Faith & Fitness Week In Pictures

They had a photographer come out one day and take pictures of us in the gym, plus some of my own. This is such a small, small taste, but I hope you enjoy!!

Leg Pressing 260 pounds

At the end of the week with Austin & Ken

Jenn, me, and Vanessa getting ready for our nutritional session

Our swim teacher, Kelli

Water workout!! I'm probably concentrating on not drowning. ;)

Our beautiful group, including trainers!

Me and trainer Charline

John kept telling me if I locked my knees one more time he was going to slap me...
And he would yell at me when he couldn't hear me breathing... :)

Faith & Fitness Week: Food

Wow. I didn't realize I hadn't finished posting this. :) So a month later... lol

I have to tell you, this was truly my first experience where healthy food could be SOOOO good!! There were several things that we had during the week that I've been scared to try, so I was excited about that.

Here's the new stuff I tried:

French Toast - Multigrain dipped in egg whites. We had it with berries and sugar free syrup. So good!

Quinoa (a grain, like rice). I would definitely buy it to make for myself and cook it in a low-sodium stock to give it more flavor.

Salmon - I've wanted to try it forever, but when you eat somewhere, you don't want to pay for it, just in case you don't like it! This was seasoned with tomato-basil Mrs. Dash and it was YUM!!! I could have five things... but I think that would defeat the purpose.

Egg White Omelet w/ spinach and cheese: They do one whole egg, and then some egg whites. I never thought egg whites could taste so good, but this was yum!! They also suggested cooking it just like you're frying the egg and having it with whole wheat toast or english muffin -- we had this one day also.

Kashi Go lean Crunch - I had mine with skim milk. I loved this cereal, it tasted like the puffs I had as a kid. :)

Other than those things, we had chicken, salad, brown rice, and veggies galore. :) I learned about some different things, some I already knew about, but it confirmed I need to try them!

PB2 - powdered peanut butter, good for shakes, but you can add water to make it paste-like.

Oatmega Protein Bars - Organic, with not as much sugar. Have to buy them on amazon.com, because apparently they only sell them in Texas.

Plain Greek Yogurt - Typically I buy the flavored ones, but they gave us ideas on how to make them good without the added sugar, etc. 

Since coming home I have been eating egg whites - yesterday for breakfast I had egg whites, one piece of toast, and a tomato. I also learned that when you snack, if you have a fruit you need a protein to go with that. At camp we always had string cheese or almonds with apples or a banana. I miss that little bubble when I didn't have to count anything and it was all portioned out for me! It was so easy -- but I guess if it was easy, everyone would do it. :)

Faith & Fitness Week: Our Trainers

I cannot praise our trainers enough! All of them were so attentive and amazing! I was blessed by each of their stories for different reasons. It was appreciated and didn't go unnoticed how vulnerable they were with us all throughout the week. Whether it was stories during meals, or sitting with us one-on-one to go over different things.

The trainers of the week were (pictured left to right):

John: Is the 2013 Mr. America... yes, a body builder. He has such an amazing heart for God and is completely focused on the person he is helping. He forced (I mean pushed) me to leg press 260 pounds at the end of the week. He took time to learn about us so that he could know enough about what we could do.

Laurie: I was so blessed by her spirit! The very first night she took me aside and asked if I wanted to talk. I was a tad intimidated, but said yes. Again, she asked so many questions so she could learn about us and our struggles. She taught us a lot about at home workouts. No more excuses of you can get to the gym!!!

Charline: I love this lady! She is a Team Beachbody Coach. Her story spoke to me so much and she was such an encourager. She did the very first workout with us and I'm sure was a little scary for her, too! :)

Kelli: Is actually the wellness director at Southwestern Assemblies of God University (where this event took place). She took time out of her busy schedule to do water workouts with us and even help out during the various sessions.

Alex from this season's Biggest Loser was also there to help us throughout the week. She did an amazing job at teaching us what she learned while on BL!

Faith & Fitness Week: Gains and Loss

I'm sure this is the first of many posts about Faith & Fitness Week, I'm just so unsure of where to start.

Let's start with what I lost.

1. According to their scale -- 4 pounds, Sunday night to Friday morning.
2. My Fear -- I don't feel intimidated by things I can't do or things I've never tried.

Now, what did I gain?

1. A greater sense of peace about where God has me headed. Every morning we did prayer walks where I literally prayed and worshiped the entire 45 minutes. Then every night we had service and small groups. Never have I been with God so much! I can't even describe to you what it feels like to finally have HIM in the center of this journey.
2. More confidence to try new things -- I did two spinning classes!! It was never something I wanted to try. I thought I was going to die 5 minutes in, but I did it... TWICE!! :)
3. I found my love for the water -- Every single day we had a water workout. When I was younger (before I gained my weight), I LOVED swimming. I was a fish! As I gained weight I was in the water less and less. Kelli, our swim instructor, even told me I was great in the water. 
4. Great friends -- A new support system community that were great spending time with and have been great encouragers since I got home!
5. Knowledge about working out, eating, and my faith.

There were so many aspects to the week and I'm going to go into detail about them, each in their own post, because there's so much I want to share!

Stay tuned for more!

Online Dating

It's been a couple of weeks since I last blogged. Sorry about that - I'm having a heck of a time in this journey called life.

Anyway, I thought I'd post about an insecurity I'm having this week. I thought I'd bite the bullet and join the online dating scene again. My mind tends to play tricks on me, so I'm not sure why I torture myself this way. ;)

For instance. Say I email a guy... the system tells me when he's read it. Instead of thinking maybe he thinks we won't click, I immediately become insecure in my skin and think it's because I'm not a Barbie.

Part of my problem I realize, but it's how I think. Maybe someday I'll get my head on straight. Until then, I keep praying that God will change me. :)

Tuesday's Wisdom

I love this. Something to chew on. Hope your week is going great!

Weekend Activity

Do you find it harder to get your activity in on the weekends? Depending on what's happening, this is mostly true for me -- especially Sundays. It's rest day don't you know! I spent this weekend in Nebraska for a cousin's wedding and this gal was my exercise buddy:

She's my brother's dog and doesn't get out a lot, so I took her for walks and played in the yard with her. :) It was beautiful weather for it, too!

Reminder

No matter where you are in your journey, always remember .... 

I'm talking to myself, too! :)

No Joke

Last week I had my three month follow up with the endocrinologist. My a1c was slightly elevated than last time at 5.9. My doctor was positive and said what I was doing is safe for me. Then he asked if I'd lost weight, to which I laughed. He said he had something else up his sleeve...

A weight loss pill.

Not surgery like last time (ugh). Anyway. I'm still unsure if i want to go that route. It's not covered by insurance and not reimbursable by my cafeteria plan. I really want to do this right. I can't help but think that there has to be something else going on inside my body that's preventing my weight loss. So far no tests have confirmed this. It's frustrating and mildly irritating. I know you've all heard this from me before and I'm sorry to whine about it. I just don't know what else to do!

So far I've been mostly unsuccessful at keeping my goals in check and then I get in a funk. It's a vicious cycle this journey... None the less, I've made my workout schedule for the month of April, including a couple of morning walks. Thursdays being my only day off. I've also upped my trainer sessions to twice a week. We'll see what happens.

Pressing on. Running the race.

My Life Without Facebook

Happy Easter!! I hope you had a great time of worship this morning, thinking about your small sacrifice for the last 46 days. Last night CJ made a comment that got me thinking. She said "I can't wait for you to get back on facebook so we have something to talk about."

This sounded kind of sad to me. What is our world coming to that our conversations revolve around what people post on Facebook? We learn about our friend's lives on Facebook. I'm not saying it's bad! I have a lot of friends spread out across the country, so I LOVE Facebook and the ability to keep in touch with everyone.

But - to base our conversations on what it says? Or what people write?? If we don't talk about what people post, apparently we have nothing to talk about. What does this say about what our society and culture has become?? I think I'm going to keep with this fasting... Every Sunday I will fast from the land of Facebook. This journey of mine is all about making ME better for myself and for my future family. I don't want to have the family that eats dinner in front of the tv. I know it'll be difficult, but I don't want us to conform to how the world does things. Spend time together. Have CONVERSATION... What a concept.

Here's to restarting the battle.

First Things First

In just shy of three days, I will officially be BRACE FREE!!!! After two years and three months I am so ready to have these things off. Everyone keeps asking me what things I'm going to eat first. It's sad how much our world is consumed by food that it's the first question. Anyway - I digress.

Gum. I used to be a chronic gum chewer and can't wait to have a stick!

One of our kids gave us a gift card to the movies and I'm pretty sure there's a box of milk duds calling my name!

Small things that we never think about, I can't wait to eat an apple without cutting it first. Or corn on the cob without cutting the corn off. ;)

I will, however, miss being able to use my rubber bands as an excuse not to eat. Have a fabulous Easter Sunday, everyone. Make good choices around the table or be more active after the big lunch!

Inspiration Tuesday

After 46 days of no Facebook, this rings true!! :)

I Hate...

I hate being a woman ~ especially this week. ;) Throughout this journey I've had so many tests done to figure out things going on in my body. So far I've gotten no answers, only "It's just how your body is." Well. I don't like my body on the inside. It is AWFUL during the time of the month ~ the pain, all of it! Two months ago I finally called my lady dr about birth control - hoping and praying it at least helps SOME of my problems. Well I had to start the first day and I hadn't had one since then, so I'm just now starting taking it.

We'll see how it goes.

I also hate that during this time, I can't exercise. I know it's supposed to help, but I am telling you it does NOT. Anything but!! This time I've been trying to still get my steps in, but I hate hate hate how it runs my life and things I can or can't do.

Rant over. Here's hoping tomorrow is better. :)

During The Workout

Let's talk music.

Do you let your ipod randomly select music for you or do you have set playlists for each workout (cardio, weights, etc)?

When I workout with the trainer, we listen to whatever's on at the gym. Half the time we talk too much to know. :) During my walks I have a set playlist. Sometimes during races I let the iPod just shuffle through my music. When I workout at home, I'm usually doing it in front of the tv.

Here's my playlist (don't make fun... lol):

Party In the USA (Miley Cyrus)
Stronger (Mandisa)
Take a Back Road (Rodney Atkins)
Good Morning (Mandisa)
Waiting for Tomorrow (Mandisa)
The Climb (Miley)
Don't Stop Believin' (Journey)
Fly Over States (Jason Aldean)
Freedom Song (Mandisa)
Move (Mercy Me)
Tattoos On This Town (Jason Aldean)
Born Again (Newsboys)
Jesus Freak (Newsboys)
Drunk On You (Luke Bryan)

Quite the selection, huh?  What are your favorite go to workout songs?

How Do You Get Motivated?

I put this week's motivation as my phone's wallpaper. Every time I need to get on the phone, this is what I see:

How do you motivate yourself? Post Its on your bathroom mirror? Notes to yourself? Do tell!!

Motivation & My Week

Man, I've been doing so well at blogging and here I haven't done any since Sunday!!

Sunday I did jazzercise with a couple of friends because it's free in March. My legs hurt something terrible on Monday, however... I worked out with my trainer for the first time in over a month. I could totally tell it had been over a month by Tuesday morning because I was SORE!!!

By Wednesday a trip to the chiropractor was in order. He adjusted my neck quite a bit and ordered me to come back by Monday at the latest. Oye! I've been sore ever since, but been trying to stretch it out.

I was pretty proud of my eating until today. We had parent's day out, so spending 8 hours with 32 kids took a toll on my options. However, it was fabulous on me active - I'm up to 8500 steps. :) Might be done moving for the day.

I'll leave you with some motivation that I forgot on Tuesday:

It's Official

Since my elusive post a couple of weeks ago, it's now official, so I can share my news.

I've had a friend offer to send me to Faith & Fitness Week with Retrofit Ministries.  I'm so excited about being able to go and have this be such a big part of my journey. I could never repay them, but I'm so grateful!!

I got a receipt this morning that my friend's husband registered me. Now - the planning begins!

God's making a way. :)

Have a fabulous Sunday!

So It Begins...

Today I signed up for my first 5k of the year! Garmin has a marathon in Olathe, KS and they also have the Wicked 1/2 and the Dorothy Dash 5k. It's on April 20, so I need to get rolling, but I'm so excited! I have several others on my radar - if you recall, my goal is to do 6 this year.

I was originally going to sign up for Diva Dash, but when I went to sign up I noticed it was an obstacle course. Uhhh... not for this girl!!! :)

Here are the others on my radar:

May 11 - SCOUTStrong Challenge
May 18 – Chiefs 5k

June 1 – Color Run

June 8 – Braden’s Hope for a Cure

September 7 – Royals 5k

September – Blazin the Burg (maybe)

October 19 – Kansas City Marathon 5k

Let's get rollin! Make it a good one!

Motivational Tuesday

I saw this some time ago, but thought I would share. Hope it helps you make it through the day! :)

Smoothie Sunday

I was all pumped for my Sunday breakfast smoothie this morning. I saw a thing on pinterest on the basics of a smoothie. I thought I'd be a little adventurous and add oats -- I still can't bring myself to add vegetables.

Here's what I did:

Banana - fresh

Strawberries - fresh

Blueberries - fresh

peanut butter

honey

a dab of milk -- I don't measure. C'mon.

Oats

In the beginning, it was good... then apparently I didn't drink it fast enough because it turned to rubber.

Seriously.

I could have used it for glue. Gross.. and epic fail.

Perhaps should have put the oats in first, didn't think it mattered?? Oh well. Try again!

March

I'm sick of snow... I'm sick of being sick. Ugh. The end of February was awful, let me just say.Being sick has really thrown me off ~ I was looking forward to a chiropractor appointment this morning and then going in to work. A new discovery that apparently I can't eat shellfish with my medication left me up all night in the bathroom (tmi, I know). So, I cancelled my appointment and stayed in bed. I've extended February's goals into March.

I bought a Living Social coupon for two weeks of unlimited classes at Title Boxing. I haven't gone in for my first session yet, but I'm excited. Today I'm thinking of different Random Act's of Kindness to do this month.

How is your season of Lent going? I'm quite surprised that I've made it 18 days without Facebook. I finished book #2 of the year -- The Sensational Scent of Prayer. It was just a short little book for those that struggle with prayer. I pray, but don't always believe that God will make it happen. I know He protects me. I know it's all in His time, but sometimes I'm tired of waiting.

Off my pity pot ~ What are your goals for the month?

Random Acts of Kindess

My goal was to do one RAC per week in February. Here's what I did:

Week 1: I sent texts of encouragement to random people that I haven't talked to in awhile. A few I knew were having a tough time, so I let them know I'm praying for them!

Week 2: I knew it was a tough week for my roommate because of Valentine's Day & her birthday the next day. At church on Valentine's Day, I threw a surprise birthday party for her. The week before I had every class do cards as their craft. I bought cake and they all gave her their cards.

Week 3: I was down for the week because of the flu, but my roommate did a wonderful RAC for me! :) The day I came home with the flu, she came home with chicken noodle soup and apple juice. What a life saver!

Week 4: I adopted another Soldier from Soldier's Angels. My last soldier was sent home and I hadn't adopted another one yet (it's been over 6 months).

I'm going to keep doing different RACs every week of March, not just for people I know! This month was kind of easy stuff, and mostly for people I know, but we're going to change that for next time.

How did your February goals go?? The ab challenge wasn't part of my goals, but I only got 1/2 way done.

Prayer

Today's Motivation - Click here to read the blog.

I read this on Saturday and it hit home, so I thought I would use it for this week's inspirational/motivation. :)

Drink Deep in the Truth

I cannot even BEGIN to describe church to you, but I'll try. Let me preface with saying that we have a new pastor (as of right before Christmas), and I'm so rarely seen in service, that I haven't heard him preach yet.

I went in focused on Jesus. Worship. I didn't think about what my kids were doing back in children's church. I didn't think about Sunday afternoon events.

Quiet.
Almost like a visitor. :)

Worship started as usual; singing, praising, raising hands. Then, the tears started. Blindly, I walked to the alter for the prayer with the elders. The woman who prayed for me is my previous trainer. I didn't know how to request prayer, so she just prayed. I cried. I can't remember a time when I've cried so much in church.

Pastor Jon preached on Truth. It was an excellent message! He gets really fired up (which our church is not used to) and LOUD! Suffice it to say, I'm so glad I asked someone to take my class. From now on, she's going to take the kids on the last Sunday of the month, alternating with me and CJ.

For that, I am grateful.

Weekly Planning

Since I've been down for a week, that's put a damper on my goals for February. Yes, I know I've had three weeks, but you should know by now that I'm a procrastinator. :)

So -- on Wednesday I'm trying Title Boxing Club. This was one of my goals for the month. Due to Ash Wednesday and Fit Club being cancelled because of weather, I haven't been there all month either. I'll push that goal to March! :)

My weekly workouts are as such:

Monday - Going to shoot for trainer day. With the incoming snowstorm I'm not sure that'll happen. Back up plan is doing stairs and ab workout.

Tuesday - Zumba (weather permitting)

Wednesday - Title

Thursday - Day Off
Friday - Running?
Saturday - Zumba

Since I'm basically sharing about my monthly goals, next week I'll tell you about my random acts of kindess for the month (1 per week). Happy Sunday!

Transformed

I hate when things happen that I've been so careful to not let take place. I've been in prayer mode for most of the afternoon. Listening to k-love with my headphones on.

I just got done listening to a sermon that our Pastor gave a few weeks ago. It's two parts, and I'm getting ready to listen to part 2. It's about being transformed. He describes feeling grace. Like when you get pulled over and don't get a ticket. Having an undiluted devotion to Jesus.

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks, to God the Father through him." ~Colossians 3:14

Like when I'm in worship and suddenly begin thinking about what baseball game is on that afternoon... or anything else. Worship is when I focus on HIM! My heart needs to be right.

Not distracted.
Not watered down.

Today was also the last day of 14-day challenge that has been emailed to me. If you can, I highly recommend Pursued: God's Divine Obsession with You by Jud Wilhite. I LOVED this email challenge and will definitely be adding the book to my to-read list. It made me think. It wasn't just one of those things you sign up for and then delete without reading.

I'm also glad to announce that I'll be attending church tomorrow. I need to be fed after the week I've had. Being sick and then today just being run down emotionally. So I'm excited about that.

We'll see you guys tomorrow. I'll blog about my church experience. It doesn't happen often, so it has to be good, right? :) Love you, guys!

Snow Day

I've been in bed since Tuesday with the flu. Today, snow day! I love snow when I don't have to go anywhere. I would love to use my workout today to shovel once it stops... but I'm so tired, I don't foresee that happening. We originally were in the 4-6" band, but the last time we measured, we had 11.5".

I also don't foresee me going anywhere, for awhile... 

How do you recover from being sick? I surely don't want to try anything today or maybe even tomorrow, but how do you ease back into working out? Tips, suggestions?

If it's snowing where you are, stay warm and be SAFE! Don't go out!

Don't Quit

I missed inspirational Tuesday because I've been down with the flu, so I thought I'd bring you a little something. I'm still down, but I'm SOOO bored - not being able to go on Facebook and all. :)

Preparation

Here we are, six days into the season of Lent. I'm trying, once again, to give up Facebook. Last year I made it 12 days. I'm not doing too bad! I've even deleted the app from my phone so I'm not tempted. This year I didn't want to concentrate on food. So much of my life is already overloaded with food do's and don'ts. I wanted to focus on the one thing that takes up more time than anything else. Something that is distracting me from getting in God's word.

Today's devotion was about Adam and Eve in the garden... Why was Eve so quick to believe the serpent? Why are we so quick to believe the devil when he lies to us? We can't be angry with Eve because we do the same thing! When the enemy tells us we're too fat or we can't do something, we believe what he has to say, and we can't get past that. We can't trust God with our lives because we're so in tune with untruths about ourselves.

In preparation for Easter, the next five weeks will prove difficult, but there's many more things for me to focus on -- Prayer, devotions, eating right, workouts, and maybe even reading an actual book. ;) I'm reading A Woman Who Trusts God: Finding the Peace You Long for by Debbie Alsdorf.

Valentine's recap from a Single Girl

I hate Valentine's Day. I always have. Perhaps it's the lack of significant other. It's not the lack of love. I know I'm loved, but it's not the same. This year was different. I still disliked the day, but I wasn't mopey as all get out. I had a fabulous sushi lunch date with my friend, Laura (who is also my boss) and I got to spend the evening with my favorite people -- my church kids.

One of my friends sent me this:

I saw a sign the other day that said "wear cute pajamas because you never know who you will meet in your dreams!" It reminded me of you! I know valentines day isn't your favorite day, but I also know that God is molding and shaping his prince for you. Some men just take longer than others...

It tugged at me... I might have even cried a little. I was so appreciative of the encouragement from a married sister! I thanked her for the encouragement and she thanked me for being her friend (which promptly made me cry again).

There's a Christian artist named Mandisa, she was also on American Idol. She created this event for single girls called Galentines. I love the idea!! She posted yesterday on her Facebook, a letter.. to her future husband. I loved reading it. I think she was in my head when she was writing. :) Maybe someday I'll give that a shot, so my future husband can read it. In the battle of losing myself, I want to gain so much more. My perspective on Jesus, not a worldly self-image, but to see ME how He does. A beautiful daughter that He's shaping to be more like Him. Wow. What great thoughts! What great love our father has lavished upon us. I know I'm undeserving, but He loves me anyway.

I'm overcome with joy in my heart.

A Day In the Life

I thought I'd try something new to get me started -- my days started that is.

I also have an alarm set for 6am, to spend some time in the Word and in prayer. I need something at work to remind me to GET UP. Otherwise, I could sit there for 7 1/2 hours a day and never move. Since I've been tracking my steps, it's a big motivator to get me going -- normally. This week not so much because the princess ball has consumed my life.  If you notice the time this picture was taken it was 12:40 am and the alarm went off at 6. I need beauty sleep!!! :)

The last alarm I have is at 7pm and it reminds me to take my meds. You wouldn't think I would need reminding, but if the alarm doesn't go off, I will go about  my evening without it. 

If you have a desk job, how do you keep moving? On the days I teach (Thursdays and Sundays), I make sure we sing upbeat songs, so I'm up and moving constantly with the kids. I've also been making sure to demonstrate the games (which usually involve running). Then, when I a "teach" the Bible Story I walk around. Every little bit adds up!

You're Beautiful!

I hope you find this encouraging! :)

Sunday Funday

I've realized most of my Sunday posts are very random. This one will be no different. :) 

Since I'm quitting the gym, I've been doing my workouts at home. Sit ups, push ups, planks, running stairs. I need to get motivated to walk/run outside - perhaps at the track, but today was WAY too windy for that nonsense. It's ok - the day quickly got away from me, so much I've barely gotten all my steps in (right now, I'm just shy of 5,000).

I did manage to teach my lesson on my feet, so I was constantly moving. After lunch, it was back to the church to finish painting for the princess ball this Saturday. After that I was home long enough to eat a reasonable dinner, then left again to go to church.

Whew. Since getting home at 9pm, I've managed more steps, but not quite enough. There's still time, once you people quit distracting me! ;)

In the middle of all that, I've been pondering Lent. What do I want to give up? It's easy to figure out what to add... but do I want to do a Lenten Bible plan on youversion? Or a book?

What are you guys doing?

I wish you guys a fabulous week! Hang in there. :)

More randoms?

I wasn't sure what to write about this morning. I'm feeling kind of blah.. and really for no reason. I'm supposed to have a leadership meeting at church this morning (at 9) and then a training at 1. Honestly - I don't want to go to either. I get like this sometimes, possibly more frequently since being diagnosed T2.

Possibly something to talk to my dietitian about when I see her next week. I didn't work out much this week, but my eating was good (until last night... we had pizza for dinner)! I did a couple days of the sit ups challenge, but right now I'm behind a day or two.

This is a vicious circle, because I don't feel like working out, and don't really care. Then when I get out of the funk, I'm mad at myself for doing (or not doing) things I did.

Boo.

Hope my New England friends are staying safe! Have a fabulous Saturday. :)

P.S. No t-rex dance, please. ;) You know who you are.

No Words

There are no amount of words for me to express how grateful I am for the opportunity that has come my way.

I'm totally going to leave you guessing and wondering, but I'm not going to share until it's final. I'm just so humbled and appreciative at this gracious offer.

Wow.

Courage

Your motivation for the day... and mine.

Insightful Question

A couple of weeks ago a friend asked me "If time and money were no object, what would you do?" I quickly named a couple of places I'd like to visit (Germany to see my aunt Peggy, another cruise...).

After much consideration on this subject, I realized what I want most.

Fat Camp.

Don't laugh. :)

Austin Andrews from Biggest Loser and his dad (who was also on Loser), have a ministry called RetroFit. They are hosting a Faith and Fitness week, with workouts and worship and other sessions.

Since I've been struggling so much with the scale, I've been wanting to do something that will jump start my health. Not only that, but I feel like there's so much that I never share with people that I need to let go of for my health. Forgiveness that I thought I had given, but when something happens or comes up, this anger rages.

I've looked at a couple of Diabetes camps (I lovingly referred to them as Fat Camp), but they're so expensive! The ones locally aren't for adults, so that's out. The Biggest Loser resort would also be awesome.

Faith & Fitness week is also expensive, but I guess that's part of the question, right?

So that's my answer. If time and money were no object. I'd want to go to fat camp. ;)

If time and money were no object... where would you go? What would you do?

February Goals

Here's what we're working toward, kids!!! Don't forget our 25 crunches for the challenge!  I'm also going to try to work up my plank for another challenge and doing couch to 5k (c25k) for the 50-millionth time.

First weekends workout:

2/1/13: 10 sit ups, 25 crunches (challenge), 4 push ups, 10 second plank
2/2/13: ZUMBA, 15 sit ups,30 sit ups (challenge), 5 push ups, 15 second plank
2/3/13: 20 sit ups, 40 crunches (challenge), 6 push ups, 20 second plank
2/4/13: Day 1 c25k, 25 sit ups, 50 sit ups (challenge), 6 push ups, 12 second plank

Feburary Challenge

Here's the February challenge if you'd like to join in with Faith Fitness Nutrition. I absolutely love her stuff!

New favorite

Lately I've been in a smoothie/shake kind of mood. Generally I do it for breakfast on Sunday because its easy before church.

This week I did:

1 frozen banana
3 strawberries
Handful of frozen blueberries
Enough milk to make it drinkable - I didn't measure. :)

I didn't add any extra sugar. Sometimes I do peanut butter, it depends. I loved this combination with no sugar because it brought out the flavors of each fruit.

I haven't gotten brave enough to put veggies in my shakes. Do you?

In other news, yesterday I tried Nutella for the first time.

Can I just say. Oh. My. Goodness!!!! Someone should NOT have introduced this to me!

Inspiration

I think I'm going to start a weekly post, called Inspiration Tuesday. Why Tuesday? I have no idea. I just picked it out of thin air.

Like you, I love people telling me I'm doing good when I don't think I am. So I'll be sharing quotes, stories, or pictures that can inspire all of us in this journey called life.

Continuing the battle... to lose me.

Cross It Off!!

I completed a goal!!! *in my BEST singing voice*

Do the happy dance!!! :) I have crossed off book #1 for year - Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo. You can read what I thought HERE. It also has the complete list of books I'm reading for the year.

I'm not very good at crossing goals off my list - obviously. I haven't done one of my monthly health goals, so I need to revamp and think about the ones I'm choosing.

I'm feeling super accomplished after this one. Especially since I read the book in one morning. Seriously. Something like three hours. Another one of my goals is was to blog more. I've already surpassed what I did in December AND November -- almost combined if I finish this month strong. Ha!!

I also need to do my 5k schedule. The first one I was going to do was in February. I might should sign up if I'm still doing that one. :)

Love you guys so much. Thanks for the continued support and encouragement! I couldn't do it without you!

Argh!!!!!

I suck. Plain and simple.

I did NONE of the workouts I scheduled for last week. I'm in a funk. Stuck.

I've actually been contemplating quitting the gym. Then do working out at home or at the track. Plus side it would save me $600 a year.

Do you guys do gym or your own home workouts?

Right now I'm not scheduling anything for this week except eating right.

Frustrating.

Monday Planning

Here's my schedule for the week:

Monday - I'm restarting couch to 5k. Week 1, day 1

Tuesday - Two Class Tuesday!! Ab/Core with my trainer, then Zumba

Wednesday - Week 1, day 2 (c25k)

Thursday - Day off (will do the 50-50-50 challenge with sit-ups)

Friday - Week 1, day 3 (c25k)

Saturday - Zumba

That will be give me 7 days for 30 minutes. I need to figure out to get my fitbit tallies for the week to post so you guys can see what I do in a day. Having a desk job, it's not very much, but I try. You're supposed to get 10,000 steps in ("they" say), but my goal is usually 5,000 and I'm lucky to make that some days.

I've also realized it's pointless for me to cut things out of my diet -- dessert and bread, etc. It's about moderation, not giving up. I don't know about you, but if I give something up, I want it even more!!! :) So - my new goal is to eat nothing processed, and bread/pasta is going to be whole wheat. My friend Marybeth makes bread ALL the time, so she sent me some whole wheat pita bread, sandwich wheat, and multi-grain. I'm super excited to try them and have FRESH bread!! Kind of an oxymoron after all the cutting out of bread lately, huh? HA!

That's all for Monday, people! Get MOVING!

Honk

Yesterday I promised I would tell you more about Honk Ministries.

It's a ministry that I'm starting with my roommate and two of our children's pastor friends. We are a mentoring program for children's leaders, helping small to medium sized churches with their programs. If they need curriculum, decorating ideas, set ideas, etc. That's what we'll be doing. For now, we're trying to get into conferences in Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. As we develop more (aka have more money) we'll be going wherever God takes us.

We're speaking at a Conference in Wichita in February, so right now we're getting ready for that. We're doing two sessions, both involving media and teaching kids. One is using social media, the other is not HAVING media. Not every church has projectors, etc. for their kids program.

Everything we're doing is just getting rolling, including a website. Once that's up, I'll share so my faithful followers can spread the word!! This is something we felt like God was calling us to do because so many churches have little to no resources for kids.

Happy Sunday -- make it a healthy one!

Saturday Weigh In

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I posted. Yikes! I thought I was going to get better at this?! :)

I'm going to be honest and say that this week was absolutely horrible. I ate everything in sight and didn't go to the gym AT ALL. I'm doing a weight loss challenge with Children's Ministry Deals with other children's workers across the country. Weigh in for that is every Saturday. Despite my horrible week, from last Saturday to today I lost 2.8 lbs.

Hold up. Don't get excited. :) I tend to not, because it fluctuates so much and so often. Next week I could gain three. You never know.

My goal for today is to plan my week of workouts and perhaps make it to the gym later. I plan what I'm doing each day, and track how far I go (part of the 365 miles). Today I'm also working on Honk Ministry stuff and other stuff for church. I'll post more about Honk tomorrow.

For now, I must get busy.

Sunday's Random Thoughts

I've changed the blog up a bit. You like? (Be honest and let me know if it looks horrible). I have several things flowing in my brain right  now so I'm not sure where to go today. Today I did a lesson about newness and how God creates in us a new heart, if we pray and desire that change. So many places in the Bible show us, requesting prayer "create in me a clean heart.." We all have our thing. Whether it's drinking, smoking, or even gluttony. A sin is a sin is a sin. I follow a page on Facebook called Feeding my face Faith. She has some really great stuff -- the other day she said this:

Before pointing a finger at someone who drinks...someone who smokes...someone of a different political party...someone who's had an abortion...someone who identifies as homosexual...be sure you're not part of the huge population of overweight or obese Christians who clearly struggles with the sin of gluttony. Ouch, I know. Grace is for ALL; not just the sins we personally battle against. Let's get mad at OUR OWN sins.

WOW!!! Yup, guilty as charged. Even if I have to go minute by minute, I want to honor God with my choices, treating this temple that He gave me in the right way. If you've been curious about going "clean" but don't know where to start in your diet, I came across this earlier today and loved it. It gives you five weeks, so you aren't doing it all at once!

Also - tonight is the premiere of Biggest Loser, Season 14! It seems like it's been forever, so I'm super excited! I'm also excited that they're having teens on the show to help them! Jessica Limpert from Season 12 posted a challenge of how many calories you can burn during a 2-hour show. I'll be at the gym at 8pm with my tush on the treadmill to accept this challenge. Will you be watching?

13 in '13!

Courtney Crozier from Biggest Loser has challenged her followers to set 13 goals in 2013. Check out her blog for more info, but I thought I'd share my list for the entire year. Some of them I've already shared with you, but that's ok.

1. Read 12 books -- I have 12 picked out, but if you have more suggestions, I can add them. 
2. Forgiveness
3. Completed couch to 5k
4. 365 miles (1 mile a day)
5. 6 5k races (last year I did 4)
6. Focus on ME!
7. Less time with technology – tv, phone, etc.
8. More time in the Word
9. More random acts of kindness
10. Try new things – boxing, dancing, etc.
11. More trips to see my family
12. Travel somewhere I’ve never been
13. Blog more

How are we doing five days into the New Year?? I'm not doing terrible, even keeping up with 50-50-50. Trying to help my body adjust to the new medicine - that's making me sick (much like the old one). Ugh. Frustrating, but I'm giving it a chance to see if I get used to it. My other medicine (the shot) is going really well! I still get nervous doing it, but it's going a lot better than I expected. One of my friends that saw me over the weekend said I made it look really easy. I was glad to hear it, considering I shake. :)

Have a fabulous Sunday, peeps! Love you all!

One Word

For the last three years I've chosen one word as a goal. My word for 2012 was BELIEVE. I was believing for the desires of my heart. Alas it didn't come, but I'm still hopeful.

My word for 2013 is ACHIEVE. There's so many things I want to achieve physically and spiritually. I'm stronger than I ever have been before, but it's time for the scale to move!!!

Do you guys pick a word? What's yours for the year?