Walking it Out

My journey to get to my natural weight eating intuitively and learning to have balance in my life. Going against the flow of the worlds way to release weight.  I started last week bravely sharing my weight and a picture of me. I did that as I feel it helped me to bring my struggle into the light. I believe that helps me continue walking forward. If I were to hide it and wait until I accomplished weight release to tell, well I tried that and it wasn't working for me.  So here I am.

This week I didn't do anything different than I have been doing. I have been working on releasing extra food to God when I am tempted to eat past full. I have cried out to Him when I was wanting to eat but wasn't hungry and asked Him for help. And I have asked forgiveness for eating way more than I needed, bingeing some, and pressed on.  I am trying to bring Him into my struggles because that's what works. He works. He is awesome. 

Some of my highlights of this week walking this out: 

I listened to what God was telling me each day. When I listen to him it is easier to not grab for food when I'm not hungry. He satisfies. Completely when we let Him. 

I finished a meal and several times this week I stopped eating--when usually I would run right past the fullness boundary and stuff myself. I just thought a moment and said, "hey I don't think I'm hungry, so I'll put this up." That simple. 

I found time to exercise doing what I love. Walking and some strength training with Fit2B Studios. I walked 3 days this week around my neighborhood while my kids rode their bikes along with me. We went in evening after dinner and it wasn't too hot. Loved it. I use the Runkeeper app to track my distances and time. It's fun! 

Some of my struggles this week while walking this out:

I did struggle with being frustrated a few days and I overate. Part of it was I didn't have the food I wanted in the house so nothing was filling my craving. I also realized that I was thirsty for water and not hungry. 

The time of the month is probably coming close and this makes me want to eat and snack and grab. 

If you would like to see where I started journaling along this journey it was last week and here is the link.  So I did weigh myself a few times this week. I also measured my waist. I have been working on healing my distastes in my tummy with the Fit2B workouts and I lost 2" in the last two weeks just around my belly button. It is healing! This is probably my favorite workouts I have EVER done and I plan to continue.  If you are interested in trying it out I have an affiliate link you are welcome to check out here.  I also released some weight. Below I will share a picture of my scale--and every few weeks I will share my pictures of me.

Down almost 2 pounds in a week, though I am in no hurry, I am just journeying along one day at a time.  I can't say it will always show a loss, but I am going forward in the direction to be my natural weight and sometimes there will be a few steps back, and that is okay, as long as I am not giving up. :)

Thank you for journeying along with me and I hope that this accountability will be beneficial for me as I walk out intuitive eating and having God as my personal trainer. 

Share your comments and stories with me. I would love to hear them!

Goals Accomplished Last Week

Goals for this week:

Personal/Heart Goals:

1. Continue reading 3-year Bible plan and be consistent with it.  I don't want to start something like this, and I do often, and then get tired of it and try and move on to something else.  I want something I can stay steady and consistent in.  This is helping me and to know I have a plan in staying steady in reading all of God's Word is great.  I read one chapter a day and read it a few times and read the commentaries on it and pray about it and I like it.  I then still have time to read for Life Group and other books.
2. Quiet time each morning-sit and be still.  
3. Drink more water.  I just ran out of sweet tea.  I crave it and drink it way too much.  Focus on 2 sweet drinks per day this week.  Rest of drinks-water!  Drank more than 2 per day.
4. Gym 2 times this week-two full body workouts or upper body one day and lower the next.  Or may try 2 body pump classes. First week of summer-kids stayed up way late despite my trying to get them in bed earlier, so early mornings didn't' work out.
5. Walk neighborhood with kids 3 days this week.

Organize Life Goals:

1. I am trying 5 Dinners in ONE Hour-prepped all meals Sunday afternoon-in ONE hour!  Cook meals Sun-Thur that I prepped. Though I followed through with this, most meals were not enjoyed because they are used to me cooking their favorites, I do not think this approach with new recipes will work too well, but perhaps one new meal a week I can incorporate.
2. Finish reading The Energy Bus for work.
3. Load of laundry per day. I didn't try too hard on this-maybe next week.
4. Schedule me time each day.  Use Google calendar as I have been for my personal planning.
5. Stick to numbers I put in budget for each category and don't move money around different categories. Work in progress here.

My One Goal For the Week

So I was reading through an eBook today and I realized that I keep aiming for multiple goals.  Feeling not accomplished when I do this.  So I decided to focus on ONE goal this week.  Maybe one goal per week from now on out.  Feeling scattered with many goals and many focuses going all over the place.

Maybe.  Maybe.  Maybe.

Should I even talk about goals.  Should I focus just on Jesus instead.  Perhaps the goal for the week should be focusing on Jesus.  The Bible does say to seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and ALL else will be added unto you.  Thank you Lord for that truth you just laid on my heart clearly.  Wow.  He is amazing.  When we let Him take over and listen to Him we can actually see that.

I am going to do away with goals this week.  I am going to do away with my "to do" lists.  My thoughts scattering all over the place.

Jesus is my goal.

Jesus is my goal.

Jesus is my goal.

He is life.  He is love.  He is everything I need.  Jesus is my goal.

Walking it Out-My Journey to My Natural Weight

I have been denying it for far too long.  I have not listened to the things I have learned for far too long.  It is time to be obedient, to follow through and to pray for courage to do this, because I can't do it alone.  I keep trying and it gets NOWHERE.

See if I go through my blog and my personal journals and read all I have been studying, learning and praying about for the past 2-8 years of my life, I will see where I need to go.  I keep feeling like I have to start over. That I don't know what to do or that I am never going to figure this weight loss taking care of my body thing.

If you read here you can see where I lost 14 pounds by just listening to my body and eating when hungry and stopping when full.  NO legalism and no rules.  Or here I was talking about my re-commitment to God in eating for hunger and letting Him fill me up.  Or what about here when I talk about life is more than food!  And this is when I shared about how God became my personal trainer, and I seem to forget often how I made this decision and how clear it was.  Doubt has crept in much.  And one other one here I see is when I made goals in 2011.  It was this time a year.  Here is one more I just found-me committing, once again.  That is discouraging in a way.

If you read through my posts in this area you will see how scattered I get and you will see how I tend to turn from the truths He has shown me and try and grab a plan or a "way" of doing it, a way of losing weight, my own schemes or plans.  They just don't work.  How I wish I knew the exact right thing to do and when and I can see from reading past blog posts about this that I can't figure it all out, I just need to start taking steps.  I can't commit to anything except for getting on my knees every day and surrendering.

But see these are all lies thinking how I should know the exact right thing to do or find the perfect plan or program.  They have to be.  I have recorded all I have learned.  The only thing lacking is follow through.  Actually doing what God has shown me, relying on Him and letting Him get me through the times I don't want to try and allowing Him to work.  So that is what these posts are about.

I am about to get real.  It is not easy for me to share these things as they are things you want to hide and not let anyone know.  I am about to get on my knees every day and give it all to God.  I am going to do this and I am joining in with friends, particularly Mary Organizes because she is on this journey too, to get rid of excess weight and take care of her body.  

I will be implementing all I have learned from eating when hungry, stopping when full, eating foods my body is craving and listen to my body, intuitive eating, eat fist full size of food at each hunger, and most importantly read God's Word and let Him fill me up, go to God when I want to eat and I am not hungry, fast as God leads to break bondage and sow seeds to my Spirit and not the flesh.  Those are some things that I will be doing and walking out putting into action.

Before Pictures 6/9/2013


Before weight on the scale: 6/9/2013


I will get up and I will be pressing on.  I will not fail at this until I give up.  And I am not giving up!

Every Wednesday I will be posting my Walking it Out post for the week.  I am in this for the long haul.  I have always wanted to post my goals, do them, and then share the after picture.  But I feel like in a way that was not allowing me to be accountable for my goals.  My goal is Jesus.  My goal is obeying Him.  My goal is walking this out what He has taught me.  I am doing it in front of whoever He sends this way to encourage and to walk it out right along with me.  So if you are joining me or want to walk it out with me in the ways He has taught you, welcome and thank you. (Oh and one more thing, posting this picture is scary because I do NOT feel this big at. all.!!!)

More later...

(after writing this post I went to read up and absorb some reading on intuitive eating and came across some really sweet blogs...stumbled upon Studio Eats and signed up for the 21 day intuitive eating challenge, wanted to share that.)

Testimony Tuesday

God speaks to our hearts just what we need to hear when we are willing to listen, and sometimes even when we are not.  I love Him and He loves us.

Ecclesiastes 4:6

This is also related to my weight and body journey I have been on.  God has shown me a Scripture so clearly I couldn't miss it.  This will be the 3rd Scripture that God has put clearly in front of me to help me in my journey to learn how He wants me to eat.  He has also shown me a little nugget about praying before I eat-and praying with faith, not just saying a prayer to say a prayer.

Ecclesiastes 4:6 spoke so clearly to my heart in the struggle I was feeling lately regarding food struggles and my weight.

NLT Ecclesiastes 4:6 says this:

And yet, "Better to have one handful with quietness than two handfuls with hard work and chasing the wind."

I have been focusing on what I can do (and NOT be uncomfortable) to lose the weight.  Or really I have been thinking and not really realizing it, what can I do to not change from the inside but take the easy way out?

So this is what I would say is the clear 3rd Word God had shown me in eating. I can't grasp for more or try to understand more than what He has already put under my nose.  I will be mindful with His help to have one handful of food when I am hungry and have quietness and peace instead of grabbing more and having two handfuls and then trying to work harder to lose the weight-getting nowhere-like chasing the wind.

Thank you Lord for speaking to my heart in my struggle with eating, but I want to break through and want to press on to the goal which you have for me, and that is total freedom and I know you are working.  Touch our hearts all who read this and speak to us in what you would want us to learn in this.  You are wonderful and an awesome daddy.  In Jesus Name, Amen

10 Goals for this Week

Still joining in with Money Saving Mom in making weekly goals and pressing on to make progress in life as I have been feeling scattered for a while.  Writing the goals down here is my sense of accountability to keep on going and pursuing.  Below are my goals from last week and then I will share what I would like my goals for this week to be.  

Personal/Heart Goals:

1. Continue 3 year Bible reading plan I started last week.
2. Read James 5 for Life group reading and find story to relate to my life to share
3. Journal on my Google Drive journal when not at home and don't have my personal writing journal so that I can still record what is on my heart and what I am learning.
4. Gym 2 days this week-strength training. Only made it 1 times this week.
5. Walk 3 days this week with kids around the neighborhood.  Walked 2 days-one with kids and one alone.

Organize Life Goals:

1. Inspired while reading 3-2-1 Stop to start minimizing things in our home that are not needed-declutter to put it simply.  Declutter 1 thing this week. Major Accomplishment decluttering my kitchen counter that has been a mess for years!  It is completely empty now.  Praise-yay!!  I will share pictures of this!
2. Finish reading The Energy Bus for work.  About 30 more minutes of reading until I am done with this!
3. Stick to budget and don't try and wiggle out of or rearrange certain categories with only a certain amount budgeted.  This will be a goal for a while, as I will spend more and figure out where to pull the money from later.  It's a huge praise and accomplishment that I have an awesome budget now compared to how I used to be, but I have some more work in this area.
4. Stay positive and focus on God when I feel like giving up in taking care of myself-physically and spiritually.
5. Drink more water.  Goal to drink only water and no soda or sweet tea starting in June.  Get used to this.

Goals for this week:

Personal/Heart Goals:

1. Continue reading 3-year Bible plan and be consistent with it.  I don't want to start something like this, and I do often, and then get tired of it and try and move on to something else.  I want something I can stay steady and consistent in.  This is helping me and to know I have a plan in staying steady in reading all of God's Word is great.  I read one chapter a day and read it a few times and read the commentaries on it and pray about it and I like it.  I then still have time to read for Life Group and other books.
2. Quiet time each morning-sit and be still.  
3. Drink more water.  I just ran out of sweet tea.  I crave it and drink it way too much.  Focus on 2 sweet drinks per day this week.  Rest of drinks-water!
4. Gym 2 times this week-two full body workouts or upper body one day and lower the next.  Or may try 2 body pump classes.
5. Walk neighborhood with kids 3 days this week.

Organize Life Goals:

1. I am trying 5 Dinners in ONE Hour-prepped all meals Sunday afternoon-in ONE hour!  Cook meals Sun-Thur that I prepped.
2. Finish reading The Energy Bus for work.
3. Load of laundry per day.
4. Schedule me time each day.  Use Google calendar as I have been for my personal planning.
5. Stick to numbers I put in budget for each category and don't move money around different categories.

More later...

Need Help Organizing Kids School Work?

I heart binders.  I seem to find binders the best organizing tool for me.  Give me a binder, some page protectors and papers to organize, and I will go at it.  I struggled for a long time in finding ways to organize my 3 kids school work.  I read blog posts and articles about it and I learned some ideas as well from Flylady.  I seem to have found something that is working well for me right now and hopefully I can just keep tweaking it here and there and it will turn out to be a great system.

GET A BINDER FOR EACH CHILD. 
I got a larger binder for each child from Target for $3 and it is flexible, it isn't one of those hard ones.  They were on clearance so I picked up I believe about 6 of them. 

GET PAGE PROTECTORS.
I get the big packs of 50 or 100 because I seem to use a lot of them.

GET TO WORK SORTING.
Sort through your school papers and give each child a pile.  Then work through each child's papers and for the ones you want to keep you can put them in the page protectors in their binder, and 2 papers should fit in each page protector, just put them back to back.

You can decorate the binders as you would like, put your favorite art work or something from them in the front cover.  You can also get new binders for each grade or fit however many grades you can in each binder and label them by what grades are in them.

I got my ideas mostly for this from Pinterest and mostly the pin that linked me to this site.  Below is her picture that she shared.  I did adapt my binders to my own liking, but basically this is where my main idea came from.



I also have a larger binder for each child that is for all of their certificates.  I got it at Target and it is more like a photo album.  I, so far, have my kids certificates and awards from each school year in them along with perhaps an 8x10 picture of them from that year.  Take this and do what works for you, but I like the idea and it is organized.

Now if I can just organize the rest of my pictures and papers, kitchen counter clutter is next to tackle, seems I procrastinate on that the most lately!  School is out on Friday and that will be a project up and coming!

I am joining in with I'm an Organizing Junkie as I continue learning to have my natural organizer in me come out! 



Ask me if you have any questions...leave me a comment!

More later...

p.s. I also just found Mary Organizes and am excited to join in with her linky party on Organize My Life!