Day three...

Well here I am, alive. I am pretty sore still, but mainly in my abs more than anywhere else. My fellow "shredder" girls all seemed to think today was easier, but not for me! I really struggled with the work out today. Thankfully Justin was right by my side this time or I probably would have been very tempted to cheat. I am really hoping that tomorrow is easier. I am planning on doing it after dropping Ian off at school. This time though, I won't get to rest. Owen and I are going to visit our friend Starla for lunch! I am excited about this because she has the sweetest little one, plus I like to visit with her too. ;)

Here is my food tracker from today. Thanks for keeping up with me. Please continue to pray as I really want to be able to continue this even once the 30 challenge is over.

August 31st

special K cereal w/ chocolate and skim milk

plum

raspberry balsamic chicken
baked potato
salad w/ salad dressing
cookie
tea

taco salad
a few fries
cookie
diet dr. pepper

apples dipped in nutella

Day two...

Ugh, owe, ugh!

I'm pretty sure that is the only way to describe how I feel right now. If I could spell out a groan then I would because every time I get up off the couch or the floor I groan, loud. I'm not sure if Ian was concerned or thinking I was crazy.

Everyone keeps commenting on my facebook status updates telling me that it gets better after day 3 or 4. So I am hoping they are right. I know it will pay off. I just wish this weekend wasn't Labor Day (we don't have First Place 4 Health, which means I don't have our official weigh in). I can only imagine that two weeks worth of this is going to show some great results!

Here is my food tracker for today. (FYI I had a chocolate banana smoothie last night after I posted)

apples
chicken biscuit
fruit cup
1 slice of bacon
1 walnut
small bite of oatmeal
plain biscuit
diet dr. pepper

water

roast beef from arby’s
a few fries from McDonald’s
water

cookies (iced animal cracker type cookies)

mac n ‘ cheese
cookie
water

Day one...

Today I started my 30 day challenge. Let's just say that I hope my children don't need me to hold them over the next few weeks because my arms may not be able to hold them.**Update (I wrote this post earlier this evening) My legs are really feeling it now! YIKES!**

Actually, I am surprised at how quickly I have recovered from day one. My legs still hurt, but my arms aren't too bad. Probably because I didn't use the hand weights that she said to use. I could only find one of them. I will search for the other one tonight so I can be prepared tomorrow.

One of the things I like about it is that by the time you feel like you are going to quit she starts counting down from 5, so you know you can finish 5 more seconds worth. She is also encouraging while being strict. So day one down and only 29 to go. I sure hope I can do this.

Here is my food tracker from today. As you can see, I included everything down to the one french fry I had. Hopefully the more I do this the more detailed I will get, like putting down how much of each thing I eat (ex: 1/2 cup mac n' cheese).

August 29, 2011

4 scrambled eggs w/ some onions in it
½ glass of chocolate milk (skim)
toast w/ butter

grilled chicken sandwich w/ bbq sauce on it
fruit cup
1 fry
diet dr. pepper (refilled once)
a few bites of the soft serve ice cream at chick fil a
a bite of chicken nugget

crackers (afternoon snack)

hot dog wrapped in crescent roll w/ cheese and fried onion strips
mac n cheese
water

Challenge accepted...

One of my very sweet and very good friends has challenged me! I love a good challenge and especially one that I will have accountability with.

Our challenge is this: 30 days of doing the 30 day shred. Did you just gasp? I'm pretty sure I heard you gasp. As you can guess this is going to be a pretty tough challenge. But we are going to keep each other accountable and hopefully you readers out there will help us too. I am going to do my best to blog everyday about the how I am doing. Even if all I write is something like "I'm dying", you will at least know that I have done my work out. ;)

I am also going to challenge myself to write down my food. This is something that I have been struggling with since having Owen. Whether on Weight Watchers or First Place 4 Health, it has been a huge struggle. I think one reason is because I know I am not eating what I should or in portions that I should. So this should hopefully help me out. What I would like to do is post it here on my blog (perhaps my amazing computer genius husband can figure out some cool way for me to do that with out having to make it too hard).

So there you go! Challenge accepted. We will begin the death...er...Shred on Monday! I can't wait, I hope you will stay with me on this and help me out if you know me in "real life" or if you only know me in "blog life" leave me a comment. I would love to hear from you.

Prayers are always accepted too. :)

FYI...

I'm not doing that good. Pray for me. I want to get out of this slump, it has been a really long slump.

How am I doing?

The last few weeks have been so up and down. I hate it when I have down days but I love those up days.

Yesterday was an up day. I woke up early, not on purpose mind you, but I decided to get some things done. I started the dishwasher, which I should mention my wonderful husband had unloaded and loaded the night before. I turned off the alarm (so it wouldn't go off when Justin left) and made Justin's lunch. Then I even did my Bible study! I have been doing pretty good at making sure I do my Bible study before the kids wake up, but for some reason this day was different. I am so glad I chose to do it. It was really a great study and I feel like it helped me all through out the day to make smart choices.

Then there are days like today. Ugh. Very much a down kind of day. It is like I just woke up with a huge cover of tiredness and depression on me. I had no desire to get out of bed and found myself mad when Owen woke up crying about 6:45. I didn't get Justin's lunch made or turn off the alarm for him (he did turn it off himself). I didn't do my Bible study either. I just laid in bed until a little after 7, when I decided Owen had cried long enough and wasn't going to go back to sleep. This feeling just kept over me the entire day. It effected the choices I made too. I didn't make good choices, let's just leave it at that.

Do you think Satan can just sense when we are going to stomp on his plan? I think so. I think that because of my good day on Monday that he could tell something good was going to happen. The bad part is that I just let him stomp on me instead.

I am going to pray that tomorrow is a better day and that I won't let Satan stomp on me like he did today. Will you pray with me?

Choosing sin...

Do you choose to sin?

Sounds like a deep question, right? Well I got to thinking this week about how much I actually choose to sin. I mean so often there are situations that God will just straight up say "don't do that" and yet I do it anyways. It sounds so bad, because it is bad.

I want to be able to say that I at least try to make the right decisions, but this last week, I didn't even try. Several times I ate things that I knew God was telling me not to eat. I gained 1/4 of a pound this week. Hmm, do you think that if I had actually listened to what God was telling me, that just maybe I would have lost? We will never know, but I do know this: What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31, NIV)

It's a new day...

I am feeling good today! Well minus my body being sore due to a big fall I had yesterday after church, but other than that, I am feeling good!

I decided to take it as a complement that Satan is trying so hard to bring me down. You know what, I am not going to let him succeed! I had my Bible study this morning and have been righting down my calories, even the piece of birthday cake I had with my lunch.

Take that Satan! You have no power over me! Jesus already has the victory!

Cookied dough anyone?

Have you ever had one of those days where all you want to do is eat a thing of cookie dough? Well that is how my evening has been. My day was actually pretty good. It was my first day to keep track of calories (or food groups depending on how you look at it). I went just a little over my goal of 1600 calories.

I am so thankful for the leader of my First Place 4 Health group! She is such an encourager. I learned from WW that it is SO important to have the support of those around you. And now, in FP4H, it is just being reiterated. I can't wait to see where this takes me in life! I am just so excited!

If you think of it, pray for me this week. I know that it will be easy for Satan to tempt me. Between the heat and me starting my monthly time. He really knows how to get to me. The good thing is this: ‎"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man .And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." -- I Corinthians 10:13

So much for that thought...

I thought I would be going back to the YMCA this week, however that has not happened. My entire family has been sick! Seriously all three boys are dealing with stomach issues. Not fun at all I tell you, not fun! I am glad that I haven't got the bug and am praying that my headache from last night and this morning doesn't come back.

I did get to go to the First Place 4 Health meeting on Sunday afternoon! I think I am going to really like it. Not saying I won't have hard weeks or weeks that I just want to quit, but I feel like my walk with God will help me through those times. One of the things I like most about this program is that it focuses on the spiritual aspect too. I already have two Bible verses to memorize and have ordered my kit and Bible Study book! I can't wait to really get started. For right now I am just writing down what I eat, not really changing much about what I eat yet. I will keep you updated on how this goes. I go to the meeting once a week, kind of like Weight Watchers. For now if you will all just pray for health for my boys and that I don't catch anything (I have trouble not giving my boys kisses).