Weigh in....

YAY!! Ok, so not a BIG loss, BUT, a loss!! I went back down 2 lbs so even though it's not much, at least I made up for last week!! Now, let's just try to stay in control over the weekend AND on vacation...EEEEKKKK!! Sunday IS SuperBowl Sunday AND we will be at Myrtle Beach so I will be glad next week just to NOT gain any!! lol Just pray for me.....Until next time......

Update....

Well it's been several days since I've posted so I just wanted to give an update....

We had our Spaghetti Madness at my mom's house on Monday night, although we had Lasagna instead which was WONDERFUL! My older sister Stacey wasn't there and it wasn't the same without her!! She BEST be there next week!!

Church has been great!! Eric preached Sunday night and it was such an awesome message! Pastor Jason taught/preached Wed night about worrying and let me just say, it was much needed!!!

We traded our car in yesterday and purchased a 2009 Honda CRV and I LOVE it!!! I am so thankful everything worked out!!

We are leaving for Myrtle Beach Sunday after the morning service and let me just tell you.... I CAN'T WAIT!! I am SO looking forward to this!! We did have a kink thrown in to the picture though. We were supposed to come back Wed night but now Eric, Olivia and I have to return early and come back Tues night b/c we have been blessed with a roof for Eric to do. He can't refuse so we will be coming back a little earlier....BUT, we still are going to have a GREAT time with the Thomas family...we ALWAYS do!!

We are fixing to sign Olivia up for soccer this season. She is looking forward to it now, but I'm not sure she realizes how much running is involved...she may change her mind about it LOL!

And then lastly, I have had a great week as far as weight loss goes. I will weigh in tomorrow morning and post an update in that department! I am hoping for a BIG loss this week since I had a GAIN last time! I also have been doing my 3 Day Diet. I am on day 2. I am hoping by tomorrow to be back down those 2 lbs PLUS more!! We'll see!! Until next time......

Weigh in etc, etc.

Ok so today is Friday and at weigh in I had gained 2 lbs back!! UGH! ! Ok, so I haven't been doing so great this week. Confession is good for the soul so I confess I haven't exercised in a few days and have overeaten a few times. I have had a good couple of days though. I am NOT giving up. This is definitely a SET BACK, but I am going to press forward!!

Anyway, besides that I have had a pretty good week. Our church-wide fast ended and I am excited to see what the Lord is up to!

I am helping plan Kaye's shower, along with several friends and family members of Kaye and I am SO excited!! I am really looking forward to it!

Well, that's all for now. Until next time......

Praise Report!

The Thomas Family did get some good news at the doctor's appointments today. I will let Kaye go into detail on her blog but we are just praising the Lord for the good news!

Bad Day///Good Day

Today was a bad day///good day. It was bad as far as eating goes and good as far as church goes. Of course church and being in the Presence of the Lord FAR outweighs the bad part!!! We had 2 amazing worship services at church today. The choir really worshipped the Lord in song and the Presence of the Lord was in that place today! The messages that the Pastor delivered were definitely anointed and SOOO very good for the soul!! I was full both spiritually AND physically today lol! This morning the message was about "Committed to Prayer when God says Nothing". Man, did I need to hear that......

I haven't talked to anyone really about this and I guess it's just something that I shove into the back of my mind when it comes up, but I sometimes have a struggle with the fact that God didn't heal my Dad when he had his stroke. It's a VERY long story but long story short.... My Dad had a sudden, massive, hypertensive stroke 3 years ago March 23. He was in a coma in ICU for 8 days and then passed away. During the hospital stay we all banded together and prayed and prayed and cried out to God and begged God to heal him. And God said nothing.
This morning my Pastor testified during his message about the tragedy of them losing their little boy prematurely at 11 days old after begging God and praying and crying out for God to heal him and God said nothing.
You know what the Pastor "brought to light" about times like that? Basically, in a nutshell, God has a plan and we don't always know OR understand WHY He does the things He does, the ways He does them, but all in all, HE HAS A PLAN. God's job is to hear our prayers and answer ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, our job is simply to pray, believing He is able, and to trust that God will take care of it His way.
In "this thing called life" things don't make sense A LOT of the time. We believed God to heal my Dad. We prayed with faith. I literally got down on my knees time and again in the hospital chapel and begged God not to take my Dad. My job was to pray. God's job was to answer it according to His will. Healing my Dad would have been nothing compared to the miracles and wonders that God is capable of, but He chose not to. Why? I do not know. I still do not know. But, the message this morning brought some healing to my pain of that "not knowing" and that unending question of "why God?". The message was a simple reminder that my thoughts are not God's thoughts and His ways are much higher than mine. God's plan is not always clear to us, but we can be sure and trust the fact that God is faithful and He knows what is best for everyone. I am thankful to have been in a place this morning to hear that much needed Word for my soul.

Ok, so this post is a little long...sorry.

Then tonight we had an awesome time of worship in singing and the presence of the Lord was with us again. I am so amazed that God inhabits the praises of His people. The message preached tonight was about how we are to be dead to sin and alive in Christ. We cried out to Jesus, "Come live in me. All my life take over!" I hope that others received from the Word tonight as I did.

On a different note......

We are having Spaghetti Madness this Thursday. I am really looking forward to spending time with my mom and sisters again.

Tomorrow morning, the Thomas family(which, even though not blood-related, is our family too) is going to be facing a long, frightening day. 2 members of their family are dealing with major health issues and have major doctors' appointments/procedures. We are continuing to pray for them. If you will, please pray along with us.

Well, I was supposed to audition today (Sunday) for the Greenville Chorale but I called and cancelled. #1 Olivia is going to try spring soccer and her practices and games fall on the same night as when my practices would be with the Chorale, and #2 I was really nervous because the audition was extremely tough. You had to sing the Star Spangled Banner accapello and then sight sing. For those of you who don't know what sight singing is, basically they give you sheet music and you sing the notes without accompaniment instruments. YEAH, that's pretty difficult. I figured I would need to practice up on that a bit before trying it. Sooooo, I am down to audition in August.

Now to the Bad part...ugh. Yeah, I pretty much ate WAAAAYYY too many calories today! I definitely won't be hitting that 10 lb mark by tomorrow. I am not even going to get on the scale to weigh in tomorrow because I will need a couple of days to work all that I ate today OFF!! Oh well, I guess I just have to chalk it up and keep going. Tomorrow (actually today b/c it is 1am right now) is a new day and God's mercies are new EVERY morning! I look forward to starting the week off good tomorrow. I'll post again later in the week unless something exciting happens between now and then lol.
Until next time.......

Weigh In...and then some

This morning was my weigh in and I was a little nervous because towards the middle of the week I didn't so well. My family came over Tuesday night and it was my sister's birthday so we had spaghetti for dinner (loaded with calories) and cake and ice cream for her birthday (again, loaded with calories). Wednesday was ok but I did give in to ice cream and late night snacks. So Thursday was my "last chance workout" lol. I had a GREAT day yesterday. All that being said, this morning I weighed in having lost 2 more lbs!! YAY! Not as much as I could have done and not as much as I had hoped for but still a loss! So, a total loss of 9 lbs!! 71 lbs to go!! Woo Hoo! I am excited! I just can't wait to get past that 10 lb loss! I am going to work my butt off the next couple of days to try to get there before Monday!

We are excited about going out to dinner and fellowship with the Thomas Family and the Maw Family tonight. We are going to my "favorite" (sarcasm intended) place, Fiesta. Yum. But, I told Kaye I would live lol. We are definitely looking forward to some good times tonight with some good friends!

I just want to give kudos to my Pastor for a second. His messages lately have been really hitting home with me and have really helped me in this attempt to grow in my relationship with the Lord. I of course, like many others, have fallen so short of doing everything necessary to maintain a growing relationship with Him, but I have been getting a LOT of soul food lately that has been dealing with that. The "Ladder of Faith" study Pastor has been doing the past 2 Wednesday nights have really been an eye-opener. Like he said, there's nothing he preaches that hasn't already been preached, BUT sometimes hearing it again as a reminder AND hearing it in a different way helps you in just the right time. I am thankful to have a praying Pastor and Pastor's wife. They are the best!

I had mentioned earlier about my family coming over.....I had said one of my New Year's Resolutions was to spend more time with my family so we decided to have "Spaghetti Madness" at least once a week with my mom & my sisters. We had our first one this past Tuesday night and we had a BLAST! It was so nice to just sit and talk and eat with them. It was MUCH needed. We are going to be getting together with Eric's family more too. I look forward to that as well.

Well, as soon as I cross over to the 10 lb loss mark, I will update.
Until next time........

Subway....

Well, I have found a new "fast food" restaurant that is GREAT! Saturday we went hiking and then headed to Brevard to look for some snow. We had a wonderful time just doing not much of anything. We ended up at Subway in Pisgah, NC because I had a coupon! :) I am on a HUGE coupon rage right now and let me tell you, I have been saving some serious moolah! Anyway, we NEVER eat at Subway. I think mainly because the one in Pickens is also a gas station and Eric and I have this thing about mixing restaurants with gas.....let's just say we're not big fans of it. Anyway, the one in Pisgah is not like that so, we got our food at Subway and each of us LOVED it! I got something off the lowfat, low cal menu and it was delicious. Olivia loved her sub and Eric was impressed. Sooooo....if you know me and Eric, once we like something, we'll eat there til we are sick of it lol. That's just the way we are. Then once we're sick of it, it's over. Just ask me about Fiesta.

So, we ate at the one in Liberty (which is also NOT a gas station) on Sunday night and again it was great. Then Olivia and I ate there again Monday for lunch and it was great again. It's healthy and delicious! AND I have coupons!! As Gary says, "Can't beat it!" Our whole family ate there Sunday night (using coupons) for $11.00!! Anyway, I am taking a break though b/c #1, we need to eat more at home during the week and #2 I don't want to get sick of it too quickly lol.

It's been kind of a tough few days but I am still on track and doing great! It is definitely getting easier. The Lord has seriously been helping me with my urges. Don't get me wrong, I have given in to ice cream and french fries a couple of times, but I'm not overdoing it. That's the main thing, I am trying NOT to overdo it when I do give in to those cravings. It's like I am having to retrain myself on how to eat. Oh yeah, and I have been doing crunches. Do you know how long it has been since I've done crunches????!! LOL Let me just say it feels like I've been punched in the stomach about 50 times! I am seriously OUT OF SHAPE!! I'm trying to get back in to doing my elliptical on a regular basis too. But I swanny, that thing is EVIL!

Well, I will weigh in again on Friday. ( I will of course do this BEFORE we meet and eat with The Thomas Family and the Maw Family haha ) Until next time.......

Weigh-in...

Ok, so I weighed in this morning and even though I didn't lose the whole 10 lbs on the 3 day diet, I DID lose 4 lbs! Whoot whoot! So, to date, I've lost a total of 7 lbs so far! That's motivating for sure. We are getting ready to go hiking (if the rain will hold off) and Subway for lunch. 73 lbs to go!
Until next time......

Well....

So, it's been a day or so and I just wanted to update a little. I have been on a very strict diet for the past 3 days. It's actually called the 3 Day Diet. You're supposed to lose 10 lbs in 3 days after doing it. I have done it in the past and I actually did lose 10 lbs BUT after the 3 days of dieting I splurged and ate like crazy and gained several of the pounds back, not all , but several. So, I have been doing it again to try and really discipline myself on cutting back on my food. This time I broke down the first night and ate a couple of things off-menu but not too bad. It was a 100 calorie bag of popcorn and then later a small bowl of cereal. The diet is very strict and you won't lose all the weight if you alter it AT ALL. So, I doubt I will have lost the whole 10 lbs tomorrow but we'll see how close I get.
Anyway, I'm blogging because I want to make sure this time I don't overdo it when i start eating normal again. Eric and I have already planned that we are going hiking tomorrow and we've already discussed meal plans. Hopefully I can keep it under control, with the Lord's help of course. I have been praying, not just about this, but I have been praying that God would sustain me and help me and He really has. The past 2 days have been fairly easy. I've had my moments where I want to eat a whole bag of potato chips and go get a Reese's Blast from Sonic (lol), BUT, the Lord has been helping me.
I weigh in tomorrow morning. I'll update then on pounds lost so far.
Until next time.....

My first entry....

Well, thanks to my best friend Kaye, I have decided to venture out into the wonderful world of blogging! I debated for several weeks about what I could write about and so have decided. It's a New Year and of course we are surrounded by the persuasion to resolve some matters in our lives and I, like most others, have made some New Year's Resolutions myself. Tradition is what it is and I guess, along with half of America, I will also claim my resolve to LOSE WEIGHT! This gives me a LOT to write about here and to share with others my journey with this struggle of losing weight. I also named a few other "areas of improvement" in my life which include my relationship with the Lord, my marriage, my parenting, housekeeping, and taking better care of myself in general. Yeah, you could say that in "this thing called life" I have not been doing such a good job with the maintenance of all of the above. :)

This is mainly going to be about my weight loss journey, but throughout my blogging, I will update on changes in the other areas as well. I do want to start by saying that my renewed commitment to growing my relationship with the Lord has taken #1 priority and is definitely effecting all the other areas as well. Hmm, God does have a way of taking care of everything else once we put Him first huh? lol

I will, of course, NOT be posting my weight on here but I will be posting the pounds that I lose. I OFFICIALLY started this weight loss journey (again) on 1/2/09. To date I have lost 3 lbs. Not by starvation, vomiting or diet pills but simply by cutting back on food intake and drinking a LOT of water and getting my butt off the couch.

5 years ago I was (gulp) 80 lbs lighter than what I am today. Since getting pregnant I gained a whopping 68 lbs during pregnancy and lost and gained and lost and gained and then in the past year gained back up to a total weight gain, since pre-pregnancy, of 80 lbs! I could vomit just posting that number but I have realized that if there's ever going to be a change, I have GOT to admit reality (as Eric says) and deal with it truthfully! I used to be able to rely on the excuse that I had just had a baby. But, I can't really say that now since I just had a baby....5 years ago in March!!!!! lol

Ok, so with 3 lbs lost I have 77 lbs to go. Please, if you are reading this, say a prayer for me. I have NEVER in my life dealt with this struggle like this and I really want out! I have only been back on my journey for a week now, but I really do feel differently about it this time. I can actually see myself losing the weight this time. Every time before, in my mind, I would never lose the weight. This time, I believe in myself and know that I can do it. I am depending on this blog as well to hold me accountable. :)

Anyway, I will end this book for now....I really think I should write a book. I could definitely go on and on sometimes. But I guess that's just part of being a woman! LOL

Until next time.......