Tales From The Little White House: November 2014

2014

Today is the day! The first day on my journey to a healthier and more honoring to the Lord lifestyle. My beachbody challenge pack is en route and due to arrive today and I can not wait!

This past week since I made the decision to really change my lifestyle has been difficult. I have fallen but then the Lord has helped me get back up. I do have some guidelines that I am going to incorporate over these next 21 days.

Ready? Ok here we go:

Always lean on Jesus because really-I have tried to do it without Him and it hasn't really worked out all that well. I will be continuing to do The Lord's Table everyday as well.
Do not weigh myself! I did this morning and I am 158 pounds exactly so we will see how that number changes in the next 21 days!
Prep all my food. This is a HUGE one! I went on a shopping trip yesterday and got stuff for smoothies for both Jason and I. I was inspired by pinterest to assemble them all for the week and freeze most of the ingredients so I can make the process that much faster when we do need our shakes. I pinned my inspirations on my 21 Day Fix board.
Early to bed and early to rise. Jason has to leave for work by 6 am or earlier most mornings. My goal is to get up with him and make him breakfast then, once he is gone, do my devotions and my workout before the boys get up.
Take it one day at a time. I am nervous (just being real here) because I have never started then finished a weight loss thing. However, my motivation is completely different then it ever was so I am excited to see what the Lord does but-I am going to just take it one day at a time!
Use my to-do lists and check lists. I have my food portions posted on my fridge (I got the printable here) and I am going to be writing the rest of my goals in my notebook. I love lists and checking stuff off that I have finished. They keep me motivated!
I will drink a gallon of water a day along with watching my portions using the container system that is going to come in my challenge pack. The 21 day fix is really simple in that it is clean eating, portion control and exercise.
Speaking of exercise-I will exercise minimum 30 minutes a day-following the plan for the 21 day fix for this first round.

The next 21 days of my life will be life changing and I truly believe that. Funny thing too is that I will not be alone in this. Jason will be joining me but instead of trying to lose weight he will be trying to gain weight! I am excited to see what these next 21 days will bring for him as well!

So that is my action plan! I am so excited to share this journey with you!

What about you are you starting your journey to a healthier lifestyle? I would love to hear about it! Maybe we can work on it together :)

2014

Do you ever feel like all you ever do is fall?

11:07 AM

It had been a long stressful day, Jason came home sick with a fever and went straight to bed. The boys seemed to be getting into and destroying everything they possibly could. I was tired. I was stressed. Did I mention I was super stressed? I put Micah to bed at 6:30 pm. I sent Elijah to my sister's for a fun sleep over. For the first time in....a really really long time-I was alone. I did not have little people needing me. Jason was asleep so he didn't need me. Gram was asleep so she didn't need me. I was alone...

So I got ice cream. Fudge brownie and cookie dough put together in one delicious mixture. And I ate it.

All.

So you know that whole coach thing...the challenge pack I have coming in the mail? Well, my logic was "I haven't started yet so one last hurrah."

Except it wasn't really that much of a hurrah.

I felt like I had a void to fill and there was nothing to fill it! Ice cream didn't help and neither did the multiple hallmark movies and face book browsing.

I felt even more empty except now I felt guilty too!

Then I was reminded that it is not the failure or the fall it is what we choose to do with it. Will we let it stop us in our tracks before we even truly start or will we get up and keep pressing forward?

I was musing over this when I crawled into bed sometime after 12:30am and I FINALLY decided to see if the Lord had anything for me (why do I always wait till last to turn to HIM?!?) and as I opened my "Streams in the Desert" a folded piece of paper fell out.

I opened it and whew-talk about a gentle rebuke! It was a quote a friend had said many many years ago:

"The closer we are to God the farther we are from sin. The closer we are to sin the farther we are from God."

Ouch.

Thoughts like these flashed through my mind:

Oh hey, Katy, ever since deciding to be a Beachbody coach and share your journey to a healthier lifestyle all you have been thinking about is you and God has not even been in the picture.

Why have you been stupid enough to yet again try to do all these life changes on your own without the Lord? You know how that always works out.

Gulp.

I had some forgiveness to be asking from the Lord that was for sure!

But then what?

I struggle so much in my addiction to food.

That is real life right now.

The problem is that so often I CHOOSE to struggle alone and believe the lies that there is no one out there that truly understands and God doesn't really care about my struggle with food!

But He does.

That is the truth.

Jesus WANTS to heal me from my addiction to turning to food for satisfaction. He says so!!

So why don't I turn to Him first? Why do I choose to listen to the lies that food and movies and TV will satisfy when all they do is leave me more empty?

I will be tackling that in my personal devotion time over the next few weeks. I recently did a post that tackled so many lies that I had believed for years and the scriptures that have been helping me believe the truth of Who God has made me to be.

I think I will be doing the same thing in regards to the lies I believe about food (it will satisfy me, it will help me not be so stressed or lonely or whatever emotion I am feeling at the moment).

So there you go. The real me falls and all.

I haven't even started this 21 day fix journey yet (still waiting for my challenge pack) but I just wanted to share some of the issues I have had since deciding to change my lifestyle.

The difference between now and so many other times in the past when I just gave up?

By God's grace-I am not going to quit before I even had a chance to start. My Jesus wants to set the captives free and I am so thankful that includes me!

So what about you? Do you turn to certain things when you are feeling stressed? Is it hard for you to get back up once you have fallen?

I just put a poll on the sidebar regarding new content on my blog and just want to see what you, my amazing readers, would like to see more of as I embark on this fitness journey so please let me know :)

2014

When a boy sees snow outside...

9:39 AM

2014

When Food Becomes Your God.

10:23 AM

It is something that has gone unspoken for so long. Something I have hidden for years-content to continue on in my...sin.

I had an idol that was literally taking over my life and yet I refused to see it until I was forced to open my eyes and see the toll it was taking on every area in my life.

My weight has been something that I have really struggled with these last few years. Everytime I looked in the mirror I would shudder but there was always the just had two babies and I am nursing now excuse.

Then that moment came when I had to look in the mirror and tell myself the truth. It was NOT because of my babies or that I had been nursing for years that my weight was still not where I knew I was honoring God...

It was the sin of laziness and gluttony that I had allowed to overtake my life in every single way. It was sin.

That was an eye opener for me and all the sudden I realized that I did not want to be a slave to these sins any longer! I did not want to be so obsessed with food that all I could think about was were that next snack or meal would come from.

I used food to escape from reality. When I was bored or stressed or exhausted or upset-quite simply-I would turn on a movie and binge. And when I mean binge I mean bags of chips or 1/2 gallons of ice cream. And yet, I was so ashamed and so disgusted with myself but I could not stop no matter how hard I tried.

I was lost and miserable but did a really good job hiding it. No one, even Jason, knew the extent of my addiction to food.

Then one day I realized how far gone I was and how far from the Lord I was. I was desperate because I had tried so many programs and eliminating certain foods and diets and nothing lasted. I cried out to the Lord and He led me to a website called Setting Captives Free. Basically it is a website that has FREE Bible studies and accountability for different strongholds that people are struggling with in their life. I started to do The Lord's Table which, according to the website:

...will teach you to enjoy a newfound relationship with the Lord. You will find freedom from the sin of gluttony, by learning to follow biblical and practical ways, as you daily proceed through this course.

So I began, and the Lord began changing my entire mindset in regards to food as well as my motivation for losing weight.

Before I had always wanted to be that "hot Mama" one that would walk in the room and people would be in awe and whisper: "She had how many children?"

Now, I started to realize that Jesus Christ and bringing honor and glory to Him needed to be my motivation. It needed to stop being about looking this way or that and start being about Jesus.

Over the weeks I would try and fail but instead of just giving up like I used to I slowly began to run to Jesus for help.

Then something else happened that I believe is the next step in my journey.

I had been working out for 30 minutes a day for a week (I hit four times) and trying to watch what I was eating. It was really not as hard as I thought it would be because I kept running to the Lord instead of food and what a difference that made!

At the end of the week however, I had not had the results I really wanted. My cousin had been on her own journey and had lost so much weight and I asked her what she had been doing and she told me about beachbody's 21 day fix (modesty warning: there are women in some revealing workout clothes so wanted to let you know).

It was something you could do while nursing and it looked amazing but we just did not have the funds for it at the moment. So I let it go and tried to implement as much as I could on my own. Enter a Mary Kay party. I was so blessed with a fun evening with some absolutely wonderful women AND I earned enough to get my challenge pack and then decided to go one step beyond that!

I decided to become a Beachbody coach and share my own journey as it happens! I am so excited and praying that I will be able to inspire people and encourage them as I move forward on my journey of health and fitness while keeping the focus on Jesus Christ and bringing honor and glory to Him!

So what is the 21 day fix?

Well, I am still waiting for my challenge pack to come! Basically though it is clean eating, portion control and working out 30 minutes a day!

No crazy diets or foods you are not allowed to eat-just learning to practice self-control and choosing to not be lazy.

So here a journey begins:

I feel so vulnerable posting those online but in MOPS this year the theme is "Be You Bravely" so this is me being brave and not hiding anymore but being willing to be truthful and then, by God's grace, make a true change!

I will let you know when my challenge pack comes in and my 21 days officially begins-until then-I will be working out everyday for 30 minutes a day and practicing clean eating and self control in portion size.

Would you like to join me on my journey and find freedom? Check out my Official Coaching Page.

Also, I will be posting on my facebook page daily updates and pictures if you want to follow along there :)

So what about you? Do you struggle with your weight for whatever reason (I know some people have health issues that cause weight gain). Is there anyway I can help you or pray for you?

What part of my journey are you most interested in? Progress pictures, updates, meal plans? I would love to know so I can know how best to share with you :)