Beautiful Blooms Require Work

Growing up my Mom had the most beautiful gardens.  She still does.  She cares for them in a meticulous manner.  She weeds them and ensures that no plant is chocking the life out of another plant.  She waters them and provides them with the necessary nutrients that they need to grow to their full potential.

My Mom really enjoys gardening.  She knows what it takes to make a garden grow.

I, on the other hand, would LOVE to have a beautiful garden with beautiful flowers blooming but I want nothing to do with the work involved in taking care of it.  The thought of being outdoors weeding and pruning and cutting and digging is not my idea of fun.

As Lysa TerKeurst says, "I want the flowers but not the work.  Isn't that the way it is with many things in life -- we want the results but have no desire to put in the work required?"  (Made to Crave pg. 35).

Now take a look at how you care for yourself.  We wash ourselves to ensure that we are clean on the outside.  Some times we even take special care in how we style our hair and we may even put on some makeup.  A splash of perfume and something nice to wear and we are ready to face the day.

However, what are you putting into your body to care for it?

Just like a gardener wouldn't feed their plants something that would potentially harm them, we too need to be aware of the "deadly" foods that we are putting into our bodies.

We need to be willing to do the work in order to cultivate a healthier version of ourselves.

I am sure that we all wish that we could snap our fingers and voila!  A smarter, better, healthier version of ourselves would appear.  However, we all know that it is something only possible in our dreams.

Besides, if we could do that, then what would become of our relationship with God that we have been so strongly working towards?  We may be a physically healthier version of ourselves but we would not be a spiritually healthier version of ourselves.

This journey is going to take everything you can put into it and then some.  At times it may even require your blood, sweat and tears.  But keep your eyes fixed on the destination that you are working towards.

I cannot say how long this journey is going to take you because for each person it is different.  I have been on this journey for almost 4 years and with each day I grow healthier both physically and spiritually.  I have had my set backs.  I have shed many tears and yes, there was even some blood involved.  However, I can see my destination and I know that I will be a much stronger person once I get there.

Food Diary: Friend or Foe?

Do you keep a Food Diary.  You know, that little book that you write down every little morsel of food that goes into your mouth? 

Okay, I will admit, it can be extremely daunting and difficult and horribly old fashioned, but you would be surprised how many extra little details you miss when you try and calculate everything at the end of the day.

A Food Diary can be a great way to help you stay on track in your journey and can also help you to see when, in your life, you are more susceptible to snacking on foods that we know we will feel guilty about later.

Earlier today I posted this question on my Facebook Page.  Mothers consume an extra 73,043 calories a year by doing this . . . . 


The answer?  Stealing food from their kids.

Incredible isn't it?  Without thought we are allowing ourselves to fall prey to the one thing we are trying so hard to prevent.

I know that I am guilty of this and I am trying so hard to not do it.  Regardless of how much my mouth is watering when I see those delicious and delectable Teddy Graham crackers on the table!

Now, a Food Diary is going to be of no value to you if you cannot be honest.  That means, regardless of whether or not you had a bowl of ice cream at 9:00 a.m., you need to write it down.  That way, when you look back on it you will be able to see why you are not as far along in your journey as you were hoping or if your eating patterns reflect significant events in your life.

So what are some benefits of keeping a Food Diary?  Well, here are a few for you:

• Accountability - have your partner or a friend look at your Food Diary with you at the end of the week to see where you could have been more faithful in your journey.  
• Increases Awareness - you are able to more readily see where those extra calories are coming from
• Calorie Awareness - a Food Diary might help you realize that you are eating too many calories at one meal and will help you see where you can shed some calories and more strategically place them throughout your day.
• Proper Eating - a Food Diary will help you realize if you are eating too much of one food group and not enough from another food group.  It will also help you realize if you are eating enough fruits and vegetables.
• Portion Sizes - a Food Diary can also help you see if you are eating proper portion sizes in your meals.  Not sure what proper portion sizes are?  Check Here!

Those are some pretty big benefits!

When I started off on my journey I kept a Food Diary occasionally.  I will admit, I was not always the most faithful at writing in it daily but when I did, it most definitely helped me see where I was going wrong and what I needed to change.  Plus, my husband would look at it which helped to keep me more accountable.

My biggest pointer to keeping a Food Diary would be to write down what you are going to eat the day before.  That way, you can just follow it without having to sit and think and ponder throughout your day.  However, make sure that if you do eat something that was not previously written down that you include it in, maybe in a different colour, so that you can see where you may need to make changes (for example:  you may need to add in more protein throughout your day to help curb your cravings for snacks).

Here are 5 tips from WebMD to help you keep your Food Diary:

• Write as you go.  Don't wait until the end of the day to record what you ate and drank.  "We recommend they write down as soon as they can after they eat," says Victor Stevens, PhD.
• Focus on portion size.  Practice at home with measuring cups, measuring spoons, or food scales.  And be aware that people tend to underestimate how much food they're served.
• Use whatever type of Food Diary that works for you.  It doesn't matter whether you use scrap paper, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a notebook.  What matters is that you use it.
• Don't skip your indulgent days.  "We encourage people to keep records especially on days when they're tempted to eat," says Stevens.  "What gets measured tends to get changed."
• Cook at home.  You'll have more control over what you consume, and you know what that food contains, and how much of it you're eating.  That makes for a more detailed entry in your food diary.

Another important thing to consider when you are keeping your Food Diary, says Julian Hooks from Review that Diet, is what you were doing while you were eating.  He lists 4 important questions to ask yourself:

1. Did you eat in front of the TV?
2. Were you snacking while preparing a meal or cleaning up afterwards?
3. Do you eat while doing other tasks like reading or working?
4. Do you frequently eat as a social activity?

"These are most often times that we eat without even realizing it," he says.  "And more importantly, eating while we are not even hungry."

So if a Food Diary is something that you feel will work for you then I encourage you to start one today!!!  It may be another step in your journey to help you realize your cravings towards food and turn them into cravings towards God!

If you require a template to follow for your Food Diary, consider this one from Review that Diet.

The Dreaded Bathing Suit

Bathing Suit Season.

Dreaded, horrible, scary . . . . bathing suit season.

At least, that is how I used to feel.

The thought of putting on a bathing suit terrified me.  How could I allow people to see stretch marks, cellulite, jiggly legs and dare I mention my tummy!  Oh man!  That fact alone would have me run screaming from the nearest beach or pool!

I have never been a fan of "bearing all" in order to go swimming.  One pieces wouldn't do it for me as it still could not hide the rolls.  Tankinis were always a no go because my tummy would hang out the bottom.  I hated the idea of wearing a t-shirt over my bathing suit because it just made me feel like a beached whale!

A lot of that has changed in the last year though.  I have started to look at myself in a different light and have started realizing that I have a lot more to live for than caring what other people think about the way that I look in a bathing suit.

I want to be able to enjoy the time at the beach or the pool with my children.  I don't want to be chained down by my appearance or by those evil and nasty thoughts that swirl through my mind.

I didn't like feeling embarrassed or feeling fat.  I didn't want to be a woman that people went home and talked about amongst their friends.

Have you ever felt that way?  It is such a gut wrenching feeling.  It brings you down and draws you into this deep dark place.

I really disliked being in that state of mind.

Yet here I sit, 8 pounds away from my goal and I am an extremely happy person.  Not only because of the fact that I have lost weight (I mean, that is an occasion in and of itself to be happy about it) but because I am finally starting to feel good in my body.  I still feel like I have a long ways to go.  Not just weight wise, but personal appreciation wise.

I have found it interesting to learn that despite not being able to exercise these last few weeks (and still not being able to exercise as my knee is still slightly swollen and agitated) that I am still losing weight.  It goes to show that weight loss is not just about how much you exercise, but also about diet or how and what you eat.

Don't get me wrong.  Exercise is IMPORTANT!  I will never deny or doubt that.  It is great for raising your endorphins and making you feel better about yourself.  It has a way of lifting moods and raising spirits and helping you to get through your day or work out stress in a healthy manner.  Not to mention all the other health benefits that are associated with exercise.

However, no amount of exercise is going to do us any good if we continue to eat in the same manner that we had been before.  Not amount of exercise can justify that donut you ate the other day or that bowl of chips you ate on Saturday.

Losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise.  I always thought that I needed to work my pretty little tail off in order to lose weight.  The downside was that I was not really paying attention to what I was eating or how much I was eating.  I may have seen muscle developing but the numbers on the scale were stuck.

Since I have started with the South Beach Diet and since having this knee injury I am beginning to realize more and more the truth to all of this.  Not to mention the power of prayer!  Every day I am so thankful for this new found relationship with God that I have been given.

Dear Friends, might I remind you, at the end of all, to not get discouraged!  Keep at it and know that there are many out there who are cheering you on!  Me included!!!!!

Oh!  That dreaded bathing suit?  We are slowly learning to become friends.  I haven't quite ventured out too far with it yet, but we are getting there.  Who knows, maybe by the end of the summer I will have made it to the public beach without hesitation and without fear!

I Am A Work In Progress

It struck me this morning, as I was getting dressed for the day, how much of our values are placed in our appearance.

I have always dreaded getting dressed.  Dressing up for a fancy occasion?  Well, it is filled with anxiety, dread, fear and multiple outfit changes to find the exact one that will not show my "mommy pouch."

Why do we, as women, think that people are going to judge us and who we are inside by what we wear outside?  Will it make me a nicer person if I wore dress pants and blouses to work instead of my usual comfy pants and a shirt?

Well, the answer is an obvious No.  However, I will be treated differently by the way that I am dressed.

Don't get me wrong, I do not think it is appropriate to wear sweatpants and baggy shirts to the office when you are meeting with clients.  However, I work in a field that causes me to get messy and be hands on.  Wearing expensive clothes is not an option (in more ways than one!).

So why is it that I feel the need to work myself into a frenzy when it is time to put on a mere pair of jeans?  Why does the thought of someone being able to see my stomach rolls make me want to hide away from the world?

To be honest, it seems like such a petty concern when their are bigger things to be worried about.  I feel like someone should be slapping me on my wrist or pouring a glass of cold water over my head and say "Snap out of it Laura!"

A very good friend of mine, whom I love dearly, put it this way.

When you have been extremely overweight, it doesn't matter how hard you try, it is so hard to see yourself as something other than obese.

Wow......

That sounds exactly. like. me.

Crazy, I know.  Yet when I look in the mirror I still see this big belly with rolls and fat and that darn muffin top spilling over the top of my jeans.  Let's not even begin to talk about the stretch marks!

I struggle with this . . . . DAILY!  My prayers often include the words "let me see myself for the beautiful woman that you created."

Yet I wonder.  Is this vanity talking?  Do I really need to have the approval from others for how I look?  Should I not be more concerned about how I look to my Heavenly Father?  And not only how I look on the outside, but how my heart and soul look to Him?

Why, then, do I burden myself with such craziness?  I have yet to find an answer to this.

All I can say is this.  I am a work in progress and I hope and pray that God is not finished with me yet!  I still have some spiritual growing to do!

I'm Doing My Happy Dance!

Good Morning Dear Friends!

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and it is a beautiful day!

I thought that I would take a moment to let you in on a little celebration that I am having.  You see, today a change has been made!  A glorious, wonderful change that was not produced on my own but with the help of our Heavenly Father!

The Numbers on the Scale Moved . . . . DOWN!

That's right!  They moved!  I was beyond excited that I let out a squeal of delight!  It had been 25 days without really seeing those numbers move and this morning they did!

Out of sheer desperation I started to look into the South Beach Diet.  My reasoning behind choosing this diet was because it was healthy, I could use ALL my own foods and there were no supplements that I would have to take.

I had the support of my husband who even started to read the book just to see what it was all about it.  That is a huge factor for me!  Without his support, something like this would be extremely difficult.

I am extremely thankful that God led me in a direction that I would find something different that would work.  Without his direction I am sure that I would have looked at it as just some fad diet and probably would have ignored it.

Thank you, dear friends, for your prayers and support.  I am no where near the end of this journey, but I am one step closer!

Now, off to do my happy dance and to go and make myself some breakfast!

I've Got That Empty Feeling

An empty bottomless pit feeling.  It's not fun.

I like to think that the only thing empty is my stomach, but if I am being honest with myself then I know that this is not the case.  My body may be obese, but my spirituality is facing a period of starvation.

One thing I am coming to understand through Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst is that I have spent many years of my life trying to find satisfaction and gratification in food.  I was trying to be filled up physically while not concentrating on being filled up spiritually.

Let me clarify something.  When I say that my stomach is empty I am not meaning literally.  Right now the empty feeling is not because I have not eaten, but rather because I am eating the correct portion sizes of food and I am still hungry.  Over eating for as many years as I have causes the stomach to stretch and I am now in the process of trying to "shrink" it.  It may not be the most enjoyable process ever, but at least I know that I am making healthy choices.  As I type this I just finished eating some almonds and an apple for my afternoon snack.  My stomach?  Still hungry!

It is interesting to consider that although I did just eat a snack and know that it was fulfilling, I am feeling like I am lacking something.  The truth is, with respect to food there is nothing lacking.  My body is just screaming at me, begging me to fill it with some kind of sugary goodness that I am sure is lurking in one of my kitchen cupboards.  I will not give in.

I always thought that praying and talking to God about my weight was, in a way, being vain.  I never thought that I really should give it all over to him.  To be honest, I thought it foolish.  Yet today I have found myself deeper in prayer then I have been in the last few weeks.  I have found myself talking to God more and trying to find my strength through Him.  I have found myself, quite literally, on my knees.

I want this journey to not only be a physical journey, but also a spiritual one.  I look forward to my increasing talks with God and to the times that He will bring me to my knees.  I know that I have a long way to go, but I am taking them one tiny little step at a time.