BOO YAH

Yay! YAY! Yay! Praise the Lord! I've been back to Gold's Gym 2 days in a row! I am so thrilled to be back! It really does feel wonderful!

Last night I met my Mom for Body Pump and then did 20 min of cardio.

Tonight was all cardio- 10 min on the eliptical (while I waited for the Arc) + 60 min on the Arc Trainer = 675 calories burned!

My diet seems to be going well, too.

Also, I decided to sign up for the Gold's Gym Know Your Own Strength 12 week Challenge! Thursday evening will be my weigh in and "before" photos will be taken. hummm... what to wear??

How are you doing in 2012? Are you setting those mini goals?

Life of Worth

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lifeofworth.blogspot.com/

for some REAL life sharing and encouragement

<3 mama bear

a quick Saturday afternoon update

Yay! Lost 1.6 lbs this week. I will admit when I first saw the number I was a bit disappointed- wishing I had lost more. Quickly I put that thought away and celebrated a loss! Praise be to GOD!

Today's meals:
Breakfast: 3 slices bacon, LEAN protein shake(blended with iced pumpkin spice coffee, cinnamon, & vanilla), 1 FIRE supplement
Lunch: "Taco" Salad- lettuce, salsa, cheese, ground beef

Want to share your weekly stats??

if you fail to plan, you plan to fail...

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. I remember this motto being repeated many times in my high school years in Student Council. Here's the thing- I have no problem coming up with an AMAZING  goal with creative details and a wonderful finished product, but somewhere in between creative ideas and amazing completed goal.... did you know it is really cold... I should switch that load of laundry to the dryer... sweetie please stop coloring on the furniture... I wonder if I could make a scarf out of recycled...


Somewhere in between idea and successfully reaching goal, I get distracted. It maybe lack of discipline. It may be that I have a playful spirit or that I'm a youngest child. It really doesn't matter why.


I decided to think about the occasions when I was able to see an idea come to fruition (btw I had to look up how to spell fruition- distracted again). The difference was that I had a clear step by step plan. I had deadlines. Many times I enlisted the support of others (even if it was just telling my Mom I was working on something). At the end the success of the project, event, or whatever the goal was the REWARD.


What happened when my idea have failed? I have learned that when I am not "naturally" good at something, I get very impatient, frustrated and often just quit. I start negative self talk  & convince myself that I'll never get it right, so why try.


I have this vision of being a healthy, energetic woman who is confident in her appearance. A woman who can serve the Lord and serve others. A woman whose husband praises her and desires her. A woman who teaches her children well. Not a  proud woman, but a woman comfortable in her own skin.


I was well on my way to this vision a little over a year ago. The weight loss started to slow and I allowed myself to once again get distracted and tell myself I didn't "deserve" to reach that goal anyway. It is very frustrating to look back to where I was and feeling that way. Now I am going to have to work hard to get back to that point and then on to my goal.


What can I do differently this time? PLEASE SHARE YOUR IDEAS! I have come up with a list of mini goals, reasonable target dates, and rewards for meeting each mini-goal. Here are some examples:
Mini Goal              Target Date                             Reward
170 lbs                  1/31/2012                               $20
165 lbs                  2/14/2012                               new outfit
159 lbs                  3/15/2012          hair extensions or hair color


And the list goes on... I even have maintenance goals and rewards. Some other rewards are a spray tan, teeth whitening kit, & a session with a personal trainer.


I am still feeling super motivated and when I stepped on the scale today I saw results. I will plan to post my weights every Saturday. My ultimate goal is to weigh 110lbs and maintain that for LIFE.(I am 5'1.5".)


In the first picture I weighed around 210 lbs. In the second I was about 148lbs. In October of 2010, I got down to 141.5 lbs and plateaued for a couple months and then started gaining. I currently wear a size 12 and last Saturday I weighed in at 176.4 lbs. This journey is not over and I PLAN to succeed!

Please share your goals and plans...

the discipline of thin

2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)                                                                                                       For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)                                                                                             But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Are some people just blessed with good genetics? Maybe, but I have learned that most of those "naturally thin" gals have mastered the discipline of thin. They eat healthy most of the time and make exercise a routine. They split a meal with a friend when they go out to eat. They usually avoid sweets. When they have sweets they have one small portion and don't think "this is so good- I want more". They don't eat lots of grains. They just don't seem to think about food so much. Even if they don;t workout at a gym, they walk distances regularly & lead active lifestyles. It is so much a part of who they are it doesn't seem hard. They may even look at someone who struggles with weight and think "I must be blessed with skinny genes", because it doesn't seem tough to them.

So what about those of us who need to work on the discipline of thin? Where do we even begin? It begins on our knees asking the Lord to help us. Here is a prayer from Lysa Terkeurst, author of Made to Crave:

Dear Lord,

Help me to see how the temporary sting of sacrifice will be worth the peace I will find in You.

Please help me to have the courage to say no to things that distract me

 mentally, spiritually, and physically.

I long to be empowered with Your strength and Your peace today.

 I admit I need You.

 In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

God is God. He made each of us. He knows everything about us. He knows our struggles. We have those struggles to teach us our need to depend on Him. They are meant draw us close to Him. Our purpose is to bring glory to Him and make Him famous. Our struggle with the discipline of thin can be used for good and for God's glory. First we must surrender it to him and then continually ask for his help.

I pray that we may be empowered with strength and peace today and continue to encourage one another in this journey.

Have you ever thought of eating, exercise, health in this way? Have you read Lysa's book Made to Crave? What are your thoughts and prayer requests today?

I wish I were a bear

I Wish I Were A Bear
-----------------------------------
I wish I were a bear.
If you're a bear, you get to hibernate.
You do nothing but sleep for six months.
I could get used to that.
And another thing; before you hibernate,
you're supposed to eat yourself stupid.
That wouldn't bother me either.
IF you're a mama bear,
everyone knows you mean business;
you swat anyone who bothers your cubs.
If your cubs get out of line, you swat them, too.
Your husband expects you to growl when you wake up.
He expects you to have hairy legs and excess body fat.
He likes it.
I wish I were a bear.

a little motivation bit me today...

For over a year now I have not been exercising regularly. I felt guilty, but justified that I'm just not at stage of life where I can devote hours a day to exercise. After all, I am a wife and mother of three young children and I'm not as heavy as I used to be, and that would be selfish, and.....

But... over the last year I gained 35 of the 64 lbs I had worked SO HARD to lose and started feeling depressed, low energy, tired, and having trouble sleeping. It was obvious why!In order to lose those 64lbs I had cut all sugar, grains and processed foods from my diet. I worked out 5-7 days a week and at times for 3 hours straight. As I slowly became less restrictive of my diet and got out of the exercise habit- the pounds quickly returned. It was a not so slow fade. I would have days of eating "perfect", and then one mistake would lead to discouragement and days of eating whatever. I never really got back into exercise. It was a cycle of defeat and not a pretty picture.

I don't want to circle this mountain anymore! (Deuteronomy 2:3) About-Face!

A little motivation bit me today! I text my husband (who hits the gym early every morning, but doesn't usually watch his diet), and asked if in honor of our 10th wedding anniversary this year if we could train for and participate in the Warrior Dash. He replied- "let's do it!". I didn't hesitate, and registered us right away. I now have 21 weeks to get into the best shape of my life and endure what appears to be much much harder than giving birth... running, climbing nets and walls and junk cars, tight rope, jumping over fire, hurdles, rappelling, crawling under barbwire, and more!

So what did I eat today?
breakfast: chicken breast with a sprinkle of shredded cheddar
lunch: 1 scoop LEAN protein powder with water and iced coffee

I'm going to start with the Couch to 5K 9 week plan and also include weights. Tomorrow I plan to do Body Pump class- it will be sad to have to start back with baby weights, but it will be great to get back to it!

Humm... now where is that old sports bra????

Have you ever been bit by a little motivation? What inspires you to challenge yourself? Do you have any tips?