Operation Walkout Week 2

It is week two of using only Leslie Sansone walk at home DVDs as my main workout. I've been using them five times a week, and yoga on the sixth day. I'm happy to say I feel great and much to my surprise some of my clothes are slightly loose.

I've been eating mostly clean, meaning not bombarding my diet with processed foods. I do allow a treat now and then, even though I said in the first blog I was taking away All sweets. I find with staying in my caloric range and working out, those small portion controlled treats are not derailing me. An example are the mini or snack sized snickers bars ( my fave! ), or a raw Carmel dip made of dates and nut butter for apples. These aren't daily eats, they're used as treats.

I'm using the app called Lose It! It's a great app for keeping track of what you eat. You can set goals for weight loss or just maintain and you can add your own foods if they're not in the large listing of given foods. I find this app to be a motivator for me as it lays out my caloric intake I have for the day and subtracts from that as I record my meals. It's easy and provides me with the boundaries I need to keep in control.

I'm really enjoying my walking DVDs and I'm not in pain from complicated moves or body strain. I'm aiming for great health and I'm well on my way.

Operation Walkout

Today October 8 2012 I begin a new journey to regain my optimum health through simply walking with the use of Leslie Sansone's walk at home workouts. There are numerous walks available in her walk plans, ranging from one up to five mile power walks.

I have many home workout DVDs but over the years I always come home to Leslie's walk at home walks. They are easy to follow for uncoordinated people like myself and are great on the knees and joints. Can one get an effective workout from these walks? Absolutely! I'm diabetic and I keep my blood sugars in control and gain energy with these workouts.

I went through a period when I pressured myself to join the ranks of the super high intensity, survive if you can workouts like P90X but for me, even though I could get through some of the workouts I didn't want to. If I don't at least somewhat like what I'm doing for exercise I won't keep at it. I've proven this to myself time and again. I just stop altogether or end up aggravating a shoulder and knee injury. I'm not knocking these type of workouts, they will give you results if you stick with them, if you want this type of intensity. However, for me for this time in my life the walk outs fit my lifestyle perfectly.

I've lost weight using them years ago and I know I will reach my ideal weight using them again. I choose to share my experience of this through this blog. After stopping and restarting various workouts and falling in and out of the right mind frame for fitness(terrible isn't it?), I have finally arrived at a point in my life where I am talking responsibility for my well being, because if I don't no one else will and I'll be left sick and unhealthy with no one else to blame but myself.

So, it is here where my journey begins. This is the start of a new day for me (in the words of Jennifer Hudson!). I will post bi weekly my progress and thoughts on my journey. My eating habits are also getting an overhaul. I'm putting my sweet tooth in check by adding higher protein foods and increasing my raw foods intake. I've been involved with raw food eating for some time now. However even with that I would find ways to sneak in tasty sweet treats made of seeds ,nuts, dates and other raw but high calorie goodies! No more raw cheesecake or brownies for me for a while. I need to regain control and any treat even raw only pulls me further from my goals. More on my foods in my next blog.

For now I'm off one step at a time walking on the road to good health!

Slowing Down to Move Up

As of late I've been getting the repeated message that I have to stop trying to run ahead of myself. I keep tripping over the same rocks, accumulating the same ' injuries' and wondering why.

Growing where I am planted is a seed that is finally beginning to take root. God speaks to us often through unlearned lessons that must be repeated until we hear...

Learning to stop, wait and listen for Gods guidance is allowing me to see why I continued to repeat my own mistakes. I realize that by filling my life with my 'stuff' that being to do's and have to's and self imposed deadlines I was unknowingly seeking worth and value as a person. As long as I filled my time with stuff that we're all supposed to do then I'm important and adding value to myself.

My fumbles were a part of my process of learning to seek my worth and value through the Lord. I thought I was, but my actions showed me otherwise. All of my busyness left me little space to follow the Lord when he called for me in whatever area needed.

It also believe that some of my actions were an attempt to hide the fact that I felt not qualified enough to do the Lord's bidding, that I would screw it up or misunderstand somehow.
I also realized that there was some selfishness involved, being that it required that I move into an uncomfortable place in my life, or give up some of my time and plans. Service is sacrificial and not going to be convenient for my personal satisfaction.

Slowing down has been humbling, moving, and scary like walking a tight rope without a net. I realize I've always had a net, the Lord... So now, I operate at a new pace, reset priorities, listen and grow. I will push through my feelings of inadequacy and get off the hamster wheel. My worth has always been in and through Him, not worldly achievements and successes. I realize that any service I do in the Lords name is valued by him. That's real success.

Using my I Pod to enhance my spiritual experience

The nice thing about the age were living in is that we can take most things we do at home with us using technology like tablets and such. I thought I'd share how my I pod keeps me connected to my spiritual walk wherever I am.

One of my favorite apps is the You Version Holy Bible. The user interface is clean and easy. I can pull up, a scripture or reading plan from one of many at the flick of my thumb. I also like how it can read to me, I can take notes, keep a journal and connect with others.

I have the Olive Tree Bible Reader which allows me to download books and sermons and e books pertaining to the Bible at a glance. It works like i books and stores all my reading neatly on my bookshelf.

I took the Joyce Meyer web page and made it as an app on my I pod so I can pull up and listen to a sermon or read anytime I choose.

I love the app i Talk to God. I can with this app look up, any struggle I'm dealing with and find scriptures to help me through my troubles. I've been struggling with forgiveness lately and I looked it up while in line at the market and was able to connect to the word right then and there. This is what I like so much about mobile spirituality!

I have a few other favorite websites I've added onto my I pod as apps so it takes me right to them instead of going into safari or something. A few more of my favorites are Joel Osteen website, Our Daily Bread, a time held spiritual magazine that has daily inspirational scriptures to read or listen to. God Life is another great one that's filled with readings and video on various life subjects to help you to get to know Jesus. Jesus Texts is an actual app that gives little spiritual nuggets each day.

There are plenty of apps in the I tunes store as well as bibles and meditations and spiritual tools. God is always with us, but it's nice to have the tools handy for wherever our lives take us! God Bless😊

My Erin Condren Day Planner

I bit the bullet and purchased an Erin Condren Life Planner! It's lovely and I had it personalized with my smiley picture on the back. This is a great company to order from and their customer service is top notch. It took about three weeks for my order to come as they are a small company.

When the planner arrived it was beautifully packaged in tissue paper and I received little extras from them such as a few mailing stickers with my full name on them, extra mailing stickers for birthdays and such. All of the extras came in a pretty red envelope. Tis is part of what made the Erin Condren experience so much fun, like opening a Christmas gift!

The planner itself is sturdy the front being laminated with a hard plastic. There are a number of designs to choose from or you can really personalize it and add your own pictures or art work, quotes whatever you like. You're also able to choose you color preference even with their designs.

I love how big and colorful the planner is. The spaces for day fill ins are big which is great for large writers like me or for putting multiple entries into. What I really like about this planner is the section for each month for goals to set. I find goal setting like this allows me to not only do what I set out to but to continuously develop into the person I choose to be. It's a daily reminder for what's really important.

There's also a to list area. Following the calendar areas there is lined sheet paper for notes and plain sheet paper. The plain sheets are decorated with samples of some of the designs offered for the planners.

There are a variety of stickers with labels like doc appointments, Vegas trip, and many other topics. There's also blank stickers for adding your own labels. After that there's a pocket page for putting in an extra notebook or whatever papers you may have and a cute clear plastic zip envelope, like a kids pencil holder for storing whatever you choose.

The Erin Condren planner is a bit pricey as you can personalize it any way you'd like. I'm enjoying my experience with it. I have since discovered other pretty planners that are more cost effective but if you're looking for personalization this planner is a great one!

A life Well Lived Bible Planner...Terriffic!

I've recently purchased a great bible day planner to help me focus my daily bible study. I don't use the actual, day plan section as it's small and I have a great life day planner already(future blog).

This planner has features that help guide you to daily reading and understanding scriptures, as it instructs you to re write the days scripture in your own words. There's also an area for setting your goals, priorities and tasks for the day as relating to your actions and putting scripture to work. For example, a couple of my priorities and goals include when I'm having negative thoughts about someone or situation to stop and remember Proverbs 4 to guard my heart. Its my goal to know that God looks at the heart. I can't take in garbage and produce good things, it doesn't work that way.

I love how this bible planner gets me to think and remember HOW I think as well as act throughout my day. It's allowing me to be reformed by constantly putting right thoughts and ways of being into action.

There are worksheets in the back that help you to focus on life areas. There are seven, Career/Financial/Spiritual/Physical/intellectual-Creative/Family/Social. You are guided here to identify these areas and set goals for improvement in areas needed.

This planner has changed my spiritual life for the greater and I'm so thankful for God bringing it into my world. To purchase one of these go to
Www.A-LIFE-WELL-LIVED.com. This planner is not only a great addition for you but would make an excellent gift for someone in you life who's struggling spiritually.
This is my own opinion and I'm not being endorsed in any way. I just want to spread the word on this fantastic planner!

Fresh summer eats

Summertime is a great time to play with your food! I love using fresh raw produce to create simple amazing dishes that work as a meal, snack, and tasty dessert. It's a great comfort to know that great taste and nutrition can go hand in hand without either being sacrificed.