Back in the saddle

So when many bloggers fall off the face of the planet it means they have fallen of the weight loss wagon as well.  I am happy to say that even though I have had some ups and downs I weighed in this week at 228.2 so that is down 20 lbs since my first weigh in on this blog.  Granted it took me 8 months but better than being 20 lbs heavier!

I have had some other great victories and changes as well this summer.  First, I started a First Place 4 Health group at my church.  It was such an encouragement and great accountability this summer and the fellowship with others having similar goals was wonderful. We start our second 12 week session next week and I am excited to see all God is going to do in our group this fall.

Second, I ran a 5K!  Well I would say jogged a 5K with my sister at the end of August.  It was such an accomplishment when at the beginning of the summer I could only run a few minutes.  I haven't ran too much since the 5K and that is something I want to start doing more of before the winter doldrums set in.

My hubby also got a new job so he will be home each night and that is one of the biggest blessings ever!  I have some other posts in mind, I want to take some more progress photos with the 20 lbs loss.  I have continued to read so many encouraging blogs and I hope my journey can encourage others as well.

Rough few days

So this has been a rough week.  First for at least two weeks someone in our house has had the flu, I got my first round two days ago.  My back is killing me, I am so sick of standing up and having back spasms and having to wait them out until I can walk again.  And my hubby, for those who don't know, is gone during the week for work and only home some weekends.  It sucks, and this week with sick kids, heaps of laundry, buckets, and everyone sick of being stuck in the house it has been even harder.  I wish I could say that I resisted and did perfect but alas, not true.  I overate a few days and snacked on things that were not healthy (like chips and cheese).  The one area of discipline that I am so proud of myself for is that I did not give in to refined sugar, like the pile of cupcakes and sugar cookies sitting on my counter right now. I defiantly had more carbs than I have been having and I need to cut back on those this week.  Tomorrow is weigh in for me, I am not hoping for anything great.  But I am not giving up and tomorrow I will pick myself up, have my devos tomorrow morning and do the next right thing.  


In 3 1/2 weeks we will be leaving for Arizona (yeah!) I want to be down 16 lbs by then that is 7 1/2 more lbs by then which is possible if I stay disciplined and focused.  I can't put an update until Friday because my hubby has to take the computer this week so I will have to post my weigh in then. 

Roadblocks

It seems every time that I really start exercising again and amp up my effort I get some type of injury.   It almost always involves my back and it is not fun.  Three years ago after our children came home and our adoptions were complete I went though a bit of a post-adoption depression (kind of like postpartum depression)  I gained at least 20 lbs in those first six months.  So when I finally decided enough was enough I started full force with my Ti-Bo videos.  Crazy punching and kicking along with lifting two heavy toddlers and being really out of shape landed me on bed rest using a walker for over a month.  Not fun, not fun at all.

My back has done much better and though my pregnancy with my daughter I felt great.  She is now a year old and just in the past month have I really started exercising again.  And guess what?  The back problem rears its ugly head again.  Ugg, I have been to the chiropractor weekly and it is not improving.  He things it may be a bulged or herniated disk which is not what I want to hear at all.  So next week I am off to a new doctor and a possible MRI.

There are moments when I feel like I want to use this as an excuse,to  be lazy and not be as disciplined about my eating.  But will that solve my back problems?  Will that help me loose weight? No.  I may not be as active as I would like to be right now but I can still move (no walker thankfully!) and I can make good choices about what I put in my body.  It is all about doing the next right thing, and not giving up.

Weigh In ~ down 2.4

So though I am very excited about another 2.4 loss I am even more excited about my non-scale victory (NSV) I had yesterday.  


As you may very well know yesterday was the super bowl.  We go over to my parents and hang out all afternoon and though we can't always count on an great game there is one thing we can count on... food, and lots of it.  We got there around three and the food kept rollin in, chips, ribs, pizza, dips, and much more.  That was all tempting but I knew I could have one plate and be done but the real temptation came in the form of a creamy dreamy to die for peanut butter pie.  Oh. my. word.   Just one look and my saliva glands went into overdrive and I started having crazy eyes as we call it.  It's that feeling that comes over you when you want to eat something so bad you don't thing rationally you just eat. But I didn't, I knew the commitment that I had made to no sugar and soda and just said no.  Overall it has not been overly difficult but being in an environment that in the past I have almost always overate and binged it was a major trigger for me.  But the feeling of walking away, not going home sick was amazing.  I actually went home early (sick kids) and exercised, wow what a great victory!


Overall last week was much harder than the first week of no sugar but I feel so much better overall.  I don't feel the urge to overeat as much and fruit tastes amazing!  Now if I could just get my kids over this lingering flu I can catch up on my sleep and start having more energy.  Here is to a week full of NSV!

The next right thing

I have been involved in my sister-accountiblity group for 7 months now and I am so blessed by each of them and their commetment to eachother and encouagment to me on this journey.  This January we started to read the book "Give God a Year, Change Your Life Forever"  It is from the director of First Place 4 Health, Carole Lewis.  It has bee so encouraging and challenging, just what our group needed to start out this past month.


One of the things that has stuck in my head and has pushed me forward is a saying that she uses.  Do the next right thing.  When I just want to eat the cookies or way more than I need, do the next right thing.  When I want to leave my house a disaster, do the next right thing.  When I want to sit around instead of exercising, do the next right thing.


You see life can be overwhelming, the amount of weight I have to loose is overwhelming.  But when I look at those moments and just do that next right thing I am one step closer to my goals and to experiencing freedom.  It takes doing the next right thing over and over and then new habits are formed.  And somehow life is not as overwhelming anymore.


So I am off to do the next right thing, clean the bathroom, ugg,

Weigh In ~ down 5.8!

Wow, so I think the no sugar thing is helping, I had a great week!  I thought that I would feel more cravings at least for a week or two but it went far better than I expected.  I didn't feel the crazy want to eat all the time feeling.  I ate so much better with more fruits and veggies and overall felt so much victory.

I also exercised three time which with my back problems I have been having lately this is really good.  I know that I have a long way to go but I just need to take it one day at a time.  If I do the weight will come off and I will feel better.  Today I am going to celebrate the first of many disciplined weeks.

The plans I have for you

I was reading and praying about Jeremiah 29:11 this morning.  

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, 

plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you 

hope and a future.

This may be a well known verse to many but as I was praying and meditating on it I was reminded that being fat was and is not God's plan for me.  I think much of my life I told myself, God loves me just the way I am.  And though God does love us no matter the size he does and did not love what I was doing doing to my body, his temple.  So often being overweight leads to a feeling of hopelessness, feeling like I will never be able to beat this, to actually change.  And as the verse says that is not God's plan for me, he wants me to live a hopeful life full of his promises and life-giving truth.  An only when I turn from my sin (of gluttony) and replace it with his truth will I find the strength to break free from this.


So as I continue on day 4 of no sugar I know I will have many opportunities to see God work and to choose discipline.  As I do that I will build my resolve and see some great victory!

Breaking up is hard to do

So first things first, the number on the scale... 248.2.  That warrants a yikes I am afraid, and I truly hope to never see that number again, like ever.  For any sisters reading I did get a new scale so that is one reason that it is a bit higher than weigh ins and also because I ate a bunch of sugar.


Why all the sugar you may ask?  Well that leads me to my announcement.  For the next year, apart from my birthday, anniversary, and Christmas day I will be abstaining from all refined sugar.  Anyone who knows me would follow that statement with a collective gasp.  You see sugar and I have a very unhealthy relationship.  It is like that boyfriend in college, the one you wanted to spend all your time with, you thought about all the time, ditched others for him just to find out that he really didn't like you all that much and was actually seeing someone on the side.  But alas you would take him back time and time again even though you knew it was the worst thing for you.  Yep that is me and sugar, I keep going back eating it all the time even though it is never enough, I always want more.  And it has to stop.  So I am breaking up with sugar, we are over.


I am sure you have heard that the addiction to food is the hardest to get over.  Why?  Because you can not stop cold turkey, you have to eat to sustain life.  My biggest struggle is with sweets; cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies, brownies and ice cream.  You get the point, it almost always spirals me into a binge that is hard to come back from.  I don't go crazy on fast food or pizza, though I like it it does not call to me like a pack of peanut M & Ms.  So though I can't stop eating cold turkey I can say no to the thing that sabotages me the most, my ex sugar.  Just to clarify (mostly for myself) I am going to still have honey and maple syrup for baking and also something called sucanat which is a natural sweetener along with stevia.  All these very limited.  I also am going to be staying away from any sugar substitutes and soda.  So really this is a double break up with diet soda AND sugar.  This could get emotional, and crabby.


I was thinking about this decision yesterday, as I nursed my last diet coke.  I know it is going to be hard, really, really hard.  And I know I am going to have days that I am going to be so mad I made this choice and want to give up.  But that is when I will get to the end of myself and where God's strength will have to carry me.  If I am not willing to do the uncomfortable I will miss out on the amazing things God is willing and waiting to do in my life.  So here is to day one, 364 to go.

Back-up, we need some background please

I have a obsession love for blogs.  They are so human, and for the most part give such a great insight into the lives of others.  I started this love love relationship when we were in the process of adopting our oldest two children from Guatemala.  I started reading a few adoption blogs and I finally found someone who could relate to the crazy journey we were on.  Then life sped up and I changed our adoption blog to a family blog with the new addition of our daughter a year ago.  Then I started reading these amazing stories about weight loss journeys and I was encouraged, and inspired.  Obviously I was motivated enough to document my story.


Now here comes the disclaimer...I am not going to be one of those blogs that post a 10 lb weight loss every week.  Or share every piece of food I put in my mouth, I'm just not.  But what I am going to do is be real.


I have struggled with weight my entire life, been on countless diets (this will I am sure warent an entire post in and of itself) and lost and gained hundreds of pounds along the way.  Here's the thing, I found out in college that I had PCOS (poly cystic ovary syndrome) and it is a beast.  There are many symptoms but one of the biggies is weight gain and you guessed it, difficulty loosing weight.   Here's the kicker, though there are some treatments the best treatment is exercise and to maintain a healthy weight.  So let me recap, loosing weight is the best thing to deal with this disease BUT it is extremely difficult to loose weight.  Does anyone else see the irony and problem with this situation?  


So though the going may be slow, there is no where to go but down.  If I don't the reality is that I will be an undisciplined woman with an increased risk of diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.  Those are all heightened already with obesity and PCOS only heightens these risks.  So yes, this is going to be hard but it is a fight worth giving my all.


In another note tomorrow is weigh in for our accountability group.  I will post the scary number tomorrow along with an announcement.   Onward.

The journey begins, or should I say continues...

For the past few months I have been working on well, lots of things.  I have six amazing sisters and almost six months ago two of us started meeting, determined to become disciplined in our eating.  We had some major ups and downs but we have moved forward and now five of us are meeting all with the goal to not only loose weight but become disciplined women in other areas as well.


 While these other areas such as;   getting up early, spending time daily with the Lord, drinking more water, and no snacking, have really started becoming good habits the weight is not coming off.  This can be a bit discouraging but I am not giving up!  I am pulling out all the stops and fighting this battle with all I have.  I decided that a blog would be a great way to document this adventure and the changes that will happen along the way.  And let's be honest, with five sisters for accountability partners they need a place to check in on me :)