually write this down.  Because I am aware of the great potential that I could actually fail and then be tempted to lie about my failure.  But, in spite of these fears, I am going for it.

Here's the details:

I am 5'9", 49 years old, and moderately active.  So according to my research this allows me to eat 1,800 calories a day to maintain the weight I think I should be, which is right in the middle of what research tells me is healthy for myself.  If I take this daily count and times it by 7 days a week, I am allowed 12,600 calories a week.  This allows for some flexibility in day in and day out eating style. 

This is not about weight loss (although I will likely slowly lose weight over the year), this is not about health (although I will likely be naturally healthier), this is primarily a spiritual journey.  I want to be daily conscious of the 1 out of 8.  I want to remember that my life is a small slice of a global picture.  

I want to care.

What Did I Buy?

So My friends are asking, "What did you buy on January 1st?"  So here it is....I went to a thrift store.  I actually got there 5 minutes before it opened and waited outside with the other thrifters because everything in the store was 50% off that day.   I spent 90 minutes going through every item in the store and here are the things I bought:

Jeans
Sweatshirt
Two long sleeved shirts
Shoes 
2 scarves

All for $15.

I missed thrift shopping the most, so that is where I had to go first.

Later in the day, I went to Macy's and bought some black boots for $99.  

The jeans, shoes and sweatshirt in this pic are some of my thrift store finds.  

 

I made it!

Beginning January 1, 2013, I resolved to not spend any money on myself for an entire year.  I did it!  I did not intentionally spend any money on myself.  I did make two mistakes that I feel I should confess here:  I accidentally purchased music on itunes one time.  I purchased the Glee Movin' Out album.  I asked my son to help me purchase it since I don't do it very often and didn't know how...he did it and then I realized...ooops...I just bought something.  

Let me clarify.  I LOVE Glee music.  I do not LOVE the Glee show.  It makes me sad.  It makes me sad mostly because I am forced to think about the issues that High School kids  and young adults have to face daily and it hurts my heart.

Okay, moving on.  I accidentally purchased The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis on my kindle.  My friend and I were talking about and I used to own a hard copy of it, but I couldn't find it and I wanted it and I purchased it...and then I was like ooops, I purchased something.  I guess it hard to remember that I am actually purchasing something when it is not a tangible, physical item.

So only those two things.  Anything else I "got" this year was because someone gave me a gift or a gift card or they gave me cash.  That's it.

I can't believe it is done.  I won't be doing it again next year... but I am trying another year long challenge, which I will write about soon.

To read more about lessons learned, check out this article in Christian Standard.  

Listen to Janet tell more about her experience January 9, 11 a.m. EST at www.blogtalkradio.com/standardpublishing.

12 Days to Go

Unbelievable.  I only have 12 days to go before the end of this crazy year of not buying anything for myself.  It was hard in the beginning, easier in the middle and super hard at the end.  Right now, I am sick of it.  I hate everything in my closet.  I realize how spoiled and selfish I am.  

But, I have a new appreciation for friends and community.  And I am proud of myself. 

Look out January 1st, someone's going shopping.

I Split My Jeans

Yes, it was embarrassing.  Yes it made me mad because I need these jeans.  I wear them at least every other day...some weeks I wear them everyday.   I split my jeans in a very unattractive place.  Not on a seam, not on the knee, just somewhere that made going out in public against some kind of indecent exposure law.  

What to do?  Since the "buying nothing for myself for an entire year" apparently causes me to gain weight, nothing in my closet fits great.  So that leaves me literally with ONE other pair of pants to wear.  Ugh!  

I searched my wallet for bits and peices of straggling gift cards left over from birthday, mother's day and even last Christmas.  I discovered a shopping center gift card given to me by my staff at my birthday back in March.  It was a generous gift card.  I had already used it for a pair of shoes, but would it have enough on it to buy the GAP jeans that would replace the indecent ones?  I know what you are thinking...why do they have to be GAP jeans, why not go to wal-mart or Old Navy?  Here's the deal, or the excuse, take it as you will.  I am an amazon woman.  Tall.  Wal-mart jeans, Old Navy jeans...they look weird on me.

I went to GAP.  It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  The heaven's parted and everything in the store was 40% off.  I tried on the jeans - one size bigger - and they felt great.  I walked to the register, my heart pounding, praying there was enough left on the gift card to take these babies home.  

Cha-ching.  It worked...there was enought left.  I was so thankful that I had held on to this giftcard for emergency purposes only.

So I am sporting my new jeans.

I am so grateful.

You must unlearn what you have learned

I am having a little moment of clarity.  Check out this message as God continues to write his story on my life.  Unlearn from Restore Community Church on Vimeo. 

 

I Just Cut My Hair with Craft Scissors

I saw a picture of my sister's new hair- do.  I was jealous of inspired by her cute cut.  But alas, to stay true to my project, haircuts are not allowed.  So, I grabbed some craft scissors and took matters into my own hands.  While admiring my new look ...I had this thot:

It costs $38 a month to sponsor a child with Compassion International.  That is what I would normally spend on a haircut.  Next week I will begin the adventure of sponsoring a child from Cartagena, Colombia at Restore Community Church's Campassion Sunday.  I wonder if I will be cutting my own hair for the next 14 years?

Listen Up Friends

Here is a link to the radio interview I recorded yesterday on GirlfriendIT.  The topic was Daring to Care, so I got to share the incredible stories of some of my friends who are caring for others in extraordinary ways.  My segment is about 30 minutes into the program.  At the end I get to talk about my Less is More journey.  Enjoy.