I'm reading a great devotional right now. A good friend of mine gave it to me, knowing how much I LOVE coffee. It's called "The Coffee Mom's Devotional" by Celeste Palermo. Today's devotion was on consistancy and resolve. God, in His awesomeness, knew I needed this. Since I'm striving to eat more fruits and veggies, it was good to read up on being consistent and having more resolve. I have been seeing results by choosing fruits over sweets and choosing veggies over chips. It's not easy though and sometimes, just plain not as good as those chips! I knew in my head that I had to cut out more carbs in my diet but it took someone else (not a family member) to tell me that.

I get so envious at other women, who seem to eat what they want and gain no weight at all. I eat better than they do and I struggle to lose 2 lbs! It seems so unfair. And what's even more frustrating is knowing that I will have to eat like this for the rest of my life. I know in my heart that God is leading me through this so that I can be a light for others and that's what I want. I want others to see me and see God's light shining through me. I want others to know that if you give ANYTHING to God, that He will bring you through the trial.

"Set your minds on things above, not earthly things." Colossians 3:2

Our rewards are not of this earth. I forget this often. We as human beings look all the time to earthly things and earthly rewards. A nicer house, car or big vacation. While having nice things is not wrong, if it's what we strive for then something is missing. I think about that with my weight. If a nicer body is what I'm striving for then why I am doing it? I truly want to lose this weight so I can tell the world that God is the reason. I do want to lose the weight for earthly reasons, don't get me wrong. I would love to be able to walk into Kohl's and buy some jeans in a size 8, but that's not the reason I'm doing this. God will be honored through this and my "reward" for honoring Him will be in Heaven. Simply living in Heaven for all eternity with God is a reward!

What are you striving for?

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character.

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Anonymous

2 more pounds GONE! Woo Hoo!

So...my wonderful weight loss mentor tasked me to eat MORE fruits and veggies last week and I did. At the end of the week it was a 2 lb loss, so I'm thinking maybe this works. Ha ha. I have tried to cut out a lot of carbs. Instead of eating chips with my sandwich or quesadilla, I'm eating veggies, either raw or cooked. I'm also trying to eat a fruit either as a snack or with my meals. It seems to be working AND I feel like I have a lot more energy when I focus on eating for veggies and fruit.

I also managed to get to the gym 3x last week and today I did my usual 2 workout classes. The hardest thing for me during my classes is managing my body temp. If I get overheated I get a migraine so I try to slow down the intensity when I'm feeling too hot. I would love to hear from anyone about whether you or someone you know has this problem. I think I will go to a neurologist to see.

Anyway, back to business today. I had 1/2 grapefruit with b-fast and i've had carrots and cucumbers with my lunch. It's REALLY hard adding all these things in but I'm determined to do it!

Yesterday I did the "BodyAttack" class at the gym but left before the weight class. I had woken up with a migraine but thought "it'll go away". Well, it did but then came back with a force when I was trying to do my ab work at the end of class. I had to do some grocery shopping so I just left. After going to Publix, I treated myself to Starbucks (Oh man...I gotta add that to my food journal) and my head was feeling alright.

I got to Amelia's school earlier than the usual "I'm late, late, LATE" so I decided to clean the car out while waiting in the car pool lane. Well, it was very warm in the sun and I don't know what happened, but I started getting dizzy. I sat down and it passed. After I got home the dizziness came back and it was all I could do to get the girls' their lunches. I hurriedly got my lunch together and after eating, the dizziness was replaced by that same migraine, but this time it felt about 10x worse. After putting the girls to bed for their naps, I took my 2nd migraine pill. I put "Sense & Sensiblity" in the DVD player and laid down. I must have napped for about 30 min. then woke up and my head was no better. I then took 4 Advil and FINALLY the migraine started to go away.

Needless to say my appetite was gone and I really didn't want anything to eat. I did manage to fix dinner for everyone but when I get one of these "life stops" migraines, I just want to go to bed.

According to my food journal, I didn't eat enough calories yesterday. I'm trying to eat more fruits and veggies and less carbs. Today I will add in a yogurt.

I guess this was a rambling post today!

Monday is back to reality!

Well, I've not exercised these last two week. Last week's excuse was the girls. Rebekah was sick then Amelia. Both had things that I couldn't expose to other kiddos so working out at the gym was out of the question. I tried to work out at home by cleaning A LOT so I guess I did burn some calories.

Then this week's excuse is John and I went to Charlotte for our anniversary. Yeah...I could have worked out in the little (and that is literal) gym at the hotel, but really? We did do a lot of walking so I didn't fret. Then yesterday was busy at home, cleaning and getting ready for Rebekah's party. Today will be cleaning again and baking a cake.

Actually, I've enjoyed the break from my usual routine of workouts. Monday will be tough and I know I will be SORE but I'm looking forward to getting back to it. John and I are signed up for the Peachtree Road Race in July so I've got to start training AGAIN :)

Oh, and I've eaten way too much chocolate the last two days. Would it be awful for me to "oops...I threw all the candy away by accident"? That chocolate in my house is miniture versions of the devil itself!