The current Bible study I'm doing,Brave by Angela Thomas, has a chapter about being undisciplined. I think it's a chapter that most anyone can relate to. I don't believe there is a single person whose disciplined in every area of their life. It was a chapter that really struck a chord with me, and when I completed that chapter, I sat down and made a list of 7 things that I can do during the day that will help with keeping my home and sanity in tact. I've been doing them for a few weeks now and I wanted to share them with you today. 1. Jesus Our first step, thought, action, etc should always be Jesus. Ok, I'll admit that when I open my eyes in the morning my first thought isn't about Jesus. It's usually- did I wake up before the girls. But, once I collect myself a little, I always try and pray for a few minutes. I find my courage and commit my day to God. I pray for His will to be done during the day and if that means rearranging my schedule, then so be it. When I skip this step, I usually do not have a good productive day. 2. Start Early I'm not a morning person. I've finally embraced this. I'm not the type of mom who's up before the kids, dressed, fed, and ready to go when their feet hit the floor. And that's ok. There are lots of women out there that can do that and it works well for them. It doesn't for me. But, once I'm up and going with the girls, I kill my day if I sit down right after breakfast is over. Because then I stay sitting and nothing gets done. I start on my to do list as soon as breakfast is over or as soon as we get home from dropping off at school. It gets the momentum going and I accomplish more. 3. The 10 o'clock Rule I saw this idea on another blog, and for the life of me, I have no idea which blog it was. (if you know, tell me and I'll credit this idea). If you menu plan like me, this isn't very hard to do. It's just simply knowing exactly what's for dinner by 10 am. When you do this, there's no surprises at 5pm when the meat is still frozen or you're missing a key ingredient. Also, if you're a working mom, or doing weight watchers, or counting calories, or really just want to take the stress out, I would say do this at 10pm the night before. Plan exactly what your meals will be for the next day and have things prepped and ready to go. If you pack your lunch for work or the kids lunch for school, have them partially packed and ready to go for the AM. 4. Write Stuff Down Yes, it's true. I feel so discombobulated when I know I was supposed to be doing or remember something but I have no idea what it was because I didn't write it down somewhere. I have a smartphone, but I'm an old school type of person. I have a good ole paper student planner that I use daily. But, if that's not your style, use your calendar on your phone, make notes, use smoke signals. Do something. Just write stuff down.
5. Have a Flexible Schedule We're semi scheduled during the school year just because of Emmy's school schedule. She goes to school 3 days a week, so we plan around that. But, normally we know that Wednesday is also Library day and Friday is grocery day. I schedule specific things on specific days so that life just runs more smoothly. I plan on doing this during our summer break too. Certain days will be different things- water day, library day, beach day, etc. A routine like this helps my girls too. They know exactly what's going to happen and when. Obviously, don't pin yourself down so much that you create stress with rigidity. If you have to switch things up, no big deal. This is life. It's fluid and not perfect. 6. Schedule Downtime in Your Day From 1pm-2pm there's a good chance I'm sitting in our big brown chair in the living room drinking a cup of coffee. And doing nothing except Facebook, Pinterest, or reading a book. And ya know what? That's ok. That hour and cup of coffee help me reset for the afternoon. If I take that hour to refresh then I'm good to go for the rest of the day. If your day is scheduled, work in some downtime. A few days a week I use this time as "quiet time" for my girls. I have specific toys, books, puzzles they only see during quiet time. Emmy uses this time to work on writing her letters or "homework" from school and Macie normally colors or looks at books. If I haven't worked it in earlier in the day, I use this time for my Bible study time. 7. Clean your "stress space" before bed. I HATE going to bed with a sink of dishes. My morning just runs so much more smooth when I come into a clean kitchen. When I'm trying to pull myself together for the day, it starts me off on the wrong foot when I walk into dirty clutter. So, I've been trying to make a point to get the dishes washed, the counters clear and clean, laundry off the floor (my laundry is in my kitchen), and my floors swept before I head to bed. Makes a big difference in the way my next day starts. Well, there ya have it. 7 things I do to help my most undisciplined life run more smoothly. Although, I don't want to leave this unsaid- There are areas of our life that may perhaps always be undisciplined. And discipline looks different for every person on the planet. But don't let the important things go. God gives us his strength and ability to conquer our undisciplined areas if we commit them to him. And it takes practice. We can't wake up in the morning, tell God we went to be disciplined and suddenly we are. It takes work and intention. And it's hard. But don't bypass it because it's hard. Take God's help and get victory over those areas. And I'm right there with ya. Happy Tuesday!
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Well, I figured it was time resurrect Weigh In Wednesday. The last time I did a WIW post was on May 15th. At the time I was doing a boot camp class and working out 4 or 5 days a week at the YMCA. Once Emmy got out of school later on that month, I pretty much stopped doing everything. 5 months later and I'd gained 11 lbs and just felt really bad overall. I felt sluggish and my body just felt blah. So, I decided it was time to start calorie counting again. For financial reason we had to cancel our membership at the Y, which makes me sad because I loved it there. But, I'm not going to let that stop me. I've successfully lost weight not having a gym membership and I can do it again!
When I decided it was time to start counting calories again I felt like I was really missing something. It took me a week or two of really struggling to realize that what I was missing was support. Last fall, when I was losing weight successfully, I was part of the online weight loss community, SparkPeople. I was part of a group of about 30 people that were in regular daily contact encouraging each other and supporting each other. I loved that. It was like there were finally people who understood what it felt like to want to eat a pan of brownies or knew exactly what to say to motivate me to run. But, there were circumstances that resulted in me leaving SparkPeople and, unfortunately, I won't be going back to it. But, I did decide that I wanted to create a page on Facebook where people could join and we could support each other. It's been pretty cool to have this resource available and the support is invaluable. I'd love it if you'd join our group if you need support. We're from all locations and walks of life. We just want to lift each other up and help each other meet our health and wellness goals. There are some who are part of the group who aren't looking to lose weight, just maintain a healthy lifestyle. There are some in the group who have lots of weight to lose and want that support also. The name of the group is At A Loss Weight Loss and Wellness Support Group. We'd love it if you joined! Here's the link- https://www.facebook.com/groups/300914140050499/ Just click on that link and join us on our journey. I've said it a hundred times- I don't think God intended for us to walk the road of life alone. He designed us to be community oriented people, and this is no exception! Support and accountability can be powerful in helping us reach our goals. Speaking of goals, here are a few of my October weight loss goals- 1. I want to eliminate the weight I've gained this summer and get back to my "ending" weight. That's about 6 pounds. If I can lose more, that would be great, but I'm aiming to take off the weight I've gained back. 2. Water, Water, Water. I feel like this is always a goal as I NEVER drink enough water. 3. More scripture memory. I want to make sure I've got Bible verses so ingrained in my head that I can use them to fight the temptation that comes with choosing a healthy lifestyle. 4. Plan and plan again. I would be so much more successful if I had ALL my meals planned in advance, not just our dinners. It takes the guess work out of calorie counting. Are you wanting to make a change for a healthier lifestyle? Do you know it's time to surrender the part of you that you've been holding back- your food life? I am! If you want support, head on over to the group and give us a shout! Happy Wednesday! This is probably the post I've been most excited about catching up with. The difference a month makes! Last Friday I weighed in at exactly 20 lbs down from where I started. This had gotten a little crazy during the month of July and I basically took the whole month off. But, August, I owned. I lost a little over 10 lbs in August and I was able to stick to the goals I'd set for myself. I've set new goals for myself for Sept, and I'll share those in a bit. As you read on Monday, I was able to finish my first ever 5k on Saturday. We had a great time and I look forward to doing it again next year. Although, I'll probably do it with my kids next year and walk it. It was almost impossible for us to run so that wouldn't be my plan. But, I had a friend approach me last week about doing another 5k on Sept 30th. She knew I wanted to do a timed race, and this one is. I agreed and now... off we go! Race #2 in a little over 3 weeks. WHAT?! But I'm actually really glad because it'll keep me on track with my training. Before I even did the 5k on Saturday, I'd decided that I wanted to do the 5k that's part of the Indianapolis Marathon on Oct 20th. Over the last few days, Aaron has decided that he wants to run with me then and for his sake, I think we'll register for the 5k that's part of the Monumental Marathon on Nov 3rd instead. That'll give him another 2 weeks to train. We have friends running in that race as well, just not the 5k. That hasn't been totally decided, so I'll keep you update on that. Ok, onto those Sept goals... I need to drink water. Lots more water! So, goal #1 is to make sure I'm getting at least 65oz of water every day. I want to run more than I walk for the 5k on Sept 30th. My goal right now is to finish in under 50 mins. I need to get my eating back on track. I've held stead at the 20 lbs down this last week so it's time to get into gear and get back to eating good stuff instead of just 1200 calories of bad stuff. My goal is to have fruit or veggies at every meal regardless of what or where I'm eating. My birthday is in 16 days. I'd like to be down 6 lbs in those 16 days. I kow that's a push, but I've done it before and I know I can do it again. Hoping for a good weigh in this week! On Tuesday night, a friend of mine mentioned something that she decided to do for herself. She said it was 30 by 30. Basically, she made a list of 30 things she wanted to do/accomplish by the time she turned 31. I thought it was a great idea when she mentioned it but the rest of the night I didn't give it much thought. Then yesterday I couldn't really get it out of my head. I've never been much of a goal setter and I'm seeing now that part of maturing (at least for me) is setting a goal and holding myself accountable for the outcome. So, I decided I'm going to make my own 30 by 30 list. I'll turn 31 on Sept 28th of 2014. I figured that 26 months is a pretty good chunk of time and if I really set my mind to completing my list, I can do it.
As I come up with things to put on my list, I'll share them with you. Maybe not all of them, as I'm sure some of them will be personal, but there are some that won't be. Ok, so here are a few I've already come up with: Be at my goal weight by my 30th birthday. That gives me a little over 14 months to lose 130 lbs. Finish a 5k- hopefully I'll be doing that on Sept 8th. Get out of debt. Finish a sprint distance triathalon. Take the honeymoon cruise Aaron and I never went on. Pay cash for new furniture. Pay cash for a new (to us) van. Ok, so these are just a few of the ones that I came up with off the top of my head! As I come up with some more or complete some, I'll share posts about them. I'm excited about this and I hope that some of you will join me or at least make a list of your own! It's Monday again! Man, I feel like the weeks are going so fast! Although, ask me again on Wednesday and I might not feel like that. This week is going to be C-R-A-Z-Y! We have something going on every night but Thursday. My folks are coming in on Friday though, so I'm sure Thursday will be plenty busy. Because my parents are coming on Friday, I only meal planned for Mon - Thurs. Aaron and I will be at a youth function on Fri night so my folks will figure out what they will eat. Then once my folks get here we'll work out something for Saturday and Sunday. They're also watching thier calories so we'll all be eating healthy! Monday- Green Beans, Sausage, and Potatoes- This is one of Aaron's favorites and I like it because it's a crock pot meal! Tuesday- I'm going to be at a baby shower for a sweet friend at church on Tuesday, so Aaron will be taking the girls out for dinner for a Daddy/Daughter date night! Wednesday- Turkey Sandwiches- Wednesdays are always exceptionally crazy. Aaron comes home from work and picks us up and we head straight to youth group. Normally, I feed the girls before we leave and then I make sandwiches for Aaron and I to eat on the way there. Thursday- French Onion Burgers - I figured we need to have at least 1 regular meal this week. I like french onion burgers. They are an easy take on hamburgers and they are yummy! I just fix hamburgers in a skillet on the stove. When they're almost done, I add a can of low sodium french onion soup and let them simmer for a few mins. Plop on a bun, add a slice of cheese, and ta-da! Since it's a rather simple week, I was able to do all of our grocery shopping for about $65 dollars. I did some shopping at ALDI like I always do, then we hit up Meijer where they were doing the 10 for $10 sale. Then I finished up at Walmart. Disclaimer! Always make sure you check your prices before you jump feet first into 10 for $10 sales. If you aren't brand specific, a lot of time store brands are cheaper than the $1 price (ie- We got Meijer brand pudding for $.86 instead of $1 for Jello brand). Also, Marshmallows at Aldi were only $.76 cents instead of $1 at Meijer. The concept of 10 for $10 is great and we did get some great deals (Aunt Millie's Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins for a buck!) but sometimes it's deceiving! I'll leave you with this recipe I found on Pinterest this week. (Pinned here). I think this might be my post 5k reward after my race in Sept. It looks soooooo good! It's a vegan recipe too! I'm not a vegan, but I know there are great benefits to it. So, you can't really go wrong with this right!? I wasn't absolutely dreading this AM's weigh in because I knew I'd lost so much water weight over the last few days. But, I was suprised when I stepped on the scale and it said -3. That's the lowest I've been since I started this whole process. And it's 10 lbs lost since Sunday. Obviously, a lot of that is water weight, but still. My run last night was pretty good. I started off really strong. I got new running shoes which made a huge difference. I was going pretty strong with the 1:30 run then 1:30 walk. I was able to do that until about the 22 min mark. Then I went to 1 min/1 min. I did one cycle like that and went back to the 1:30/1:30. I'm pretty pleased because that's almost exactly where I left off 3 weeks ago. Tomorrow I'll do all 1:30/1:30, and then hopefully on Sat and I can 1:30/1. Then next week I can start the 2min/1min. This is going to get deep for a min so hang with me... I've realized over the last few years that I'm a people pleaser. It's not that I haven't always known that, but until recently, I didn't realize the depth of it. I'm so concerned about letting people down that I normally quit half way or just don't do it (whatever IT is) to begin with. Prime example.... I've been so nervous about not being able to finish the 5k. And I know, in reality, even if I have to walk it all, I'll finish. BUT, I'm training to run it, not walk it. And I just feel like people would be so dissapointed if I didn't run it. And I started stressing about that, so I started making excuses and just stopped training all together. Then I got stressed out because I was behind and now it's crunch time and I really may not be ready. Last night as I was running I was thinking about all the people who would be proud to know I was at it again, but I had to stop myself and ask who I was doing this for. And the honest answer is, I don't really know. Yeah, I'll be happy when I'm skinny and healthy and can do things I haven't been able to do in a while and God calls us to be healthy and live physically in a Christlike way, but is that my true motivation or am I doing this because I want people to be proud of me and approve of me? Pinned Here.
Stepped on the scale today and I was somewhat nervous what the outcome would be. I have only been counting calories loosely the last 2 days and the weekend was somewhat of a total bust. So, I was thankful to see that there was no movement. I can be happy with not losing as long as I'm not gaining! I'll start up running for this week tonight. I kind of wish I wouldn't have waited so long to start this week, but I was going to do it last night and then I realized I'd run again on Thurs which is forcasted to be 103 degrees here. I know there are alot of people who run in that type of weather, but I don't want to if I don't have to! So, I'll start tonight so I skip tomorrow. I've really been battling emotional eating the last few days. I've been pretty stressed out and that leads me to either not eat or eat whenever I'm feeling frustrated. Crazy as this sounds, what has helped me is actually picturing Jesus sitting there in my kitchen asking me if I really need to eat that. Most of the time it's instantly obvious that I'm just eating to try and relieve stress (which never really happens). I mentioned in my post last week that I was somewhat concerned with our mission trip to Toronto. Now I'm pretty concerned. I called the hotel and they don't have any type of exercise room. I know nothing about the neighborhood, so I'm not sure if I can run there. So, if anything I'll be running around the parking lot. 2 of the girls in our youth group are doing summer gym for school, and they have to get 3 hours of exercise in during the week, so I figured that'll be good motivation for me too! Someone suggested we run the stairs at the hotel! That makes me cringe just thinking about it! The food is the part I'm worried about. We'll be eating breakfast at the hotel in the AM, so I can do oatmeal or something then. Lunch will be served by host families, so I'll be at the mercy of the families we're working with. Then dinner will be eaten out every night. I guess I need to do alot of studying up on what the best choices are for eating out! This Week: -3 It is AMAZING to me how much weight my body fluctuates. On Saturday, I stepped on the scale and I was FINALLY past those 5 lbs I couldn't lose. Infact, I beat them by 2 lbs. So I was down a total of 7 lbs from where I started. I did nothing different for the next few days and on Monday when I stepped on the scale I was up almost 10 lbs! This mornging when I weighed, I was down 6. So, still past my goal by a lb, but seriously! It's crazy. If I can't beat this water weight fluctuation, it's going to be a LOOOOOOONG road. With that being said, I know I'm not drinking enough water. Infact, I'm not really drinking any. I haven't been buying any pop (or soda) because the little money we have needs to be spent on other groceries. So I haven't really been drinking anything. So, I know I'm not helping the problem. So, my goal for this week (now until next Wed) will be to get all my water in! Since technically I hit my first goal, I'm setting my 2nd goal. Aaron's going to be recieving his district license at a service on July 29th. My goal is to be down at least 10 by then. Doesn't sound like a steep goal, but our mission trip to Toronto is thrown in there. I'm not sure how we'll be eating so I'm not positive how much control I'll have of my diet for 7 days. So, this might be a little tough. Also, the hotel we're staying at doesn't have an exercise room, so I won't have a indoor place to run. The neighborhood might be ok, but I won't know that till I get there. I might just end up running around our hotel. I can't afford to skip a week of training! I love that saying! It's truth. Even if you're not running marathon's at record breaking pace, you're still doing something! I try and remind myself of this while I'm training. (Image pinned here)
Well, today is the day. I've been weighing on and off through out the week so I have an idea of where I was heading for today's post. The good news is that I'm down 4 lbs. The bad news is that I did not break the 5 lbs I've been trying to break since January. But, this is as close as I've gotten. So, I know if I just stick to it, it will happen.
Last week I posted about decreasing my calories and seeing if that helped. I set my calorie trackers on Spark People to a lower calorie range and it's definitely made a difference. I'm eating between 1300-1500 calories a day. So, all in all I'm pleased. I'm not feeling super sucessful just yet because I want to beat these stupid 5 lbs. 1 more lbs to go, I know, but still. It's my first goal. I'm impatient (imagine that) and I'm ready to be able to see results now. I'm torn because I feel like I've been at this long enough that I should notice more results. But, I know that just cutting my calories changed things and this won't happen over night. There is a saying that I keep repeating to myself... "It takes 4 weeks for you to notice your body changing. It takes 8 weeks for your friends, and 12 weeks for the rest of the world. Give it 12 weeks. Don't quit." I ran again last night and ended up only doing half of my run. I was supposed to run tonight, but I won't be home, so I decided to do it last night and not take a recovery day. I only ended up doing half my run. I walked the rest of the time then decided to sit by the lake and spend a little time with God. It was a BEAUTIFUL night and I'd really struggled with some things yesterday and I decided that it would be a great time to sit and just listen to God. It was the best part of my day. I'll pick up running again on Thursday and add Saturday that way I can make sure I get 3 full runs in this week. So, here's to hoping that next week I can bust that final lb and be done with these stubborn 5 lbs forever! Well, I'm thinkin' Wednesday will be my least favorite of all the days I post. I've committed to making this blog real and true to life. And for me, that includes trying to lose weight. At this point I don't have big secrets or tips to share. I did Weight Watchers for a while and I was struggling more than I was having success. There are a few blogs that I follow who's writers have lost significant amounts of weight (You can see those here and here) and they give a lot of good advice. Plus, I have a few friends who've lost significant amounts of weight and they all seem to be invaluable resources. So here's the skinny, I've got about 130lbs to lose to get me to the top of my "healthy" weight range. I've already lost about 20 lbs from my highest non pregnancy weight. Although, honestly I didn't have to work hard for that to come off. It came off pretty quickly not long after Macie was born and I was nursing and got gingivostomatitis and I couldn't really eat or drink anything. I lived on coke and milkshakes for almost a week. Since then I've been couting calories (1800 a day) and I've started the Couch to 5k running program. BUT, I've lost zero weight. Infact I weighed myself in perperation for today's post and nothing. There was zero movement on the scale. So, I think maybe I need to decrease my calories a little bit. I'm thinking maybe 1600. The recommended daily amount of calories for me is actually 1500, but I wasn't qute ready for that just yet, but it may work out that's what I have to do. What is perfectly clear that is that I'm not doing something right. I've been couting calories for 2 weeks now and I've only had maybe 3 days where I've exceded my calories. So, something isn't working. I don't think I'll be posting my actual weight online. Not yet at least. Not quite ready for that, but I am going to be brave and post a before picture. This was taken this morning. So it's recent. So, here goes Weigh In Wednesdays. Hopefully, next week I'll have better news to report!
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HEY, I'M JESSICA!
Christian. Wife. Mommy. Daughter. Pastor. Friend. Saved.Redeemed. Beloved.
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