Walk Out Your Transformation

Tonight I started a conference call Bible study called "Walk Out Your Transformation". Only problem is that I was in transit and I could only listen in to the first 30 minutes. But the nice thing is that she records the calls and then I can go to the website and listen to them at my convenience. I'm not sure how I'll like the calling in part but it's good to try new things and with how spread out everyone is, it is convenient and saves on gas.

Here is a link if you'd like to check it out yourself http://www.bridgetodominion.org/

This is being hosted by an "old friend" and by old I don't mean age but rather the length of time we've known each other. Her name is Vickie and we met at least 12 years ago at the church we were attending. I actually attended her first class 6 years ago. And it's been about two years since we've last talked, but Vickie is the kind of friend where we just pick up where we left off. Sometimes life gets busy and seasons change but it's always good when God brings us back together again. And it's even more interesting to find that once again we are going through similar trials and God is purifying us with His fire. I recently had Vickie come and talk at my current church and it's exciting to see others gain the understandings that I too am gaining. I look forward to seeing what God does through this class.

My new"life" Scripture is...Joh 8:31-32 So Jesus said to those who believed in him, "If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

I've never realized the freedom I have in His Truth until recently. There is something beautiful and empowering in understanding the freedom we have in Christ...the truth I am understanding is freeing me up to truly love others...to have grace and mercy...to see past the outward and minister to the inward. Sure, I was able to do some of that before but it always seemed like there was something holding me back from being able to do it with my whole heart. I've been learning what that "something" is and what I need to do to break through it. It's quite simple, yet I've never really understood it till recently. Yeah, I'd get bits and pieces of understanding but lately it's like a flood gate has opened and all the dots are getting connected.

It's these understandings I hope to blog about because there is something powerful in being able to communicate the things we learn. Plus it helps to solidify it in us too. Being able to tell others is one of the best ways to "test" what we know.

Slowly but Surely

God is doing some major heart changing in my life right now and I need to reflect that in this blog. Of course it would help if I actually would write but that is coming. For most of this last year the focus of this blog was my journey to losing weight.

Well, I am still on that journey. However, I want this blog to reflect more than that now. The season was wonderful where I finally focused on the weight issue I had but life is more than what we weigh and honestly blogging about just that aspect of my life was losing it's "thrill". Not because I am not still losing weight, I am...but I don't want that to be the only focus of this blog.

My life is being transformed! Literally! And I want to start sharing that journey...the total transformation being made in my life above and beyond the weight loss.

I am officially freeing myself from only blogging on one aspect of my life. I am now journeying into the realm of being able to blog about ALL aspects of my life.

Now if I can just figure out which layout I like. Don't be surprised to see different ones in the next week as I am still trying out some new looks.

A New Season

I have officially entered into a new season in regards to my quest to lose weight.

This last month there has been a shift of focus in my life. I reconnected with a friend and she informed me of some classes that are available on Saturday mornings from 10:30 - 12:30. These classes are for understanding how the spiritual aspects of our life affect the physical things in our bodies. The classes have been informative and freeing!!! Many times we don't recognize the lies we've come into agreement with but once we do...whoo-hoo...the truth will set you free.

Anyways, between this class and one of my daughters getting braces I've been praying about continuing with WW. The drive and the cost were taken into consideration...and prayed about. I didn't want to make a decision based on fear. Fear that I couldn't afford the class...or fear that if I quit attending I'd gain it all back.

Last Wed. I took my ipod and went out for a walk. Specifically to seek the Lord and pray. I felt total peace over the decision to cancel my membership. Which in a way is surprising because I thought I'd stay with WW until eternity. But if there is one thing I am learning as I seek to follow the Lord...the seasons change and the only thing that is a for sure thing is Him.

I am excited for this next season in my life. I will continue to blog and share but I hope to share about this weight loss endeavor from more of a biblical perspective. It's time.

Mooyah

I know...shockeroo!!! It's been a while since I last posted. I have lots of intentions but then I get busy and forget...or I don't have the time...or I can't think of something to write. Whatever!!! Excuse, excuses, excuses. I really do enjoy blogging so I need to make it more of a priority.

Anywhoos...I went out tonight with some of my "dining diva" friends. These are ladies who try to get together at least once a month to go try out a new restaurant and have conversation. It's been a while since we've gotten together...almost as long since I've last written a blog.

But tonight a few of us met at a restaurant called Mooyah Burger & Fries. And that is basically all they serve...hamburgers and fries....oh yeah, and shakes. And while I was in the mood for a burger and fries, I was also concerned about the points. Let me just say that Mooyah has a great burger for those of us wanting a good taste but low points.

I ordered a turkey burger and chose the option to make in an Iceberger. What's an Iceberger you say? Well it's a hamburger wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun. The lettuce is thick and actually looks like a shell surrounding the burger. It was neat because you still ate it like a hamburger on a bun. And let me just say....it was delicious!!!! Only 4 points!

A good friend blessed me by buying my dinner and we split a large order of fries between three of us. They serve their fries in an oversize paper lunch bag. The fries are fresh cut in-house daily and cooked in trans fat free oil and very yummy. Not getting the bun allowed me to splurge a little on the fries, which when split between the three of us ended up being a little over 5 points. Not bad, especially when you see how many we got.

I'm excited to find a place where I can get my "burger fix" and not have to use up any extra points. If you have a craving for a good burger...check out Mooyah's and give their Iceberger Turkey Burger a try. It's finger licking delicious!!!

Bringing the Fun

For Valentine's Day my sweet hubby bought me an ipod. This is the first ipod I've ever had. My children have ipods but we've not really had the "extra" for me to have one. Seems like there is always something taking precedence.

Very rarely do we get to give each other a "big" present so this was a huge surprise. And I LOVE IT!! Especially when walking on the tread mill....what a difference. Walking or jogging to music sure makes it more fun. The one I have can pick up radio stations and I really like to exercise to the "oldies" cause the beat is usually fast paced and makes me want to move.

Now if I can just remember not to sing out loud when using it....

Measuring Activity is an Eye Opener

So last week I bought a pedometer. Weight Watchers encourages us to have a goal to walk 10,000 steps a day. [the above picture is not their most current pedometer, it's the only one I could find to post.]

Oh my! I am woefully lacking. After wearing the pedometer for close to a week I have found that I barely get 5,000 steps in a day just in my normal daily routine.

We went out shopping for most of the day on Tuesday and even with all the walking around the stores I still came up short on the 10,000 mark.

It's interesting how we think we, um...I mean, how I think I am getting in a lot of activity until I have something that measures that activity. What a shockeroo!!!!

There have been maybe 3 days where I made it to at least 8,000 steps...and I felt like all I did was walk...lol!!!

My hubby showed me a website about walking 10,000 steps a day and I was encouraged to see that they tell you to work up in increments. thewalkingsite.com/10000steps

"A reasonable goal for most people is to increase average daily steps each week by 500 per day until you can easily average 10,000 per day."

I'm glad to read this because after seeing how few steps I actually get I don't feel so overwhelmed trying to get in 10,000. I'll just do my best at getting as many steps a day as I can and keep increasing them each week until I reach the goal of at least 10,000 steps a day. It may take a while but that's ok because I believe increasing them in small increments will help me to make this into a lifestyle.

And making it into a lifestyle is doable and worth the time and effort, especially doing it a little at a time. I figure it's like wanting to run a marathon. If you aren't a runner you can't expect to enter a marathon and be able to run it without training and building up your endurance. This is no different.

It may seem silly to some that I am in essence training myself to walk 10,000 steps but I know that in the big picture of my life and my health it will be well worth it. And hopefully my example will also challenge my family to do the same.

Activity Points in the Snow

Time sure does pass by quickly sometimes....like this last week.

Just to catch up...I lost -1.6 pounds the week before this last one and then this last week I ended up gaining +.8 of a pound. Not sure what happened as I've stayed within my points and even got in some good exercising since we had an incredible snowfall and I couldn't resist taking my kiddo's out sledding, two days in a row.

Let's just say that sledding down a hill is lots of fun...but walking back up, now that can be challenging. Especially when one is wearing old shoes with very little tread....I had to wedge my feet in sideways so I wouldn't slip and fall. Actually, I did slip and fall a few times but thankfully I didn't hurt anything or anybody...lol!!


Here is an idea of the size of the hill we sled on the second day. We parked in the hospital parking lot and walked across the highway [over a bridge] to sled down the steepest hill we could find. Where I live in Texas there are not a lot of steep hills. It was fun and lots of semi's would honk their horns at us.


This next picture shows my daughter and one of her friends sliding down on a real sled. Since it doesn't snow much here no one really has sleds but since our friends have gone to Colorado in the winter they just happened to have some awesome sleds that they shared with us. On the above picture if you notice....we used some laminated wall maps as our sleds....yep...laminated wall maps...lol!!!
And when you couldn't control the sled...this is usually what happened. I too had a few spills like this one but thankfully no one was taking any pictures of me.




Let's just say that we were very wet and cold when we finished our sledding. But it was totally worth it. Lots of good memories made this day. And a super fun way to earn activity points.