This post may contain affiliate links. Click here for my affiliate disclosure. If you purchase items through my affiliate links, I receive a small commission but your price doesn't change.
First posted 1/25/14
Yeah, I’m alive. 🙂 I’m home for the weekend between Bible school terms, so I thought I’d drop y’all a line and let you know what’s been going on. I had internet once during the past three weeks, and I’m going back to Bible school tomorrow afternoon for another internet-less period. Which I don’t mind, really. I enjoyed the break, actually.
Confession time (which I don’t feel guilty about): I majorly went off-plan. I decided that this is Bible school, and I don’t want to ruin my time by obsessing over what I’m eating. When I get home, I can go right back on-plan; but while I’m gone, I’m not going to stress over details. I did eat on-plan quite a bit of the time. The cooks were very good about serving a lot of salads, so often my plate would have two big piles on it: one of salad and one of meat. I by-passed the bread, the potatoes, the corn, the fruit salad, the jello, and the dessert. Well, I by-passed the dessert *most of the time*. I have no problem doing without bread, but dessert is a different story. So I did have dessert sometimes. And I ate quite a few crossovers because that’s what was available. And I ate casseroles with rice and pasta. And sometimes I all-out splurged and ate pizza. And it was good.
I knew I wanted to get in some E meals somehow because most of the meals served in the dining room could be made into S meals. So my breakfasts generally consisted of protein powder with water (hot water; it was kind of like hot chocolate), fruit (the cooks were good about serving fresh fruit most mornings in the dining room), and often some of Gwen’s sourdough bread that I brought along. As I said before, lunches and supper usually found me with a pile of salad/vegetables and a pile of meat. If I cheated, it was usually on dessert. Generally, I kept the splurges down to one a day, but sometimes I just went totally off-plan-generally on the weekends. Late at night was often when I splurged; of course the girls’ dorm had a big table covered in junk food that was free for the taking. I helped myself more than once. But ya know what? I’m kind of glad I did.
I kept nuts and chocolate for snacking on during the day. Afternoon study time usually found me munching on peanuts (which I know I over-did), 85% dark chocolate, or Skinny Chocolate smuggled to me by my loving mother.
The last week, I got tired of eating junk food, so I made a pledge that I would not eat any for a week (until after the closing program Friday night). When I made the decision, I forgot that the last week includes banquet night. That was a stretch in self-control, but I managed to walk away from the dessert table with only some fruit. With God’s help, I managed to keep my fast. Obviously, there were times when off-plan food was the only thing available; but I managed to take the best options and forgo the desserts. Another confession: I celebrated my week-long victory with a trip to DQ after the program. 😉 And then I came home for the weekend and I’ve been strictly on-plan. That’s the freedom of THM, folks; and trust me, when I get home from Bible school, I’ll be on-plan as well. I feel too good when eating the right things to fall off the wagon.
All in all, Bible school has been a huge blessing for me. The food has been a lesson in flexibility, and I’ve learned to loosen up on my rigidity (which is a victory for me). The cooks did a fantastic job, they really did. And you know what’s cool? I stepped on the scales last night after getting home (and eating a blizzard) and I don’t think I even gained any weight. I didn’t lose any, but I’m very pleased to have maintained.
Today I did a little prep-work for next term. I made a pan of baked oatmeal that I’m going to keep in the freezer for breakfasts. My wonderful sister made me two cinnamon MIMs and two Cakes in a Mug (well, muffin tin). My mom got me some string cheese for snacks, and I’ll be taking a loaf of Gwen’s bread as well.
My little brother has been delighted to have me home for a day or so. Apparently, in my absence he has taken over my job.
He helped me photograph the food I was going to take to Bible school.
He makes Greek yogurt and photographs it, too.
That would be…a Barbie doll crown and a pillowcase?
He saw me getting out my camera to take pictures of my plate at supper.
So that’s what my little brother and I have been up to. See you in 4 weeks!
Leave a Reply