An Announcement...

Drum Roll Please.........................................

WE'RE MOVING!!!!!

We received a contract on our house of the 4th of July weekend. We accepted it on Sunday night and we are to be out of our house in 2 weeks. Yep... I said that right 2 weeks! Actually now... A week and 2 days...

I thank you all for your prayers and support. God has a hand in EVERYTHING!

This being said, I have been a bit busy lately. I did however make time to guest post over at Sandy's God Speaks Today Blog. So if you haven't already seen it, head on over there!

Talk to you all soon! Now I'm off to pack... 40 boxes and counting!

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Motivation

Staying motivated is something that is very hard to do. There are so many things that can throw you off course. Whether it be getting sick, taking a vacation, finding something better to do, or just being plain unmotivated there are still benefits of sticking to the plan and seeing it through.

A wise guy once told me that if I can do something for 2 days I can do it for a week. If I can do it for a week then I can do it for 2 weeks. If I can do it for 2 weeks then I can do it for a month. And if I can do it for a month I can do it FOREVER! This wise guy is my very own husband.

This past week marked the 1 year anniversary of my weight loss journey. It was exciting for me to take some pictures so that I can see the before and after results, because trust me, there are still days where I just feel “blah” and don’t see the results until I look back at my old self.

I’m centering this post of staying motivated. If it wasn’t for my motivation and determination I don’t think I would have had the success that I had. I’m not saying that I didn’t go through some rough patches because I did. Especially from November until March where I didn’t lose a single pound! But did I quit…. NO WAY! Never give up – NEVER. Throwing in the towel is way easier than pushing through the hard times, but what benefits do you get from that?

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

And just because I reached my goal weight of 130 lbs doesn’t mean that I’m stopping. This is a life style for me now. It’s just that I’m in maintenance mode instead of weight loss mode. Sure I would love to tone some areas up (aren’t there always areas that need toning?) I just want to enjoy the benefits of all my hard work!

Here are some before pictures from last year...

And here are pictures from this year...

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Pass The Fruit and Veggies Please!

Fitness Friday Meets Jillian Michaels!

I have been reading Jillian Michaels' Master Your Metabolism over the past couple of weeks. If you know me and my blog I am a huge fan of hers (minus her foul mouth sometimes). Lets just say she knows her stuff! She was once overweight as a teenager (I believe she was in the 170's and she's only like 5'2").

When I started reading some of the things in the this book I could've sworn it was me she was talking about. She goes into detail about how she's tried every diet known to man kind and has tried every workout regime there is on the market. This is SO me. She then also discusses how she has struggled with a low thyroid - this is SO me too. Especially lately. The Dr has increased my medication again and this past week I have felt an improvement. (Thank you all for your prayers!)

The thing that I wasn't doing was going organic like she talks about. I do all natural products but I have never done organics. Sandy, at God Speaks today, has previously written a great post on this - Click HERE to go take a look. I started doing "Some" organic because it's SO expensive. I will slowly get to ALL organic (Maybe when my daughter is our of diapers - in about a month!)

I went ahead and started doing some of the things that she talks about in her book even though I haven't finished reading it yet. I've always eaten pretty good, but I knew that I wasn't getting enough fruits and veggies. No Hydrogenated oil, or High Fructose Corn Syrup. I stopped eating carbs with dinner. I don't eat or drink decaf coffee after 9:00 pm. I'm trying to limit my caffeine to only 2 cups of coffee a day. And I haven't had a diet soda since Sunday!

My weaknesses are artificial sweetener & flavored creamer in my coffee, and diet soda. I was limited my diet soda to 3-4 times a week, so now I'm trying to cut that down to 1-2 a week, and then eventually ZERO. I have one 12 pack left and then I won't be buying anymore! As for the artificial sweetener - I'm still using it for now, but I will be looking for more of a natural product.

Just by me eating a TON of veggies and doing the above things I lost 2 lbs this week which brings me to 130 lbs - which I have not seen yet! This is actually my goal weight and I made it the week before we go on vacation!

My new philosophy is to eat food like God created them. Just check out the list below:

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil,iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... And YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with leucopenia and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart.. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.



Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.



Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

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Singing Praise and Worship

There is one thing that I have loved to do since I could open my mouth and that's sing. Singing brings me joy that I can't even begin to express. It's something that I do to express my emotion, it's a stress-reliever, it's humbling, it's just who I am.

On that note. I'm sending you over to my family blog (Click HERE). I have uploaded a video of me singing with my husband playing piano. I just sang "Hosanna" this past Sunday and I fell in love with this song.

All my Praise goes to HIM!

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What Bad Food Cost Us In Exercise...

This week my husband read this article and forwarded it to me. I found it very interesting. Here are what these food cost us in exercise:

DONUT

Dunkin Donuts Chocolate Frosted Donut (230 calories)

59 minutes of walking (3 mph).

BREAKFAST SANDWICH

McDonald's Egg McMuffin (300 calories)

32 minutes of running (5 mph).

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE

Panera Chocolate Chipper (440 calories)

62 minutes of biking (10-11.9 mph).

PIZZA

Pizza Hut Large Hand-Tossed Style Cheese Pizza (1 slice; 320 calories)

39 minutes of swimming (slow to moderate laps).

CINNAMON ROLL

Starbucks Cinnamon Roll (500 calories, varies by location)

85 minutes of dancing.

HAMBURGER

Burger King Original Whopper With Cheese (770 calories)

94 minutes of swimming (slow to moderate laps).

BROWNIE

Au Bon Pain Chocolate Chip Brownie (380 calories).

129 minutes of yoga (Hatha style).

FRIES

Wendy's Large French Fries (540 calories)

77 minutes of biking (10-11.9 mph).

ICE CREAM

Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream (0.5 cup; 270 calories)

29 minutes of running (5 mph).

BURRITO

Taco Bell Burrito Supreme, Beef (410 calories)

70 minutes of dancing.

* Not that you can't splurge on things, but remember, everything in moderation!

Here is the link to the article: http://food.yahoo.com/blog/yahoofreshpicks/9960/what-chain-food-favorites-cost-in-exercise/

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