Sometimes Women Are Just Dumb!

I'm not sure how long its been.  Like 2 and half weeks now, give or take.  The sad thing about my life is that I really have no concept of time.  Every day seems the same unless it's a weekend.  And really, at this point does it really even matter anymore.  Not really.  So you are probably wondering how things are going.

Well, its day to day.  Some days I do great.  Other days I'd like to sit down, eat a large sweet swine pizza, a bag of Lindor truffles and wash it down with a case of Mt. Dew.  I wish I could say I've come to love the gym.  The only thing I love is when I'm done.  But I have made progress.  I am now at a total loss of 12 lbs.  My soda consumption is down to 1 can a day.  Today at the gym I achieved major goal.  I did 10 minutes of interval training with running for 1 minute and walking for 2.  I made 6 minutes on the elliptical.

But now I just want to share my heart.  Last weekend I had the privilege of helping a friend out at a conference she organized.  It's called Compel.  If you ever get a chance to hear Jennifer Rothschild, jump on it.  She's hilarious, has a great story and speaks truth to women.

But here is what I learned from her.  As women, we are totally unfair to ourselves.  We are constantly comparing ourselves to other women and setting unrealistic and goals that are impossible to achieve.  WHY DO WE DO THAT???  Why are we constantly doubting ourselves?  Because Satan knows its how he can control us.  It's how he can get his slimy little claws in our hearts and minds and start questioning who we are and why we are the way we are.  LIES, PEOPLE!!!  IT'S NOTHING BUT LIES!!!!!  

So here is what I have for you.  Jennifer Rothschild has come up with this thing called being a gutsy girl.  Now what exactly is a gutsy girl.  Well I define it as someone who steps up and sees them self as God sees them.  How many of you can honestly say you look in the mirror and say, "God, you really have created a masterpiece."  Because that's what you are.  I have finally started seeing myself that way.  And it only took 39 years.  I'm a slow learner sometimes.

I will never be a super model.  I am not the girl in the booth on the other side of the room with her spike heals, long blond hair and perfect body(by society's standards anyway).  What I am is beautiful, smart, caring, witty, honest (to a fault sometimes) and loyal.  Now you might ask if I call myself beautiful why are you doing this weight loss thing.  Because beauty isn't on the outside.  Its whats on the inside.  But if I want to continue to share that with others I have to be alive.  I have to take care of this gift God has given me called life.  Really I'm just a caretaker for this body.  Its really God's and lets face it, I've dropped the ball when it comes to taking care of myself.  So really this is all for God's glory, because I can't do this without Him to lean on.  I'm human and weak.  I will fail.  But beating myself up about it will achieve nothing.  

I have found a t-shirt that pretty much says it perfectly how I'm feeling about myself right now.

 

If you can't read what it says, it states, "Be Your Own Kind of Amazing because Something beautiful is on the horizon."  There is so much truth in that.  We are all individuals and we need to embrace that.  Stop comparing yourself to someone else.

Now with that comes the Gutsy Girl Declarations.  It goes as follows:

I CAN:

Elevate my faith more highly then fear.  2 Timothy 1:7

Do all things through Christ's strength.  Philippians 4:13

Overcome through faith.  1 John 5:4

I AM:

God's workmanship.  Ephesians 2:10

More than a conqueror.  Romans 8:37

Wonderfully made.  Psalm 139:14; 45:11

I WILL:

Trust God more than my feelings.  Proverbs 3:5-6

Rest in God and not be shaken.  Psalm 62:5-7

Never quit.  James 1:12, Hebrews 10:39

So are you going to chose to be a gutsy girl and live your life as God would want you to or are you going to let society control you?

One Week Down

Week one is officially finished.  Now I would LOVE to tell you it went smooth.  That it was a wonderful and easy to do.  Sadly that would be lying to the point of damning myself to eternal hell.  But I have achieved some good progress and reached some goals.

1) I have achieved the ability to last 15 minutes on the tread mill with almost 10 of those being interval cardio.  For those who aren't sure what that is, I run for 30 seconds and then walk for 90.  And I don't go into cardiac arrest which is always a good thing.

2) I have managed to last 5 minutes on the elliptical.  If you have read some of my other posts, you will know that I LOATHE this machine.  It is the thorne in my existence.  So this is huge!!

3) I went to the gym today and I kind of lost track of time.  I was so into it that an hour had gone by.  I honestly wasn't done with my workout.  There were a few more exercises I wanted to do but thought I'd better get home or mom will think I died at the gym.

And last but not least:

4) I have lost 7 lbs. since the last time I weighed myself.  PROGRESS!!

But the best thing about the week happened this week.  In fact it was today at the gym.  I had almost skipped going because it was soooo cold out and I just wanted to stay where it was warm.  But I forced myself to go.  I was a little over half way through my workout when I noticed this young man come in and start walking on the treadmill not far from me.  He was maybe a little younger then me.  It was as he got on the treadmill I noticed that he was missing a leg.  He had a prosthetic.  As I continued my workout, I couldn't help but watch him as he did his workout.  I was humbled and inspired.  Here I am, whining about how hard exercising is for me when he has even a bigger challenge to working out.  Enough feeling sorry for myself.  Suck it up and do what you need to do.

God knew I needed to see that man today.  I needed the kick in the butt.  It always amazes me how He always knows what we need when we need it.

Day 2 and still alive and somewhat sane

I'm 2 days into this new attempt at improving my health.  What have I learned so far?  Well my access card to the gym still works so they haven't given up on me.  Of course the fact that I still pay them my monthly fees despite not being there in 2 years probably helps.  If your wondering how my first trip to the gym went, here is how it was.  

I attempted to complete day one of C25K app. on my phone.  So the 5 minute walk warm up was a breeze.  It was the jogging for 60 seconds is where things started to go down hill.  My legs refused to run longer then 20-30 seconds so I just walked after that.  After another 5 minutes I realized that I was not ready for jogging yet.  So I walked at a good pace for another 10 minutes.  Amazingly my heart rate never went past 140 so I seem to have a pretty strong heart.  I moved on to some weight machines and it felt sooooo good to lift weights again.  I've always enjoyed weight training and other then I couldn't do the same amount of weight as before, it was like riding a bike.  Another bit of cardio on the machine from hell, aka the elliptical, I had completed a 45 minute workout and it felt really good.

Eating is a challenge because I like convenience foods but I'm making a serious attempt at eating better and making good choices.  My biggest hindrance so far is this wonderful yellow beverage called Mt. Dew.  My original goal was to cut out pop completely.  Hello, unrealistic goal!!!  But I have cut down significantly and find the 12-oz. bottles are actually helping.  It lasts longer than a can because I can put a lid on and keep the carbonation.  Nothing worse then flat pop.

One day at a time.  That is all I can do.  Thank you for all the encouragement.  You have no idea how much it means to me to know how many people I have rooting for my success.  You guys ROCK!!!!!