Ouch!

Today was our Spring Break Zoo Day.  We try to go a few times a year and usually one of those times falls during Spring Break.  C is out of town with my parents, so M and I went with some friends.  It was fun!  

I did NOT expect it to be as sunny as it was today.  Luckily I am the only one of the two of us with rosy pink skin to show for our time in the sun.  Ouch!

Yesterday I chose to do some Wii Fit.  I forget how much I enjoy it until I take the time to play.  It was fun!  I spent 30 minutes on the Wii.  The yoga and balancing activities are the ones I enjoy the most.  

I am going to try and spend at least 30 minutes every other day doing some type of physical activity.  I NEED this and I know it.  NO MORE EXCUSES, BETH!!!  It is time to MOVE!

After the yoga and the zoo today I will have to say that my legs are a little sore.  Ouch!  But it's a good ouch!  This is something I need to feel more often.  Being physically fit is another part of taking care of my body.  It is MY responsibility to take care of the body HE gave me.

One way I would like to exercise is to run.  I know TONS of people that do it.  It is just so intimidating to me.  I think I will feel like a dork if I'm running outside.  I don't have the right clothing.  I don't have the right shoes.  I don't have time without kids... excuses, excuses!  Maybe I'll eventually get over this.  Until I do, I need to take advantage of the things I know that I CAN do.  Like utilizing all the different games we have for the Wii.  I even have a Zumba game.  I LOVE Zumba!  

I WILL do this.  Tomorrow will be exercise day number two for this week and it WILL happen!

I Expected Worse

I replaced the batteries in the Wii Fit board and weighed this morning.  I honestly expected it to be in the upper 180's, possibly even in the 190's.  It is no secret that I have not done well for about the last 10-12 months.  I could make lots of excuses for this, but I will not.  
I knew what I was doing every time I made unhealthy choices.  I knew my weight was (once again) spiraling out of control.  My clothes got tight.  I got out the last few pair of "fat pants" that I owned.  You know what I am talking about.  We all have them.  A few months ago, those pants started getting tight.  Hello, tummy...
I have always been one who does best by weighing myself daily.  For about the past year, I have not.  In fact I haven't even owned a functional set of scales.  
Experts say to NOT weigh daily.  It seriously helps me stay on task though.   Seeing the difference in my daily weight will either motivate me to keep up the good work, or to try harder to make better choices that day.  I do not let it depress me if I have gained a pound one day.  I know that weight changes daily in either direction.  If I am up a pound one day, I just try harder to make healthy choices so that the next day my weight will (hopefully) go back down to where it was.  No big deal!
Okay, I'll cut to the chase.  After weighing in this morning my weight was...

181.5

Not as high as expected.  WHEW!  I also got out last summer's capri pants and they still fit!  Of course they are not as loose as they were, but they are on and comfortable.  Yippee!  

I still am focusing on SELF CONTROL for the week.  

"For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." 

          -2 Timothy 1:7

I need to set some short term goals for myself.  Any ideas?  How often do you weigh yourself, and why?  I would love your input!

Spring Break!

It is day one of SPRING BREAK!!!  

Can you tell I am excited?  A couple of my thoughts today...

I have lost the feeling of what it is like to just relax.  This morning it actually felt strange to just sit and not deal with the whirlwind of chaos that visits our home on a typical morning.  It also will be SO nice to not have a crazy schedule to keep up with this next week.  Between work, school, church, piano lessons, dance lessons, and everything else, the Manning's are a BUSY family!  We have a few things planned, but I am intentionally not booking up every single day of our break.  It is TIME to slow down!

SIMPLIFYING our days is a good thing in most ways, but not being on the go also means that I will have more time to munch.  It is definitely going to be a challenge to be healthy this week.  I am really guilty of munching on JUNK.  That is where the majority of this excess weight came from.
I do not eat because I am hungry.  I eat because I am bored or just simply mindlessly eat.  There is a book about that...  MUST stay on top of this, Beth!
I am going to continue to use http://caloriecount.about.com.  Knowing that I am going to have to enter a food at the end of the day makes me think twice before shoving it in my mouth.

I decided to go ahead and weigh myself this morning.  We do not own a set of scales, so I always use the Wii.  There definitely are advantages to this.  The Wii tracks my progress, so I can see how I have done over a long period of time.
Guess what?  When I got all situated and ready, the batteries were low in the Wii Fit board!  I decided to borrow some batteries out of M's remote controlled truck.  Guess what else?  Those batteries were also low!  Is that not just nice?  Luckily we use rechargable batteries, so I put one set on the charger.  All I could do was smile.  I guess I am really supposed to wait until Monday.  That will surely keep me motivated for the next day or so!

How do you keep track of your progress?  Do you have any tips for me?  I sure would love to hear about how you deal with your munchies!

A Great Way to Start My Day

You may have noticed the button for Proverbs 31 Ministries on my blog.  I like to read their daily devotionals.  This morning, I was skimming through and saw a topic that caught my attention.  

"The Verse That Made Me Cringe"

I enjoyed reading this one so much that I wanted to share it with you.  Here's the link.  

http://devotions.proverbs31.org/2011/03/the-verse-that-made-me-cringe.html

Hope you enjoy!

Perspective

I'm still REALLY motivated!  This is what I have prayed for... to have the DESIRE to live a healthier life for HIM.  I want not to be skinny, but to be HEALTHY.  Skinny is overrated.  Skinny is the WORLD'S view of what a woman should look like.  I don't really care about that.  I want what is best for me both physically AND spiritually.  If I'm focused on becoming what the magazines at the checkout stand say I should be, I'm just setting myself up for disappointment.  I want to be beautiful and I know I DO NOT have to be a "skinny girl" to be beautiful!

The title of this post was chosen as a result of something I just realized.  I entered everything I've eaten so far today at http://caloriecount.about.com.  It was 4:24pm and I had only eaten 506 calories all day!!!  Until the past few days, my calorie consumption by that time was AT LEAST twice this amount.  

Apparently I've chosen really good foods to eat today.  I'm not even hungry!  I have spread my meals and snacks out throughout the day.  I think this helps.  

Everyone always says to do that, but it's just really difficult when you're busy.  I'm going to make a point of keeping snacks in my backpack or purse.  Today I had a granola bar in my backpack and didn't have time to finish it.  I ate half and stuck the other half back into my backpack.  After class I realized I wasn't hungry.  I decided to put off eating the other half.  I never did.  When I got home I fixed an actual lunch.  This worked out well because I could read all my labels and make sure I put things on my plate that were actually worth eating.  Things that would be halfway healthy and fill me up!

Mitchell and I are going to have a movie night tonight, so I'm saving up some of my calories for then.  I'm thinking I may have some popcorn!  

Here's a list of some of my favorite things to eat.  I think you'll see why my perspective changed this afternoon seeing what I had NOT consumed!

• One 20 ounce Coca-Cola contains 240 calories. 
• One Cadbury Egg (my favorite!), 170 calories.  This surprised me.  I thought it would be more. 
• Miss Vickie's Salt and Vinegar chips, 200 calories.  Can't eat Subway or Blimpie w/out these!
• Sweet Tea from Sonic (gave this up 2 years ago), 290 Calories. Yikes!!!
• Dove Chocolate, 220 Calories.
• Funyuns, 140 calories per ounce.  Who eats ONE OUNCE of any type of chip?!?
• McDonald's Double Cheeseburger, 440
• Large order of McD's Fries, 500.  WOW.  That is just gross, and it's one of my favorite SNACKS!
• Wendy's Chicken Nuggets (5 piece), 230
• Hardee's Loaded Omelet Biscuit, 610 Calories!  This doesn't include the hash rounds to go with it!

After I had Camryn, I would drive thru Hardee's every morning and get one of those 610 calorie biscuits along with a large order of hash rounds and a large Coca-cola.  That is AT LEAST 1300 calories in one meal.  Gross.  No wonder I weighed almost 200 pounds!  I'm so grateful that I'm past those days.

My word for the next week is going to be SELF-CONTROL.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Against such there is no law.  And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."  

-Galatians 5:22-25

Do you have a word or scripture that you go to when you're struggling?  Feel free to share!  I need all the suggestions I can get.  

1,944

So today wasn't as great as yesterday.  I still did better than I have been lately.  The calorie count for the day is 1,944.  In my defense, I had fast food for every meal and still kept the count under 2,000.  Bad excuse, I know. I really need to try and stay away from fast food all together.  It's almost impossible to get healthy fast food!
Short post, but I've got to go study.  Test tomorrow and then it's SPRING BREAK!!!  I will be spending some much needed, quality time with my little man.  I love being a Mommy!

1,112

I made it through an entire day without chocolate!!!  The best part is that I'm not craving it now, either.  Another big thing for me today is that I managed to go caffeine free for the exception of my morning coffee.  I had about 1 1/2 mugs first thing.
A friend of mine lost a TON of weight doing the HCG diet.  I've done some research and don't think it is the thing for me.  BUT it did motivate me to start really paying attention to my caloric intake.
I've used the website http://caloriecount.about.com before and decided to give it another try.  It is FREE and helps you keep track of what you're consuming.  SUPER user friendly, which is a must for me!
Today I managed to only eat 1,112 calories all day!  WOOHOO!

Here are some challenges I'm setting for myself:

1.  Monday (3/21)  I WILL weigh myself and POST.  Got to have that accountability.
2.  Daily I WILL keep track of what I'm consuming!
4.  Within the next week I WILL take a picture of myself.  Head to toe shot, that doesn't hide anything.  My goal with this is to take one a month to SEE the progress.
3.  I WON'T lose sight of WHO I'm doing this for!

"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?"  -1 Corinthians 6:19

Do you have any advice or tips to share with me as a try to (once again) get healthy???  I'm open to suggestions!