Made to Crave by Lysa Turkeurst

Two of my New Year’s resolutions this year were to get healthier through exercise and better nutrition and rebuild my relationship with the Lord. I had no idea that the two resolutions could have such a strong connection between them.

I have been doing pretty well with eating healthier although I have my slip ups (i.e. Chinese buffet at 8:00 p.m. last night) but I have not exercised as much as I had intended. I have lost a few pounds but do not see how I am going to meet my goal of losing 20 pounds by March 30. Mentally I am struggling with deciding if I should worry about the scale or simply be happy if my clothes fit better.

My life seems like one hectic circle of chaos right now and I crave some peace. I know that I can find this peace in the Lord and His word. I deeply desire to regain my close relationship with Him. I have not made Him a priority in my life. Just yesterday I opened the Holy Bible app on my phone and decided to start following the daily readings. I have been wanting a bible study to guide me along the way but had not found one as of yet that really spoke to me.

This morning on the way to work I was listening to KSBJ and caught just one sentence of a guest speaker. She said “Not once in my life have I ever craved a carrot stick”. I thought the speaker was the usual nutritionist that is featured on KSBJ so I continued to listen for more information. The guest speaker was Lysa Terkeurst who wrote a book called Made to Crave. Made to Crave is written specifically for women to understand God’s truth as it relates to food. It addresses the emotional aspect of eating that I find so perplexing. Our bodies need food to survive but we should turn to God for the comfort, stress relief or whatever emotion we think we can get from the chocolate fix we so desperately desire. I am sure you’ve heard the cliché’ “Eat to Live, Don’t Live to Eat”. I downloaded a sample of the book and it sounds great. I can’t wait to purchase the book and start rebuilding my relationship with the Lord.

I am amazed at how God spoke to me this morning through KSBJ and led me to this book as my new bible study. I am looking forward to remembering that my body is a temple provided to me by the Lord and I should take care of it. I am looking forward to the inner peace that I know I will find in Him.

Kickboxing

There’s just something intriguing about wrapping my wrists and getting ready to release all the day’s tension through numerous punches and kicks. Over 10 years ago I took a kickboxing class in Clear Lake for six months. I was pretty dedicated, even dragging myself up to the studio at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday mornings. I absolutely LOVED that class. When I find myself lacking motivation or in a fitness rut, I go back to that routine and my love of kickboxing.

Last night I had a pretty good one hour kickboxing workout. I started out with a warm up of jogging in place and jumping jacks. I then moved on to the routine. The first 30 minutes is spent doing air punches and kicks with jumping jacks, squats and lunges worked in between the punching or kicking sequences. The last 30 minutes was spent beating the bag with sequences of punches and kicks. I love the feeling of freedom when I release the punch. I love feeling the work in my abs. I also added in 40 jumping jacks in the last few minutes of the workout. There’s something liberating about doing jumping jacks around my garage while “Jump” from House of Pain is screeching through the garage. It was a good night and I am feeling the pain today (but in a good way of course).

Freedom in Health, Day 5

I am still finding the eating plan difficult to stick to exactly as I planned but I will continue to adjust.

Breakfast: Shakeology – almond milk, flaxseed, water and ice.

10:00: started this meal late but had to have it because I was starving. I ate oatmeal but didn’t eat the egg whites which is not good. Definitely need to refocus on this meal.

Lunch: lunch came earlier than normal due to a business appointment. I had the Ahi Tuna Salad which was a good choice but I forgot to ask for the dressing on the side. Old habits die hard. Focus, focus, focus.

3:30: Plain non fat yogurt with strawberries and cinammon. This meal needs work, too tart and not sweet enough. May try Agave Nectar as a sweetener.

Dinner: Pork Chops, green beans and corn. Probably ate too much. Need to cut back on serving size.

I didn’t drink as much water today as I did earlier in the week. I did drink two EmergenC packs in water today. Trying to fight this cold and assist my immune system.

I have another lunch appointment tomorrow and a family dinner at a Mexican food restaurant (ugghhh temptation). I will really focus on eating as healthy as possible.

I have a craving for something sweet right now. I may get an apple, orange or a Shakeology.

I won’t have time for a workout tomorrow. I must get a workout in Saturday or Sunday to meet my goal. I would like to workout both days.

Freedom in Health, Day 4 Update

Not everything goes as planned, now that’s an understatement. I know that not everything goes as planned, of course I know that so why did I think it would be different with my new eating plan. Guess what? Today did not go as planned. I missed my 10:00 meal due to a meeting. Well that’s ok, I had a lunch appointment at 11:30. Guess what? I had an emergency come up so I missed lunch too. I did finally eat at Wendy’s around 2:30 and I tried to keep my meal as clean ad possible.

The cooler plans are suppossed to help you be prepared on the go but I put my food in the fridge at work today because I forgot my freezer pack.

Granted this was not a typical day (thanfully). I adjusted the best that I could. I do think I will stash a few snack packs if almonds here and there to ward off the hunger monsters.

Tonight was suppossed to be a Shakeology workout but I think I will get outside since it’s warm enough. I feel the need for the freedom of the outdoors.

The point is, things don’t always go as planned. Adjust the plan and move on.

Freedom in Health, Day 4 – Back at it

I am back at the office today. I am feeling better but less than 100%. I am back on track today with my meal schedule.

Today’s meal plan:

1st meal – Shakeology – Almond Milk, Banana, Flaxseed, Water and Ice

2nd meal – Oatmeal, 2 hardboiled egg whites

3rd meal – grilled chicken salad, dressing on side (very little)

4th meal – Non fat plain yogurt with strawberries and cinnamon

5th meal – chicken with green beans and peppers (red, yellow and green)

My goal is to complete the 30 minute Shakeology full body workout. I am still sore from completing this workout on Monday evening. I am going to focus on this workout for a little while until I feel that I have conquered it. I think this will be a good way for me to track my progress. I could definitely tell that I was out of shape again from taking time off with no workouts.

Freedom in Health, Day 3 – Down and Out

The goal of living a happy and healthy lifestyle was a bit challenging today considering I was home sick with a cold. I didn’t get out of bed until 10:00 a.m. which caused my meal schedule to be out of sync. I also did not have much of an appetite so I did not stick to six mini meals today. I did eat clean most of the day with one exception.

My food journal:

1st meal – Shakeology with Almond Milk, Banana, Flaxseed, Ice and Water.

2nd meal – oatmeal with cinnamon

3rd meal – grilled chicken, green beans and 1 biscuit

I did not have a workout scheduled for today which is good. My body needed to sit on the couch and rest.

Freedom in Health, 2011, Day 2,

Cooler Plan and Workout

Today I start following Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet. I am packed and ready to go.

My cooler contains my first four mini meals that I will consume at work.

Breakfast: Shakeology – one scoop, one cup almond milk, small banana, two tablespoons flax seed, ice and water.

10:00am – oatmeal and two egg whites, green tea

Lunch: Ezekiel bread sandwich with red pepper hummus spread, 5 oz tuna and baby spinach.

3:00pm: cucumber with hummus.

Dinner will be lean meat with green salad and green beans.

If I need a 6th meal it may be an apple or orange.

Workout today will be the 30 minute Shakeology workout and a 1 mile walk/run.

Have a great day. Happy Healthy New Year.

Freedom in Health, Day 1, 2011

Today begins my journey of becoming more healthy and happy in 2011. I will start with preparing for the week ahead. I’ve realized that all of my good intentions fall apart if I do not prepare properly. It’s all about having a plan and putting that plan into action.

The plan starts with an Eat Clean grocery list and trip to the grocery store. It is very important for me to know which foods I am going to have for each meal. If I don’t plan my meals, I am more likely to eat poorly.

The next part of the plan is to review my calendar and plan my meals and my workouts (minimum of three per week) around other activities that I have scheduled. K has at least one basketball game this week and I visit mom on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I need to take those activities into consideration while planning my week.

It’s time to get off the couch and put these plans into action.

Persistence

Last week was a rough week for me. I was fighting a cold with no time to rest. I did not work out one day last week. I did maintain my Shakeology meal plan though. The most important thing to remember when you fall out of a fitness routine is to take the next step and get started again. For some reason our minds tell us that we messed up by not working out and to forget about it but we need to remember that accomplishing small goals will help us to meet our larger goals.

So last night I decided to take that step again. I had a Shakeology for breakfast yesterday (and today) and I completed the Skakeology 30 minute full body workout. I am sore today so I know I worked those muscles.

Don’t give up, be persistent to reach your goals and live a healthy lifestyle.

Temptation

I had a pretty hectic day at the office.  I left work late so I missed my run and spent an hour in traffic on the way to my mom’s apartment.  By the time I left my mom’s place I still needed to put gas in the car and stop at the vet for dog food.  I was frazzled and almost gave in to temptation.

During the hour drive home my husband and I communicated through text message about our dinner plans.  We both seemed to want to blow off the nightly shake but neither of us admitted it.  I was thinking MEXICAN FOOD.  I could almost taste the salsa (my favorite) and whatever else the experience would bring.  I held my ground though and decided that we should continue with our Shakeology dinner.  I didn’t want to break the routine of replacing one meal per day with Shakeology and I knew that I would only feel guilty if I gave in to the temptation.  It’s all mental! and I am learning that more and more every day.