Just Me...

The last two weeks have been a scheduling chaos.  With school ending, Memorial Day weekend and Jeremy being out of town, let's just say that my eating routine has gone a little haywire.  What perplexes me is that for the past two weigh-ins I have lost 1lb each week. When I first started Weight Watchers, one of the articles that was recommended talked about changing up what you eat every so often.  It talked about how your body gets used to digesting the same foods at the same time of the day so a "dietary confusion" of sorts can help your body kick start metabolism and move off a plateau.  I didn't feel like I was reaching a plateau, but I definitely added some "dietary confusion" into my daily eating.  They say the same for exercise, that "muscle confusion" can help kick start your body into shape more effectively as using different muscles, or even the same muscles in a different way helps to enhance the results of exercise.  This is the corn...

So, I am in week 8 of Weight Watchers.  I am loving the discipline that I have developed toward food. I am eating so many more fresh fruits and vegetables.  I have a pretty standard point value pattern throughout the day and have made some go to low point snacks when I "need" food.  I have been working to plan more of my family's dinners and trying some new recipies.  The kids have not complained once about any of the new foods.  They are usually not too picky, but when food looks different than something that they have seen before, they usually clam up.  This is slowly going away as they accept that they usually enjoy whatever I put on their plate and I won't intentionally give them something to eat that I don't think they will like.  They are even learning that if there is a part of the meal that they don't like (for example, mushrooms in the pasta) they just put them to the side and enjoy the rest. All this to say is that I think that I am well ...

A few weeks back I took the plunge and started Weight Watchers again.   I have tried this a couple of times successfully in the past and it was time to take the bull by the horns again to get back on track.  The first time I did weight watchers, I was about the weight I am now and I wanted to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  I did well with this and then about a year later I got pregnant with my second.  The second time I did weight watchers, I had more to lose.  I lost 25lbs and felt great.  I was on a roll at my previous job and working out was a part of a regular habit of life so I maintained well.  In the Fall of 2010, I changed jobs...that wrecked any exercise and eating habit that I had formed.  My location changes, I was trying to make new friends and impress those at my new job.  I lost track! At first I gained only about 5 lbs and I thought, I can live with this.  I'll get back those 5lbs when I get a bit more ...

I am reading a book right now that I would highly recommend by Andy Andrews.  It is called " The Noticer "...I just finished his book " The Travelers Gift " a week or so ago and would highly recommend it too.  The premise of The Noticer is Perspective.  There are many lessons to glean from the book, but the overall theme is that no matter what the situation, if you take a minute and look at the situation with perspective, your attitude is bound to change.  This got me to thinking that not all perspective is good.  We must seek God to give us the perspective He wants for us, not the perspective we want for ourselves.  We all want an outcome, we all need God's outcome.  Sometimes my perspective doesn't line up, but I get the outcome I want...well, what I think I want anyway.  I was reminded of this when listening to a Joyce Meyer podcast this morning on my drive in.  It was her podcast from Tuesday of this week (I am a bit behind :))... ...

Today I had a big presentation for work scheduled for about 2pm.  The time was an estimate as I was part of the agenda for a weekly 3 hr meeting of our Senior Leadership team.  I wasn't really stressed about the presentation, but I knew I needed the right words and content for the message to be received as it needed to be.  Coming into the meeting I knew that a couple of people were not going to be there that I felt should hear the presentation and that I was 4th out of 5 agenda items.  I knew that whenever my turn came, that there would have been 3 major discussions prior to mine and so short, sweet and impactful were words in my mind. I shot out a quick prayer request to a prayer group I am in on Facebook and quickly felt the relief from prayers being said.  Just knowing that others were asking God to bless me with the right words was soothing to my nerves.  The meeting began at noon and at 1pm, my boss popped in to my workstation and said that they w...

I like to switch things up every 30 days or so.  I had a challenge that I started with Walk Away The Pounds in February and merged into March.  I have been dabbling around for a couple of weeks now with Yoga and other things to keep exercise a part of my schedule, but, for me, having a calendar is a must!  I just don't stay on track without one. Last week a friend of mine of Facebook posted a link to a beginner running program from Women's Health Magazine.  I really never saw myself running again, but like my previous post, I should learn to "never say never"... The workout is a 6 week plan that moves from walking with short 1 min intervals of running to running 30 min straight.  There are 2 things that I really like about this program.  First, it incorporates 2 days of strength training with exercises I can do right at home.  Second, it only works up to 30 min of running.  One of the mistakes I think I made before when I was running w...

A few years ago, we got a treadmill...I said I only wanted to use it for walking...I would "never" be a runner..2 half marathons and several 5ks later... Last summer, I said, I am hanging up my running shoes, I have this leg pain and I am going to just be a walker again,  I "never" want to run another race, just focus on walking...yesterday I downloaded a new workout schedule to get to 30 min running over the next 6 weeks (starting this on Monday) Since my Sophomore year in college when I said I would "never" be able to tolerate teaching other peoples' children, I have maintained that I wouldn't...until yesterday when I put my name in the pot to start teaching in Children's Ministry at our Church... After thinking about this for a while I discovered, that if I just put it out there that I will "never" do something and God really wants me to do it, I will eventually do it.  I think that saying Never is a throwdown  to God in a wa...