Glorify God in your body

"For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 cor 6:20

It's crazy to think that my body is not my own. I don't even own the skin that's on me...God does. I don't have the right to treat it however I "feel" like treating it because my body is not mine. Just a thought to dwell on.

It has been a month since I have had any sweets/desserts and I feel great. In fact, I don't even miss them. I know that I can't control myself and they don't satisfy me, so I'm thankful that I'm not dealing with that bondage right now. I made a goal last month of staying away from sweets (among some others) until I go to Hawaii on Nov. 19th. So, I have a little less than 2 months more to go. I'm psyched!

I think every girl deals with her bloated days. It's crazy how one day I can feel as if everything is fitting so loose on me, and then the very next day everything is way too tight...etc. I have realized here lately that that is just going to happen, period! I just need to learn how to deal with it. The best thing I have learned is to get over it. Do the best you can do with eating and exercising and wait till the next morning sun comes up...and it will probably be a lot better.

Hard Yesterdays

Yesterday I had one of those lethargic days where I didn't want to do a thing. I just wanted to stay in bed all day, eat whatever the heck I wanted, and forget about any kind of motivation that I had this past month. I felt bloated the whole day and my calorie intake was more than it should have been.
As I put my exercise clothes on, I felt about 2 sizes bigger than the previous day. How could these things get so much tighter in one day? Granted, I do have a powerful mind that can "play" tricks on me. Even after I exercised I didn't feel any better. I made sure that I didn't eat anything after dinner and drank some green tea before bed.
Waking up this morning I felt much better. I started praying that the Lord would give me strength. That He would be my Rock that does not move...even when I want to. So, I've set in my heart to forget about yesterday and "press towards the goal..." There are always gonna be hard "yesterdays," it's the "todays" that count.

Run to God

Today has been a bad day for me. My reaction was, I need/want to go run this out, deal with my emotions with the treadmill instead of on my knees with the Lord. There I will get my 600 calories burned and will also feel less stressed at the same time. Wow, where is my heart?
Luke 12:34 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." We always think of money and material things...but in my circumstance, I treasure working out. I treasure the feeling afterwards. I treasure feeling "a little bit lighter." ...and today was a tale tale sign that my heart is there also. Lord forgive me and teach me balance.

Partner

Do you ever feel like you need a friend to work out with you or to keep you accountable for eating and keeping on track? I remember over a year ago, I was praying that God would give me somebody to workout with. I knew I needed the encouragement and motivation of working out with somebody. Within months, God brought me a girlfriend and we started working out together. It was what I needed and got me rolling. Even after we couldn't go anymore together, it was okay because I had been on such a roll because of having an accountability partner for a few months.
So...if you feel like you really need a partner, pray. God knows your need, HE is your provider.

Website

I found this amazing website this morning. It is www.diet.ivillage.com You can find all kinds of goodies on this site. I found my BMI (body mass index)...just type in your weight and height and it will calculate it for you. It will also tell you what range you should be in.
If you go under the category of quizzes and tools, there is a calculator that you can type in any food and it will tell you the calories, fat and carbs in it . I think this is awesome because I am starting to count my calories. The hardest part about doing that is actually knowing how many calories are in the food you are eating. Tools like this prove to be so helpful.
Last night I got a printed "daily food diary" from a trainer at the gym. It's just one page for each day. You write down everything you had for breakfast, snack. lunch, snack, dinner and the last snack. On the side there is a place for the calories, protein, carbs, and fats. At the end of the day you count them up and see how you did. Then you can adjust for the next day.
The trainer, Alex, who is a believer...yay! said that our metabolism is like a fire in the fireplace. Food being the wood that goes in it. If you wake up in the morning and load some wood in it, you don't wait hours until you refill it. You continually put a little bit of wood in it all through the day. Same with our metabolism. Instead of filling our tummys big time, 3 times a day, we should continually fill it throughout the day in little portions...to keep that metabolism up, to keep that fire going. If we have a big lunch or dinner that we are going to eat, don't eat it all at once. Eat half of it and then save the other half for a little later. I don't know about you, but I kinda like that. I love to eat, so let's break down the portions and eat more often!
If you find anything on the website you find helpful, please share it. We're in this together. Also, if you want me to make you a copy of the daily food journal, I can. I will send it over email...just let me know. And always remember...pray.

Weekends

The weekends are the hardest days for me during the week. I am a person who needs structure and when the structure goes away during the weekend, I'm thinking about food the whole time. Growing up, I always related having fun with having food. When I would go to the movies or go do this or that for fun, food was always involved...not just food, but bad food. Now I'm trying to renew my mind...taking the relationship apart. I'm trying to realize that fun happens outside of the food we bring into it.
I have had so many weekends where I do great throughout the week with portions, staying away from junk food, exercising...all of it. Then the weekend comes and I seriously blow it. It's like all that hard work was done for nothing because of what I did during the weekend. I got sick of working hard for nothing. If I'm going to work hard, I want to see results. When I eat everything in sight during the weekends, and Monday comes around, I'm not feeling very up to exercising b/c I feel bloated and huge.
So, this past weekend was a long weekend and I was a bit nervous about it. But over all I think I did pretty good. I prayed a lot and thought about Tuesday, remembering how I want to feel starting the structured week off.
But remember, if you did blow it, press forward, not thinking about yesterday. Today is all that counts.