And I'll Praise You in This Storm

     Do you know the feeling of getting into a routine of something and then having to stop because something goes wrong? What are you feeling towards the situation? Frustration? Anger? Disappointment? Failure? Well this has recently happened to me with working out. I was going to boot-camp 2 days a week and running about 2 days a week. Monday at boot-camp I pulled my groin muscle. Not thinking about it on Tuesday morning (it wasn't hurting when I started running) I went for a 3 mile run and well lets just say that will be my last run for awhile. Initially my reaction was frustration and disappointment. My goal the past few weeks has been to increase the amount I run and the day I finally get to my longest run I get hurt. As I have previously mentioned I am training for a half marathon in February. I marked the month of September to get on a running plan and really kick into gear my training. Unfortunately all of the articles I have read said it takes at least 4-6 weeks to heal a pulled groin. Well after reading this you can only imagine the frustration I have. I want to be able to train now, not have to wait 4-6 weeks to start running again. As far as boot-camp goes I am going to give it 2 weeks and see how I feel. If I am still hurting I will give it longer but if I can return I will. I will take it easier on my leg and modify what I need to do. 

    One of my favorite stories in the bible is the story of Job. Everything was taken away from Job (family, friends, health, wealth, etc) yet he praised the Lord through it all. My constant prayer to the Lord is that whatever he takes away from me that I praise him. That I thank him and trust him in all circumstances. It is so much easier to get frustrated and to question why something is happening. Yet the Lord promises that he has a plan and a purpose for our lives. There is a reason that I am hurt right now. The Lord already had this injury planned in my life before I was even conceived in my mother's womb.  I will trust his plan for my life. I pray that the Lord be made known and glorified through my injury. When I start to get frustrated about not being able to work out like I previously was I stop and thank the Lord that I can still walk,talk and breathe. Yes, I may be put back a few weeks but I can still walk around from one destination to the next, I can talk and share my story and what the Lord is teaching me through this season and I can breathe which means I'm still alive. Praise God for this season I am in!!! My injury could be a lot worse and take much longer than 4 to 6 weeks to heal and for that I am thankful. 

   When I first injured my leg these song lyrics by Casting Crowns kept coming to mind:

And I'll praise You in this storm and I will lift my hands
For You are who You are no matter where I am
And every tear I've cried You hold in Your hand
You never left my side and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

      No matter what we are going through in life, whether it be an injury, losing a loved one, losing your job or whatever it may be we should forever praise the one who made us!! He has a PERFECT plan for our lives and I am so thankful to have a God who loves me so much :)

   So my recovery plan is this. I iced my leg the first couple of days and now I have moved to heat. I have been stretching it everyday which is all definitely helping. I'm going to stay away from boot-camp for about 2 weeks and then see how my leg is feeling before returning. However, I still need some kind of physical activity. My cousin who has a pool in her back yard is so very kindly allowing me to go and swim at her house. I will be swimming laps (which is less stress on my leg) some days and walking others. I will also do some arm exercises at home with my dumbbells. I will be very carefully listening to my body. I want heal my leg, not re-injure it. Any tips on activities that I can do during this time would be very helpful. 

Philippians 4:13

     So many things have been changing that I have been noticing. These changes have been so exciting and motivates me to keep going. I have been attending a Cardio Sculpt "Boot-Camp Style" workout class 2-3 days a week. It is offered 3 days a week but I have not yet been unable to make it all three days. This class is no joke!! As soon as I feel like I am not as sore it is time for another class which means being sore all over again the next day. I absolutely love the class and the instructor. She pushes us but also shows modifications for those who needs. She is a very encouraging instructor which is definitely needed in any fitness class. As we were stretching the other day I noticed my body was able to stretch a little a further and bend a little more than I was able to 23 pounds ago. Another thing I was reminded of was how much better I can breathe through workouts. Sometimes I used to get to the point where I literally felt like my throat was closing and I struggled to breathe through a workout. Some people just thought I was being dramatic when that happened but it was no joke. Have you ever felt like you could not breathe?!? It is such a scary feeling. If you have not felt it I hope for your sake you never have to. Well I can not remember the last time this has happened and I pray it never happens again. When I think of how this was happening to me once upon a time it makes me so sad to think about where I let myself get. Another thing different is I moved up from 5lb weights to 10lb weights!!! I feel like I have been using 5lbs for forever and they were getting a little too easy for me. Tonight was my first time moving up weights and it felt pretty good. I bring both my 5's and 10's just in case I can not do it with the 10's I'll work with 5's and build up.   

  Another thing I am noticing is how much better my clothes are fitting. However, I have a love/hate relationship with my clothes right now. I am so happy they are getting bigger because that means I am getting smaller. But it gets pretty annoying when all of your clothes are too big and you don't like how any of it looks on you anymore. I am not where I want to buy new clothes just yet so for now I just have to wear my clothes big. 

  As I have mentioned before Philippians 4:13 is my verse that gets me through everything, especially my workouts. I really want to get it tattooed on my left wrist. However, being a teacher I can not have visible tattoos so it does not look like I will be getting it. I have never in my life wanted a tattoo except for the past year or so. It's weird to me that I would even want one when I always said I wouldn't get one but it just has so much meaning. Anyways, since I will not be getting a tattoo I figured why not just have it written somewhere and have it visible for when I am working out. So as I was doing boot-camp today I thought to myself why not write it on my weights?!? I will see it while I am working out and when I am getting tired I can have the constant reminder that I can do ALL things through him who gives me strength. When I got home I did just that. I don't have the best hand writing and this wasn't the easiest to write out on the weight but it's there and it will be a constant reminder :)

 

Weekly Meal Plan

    Thanks to a friend of mine I thought of a great new idea for my blog post. She does something called Meal Pinning Monday (MPM) where she blogs about her meals shes planned out for the week. It's thing's shes pinned from pinterest. Its a really neat idea. After she suggested to me that I should do it also I was thinking about how great of an accountability it would be. So here's my new challenge to myself. The plan is to plan out my week's worth of meals on Sundays. After I've planned them out I can blog about it. This is great accountability because knowing I have to blog about it will make the need of doing it that much greater. However, I don't absolutely have to cook every single night since my dad owns a restaurant so if I skip some days that's why.    

Here's this weeks meals. Hope to give yall some great ideas of different recipes. 

MONDAY: Crock Pot Chicken, Salsa and taco seasoning

I actually do not have a picture of this one but it is super easy and super yummy! Our weight watchers leader shared the recipe with us a couple of weeks ago and I've been wanting to try it ever since. 

Ingredients:

4 chicken breast

1 pack of taco seasoning (I used low sodium since we had it in the house)

1 jar of salsa

Instructions:

Place chicken breast, taco seasoning and salsa into crock pot.

You can cook on low for 8 hours OR high for 4 hours. Whichever works best for you

TUESDAY: 

 Summer vegetables with sausage (click to view link which includes ingredients and instructions)

For the Sausage I will use my dad's turkey sausage and I may add squash but I have not decided just yet.

WEDNESDAY:

Crock pot Santa Fe Chicken  (click to view link which includes ingredients and instructions)

It is shown served over rice in the pictre. However I have been substituting quinoa for rice which I will also try with this recipe. So far every time I have substituted it it has been good with whatever I have served it with (gumbo, red beans, etc) so why not give it a try! 

THURSDAY:

 I don't normally eat much on Thursdays. I weigh in at 4:00 on Thursdays so I try to keep my food intake pretty light throughout the day. After weigh in my sister and I grab dinner at subway. Therefore, Thursday's are a no cook day :)

FRIDAY:

My lunch for Friday will most likely be left overs from the week. Friday nights I work at my dad's restaurant so I eat dinner there. My meals vary but usually consist of a salad  on Friday nights. This week my plan is to eat a grilled chicken on wheat toast. On the sandwich I will get grilled onions, grilled bell peppers, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. I will either get a small side salad or a side of grilled veggies depending on how I feel that night. 

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY: Same thing usually goes for Saturday and Sunday. I usually eat left overs or get something from the restaurant.

JUST A TREAT: I really like to bake but do not like to keep what I bake in the house. Therefore when I bake things I will eat what I want and bring the rest to my co-workers at Spuddy's :) This week I want to bake some cupcakes that look super yummy. 

Pink Lemonade Confetti Cupcakes

   As you can tell I am doing lots of crock pot meals. I am so excited about my crock pot meals!!!! I recently accepted a job that I will be starting in just a couple of weeks. I won't be getting home until about 4:00 every afternoon. I do not want to have any excuses for not exercising. Therefore, if dinner is already cooked I can not use that as an excuse :)

   

Childhood Obesity

  So as I mentioned in my first blog post I was obese growing up. Therefore this is something so dear to my heart. It breaks my heart to see so many obese children today. One statistic I read said that childhood obesity rates have tripled in the past three decades leaving one in three children overweight or obese. Makes me think of my two sisters and myself, I unfortunately was one of the three. Growing up things were tough due to my weight. I had absolutely NO self confidence. I would describe myself as the ugly, fat girl who no one likes. I was so self conscience when it came to physical activity because I thought fat girls can't play sports well and I didn't want to get made fun of. I was incredibly miserable. I felt as if no one liked me and that I had no friends. It wasn't until I became a christian 4 years ago that I saw myself as beautiful and worth something. I am a child of the perfect creator who makes all things perfect in his image. My father who created me thinks I am absolutely beautiful and it wasn't until I grasped that concept that I truly believed it about myself.
    This morning I read that Louisiana was one of the top 5 states (number 2 to be exact) with the top obese children. This literally brought me to tears. The top five states  include. (1) Mississippi (2)Louisiana (3) West Virginia (4) Alabama and (5) Michigan. It breaks my heart when I read statistics like this and know that there are children who are feeling the same way I felt at such a young age. They may look tough on the outside but I promise it is really killing them on the inside. One of the biggest problems is the lack of physical activity. There are so many gaming devices now a days that children can sit for hours being entertained and not get an ounce of physical activity in. What ever happened to outdoor activity?!? My dad always tells me about how when he was growing up they stayed outside until the street lights came on. They were constantly active and never stopped moving. Another big problem is the convenience of unhealthy food. You don't want to cook tonight so you order pizza or stop at McDonald's on the way home. I am just as guilty of this as anyone else. It's the convenience of the quick meal but most definitely not the benefit of a  healthy meal. I've always known fast food was bad for you but after starting weight watchers and seeing just how bad it is it makes me sick to think about it. I'll admit there are times I still crave a burger and fries from Wendy's are chicken from Cane's and I will use my weekly points and get them but I am not eating fast food nearly as often as I used to. I remind myself that it is not worth the points and it is not worth how I will feel after I eat the meal.
    Obesity can lead to asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer later in life. I was 24 years old before I took action on my weight. I want to be able to use my story and the things I have gone through in life due to obesity to help others. My dream is to one day travel to different places in the country and raise awareness for obesity. I want to make both the children and the parents aware of exactly how serious obesity is. I want to give families ideas on ways to help prevent obesity starting at an early age. Give suggestions on healthy meal ideas and healthy snacks. Give ideas for kids to do fun activities both indoors and outdoors. Have activity days for the children with a healthy lunch and healthy snacks. Weight Watchers has changed my life and made me realize the importance of healthy eating and physical activity. I want to be able to help children starting at a young age so that they are not in there 20's or later years just beginning to fight a battle that they have been battling with their entire lives.

For more information on childhood obesity and ways to help you can check out www.letsmove.gov

10% and More

  Wow I can't believe I have not blogged in awhile with such big things happening. About 3 weeks ago I reached my 10%!!!! I was extremely excited!! I was sad I could not stay for the meeting and celebrate but I had to head out to Thibodaux to help out with VBS. My reward for my 10% is a massage. I still have not gotten my massage but it will definitely be coming soon :) If you want to know about the changes I am noticing you can check out my previous blog from a few weeks ago.
   From weight watchers I received a key chain which has a "10",  a "star" and a "key". I immediately placed this on my key chain with my car and house keys. This is a constant reminder of my accomplishments. One of my friends was making fun of me and  said "wow all of that and all you get is a key chain." My response to this friend was that this was not "just a key chain." This was something that reminds me daily of the fact that I am changing into a healthier person and all of my accomplishments this far. It's a reminder to keep pushing in the difficult times and to never give up. This key chain is very special to me and is not "just a key chain".
  I missed the next meeting due to advising for school but followed up the next week with a 1.8 loss. I am about 4 pounds away from being in the 170's!!! This is HUGE!!! I honestly can not tell you the last time I can remember being in the 170's. My next goal I am looking at is 25 pounds followed by 30. Setting smaller goals has definitely been the most helpful thing to not give up.
   A huge part of my weight loss is the support I receive from family, friends, my meeting leader and meeting members. The compliments I often receive most definitely push me. It has been so sweet to hear so many uplifting words from everyone. Thank you so much for your compliments. They definitely help me to keep pushing when I do not feel like it. I honestly could not have gotten this far without them. My sister has been one of my biggest supports throughout this process. She got me to sign up when I did not want to at the time. We constantly talk about how many points different things are and are they even worth it. We pushed each other to run on vacation and sometimes swap things we cook with one another. Thank you so much Erin for all of your support and constantly pushing me. She is doing such an amazing job herself with weight watchers and is looking absolutely amazing!!!
  So here is a confession of something I have really been dealing with lately. We all know how satan likes to throw tons of lies our way and we have to fight back with truth. Well it's no different in this time of weight loss. I know I have lost 21.8 pounds and I can feel a tremendous difference. But there is several times I have to fight the lies that I am still the bigger person I was 22 pounds ago. I guess because I am still bigger that I do not always see that I am much smaller but I can definitely feel it. I can definitely see the difference, especially in my clothing, but in these times of lies I just don't see it at that exact moment. It was been difficult to fight these lies at times. I sometimes have to look at old pictures and say "Wow! That was me 20 plus pounds ago. I definitely do not look like that any longer." It reminds me of how we constantly have to fight the devil's lies with God's truth. When we are reminded of his truth it is so much sweeter :) I absolutely 100% give all praise to God for my weight loss. I could not have done it without the strength and wisdom that He gives me. I am constantly quoting Philippians 4:13 in my head. I can do ALL things through HIM who gives me strength. I can not do this on my own. I HAVE to rely on His strength.

  One last exciting thing. My XL workout shirts are too big on me. I liked to wear bigger shirts when working out so I didn't have anything sticking to me. However, my large shirts now fit loose enough that I am comfortable working out in them :)   I also bought a new pair of shoes (which were absolutely needed) to work out in. I have a pair just for running, nothing else (this is so they last longer) and now a brand spanking new pair for cross training. I am super excited about my new shoes!! I have to admit, they are my motivation for working out tonight haha.

Hope every has a great week!! Thanks for your support it means the world to me!! Love you guys!!