Day 20- Read and Reflect Chapter 9- But Exercise Makes Me Want to Cry

Now I know it is Monday and who wants to start exercise on a MONNNNDAY?!!!!  Little secret…. God does.

Does Exercise make you want to cry?  I use to think that way.  I started working out more about 3 months ago.  It was not easy to start.  Breaking my already natural routine into pure torcher did not sound like fun.  And mind you,  I don’t know how to ease into anything so I STARTED with P90X.  Who in the heck does that?  This girl!  Needless to say I was sore almost every single day.  I would literally roll myself out of bed.

(This dog pretty much explains how I felt)

I was too sore to lift my leg to even shave in the shower.  I was grunting and regretting me going over and beyond.  And I would fight to go workout again.  What?  I was trying to prove to myself that I could do it.  I wanted to succeed this time around.  So, I pushed myself to the max.  Needless to say, that lasted about 2 weeks and then I started the total gym.  I highly recommend the total gym especially if you have weak knees, ankles, back, etc.  We love ours.  And you can’t go wrong when Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley endorsed it.  I used the total gym to gain up my strength and now I am doing a workout called the 21 day fix.  (SHE IS BRUTAL…. BUT I LOVE IT) And do you see her abs? (Picture below on the right)  Heck yeah I’m sticking to this workout. lol

     

I have been told it takes 21 days to break a habit.  I believe that with all my heart.  I believe that is why she made this 21 day routine.  She does not give rest days.  And if you know me I HATE yoga!  I am more of an intense person so yoga is too slow and laid back.  I like fast and get it done.  BUT,  I learned on her yoga day….. I LOVE YOGA!!! LOL.  My body just can not wait until yoga day.  I highly recommend a yoga day especially if you do high intense exercises.  It gives you that recovery day for your body that it desperately needs.

I know this is easier said than done so I am going to show you my routine and how I stay ahead of the game.  I work night shift so your schedule will vary with mine.

• The “day” before I go to bed I lay out my workout clothes in the bathroom right next to the sink.  This way as I am using the restroom that is the first thing I see to remind myself to workout.
• I take my thyroid medicine and drink a pre-workout drink.  As the pre-workout is kicking in (about 20-30 minutes) I get my water prepared, check my bank account, put in a load of laundry, and stretch.
• I workout.  21 day fix is about 30 minutes long.  This is another reason why I like it better than P90X.  With it being only 30 minutes I am able to get a few more things done around the house before I leave for work.

If I didn’t start my routine before I went to bed of laying my workout clothes out, this may be a different routine of debate with myself.  This little routine I do of simply just laying out my clothes helps me remind myself who I am doing this for.  Myself! But most importantly, GOD!  Because my body is a temple that I should and will be from today on cherishing.

What is your routine?  Is it similar to mine?  Share your routine!  We may help someone out to get their routine they had been trying to get into.

 

This is 2 hours of workout/dance music.  Play it while working out, cleaning around the house, or just get you in a better mood.  Have a Happy Monday everyone and let’s get those legs moving!!!!

Day 19- Making Peace with the Reality of my Body

Yikes!  Make PEACE with my body?  What did she just tell me to do?  Has she lost her mind? I believe she needs to check herself in at the mental ward just to double verify Lysa has not lost it.

 

How did these questions starting on page 71 of your participation’s guide book make you feel?  As I started reading this I was like I don’t want to be at peace with my body until I start caring for it better.  I am the one who made it unhealthy and now I have to be at peace with it?  This is my fault and I am ashamed and dissatisfied all around about my body.  Your crazy to think I can be at peace with something that I have personally destroyed.

Oh my sweet sister– But you can!  You want to know how I know that?  Well, I have done a lot of foolish things in my past.  Things that I am not proud of and I personally don’t like to talk about except if it is to the right person to help them find their way to the Lord.  See, I was dissatisfied with my life.  There were times that I didn’t even want to be breathing.  I was far from peace.  But, the day I found Jesus in my heart and knew what I needed to do to have a closer relationship with Him and was led in the right direction by an AWESOME mentor… Guess what?  I found peace in my heart!!! What??? Really?  Yes, I did.  A sinner down on life, did so many wrong things in life, and put a lot of people in my past through too much to type….. Jesus gave me a peace of mind.  I couldn’t believe the peace I felt through my body when I was saved.  It is hard to explain but I instantly was a different person.  I wanted to do everything I could to live for Him.  I didn’t want anything else in life.

So why can’t we feel the same peace over our bodies on the outside as we do on the inside?  Us women need to stop making our own lives miserable and just accept the fact that God gave us our bodies as a gift and we should cherish it.  Just like when children in our lives give us a gift–We Cherish it!

I challenge you the rest of this week (and so forth) first thing in the morning to look yourself in the mirror and say out loud

“I am a child of God and I am at peace with my body because I have been fearfully and wonderfully made by my heavenly Father.  Who gave me this body as a gift of love so I could live the life that I am living with my family and friends.  God you are amazing to have made my body as perfectly as you have.  I thank you for this body and I will cherish my body as this sweet gift you have provided me with.”

 

Day 18-Read and Reflect Chapter 8 Making peace with the realities of my body

 

I am sorry it has taken a bit to get this one out.  I have had some life days get in the way.  I don’t work ahead in my book like most and want to work along side with you all. So, Chapter 8……. Man, this was a “Reality” chapter.  This past week was not a good food week for me.  But, I have still been working out before going into work.  The only reason I do that is because I lay in bed having a very loud conversation in my head about getting up because of what I ate before I went to bed and I need to burn it off.  This lasts for about 20-30 minutes.  And then I scroll facebook for a second and then pinterest.  On pinterest I have added so many health memes and quotes that it ends up motivating me to get my butt out of bed.  lol

What did you think about this chapter?  Looking at Lysa in the videos she looks confident right?  But internally she struggles with that silly High school boy who didn’t like her ankles?  Ankles? Who looks at someones ankles?  That was crazy for me to even wrap my brain around.  But, Like Lysa stated at the end of the chapter, If she would have had “thinner” ankles then she may have married that boy and been miserable and never had met Art that loved her for who she is not what he “wants” her to be.  God made us the way we are for a reason and her “tankles” saved her from a relationship of misery.  Better said sometimes than done right?

 

I dated a guy, won’t mention his name, for about a year.  Fell over heels for this man!  We were a great team, made each other happy, and just everything flowed perfectly in our relationship.  He had 2 kids and I have 1.  Our children never met each other because we wanted to make sure that it was going to work and last before bringing the children in the mix.  That is what I loved most about him.  One issue in our relationship is that his divorced was not finalized yet and there was a lot of baggage he was dealing with that whole situation.  He was deployed and when he returned he was supposed to contact me.  At this time in my life I was pretty fit and was taking are of my body.  As he was gone, I let myself go.  I was depressed and didn’t know what I wanted in life.  The whole time of him being gone I could not contact him because he was married and the army does not like relationships in a marriage.  So, I was miserable.  Then I received a text.  I was ecstatic to say the least.  But, one of the first questions he asked me was to send him a picture of myself.  I did. And he literally stopped talking to me because I had gained a few pounds.  WHAT???? I was even more devastated.  (Mind you at this time I was dating my husband now and putting him through a lot of turmoil.  This is not a proud moment in my life!)  I realized that this guy did not love me for me, he loved me because I was physically “fitter” than his ex.  He was looking for someone who was skinnier than his ex wife.  Come to find out he met a girl over seas and now they are married.  (Good for him).  But, if this would not have happened, I would have had a miserable life with that man comparing me to his ex or whomever else for that matter.  My husband loves me for me and wouldn’t care if I was severely overweight or underweight.  He loves my heart not what I look like on the outside.  I would have never known what that love was if that “jerk” from my past wasn’t such a “HEIFER”.

We need to accept our bodies for how God made them.  We may not personally love our bodies, but we should.  God spent His own time molding us in our mothers womb.  He made us with His love and remember from past chapters…. IN HIS OWN IMAGE!!!!  That should be powerful enough to help us remember that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Day 17- I’m not defined by the numbers

 

One thing that has happened to me in my past at a younger age (around 10-12) was something that has still haunted me to this day.  I have never told anyone about this until now.  So, here we go….

I was outside playing in the front yard.  When all of a sudden I heard a guy yell from a car driving by “Hey fatty, you need to lose weight you pig!”  That statement has haunted me since that day.  I always have worn baggy clothes.  Even when I was skinnier.  (Probably a size 6)  I wouldn’t know my size because I always wore baggy clothes.  I hid my “fatness” by hiding behind my bulky clothes.  And I still do to this day.  And that is the main reason why.  I have always seen that fat girl in the mirror.  I did in high school when I was physically fit and I still do now.  I was more fit than most girls in high school but me nor anyone else for that matter would ever know.  I hid behind bulky clothes.  It wasn’t until my senior year in high school when I worn a fitted dress to prom.  It was a navy blue open back dress and you could see every curve.  Now mind you I put that dress on and wanted to take it back off until my good friend stated, “Holy Crap, I didn’t realize how skinny you are!”  I automatically was on cloud 9.  I got several skinny comments through the night.  In my head I was thinking, “These people are crazy!, I am not skinny by any means!”  I look back at my pictures now and I would do anything to have that body back. (No boobs and all, lol)

What is something that you have struggled with?  Just remember you are not alone.  There is someone else out there that has been through the same thing or is going through something very similar.  That is why in my last blog Day 16 I talked about us women are always in competition.  But, we really need to be there for one another cheering each other on and guiding us closer to God first and then focusing on a plan/routine to a healthier lifestyle.  LET’S RISE UP!!!!!

 

Day 16- Read and Reflect- Chapter 7 I’m not defined by the Numbers

 

Do you ever define yourself by the number on the scale?  I used to think this way until I started eating healthier and with the knowledge I had I knew muscle weighed more than fat.  So, I decided that I would not get on the scale until 2 weeks of exercise has passed.  And it helped out tremendously.  I realized that if I weighed myself on a daily basis my body weight changes.  Ladies!!! Our body weight changes on a DAILY (if not hourly) basis.  Here are 5 reasons why we should not weigh ourselves daily.

1. You’re confusing “weight loss” with “Fat loss –  When you lose weight, you lose more than just fat.  Muscle and water are two components that make up your weight,  and when you lose weight, you lose some of each.
2. Your glycogen levels are changing, which can cause large weight swings in either direction–  This is why people lose weight on carb-restricting diets like the Atkins diet.  These kinds of diets revolve around one major concept: restricting carbohydrates, and glycogen.  Once your glycogen levels become exhausted, there is less water for the glycogen to bond to.  This is why many people on these diets lose weight fast, but much of the weight loss in simply water.
3. You’re retaining water due to your salt intake-  Nearly EVERYTHING has salt in it. A SINGLE patty Cheeseburger has 589mg of Sodium.  We should only be ingesting 1,500mg per DAY!  That cheeseburger is about a quarter of your intake already.  And that is just one meal.  Crazy right!  Your kidneys are what releases the unneeded sodium in your body.  And until your kidneys are able to do that, you will be retaining onto some extra water, which will cause changes in your daily weight.
4. Your Muscles are weighing more than your fat loss–  Lifting weights is a great way to burn fat and lose weight.  Adding this resistance to your weight loss plan is a great way to protect and preserve your muscle loss as you are subtracting fat from your frame.  If you are pushing yourself hard with the weight your weight may go up. This is because as you are losing fat, you are replacing that weight with muscle.  Your weight may not be going down, but your body fat percentage will.
5. Your weighing yourself at different times of the day–  Never get in the habit of weighing yourself everyday.  As you go about your day your weight increases due to food and drinks consumed.  Never compare your weight from Day 1 you weighed early in the morning on an empty stomach VS. Day 5 in the middle of the day after you have had 2 meals and drank water.  Those different weights are not going to show you what you have actually accomplished.  So, be consistent with your weight planning.  Weigh yourself about every 2-4 weeks apart.  Get you body composition analyzed and track your body fat percentage

Don’t let that scale trick you anymore.  Just remember, If you have enough patience and determination you will reach your goals.

YOUR ARE A JESUS GIRL WHO CAN STEP ON THAT SCALE AND SEE THE NUMBERS AS AN INDICATION OF HOW MUCH YOUR BODY WEIGHS AND NOT AS AN INDICATION OF YOUR WORTH.

This song below has been on my heart the last couple days.  Someone is needing this.  And it may even be myself but this song is AMAZING!!! I even use this to workout.  It has an amazing beat.  Helps you get that cardio in.

 

 

 

Day 15- From Guilt to Peace

We are beginning our week 3!!! Can you believe it?  Already been 2 weeks down.  How is everyone doing?  Have you established a routine to get closer to God?  Have you developed a plan to eat healthier?  Share your story.  Sorry this is a little late.  Video was not wanting to work for me.

My story is my relationship with God is getting better, but it’s not where I want it to be.  I have a long way to go yet.  I have found eating healthier easier if you have a meal plan for the week and stay in the perimeter of the store.  I have been doing much better with that.  One thing that I do have an issue with is my husband.  He is not on the same wavelength as I am and his taste buds are far from where mine are.  I love trying new things and he does not.  This makes grocery shopping a little hard.  I am a money saver and don’t like spending money on extra groceries for just 2 people in the house.  So, I am to just please my husband at times.  My famous words are just pick something and I will eat it.  I give him a healthy recipe book and then have him pick.  I found that to be the easiest.  But I don’t like eating the same thing all the time also.  He would eat tacos everyday if I let him.

What did you think about the video?  “Nothing feels as good as PEACE feels”  I love this!  All the time woman are just focused on being thin.  When in reality we need to be focused on our peace of mind.  When our mind is at peace we will make better decisions.

As we went through the questions while watching the video I can not help but think about page 62 number 4.  Prejudice can blind us just as it blinded the disciples.  When it comes to issues related to food, body size, and weight loss,  what preconceived notions do you think sometimes make it difficult for women to have compassion for each other?     As I read this question I could think of a few things.  Us woman are always in competition with other woman.  The media helps with this.  Media/Hollywood make woman out for blood for one another instead of loving and supporting one another.  Look at all the reality shows.  And then there are magazines staring at us showing their physique in the most flawless way and then we see our spouse/partner second looking and feel that pain deep down in our gut.  Ladies,  this is not what we were made for.  Those ladies hearts are not right if they are reading their bibles and flaunting all they got all over social media.  We should not be at competition with one another.  We should be fighting for one another in love.  Cheering each other on.  Not feeling defeated because our so called “friend” is bragging about how good she looks and saying “you should this” and “you should that”.  Every woman is going through something that they don’t want to talk about.  That struggle runs deep into our souls.  There is a way to fight this.  JESUS! And also the woman in your life that loves you for who you are not who you “should” be.  Your husband married you because he loved you not because he thought you were going to be someone else after you said your vows.  Don’t ever forget that!

Day 14- Growing Closer to God

The hardest thing for me to do on a daily basis is deny myself.  It really bothers me to say that but it’s true.  I don’t take time in the word on a daily basis as I should.  I wake up and go through my motions of working out and then getting ready for work.  I have rarely stopped before I start my day and focus on Him.  I guess I just look at my own will power and think I got this.

With these selfish ways I am not gaining anything from this.  All I am doing is eventually setting myself up for failure.  I want to be an example to others, to my kids, to my family, etc. Why is it so hard to get a routine in God’s word?

My issue most of the time is waking up too late.  I should make the choice of being in His word rather than working out but I don’t.  I choose other things rather than God.  Sometimes I even wish there were more time in the day.  Maybe working night shift is part of the issue but I’m sure if I was working “normal” hours I would be doing the same.  I could get in God’s word when I get home from work, but I choose my time with my husband instead.  My choices are going to make me spiritually hungry.  I put my husband first before God.  And this is something that I struggle with on a daily basis.  I want a closer relationship with God but I always seem to put my husband first.  I believe we tend to do this because there is someone physically there.  As humans we tend to rely on our 5 senses to satisfy our needs.

What are some things in your life that get in your way of having a closer relationship with God?  It doesn’t even have to be food.  It could you focus too much on working out, work, T.V., family, etc.  Yes, we should spend time with our family but God should always be number 1 on our daily routine.  If we focus on Him first thing and throughout the day we will feel more confident and show more love towards others.  This is what God had intended for us to begin with.  How can we love others if we can’t even love ourselves enough to have a closer relationship with God?

Let’s focus on our spiritual hunger.  Send me a verse that you can find in your bible that helps you stay focused.  Not something that Lysa has provided, but something to make us dig into our bible.  Let’s take our day and focus on God, NOT other distractions.

Below has to be one of my favorite bible verses.  This reminds me that if my strength comes from God then He will give me the strength to soar like an eagle.  How awesome would that be?

Day 13- Read and Reflect Chapter 6

Growing Closer to God

Growing closer to God has a whole lot less to do with any action we might take and a whole lot more to do with positioning our hearts toward HIS.

How do you grow closer to God?   By making the choice to deny ourselves something that is permissible but not beneficial.  And making this intentional sacrifice for the sole purpose of growing closer to God.  After all, Jesus Himself said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me [Luke 9:23]”

I love her answer.  But, then of course there is always someone there to cause a sarcastic remark and feel like an idiot.  I have that everywhere I go and then my rage comes out.  I don’t like to be fooled or treated like an idiot. Who does?  So when a sarcastic comment like she states to crack a joke I get very confrontational.  I can honestly say I feel my body temperature rise and I am putting on my armor.  My armor to defeat, crush, and wish you never opened your mouth.  This is when I need to just stop and remember that verse

Matthew 5:38-40- You have heard that it was said, Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.  But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.  If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.  And if anyone wants to sue  you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.

Those are some tough words to follow by.  And that is a tough one that I struggle with on a daily basis. But then there is another verse of course that will remind you of what to do.

Galatians 5:16- But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you form doing the things you want to do.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.  I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

God reminds us of these warnings and tells us if we do these we will not inherit the kingdom of God.  Scary but truth!  He warns us just as I parents warn us as we grow.  So, why is it so easy to turn back instead of keep going forward.  Just remember there is more sin in this world to corrupt your mind than there is to stay and keep focused on God. God is stronger and has your back.  He gave us the choice to chose His way or our own selfish ways.

Which will you choose?

 

Day 12-Made for More

 

 

 

How do you see yourself? 

I have to be honest this day was extremely hard on me.  (Thus, being a day late.)  I have been pondering over these questions.  The questions relating back to my childhood.  I have some good and bad memories.  The bad memories always stick out more than the good.  Why is that?  Sometimes I feel it’s because that time in our life we can relate with someone we loved at those moments.  The love we feel during the great moments are wonderful and we tend not to hang on as much.  I wish I had more of an answer for that but I don’t.

These memories that I have are not what defines me though.  God made me for More. I am more than the first grandchild of divorced parents.  I am made for more than the athlete everyone knew me by.  I was then and am now made for more.  I just never knew that back then.  Temptation was and is everywhere.  We tend to try and run away from it but, somehow it sneaks up on you.  I could be driving down the road on my way to work and start thinking of my past.  (Maybe this is why I talk or don’t like it too quiet at times.)  I don’t want to think about where I once was.  I want to focus on today.  Just like God intended.   I wish was we ask for forgiveness that we can erase it away from our memory.  With that being said though, I am kind of glad I have not forgotten because it reminds me where I have come from.  All the battles I have went through to get to where I am today.  Those battles lead me to food for comfort.  To escape the failures in my life.  The depression that I go through.  I hide my failures everywhere I go, even to my own family.  They would never know what I mentally go through on a daily basis.  But you know what?…..

God knows and He has my back.  I just need to be more persistent, Embrace my true identity, Know God better, and then I will discover a power like no other.  

Are you ready to have a power like no other?  Can you feel that power that God placed over you as you read that.  Wasn’t that amazing?  God wants you to have that power.

Today is a new day let’s start with the power of  JESUS!!!

 

Day 11- Read and Reflect Chapter 5

Today I want to do something different.  I want to see how you are doing?  How is your mind being more focused on God?  What is your routine? Have you been able to find a routine yet?  If not don’t be discouraged.  It took me awhile to get a routine down.  But once I did, I conquered through it.

Today you are to read Chapter 5. And oh what a mighty chapter this is.  This is a chapter you can not skip.  If you get anything out of this chapter get these.

1. Be persistent:  Keep asking God for wisdom and strength each and everyday.
2. Embrace a true identity: What are some untruths about your identity you struggle with?  If we relied on God to take those untruths how would your life be different?
3. Find the DEEPER reason: How might God use your journey toward healthy eating as a way to help you get to know Him better?
4. Discover a hope and power like no other: To what degree do you feel like everything depends on you— your willpower and determination?  To what degree do you believe that SAME power that raised Jesus from the dead is also available to help you? How will you know whether you relied on your own strength or leaned into God’s strength?

No matter where your life is right at this moment remember that you are a child of God and He and only Him can give you the strength to conquer your fears and lead you to the light through the darkness.  All you have to do is accept Him in our life.

So to help you on this journey.  I have below found this playlist and it is amazing to help you get connected with God and give you that motivation to get through any workout.  You GOT THIS!!! And God is right beside you guiding your way.

Much Love!