It Starts Tomorrow

The 30 Day Challenge to myself and for those that are going to join me will start tomorrow (Monday).

To refresh your memory the challenge is to for the month of November to do 30 of each of these exercises....crunches, reverse crunches, bicycle crunch, abdominal twist, tricep kick back, hammer curls and tricep dips using whatever size of weights you are comfortable using.

Each of these exercises will tone and strengthen either the tummy or arms.

Who doesn't want rock hard abs and lean, toned arms??? I know I want them!!!

I placed links on this post for proper form for each of these exercises if you want to check them out.

On another note my husband and I were discussing my lack of motivation to exercise lately and we came up with a great idea that I know will make me want to get in a workout daily.

My husband is also going to 'pay' me $5.00 for each day that I do at least a 20 minute workout starting today until he is done work!! That could translate into about $50.00. I will then use that money to buy a couple of new books or a subscription to a magazine.

Guess who got a workout in this morning?!?!? lol

Its all about the pay off!

Heart Issue

I am going to attempt to explain to some of what has been going on in my heart the last number of days!!!!

I do not promise to be able to explain it well but I have to try.

For so many years I have dealt with the issue of being overweight and I have always depended on the scale to tell me when trying to lose weight if I was doing a GOOD job or not .

The scale can either make or break my day!!!

I know there are a lot of people like this and I am not alone in this struggle.

What may make me different is that I am no longer going to be looking to the scale for my affirmation!!

I need to build the confidence in my self that I am worthy!!

Worthy of....

affection,

success,

adoration,

affirmation

and ALL good things under the sun including loving myself.

I do not need to be a certain number to be worthy of these things!!

I need to love myself for who I am and not wait until I get to a certain place in this journey to really feel like I have arrived.

I need to enjoy each step along the path instead of waiting for the final destination to really be content with my body.

This is the BIG thing that I need to get a handle on right now.

I am not in any way saying that using the scale is wrong....I think it can be a real motivator as it has been for me for so long...it is just time for me to take this lifestyle change and healing of my thoughts and emotions to a new deeper level and the scale isn't invited to that place.

I am excited and scared at the same time because the scale has been my measurement of success for so long and now I am going to have to rely on ME!!!!

I do not have a lot of trust in myself...Yet!!...but I know it will come and that is part of what this is all about.

How will I measure if I am still losing weight or at least maintaining the 147.....I will continue to nourish my body with clean food and commit to exercising more often.

My clothes I wear now will tell me if I am gaining or losing too.

I will jump on the scale once a month so I can keep my commitment to the group of ladies that I am a part of for weight loss support...we have all come so for in changing our lives and I want to be a part of that group still so I will weigh in with them once a month if they are open to me changing this part of my commitment. I am sure they will be fine with a monthly rather than weekly WI and I will pass the idea by them on Sunday.

When I do weigh myself than I will let you all know what my weight is.

I feel like it is time to start enjoying my life and to stop obsessing about my weight...God is bringing more healing and I am excited to see it manifest in me!!!

I will leave you all with a fun picture my daughter took of me this week!!

Friday, October 29th

This has been a busy but productive week!

My eating has been on track even with the tummy troubles of earlier in the week.

I HAVE NOT exercised in probably 2 two weeks and I am missing it so much.....I don't feel the strong lean muscles like I use to and I miss that...I am craving to get moving in a more intense way then doing my everyday cooking, cleaning stuff and I soon will be able to.

My hubby will be done work in probably no more than 2 weeks from now and then I will be back to daily workouts. Hooray!!!!

Some may criticize the fact that I have not made time to exercise while my husband is working but I know my limits.

I am up at 5:45am with my hubby and spend until 6:30am with him when he leaves. I then take 30 minutes (if I get that) to spend quietly with a coffee and God. Then the day begins with the children and doesn't end until 8:30pm.....by then all I want to do is go to bed or relax on the couch. So this translates to not a lot of exercise in the last 2 months.

I am still working on how to explain all that is going on in my heart right now.....I am not a great person to express deep heart issues very well!!! It will come though.

We are having company for the weekend very soon so I must go and finish preparing for him.

What would be a Good Title?

Maybe you can think of a good title but I could not!!!

There is so much going on in My Life right now....heart issues mostly and still dealing with tummy stuff too!

I need to work through these things before I can share it with anyone so I will not be posting about it right now!

I want to thank everyone who left comments on the whole issue around spelt and I will take them all into consideration when I go shopping again and see what I can find....or I may just not do baking for me and stick with my usual oats, brown rice and barley, this seems like the smart thing to do right now because if I find a flour to bake with that I can eat I may be tempted to overeat it.

We have four ladies in on the30 Day challenge that will start on Monday....I think there will be great results from these exercises after 30 days. If you still want to join in that would be GREAT....the more the better so we can encourage and support each other in this!

I went shopping yesterday for some new to me clothes, the local church had another rummage sale and I came away with 6 new winter shirts, 2 vests and a pajama shirt. I was able to get a few things for the children too and it cost me $5.00!!! I love second hand shopping!!! I hope to go back maybe tonight after my hubby gets home from work to take a closer look.

Until later....Thanks for being a part of this journey with me ladies....

I would not want to do it without you all!!!!

Online Resource & Tummy Troubles

I wanted to share with you about an online resource I found a while back and I am now just learning a bit more about it.

It is called The Kitchen Table and it is an Eat Clean site.

This site is designed as a Eat Clean community for people to share stories, recipes, photos and just all round support each other.

If you are clean eating and are looking for some new ideas or a bigger support group this is the place for you....if you just want to learn more about Eating Clean it will definitely give you that.

It is worth the time you will spend there!

As for how things are going for me....yesterday was a rough, tough day!!

I made some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread with spelt flour in the morning because the research I had done said that SOME PEOPLE that have a wheat sensitivity can eat spelt without any effects.

I am guessing after I tried some yesterday that I don't fall into the SOME PEOPLE category.

I did have 2 good sized pieces for lunch...because it was so yummy... my upset and pain in the tummy began within 2 hours of having the bread. By 6pm I was almost doubled over in the pain and my stomach was rock hard and I vomited once...sorry if that is to much information...without any relief!

I went to bed at 9pm in so much pain I didn't think I would sleep but thanks to some prayer on my husbands part I dozed off until the baby woke me at 10:45pm and by then my pain was gone.

The tummy issues (bloating, firmness) are still here today plus some other nasty side effects of which I will not go into details about but I am drinking lots of water today and hopefully this will clean me out quicker and give me complete relief!!!

I guess it is no wheat or any kind of flour....unless with some more research I come up with another alternative to try.

November Challenge

This weekend was so nice.....I had my husband home for 2 full days!!!!

Baby was still sick all weekend so we took turns cuddling with her and I spent the one morning at the hospital but I am happy to report she is doing much better today!

For the month of November...so 30 days.... I am challenging myself and anyone of my blogging friends that want to join me to target stomach and arm muscles.

My tummy is a definite problem area for me...after six pregnancies I am stretched in every direction it seems. That lovely little pooch I want to see decrease so I am taking a month of targeted exercises to work on it and see what happens and since I am doing that I figure why not increase the lean muscle in my arms too?!?!?

This is what my challenge exercises are;

30 Crunches (or sit ups)

30 Reverse Crunches

30 Bicycle Crunches

30 Abdominal Twists

30 Push ups

30 Tricep Kickbacks

30 Hammer Curls

30 Tricep Dips

I will be doing each of these in 2 sets of 15 repetitions for the 30 days.

If we stick with these I think there will be some definite definition after 30 days!

So who is with me???

Let me know if you are going to join me...the more the merrier..and it will help keep me motivated too.

I included a link to show proper form if you are not sure how to do one of the exercises.

Week 43 Weigh In

Just a quick update to report my weigh in......down 1 pound to 147lbs!!!

I am busy taking care of a sick baby so that is it folks!!!

Have a blessed Sunday!