Three Surprises in One Evening

This evening, I was treated to not one, but three terrific surprises. Oh, and one big accomplishment.

I went down to the gym to work out and weigh myself late this evening. I was delighted to discover that I have lost another three pounds (that was surprise #1). That's nine pounds off since January 3rd! My Sugar Busters eating style and regular work-outs are paying off. Plus, as I noticed while doing some of my weight-lifting, my legs are getting nice and hard again. I have an appointment next week to have my body fat percentage measured to see if I am fit enough for the Virginia National Guard, so I am stepping up the work-outs. I think I'm going to start doing two per day instead of one. If I'm not in good enough shape at my appointment next week (on Wednesday, in case anyone would like to pray for me), then I will have to wait a while longer before being able to sign up for my Basic Training. Potentially, that could mean not getting a spot during the summer, in which case I would have to take a semester off from school in order to do Basic. However, I think I should be okay, since all I have to do at this point is be under 32% on my body fat measurement. As one of the officers pointed out, Basic will sweat the rest of the necessary weight off of me!

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, I had a major accomplishment at the gym tonight. For the first time, I managed to do two miles on the treadmill (that should give you an idea of how bad of shape I was in before I started working out). I did one mile walking fast with the treadmill set to a high incline, and the second mile running. I am finding that it is quite easy to do some of my graduate reading while walking on the treadmill or using the exercise bike. Tonight, I decided that I needed a break from Cosmopolis, so I got started on The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier, which is pretty enjoyable so far. In case you were wondering about the vastly different topics of the two books, they are for different classes.

Surprises two and three came when I got back to my apartment, following my work-out. I picked up my mail, and found two packages waiting for me. I just ordered six more textbooks two days ago, so I was quite shocked to have two arrive so quickly. I opened the first package, wondering which textbook it would be, and was pleasantly startled to find a copy of the Sugar Busters book. The second package held an even better surprise: the Sugar Busters cookbook. A glance at the slips inside the packages revealed that my very generous parents apparently decided to further support me in my new lifestyle. I can hardly wait to try out some of the new recipes tomorrow.

THANK YOU VERY, VERY MUCH, MOM AND DAD!!!