Where was I?

Was eating a Lean Cuisine today and it made me remember that I haven't posted anything in forever. No I am not on a health quest at the moment. At the moment just trying to remember to eat meals. During the Christmas season, I wasn't really eating anything except dinner and late night snacks. Not the way to go, but it is the way to grow (trust me I learned this the hard way in training school). The good thing is even in the midst of eating badly I have maintained a weight. Sadly with all the exercise I get during the months of Christmas, I didn't lose any... Oh, well.

Probably should be out walking, to get in a little exercise. The weather here in Reno, while cold in the morning has been more like fall weather. Which by the way, if you don't know me, is driving me nuts. I am living in an area that gets to see snow in the winter and this winter I have hardly seen any. I am getting a little concerned, not for myself, but for those who have not had the snow they need to support their businesses and for those who may face a bad fire season. Praying for at least some rain at this point. All we have seen are gray days.

God, thank you for the wonderful gift of your son. Thank you for my husband, family and friends. Please send some snow or rain. - Amen.

Busy Life

I have 3 words that best describe this weekend; busy, busy, busy! Friday I jumped off the wagon and didn't look back until this morning. 3 day of random eating...

Friday started off on the right track. Made it through to lunch with a slimfast and a subway sandwich. It was after lunch that it all gets a little hazy. We had a Back 2 School distribution to do. I was out running an errand and was super hungry. In and Out called to me and I answered the call. After picking up some snacks for the teen night, I hung out downstairs with teens waiting to get their school supplies, trying to keeping them occupied we ate the snacks. Went out to dinner with friends after and ate some more. My tummy was not happy with me by the end of the night.

Saturday we headed to family camp and once again I started off with the best of intentions. For breakfast I ate fruit. For snack, ate some more fruit. At lunch I was already tired, so I just grabbed what was on the table. Dinner, a few hours later, I was even more tired so I grabbed the foods that I liked. Only ate a 1/4 of my burger, but had 2 brownies and all the other stuff too. Had to go grocery shopping, picked out healthy food for myself and then went to McDonalds for some french fries and a diet coke.

Sunday did the healthy breakfast, but that was as far as I made it. I knew my day would be busy and semi long again, so I just ate food that was convenient and fast.

I know there were different choices I could have made when it came to some meals, but business and tiredness got the best of me.

Today I am trying to get myself back on track, but even as I sit here now I want to just give in. How do you beat the feeling to give in? I am going to try my hardest not to, but not sure how it will turn out.

God, give me your strength! I don't want to keep eating like this. I need your help! Amen

Hallelujah!

I was and am still happy that I made it through yesterday without giving up and giving in to the temptation to just eat whatever I felt like eating. I was beyond exhaustion, I was super hungry and still managed to make and eat a healthier version of enchiladas. I also decided to even take a walk on the treadmill. For me this was a big deal. Most of the time when this kind of day or lack of sleep happens I just go for what it easy. I was determined not to give in. It also helped that I asked for God's help. I relied on His strength.

Last night I did get more sleep, although my body today is still saying that it was not enough. Managed to sleep 7 hours this time. Still had a hard time falling asleep. Hoping that this sleeplessness will pass.

Today seems to be going by quickly. Wednesday's are my longest day of the week. Start the morning off with an early (at least for me) staff meeting and don't finish until chapel is over in the evening. This week I am better prepared for healthier eating. Packed my lunch up with a snack for mid-day and plan to squeeze in a salad at the ARP for another "snack". Tonight's dinner at home is the rest of my enchiladas. I am looking forward to dinner!

I know this may not be the most interest blog you have ever read, but thank you for taking the time to read it. Thank you for your continuing encouragement. I post here so that I can help keep running an honest program, and your support means a lot.

God, thank you for the friends and family that you have placed in my life. Thank you for there encouragement and support in this journey to be healthier. Help me to continue to rely on you and find rest in you. - Amen

Beyond tired

The old me from a last week would have given up on healthy eating when I am this tired, but the new me from this week is determined not to let it convince me to give in.

I have no idea why, but for some reason I could not sleep last night. It took forever to fall asleep. Brain was not super busy, body was tired, didn't sleep in the morning before. I just could not sleep. By the time I did fall asleep it was somewhere around 2:30/3:00 am. The little sleep I did get at this point was not restful. I kept having strange dreams. And no there were no drugs (sleep meds, prescription or otherwise) involved. Around 5:20 I found myself awake. About 15 minutes later my TMJ starting hurting. Don't know if it was the allergies that triggered it, or I was clenching my teeth in those couple hours of sleep? So at that point the pain was helping hinder any sleep I could have gotten before I needed to be up for work.

Here I am now, tired. Everything is tired, body, mind, eyes, etc. Not sure how I am going to make it work, but I am still planning to work out on at least the treadmill, and eat a healthy dinner. Pray that I make it! I have learned through my years that I do not function well on little to no sleep. It is only through Christ that I am not grumpy as well.

Lord, help me hang in there today. Thank you for your strength, and wisdom. Let me sleep soundly tonight, because tomorrow is another busy day. - Amen

Sparkpeople

I have started using sparkpeople.com again. For those of you who haven't checked it out it is a free healthy living program that helps you track what you've eaten, how much you've exercised and has many helpful articles, blogs, & suggestions. I use the nutrition tracker and the exercise tracker daily (at least so far). When you start you enter in your height and weight and they tell you where you fall on the BMI scale. You then enter how much you would like to loose and by when and they give you a suggested calorie, fat, carb, and protien range. They can also suggest how much exercise you need to get. For those of you who are dealing with health issues they have suggestions, helps, and recommendations for you too!

I know this is only my second full day using the program, but I was able to do use it successfully before, losing 80lbs. I am excited about the possibilities with using this program again. It may not work for you, but I know it works for me.

I have also started using the treadmill at the house. 2 days in a row of doing a mile. For someone who was capable, but not active it is a good start. Tonight I also want to try using my Leslie Sansone Walking DVD again. She is a good, positive, Christian woman who seems to motivate me.

Now that I have reached my goals of starting sparkpeople and using the treadmill, I do need to come up with new goals. I have a goal shirt and a goal pair of capris in my closet. My goal is to be able to fit into both by Officer's Councils. That gives me a little more than a month, but both pieces of clothing are only a size or 2 off of what I currently wear, which is attainable.

My goals for the next 49 days are:

1. To stick with the sparkpeople program
2. To continue to exercise daily
3. To be able to fit into the new shirt for Officer's Councils
4. To be able to fir into the capris by Officer's Councils

God, help me to continue on this journey of getting healthier. Please give me your strength to make it through each day. - Amen

Last day of this vacation

So here we are... the last day of vacation... It was a good vaca and while I wish I could continue to be on vacation, I am glad to be going back back to work. There is only so much lazing around that I can do. I did so much sleeping in that here I am still awake at 1:18am. Tomorrow (today) I have my alarm set so that I can go to bed at a decent hour. Mike and I got to enjoy spending time together. Didn't go far, but had fun doing all the things we don't seem to have as much time for.

Mike and I also recently celebrated our 12th anniversary. I am blessed to have a husband like Mike. I don't know how to say it without sounding cliche, but he completes me. He is my other half. Where I am a little weaker, he seems to have more strength. We he is weaker, I am a little stronger. He is my best friend, he is a man of God, and I love him!

This week was also our dog Sampsons 6th year with us. We let him have a special treat to celebrate. Bella has been with us 5 and 1/2 years. She got to share in Sammy's celebration. I know they both enjoyed having us home this week. They are pretty good dogs.

So tomorrow (today) I am going to restart keeping track of what I eat, my weight and how much I exercise using a program called Spark People @ Sparkpeople.com. I have used the program before and lost 80lbs. I am also going to start using my exercise dvds again. They have been great dust collectors, but no more. Tonight I squeezed in a 1 mile walk on the treadmill and felt pretty good.

God help me not only get back on track to living healthier, but help me stick to it! - Amen.

Sugar Free Jello!

Yes I know it is a strange title for today. I am actually eating a cup of it right now! Even better is that it only has 10 calories, and no fat!!! And other than letting you know that that the past 5 days have had there ups and downs I am not going to spend my blog time today talking about what I ate.

I do have one food related question, however. What do you do when your options seem limited? None of the food is what you would call healthy, and you don't want to be rude to your host, what are options? After giving this a little thought I have come up with a few answers. If you have a hamburger or hotdog, skip the bun; save on the carbs and extra calories. Eat smaller portions! Don't go back for seconds, unless it is offensive and even then keep the first ideas in mind. Choose the healthier drink; none available, choose water. There are probably others that you could think of.

Other tips for eating healthier... One of the biggest that I have learned and still continue to learn is not to deny yourself. Sounds strange, I know, but I don't mean go out and eat everything available; that is no where near healthy eating. What you can do is have a smaller portion. Say you really want a piece of Cheesecake and that is all you have been drooling about for the past week. You can't get it out of your head. Don't completely deny yourself. If you do then you will probably cheat, try to hide it and then decide since the whole day is ruined that you can go ahead and fully blow it. Instead, save yourself the guilt, self loathing, and wallowing and get a cheesecake, but eat it smartly. Share it with friends. Cut it into a smaller piece and give the rest to someone else. Eat a portion and freeze the rest for another day. Maybe your just craving the taste? Buy the 100 Calorie version or cheesecake bites. If you do it smartly you really can have your cheescake and eat it to.

Lord, help me eat smarter!