Strip the weights

I think my theme for the autumn season is "vulnerable". I'm not perfect, I don't claim to be. Whether it be in my faith, my diet, my workout, my work, as a mom, whatever, we all have faults. The important thing is to grow from these and recognize where they lie. The point of my posts are not to brag about my journey, how much weight I've lost or my walk with Jesus. They are to help motivate you to find something your passion.

I never ever thought I would become passionate about something like being a beachbody coach. I am not the epitome of a personal trainer. I don't have that kind of motivation. I am still lazy and would much rather sit on the couch watching tv during nap time than think about how painful it is to walk back upstairs after my workout. Leg day is still brutal, especially when the only working toilet you have is on a different floor and you drink a gallon a day! But I have found that in this journey, I feel better about myself, my clothes fit better. I get complements about how much weight I've loss.
Because of my coach, I have been challenged to also find time to spend with God daily. Something that I have struggled with because of being a busy working mom. I used to use nap time to clean the house or catch up on gossip, but now I work out, take a quick shower and spend a few minutes in my Bible, when all the thoughts come rushing out you get a blog. :)

I have been amazed at the power God has. Prior to being challenged by Crystal, I bought a devotional called "Everyday Faith." by Katie Orr. It was discussed on one of the 'mom' podcasts I listen to. It's a 15 minute daily devotion for those who don't have a lot of time, (insert me). Over the last few lessons I've done my eyes have been opened at how perfect this was for me at the time.
Yesterday's lesson focused on Hebrews 12:1-2.  I'm sure you've heard it. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." 

'Let us strip the extra weight that slows us down.'

Now, this isn't necessarily talking about physical weight or pounds, however it could still be relevant. Today, I set aside my heavier weights during one exercise because I was tired. I thought about how I previously hadn't been able to do so because that much weight used to be a part of me. I have lost the amount of dumbbells I sat on the floor today. I feel so much better about that.
Yet, this passage talks about dropping what is robbing us from our time with God, even if they are good things.  Things that we don't realize may be holding us back from our faith journey. This hit home for me on another reason which I can't talk about publicly yet, however my attitude, my personality and my well being were at odds with how I wanted to live my life, so I jumped out of my comfort zone again and took a risk. Whether or not that risk will pay off is yet to come. But I felt pulled to do something and I know now that where I am, is holding me back. As a Christian, we must fight to remove what gets in the way in our journey, even if its a good thing.

What's holding you back? Where do you want to be next year or even next week? Does something in your life need a change? I encourage you to do a personal inventory and lay it all out to God about what's on your mind. He will most definitely walk this race with you and show you exactly where you need to be. What's your passion? Are you doing something truly meaningful in your life or just going through the motions?

~H

My new healthy

I have always struggled with my weight. Growing up I was always the ‘big girl’.  I think all kids have thoughts about their weight whether it be too much or too little. We are notorious for comparing ourselves to others. When we are born, we’re placed on a curve to see where we fall compared to everyone else our age. Physical fitness tests line us up. I always felt humiliated after these by only getting a certain number, and sometimes not getting the ‘standard’. I could never do a pull up, I still can’t. But that doesn’t make me unfit. As a women in our society, this makes me scared for my children. If I have a girl, I hope she doesn’t feel like I did growing up.

When I got to college, I began to get a little more comfortable in my own skin. If you know me, you know I don’t wear make-up. To be quite honest, I don’t really know how when I do so I’m more comfortable not wearing any. For the most part, at home I’m in athletic shorts and a baggy tee shirt. I wear scrubs to work. however, after gaining an excessive amount during my pregnancy and using food as a reward or crutch, I knew something needed to change. Especially when my blood pressure was still elevated after delivery. I was obese according to my BMI, this was hard to hear. So something needed to change. I put it off for a while because I had a good thing going with nursing Henry and didn't want to hurt that. My gym membership worked for awhile, but then our schedules changed. A friend contacted me about beachbody and 21 day fix. I gave {eventually} in. The rest is history. :)

I have had many comments about how much weight I have lost. I’ve been told I needed to get smaller scrubs. I walked to get pizza the other night, and today someone messaged me that her husband saw me and noticed how much weight I had lost, I was in crappy shorts and an old shirt.

My clothes are loose. Numbers aren’t everything but I am down 20 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. I have more confidence, I am happier and have more energy. How have I done this?

I do attribute much of my success to being able to breastfeed Henry. We are just beginning to finish our journey and I know how lucky and special this is. I find joy knowing I provided the majority of his nutrition for 16 months! I’m quite certain though, he doesn’t get credit for all of it!

The rest of the weight loss is from hard work and determination. There’s no easy fix for weight loss. By setting goals, having motivation, and doing something I enjoyed I was successful.

I’m eating better, I enjoy working out, I have more confidence. People have noticed my weight loss, this is just a perk to everything else.

I fell in love with a program that anyone can do! It’s not a magic pill, it’s not a meal replacement program, it’s hard work. A friend said to me, “who needs ‘it works’, when I work.” I’m not perfect, I didn’t follow 21 day fix to the max, I binged. I skipped workouts but my overall health is better. I feel better. I've recently developed a "catch phrase", if you will, of "Find your healthy."

To me, it's about what makes you happy and what makes you feel better. I never thought I would be a motivator for weight loss or exercise but here I am. I'm not sure what me being a "coach" will look like but right now, I just want to share my story and encourage you to find something you enjoy and makes you happy.

~H~

For more info click here

Cheater, Cheater, pumpkin eater.

Let's preface this by saying, I'm a cheater. Yes, I try to follow rules and behave as I'm supposed to but I cheat. In high school, a friend and I sat by the wall and would put our vocabulary books behind the AC unit when we had tests. In college, I used google to find tricks to make my papers longer. And now, as an adult, I'm cheating when it comes to my health.  I don't work out and I don't eat as healthy as I should. Due to having a baby, my blood pressure has been high and I'm on medication, something I'd like to get rid of.  And tonight, I'm counting the kettle corn I'm going to eat as my extra yellow container I still need.

21 day fix is a portion control system that uses color coded Tupperware containers to help with portion control. Today was my first day, and I have already cheated. First thing this morning, I put creamer in my coffee. I will say I only used 1 teaspoon and I did it because I didn't want to just toss the creamer. This is my 'trial' round to help me get things figured out and how well I like doing it. So far, so good.

Although 21 day fix does seem to be a fad diet, it's more than that. (I am not a beachbody coach. just speaking from my experience!) It's a program that teaches about portion control and gives you tools for success.  And it isn't starving yourself. I struggled with eating my lunch today because of the required amounts of food I am supposed to have.  My lunch was seasoned hamburger, lettuce, tomato, onion, peppers, mushrooms and cottage cheese, as well as a dressing. It was delicious. Today has probably been some of the best food i've had in a while! Tonight I made mini meatloaves, roasted asparagus and mashed potatoes.

I have plans for tomorrows meals, which isn't completely out of the ordinary for me as I do like to plan but this takes some figuring to make sure all of the containers are accounted for during the day. Having things prepped and ready for tomorrow will make getting up at 5 AM for work much easier!

 I have yet to start the workouts, so I can't comment on them. I'm hoping to get one in tonight yet.

Follow me on my journey over the next 21 days. (As part of our support group, we are also doing "The Love Dare". I will likely have posts on how that is going too, if I remember. I'm trying to keep accountable without commenting like crazy in our group app so people don't get tired of me! :)
If you'd like to know more about my meals let me  know.

~H

Life Check: Being Healthier

Today I am restarting my diet and exercise for 2013. I went downhill with school and a new semester so now that I am well into it I have decided it's time for another go. I also went to the dr today for a physical and he told me loosing some weight will help my feet problems. Which I knew and have been working on, he also told me nursing school wasn't an excuse for putting on extra weight. For some reason hearing from him that I needed to start doing something hit hard and home. So I decided today that I will be using MapMyRide for my intake and exercise. I've talked about it before which you can read about Here.

I have wanted to start working out more mostly because we have developed a love for rock climbing. We've bought most of the supplies we need so we're itching for spring to come so we can go more hopefully. Right now we've been going to Climb Iowa a couple times to get the hang of it. With rock climbing, being out of shape makes it extremely hard, at least for me. I tire out easily so I need to build my stamina and strength. So for the few people reading, if you have any advice or workout ideas I'd love to hear them! I'm contemplating joining the gym but have a fear that I wouldn't go enough to make it worth it. My schedule is so all over the place it is hard to find a consistent time with going anywhere. So home workouts are favorable right now. We'll see how it goes this month though. :)

I went to the grocery store with the attitude of buying healthy. Being in school I snack. A lot. It is so easy for me to pick up a bag of chips and eat most of them while I'm working on homework or whatever. I have gotten into the habit of an after school snack too. So I looked for a healthy snack that is also something I would enjoy. I plan to throw together some raisins and m&m's with some regular almonds so I get the nutrition and satisfy my sweet tooth. If I'm motivated enough, I'll measure it out so I can just grab a bag or container of it before going to school without having to worry about eating the whole lot. While I was picking up the almonds, I was looking at all the other flavors and saw dark chocolate.  Blue Diamond makes an oven roasted dark chocolate flavored almond. They are delicious. I tried them as soon as I got home. 160 Calories for 1 oz (24 nuts). So a little more than I wanted calorie wise but they have a lot of good things in them (i.e. vitamins and minerals). Blue Diamond lists little tidbits of info on their site. Almonds should help curb hunger and give me that crunchy texture that I love about chips.

If for some strange reason you don't like chocolate, they make a ton of other flavors. Honey roasted is probably my favorite traditional flavor. And I just saw they make "nut chips". I may try them out next time!

What's your favorite "guilt -free" snack?

~Enjoy!~

Row Row row your boat

November is here; along with it came colder weather unfortunately. I am happy however, that we have not yet had any snowfall. Since I am driving an hour to school 4 days a week, I'll be perfectly fine if we don't have any snow this year, I know several  people who wouldn't be as happy.

From this summer

I was perfectly happy to be out in the kayak on the water yesterday. It was truly one of those days you know is straight from the Heavens. R and I went out on Lake Red Rock which is just minutes from where we are. We are so lucky to have an awesome place like Lake Red Rock this close to us, so we've decided to take advantage of it!

Our goal was to find some caves that you can paddle through. R thought they were west of the boat dock we went in at but when we got home we realized they were East...oh well. We still saw some really awesome sights.  We went about 2.5 miles west from the Elk Rock boat dock giving us a 5 mile round trip.

Check out the video of the 'caves' below!

...Couch Groove...

That's where I sit as I write this. In the grove I have created in my couch due to my sedimentary lifestyle I have created but starting today I am vowing to work at changing that. This week my friend Alex (check out her blog here) posted about "Operation Pants fit" which was posted by another blogger (check out the button below). It kind of struck home to me. My pants are starting to not fit. The last time I went jean shopping I had to buy a bigger size than I had. I have consistently started buying larger shirts too.

Nursing school is stressful. Starting this week I'll have clinical on Thursday from 7AM to 230PM. Meaning  I have to get up in time to leave by 5:30 to get to our site on time. I have mound of homework I should be doing. I have two tests this week. Regardless, I should not use it as an excuse for the roughly 15 pounds I have gained since I was at a more comfortable weight. I have always been heavier than most my age but I always credited to my height. Being six foot tall I'm allowed to weigh more right? Wrong. It might actually be a reason for me to need to work harder.