Day 10

Five a.m. came to early this morning.  I got up, drank my Spark, and took a bath.  Yes, I had decided last night that I wasn't going to do my morning exercise and scripture.  Today was school picture day and I knew that my daughter would need more help getting ready. 

So, guess what happened?  Mid-bath, I get a text saying that I don't have to be at work until an hour later than I thought!  So... I got out of the bath and did the morning routine that I was going to skip!  Complete with 4 (not 3) Refit songs!

Scripture this morning was John 8:23-59 and 1 Samuel chapters 15-16.  Samuel's reading today was about King Saul.  God told Saul to go and kill all of the enemy and not take anything.  Destroy it all.  Yet, Saul decided to keep the spoils of war because he thought that they were good.  Samuel, the prophet, goes to Saul and tell him that he didn't obey God.  Thus, Samuel ends up moving on to find the shepherd boy, David...who would go on to be the next king.

So, let's apply this to life.  Is there something in your life that you're not giving up when God wants you to?  Just keeping a little bit of it because it's not something labeled as "bad".  That happens a lot in today's society.  With the push for tolerance and acceptance of all things, we are not giving away what God wants us to because we don't see it as "bad".  Let me give you an example.  In my life, there are times when I believe that God is calling me away from television and other technology...and not because I'm watching anything against God's word...but because it's taking time away from time should be spending with Him.  Song of Solomon says that it's the little foxes that spoil the vineyard, meaning it's the little things that will get us and possibly destroy us.  Such was the case with Saul.  What he didn't destroy, as God commanded, ultimately destroyed him.  I believe God is asking us to do something simple here: obey Him.

Now, check this out!  My new video I tried this morning..."I am" and a scripture that I read this morning! Coincidence?  I don't believe in them. :)

"Jesus said unto them, Verily verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am". John 8:58

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Day 10--I succumbed to a blueberry muffin today.  It was sitting by a chocolate cupcake.  Kudos to me for not eating the cupcake.  

Besides the muffin, I had:

Breakfast-Egg, toast, kiwi

Lunch-Salad with grilled chicken and boiled eggs

Dinner-Chicken wrap (wheat wrap)

Snacks-almonds, boiled eggs, carrots, radishes, kiwi

Well, it's day 10!  Stay tuned because tomorrow is weigh-in and measurement day.

Day 9

Let's get straight to the basics today.

Exercise-The time change is still kicking my butt.  Yes, I did the same exercises, but I cut it down to 20 minutes and with only two songs from my YouTube playlist.  It was very hard to get up this morning!  However, what I've realized is that the exercises are getting easier!!

Scripture-1 Samuel 14

Food-
-Breakfast-Omelet-well, actually, it was scrambled eggs with chicken, peppers, onions, and salsa; along with a piece of whole wheat toast and banana.

-Lunch-Salad with grilled pork chops

-Dinner-Grilled pork chops with potatoes and olive oil oven-toasted wheat bread

-Snacks-Boiled eggs, pears, strawberries

Now, let's talk food!  Yes, I still miss my sweet tea, breads, and sweets.  However....and this is a big however....(I may have mentioned this already so excuse me if I have)...we are wasting less food and my kiddos are loving it!  Tonight, we cooked exactly the right about of food!  None was thrown away and everyone ate what's on his/her plate.

I know I didn't talk much devotion today.  But, I wanted to say that I listen to Praise and worship songs during my morning Bible Study....

Let me break to disclose my average morning:
5:00--Get up, bathroom, brush teeth
5:05--Spark! drink
5:05--Exercise
5:30--Make Breakfast
5:40--Eat Breakfast, Bible Study
6:00--Get Ready for work
6:30--Leave for work

Okay...back to the praise and worship thing.  What you input into your body affects your health.  The same goes for your spiritual body.  So, be careful what you listen to, what you watch, and so on.  On that note, please enjoy one of the songs I've been listening to in the mornings during my bible study.

Day 8

"For my love they are my adversaries:

but I give myself unto prayer." Psalm 109:4

Though my devotional thoughts are short today, I ask myself, as well as you who read this, do you give yourself unto prayer when people have wronged you?  The Psalmist of 109, King David, says that those he loves have turned against him for no reason.  Here he states that he turns to prayer when this happens.  If you study David, you will know that he was not a perfect person.  He had many flaws and many sins.  Yet, he was a man who knew how to pray.  The bible says that "he was a man after God's own heart".  Do you hunger and thirst after God's heart?  When things go awry and people turn on us for no reason, let us give ourselves unto prayer.  We don't have to be perfect, we just have to have a heart for God.

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Bible Study: 1 Samuel 12-13; Psalm 109

My menu today:

Breakfast: Egg and tomato on wheat toast

Lunch: Chicken tortilla soup

Dinner: Chicken fajitas 

Exercise:  My morning exercise is the same routine but is getting easier.  Today, the same routine only took me about 20 minutes!  (When it was taking about 30).  So, I thought I'd try the jump rope. Um, I'm not ready for that! 

I received my first workout shirt ever today....(I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't exercise).   I ordered it at Cross Training Couture, a site that I first became familiar with by following Candace Cameron Bure on Facebook.  I love the message in this shirt.  It's goes along with the reason I'm doing what I'm doing.

Day 7

Today was a little bit rough.  But, please read to the end of the post.  

I don't like saying that because there were still some amazing things that happened today.  AND, each day is given to us by God....a day in which He makes all things new!  The sun was shining, the snow was melting, and it was CHURCH day.  Besides, I got to see 3 people get baptized in water...

Isn't this beautiful?

But, life is life and sometimes it's not 100%.  Let me say this: nothing bad happened today.  It wasn't a bad day.  I was just extremely tired; that's all.  I totally blame this on the fact that I got in really late last night AND last night was Daylight Saving's Time, which I like to call "the night we lose an hour of sleep".   At this point, I am reminded of my favorite scripture, Psalm 103.  Psalm 103 states "Bless the Lord Oh my soul".  To me, it means:

Bless the Lord when I don't feel like it

Bless the Lord when I'm tired

Bless the Lord when He isn't blessing me

Bless the Lord when things aren't going quite right

Bless the Lord always, regardless, unconditionally

"Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:

 Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases,

Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s."  (Psalm 103: 1-5)

Are you not having a 100% day either?  If this was on scale from 1-10, would you be a 10?  If  not, I encourage you to bless the Lord anyway!

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Was this my devotion time? No.  Today I read John 7:1-8:22.  (Originally, I was going to write about something that I read today but felt led to talk about Psalm 103.) 

Food Intake:

Breakfast: Egg, wheat toast, tomato, and strawberries

Lunch: Chicken tortilla soup (no chips)

Dinner: Lemon-pepper pork-chops, brown rice, and a side salad

Exercise: 30 minutes, same routine: planks, situps, weights, 3 videos.  I did buy a jump rope last night though.

Thoughts about food: My entire family is eating this way...completely changing how/what we eat!  My kids LOVE it!  At the grocery store, the cost of eating healthy vs. how we use to eat is about the same!  Tonight, we wrote out our food plan for the coming week and made a grocery list.  The list is even shorter, because we are using all of our food and wasting less.

Day 6

Speak Life!

"Sticks and Stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me".  Did you hear that has a child?  Guess what?  It's not true!  The Bible speaks several times about the power of the spoken word (and this day and age, it can be texted, put on social media, and so many other ways....yes those count too!).  In fact, there's a whole chapter on it!  During today's devotion time, I read 1 Samuel 8-11 and Proverbs 15.  The entire fifteenth chapter of the book of Proverbs speaks on speaking.  I've linked a TobyMac video up above.  In fact, he has a whole #speaklife ministry. Want to try it?  Type #speaklife on any social media or Pinterest.  

It's very popular in modern day to say that we live in a world of shades of gray.  Yet, that's not true either.  Most things are black or white.  Right or wrong. For examples, your words!  What you say has power!  Your words can either lift someone up or bring someone down.  Your words can draw you closer to God or further away.  Proverbs says "Kind words heal and help; cutting words wound". (Proverbs 15:4 MSG). So, speak life over yourself, your family, your situation, your problem, your life.  Psychologists call this self-fulfilling prophesy; I call it Biblical.

"A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart;

and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.

What you say flows from what is in your heart". Luke 6:45 (NLT)

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My morning routine was the same, as far as exercise goes.  My husband had the day off today and, when I was finished, he said, "Sounds like you were having a good time in there"!    I was!

So far, so good, here.  Except for this.

No, I didn't eat it.  Last night, my children stayed the night with their grandparents.  My daughter texted me a picture of this.  Thanks for sharing that, baby girl,thanks.


And, not just that.  Tonight was my first time eating out, without a packed meal.  I went to a banquet and passed up bread, ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, and brownies!


My meals today:
Breakfast--Egg, toast, banana
Lunch--Grilled Chicken with Brussel sprouts and squash
Dinner--Grilled Chicken with green beans and a side salad
Snacks--A boiled egg and fruit

Day 5

Let's get right to the "bread" of the day.  My morning routine.  And, after you read my devotion time for the day, you'll understand why I use the term "bread". No, it's not because I'm suddenly allowed to have a lot of it.  Wishful thinking.

My morning routine today lasted from about 7:30-8:30. You guessed it.  Another snow day.  I kept with my "do not get side tracked" guideline and pushed away laundry, in order to exercise.  I'm a little bit of a control freak, so the fact that I just let the laundry lay there goes against my nature. I"m also very headstrong and rule follower, which is why I made rules for myself.  No getting side-tracked.  Exercise included planks, sit-ups, 5 lb weight strength-training exercises and 3  videos from my Refit play list. Today was "Good Morning", "Shackles", and "Cry Holy".  Breakfast was oatmeal with fruit and a boiled egg (must have some protein in each meal).  This is the first time that I can remember eating oatmeal in a long time...I don't really care for it but wanted to try something different for the whole grain.  Still don't care for it.  Oh, well.

Devotion time: 1 Samuel 5-7 and John 6

Here comes the bread!

Okay, not literally.  Jesus is the Bread of Life.  The book of John is filled with miracles of Jesus. Want to find out who Jesus is? Read the book of John.  Don't we all have memorized John 3:16?  Even those that have yet to call upon Him as Lord and Savior?

So, John chapter six holds the story of the 5 loaves and 2 fishes and Jesus walking on water.

Let me retell it to you.  One day, Jesus went to speak to the multitude.  (He was also a teacher!!)  I'm talking 5,000 students!  And, when the Bible says 5,000, that only includes men.  So, let's say each man had a wife.  Each couple had at least one child.   Then, we're estimating 15,000 people!  Jesus' large class (let us never say anything against class size again!) was hungry.  So, Jesus took 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes and fed the class.  The meal kept multiplying.  You see, the more He gave, the more there was.  (I do believe that will preach on tithing and giving to God!)  In fact, there was so much food that each disciple collected one basket full of leftovers!  12 in all!  I truly believe that had there been 20 or 100 disciples, that each would have had a basket, still.

Yet, later, Jesus is talking with the disciples.  He basically says, "why do you believe in me?" (which He did a lot of in the NT).  The disciples said something like "because of your miracles!  I mean, you just fed all those people!"  Jesus goes on to tell them that He is the Bread of Life and those that seek Him should seek Him because in partaking of the Bread of Life, they will have eternal life in Heaven.

So, what about you?  Do you see after Jesus only when you want something, like the people did?  Or are you truly hungry for God because of who He is and not what He can offer you?  If God never answers another prayer in your life, will you still seek Him?  Will you still serve Him?  God's already given you the best thing you could ever ask for, even before you would know to ask: His Son.  If you haven't accepted Jesus Christ into your heart as your Lord and Savior, please do so.  Feel free to contact me and I'll help you.  If you're already a Christian, do you seek Him daily because of who He is and only that reason?   I encourage you to draw close to God. If He feels far away, I guarantee He is not the one who moved.

Now, let me say this.  Immediately after devotion time, I started feeling sick to my stomach.  I don't know if it's my body adjusting to what I'm doing now or that I am, indeed, getting sick.  Regardless, I stuck with the plan today and had a productive day, otherwise.


My menu today:
Breakfast--Oatmeal with fruit and an egg
Lunch--Chicken lettuce wraps (leftover from last night's dinner)
Dinner--Ginger Cilantro Chicken with Butternut Squash


And, let me be honest:  I really want to weigh.  I, mean, I can feel a difference, but I don't look different.  Also, I wouldn't mind a glass of sweet tea. :) And, I'm talking...I like a little bit of tea with my sugar.  FYI: I didn't cave in on either one...just wishful thinking.


Be blessed.

Day 4

"She rises while it is yet dark...." (Prov. 31)

Except that today was a snow day and I didn't have to work.  So, I slept until 8:00.  I usually get up at 5:00!  That being said, it was a good day to log progress because I was able to spend more time in my morning routine!

Before I get started, let me say something about this morning routine.  I keep myself very strict to it, meaning that I don't allow myself to do anything other than take my Advocare product, exercise, and read my Bible.  I don't want to get side-tracked by checking email, Facebook, or picking up the house...all of which are things that I would normally do during my "me time".  

This morning was AMAZING!  I got up at 8:00, had my morning Spark, and then began exercising. I did my planks (I can only hold it for 10 seconds at a time but I'm working on it) and sit-ups.  I also did something new...I used 5 lb weights to do a little bit of strength-exercising!  Because I'm a huge fan of Christian music, I played TobyMac's "Eye on it" and Mercy Me's "Move" during this time.

Then, I moved to my Refit videos, which I LOVE!  I even made my own YouTube playlist of my favorite ones.  Today, I did "Good Morning", "Shake", and "Cry Holy".   Let me say this, I was so moved by "Cry Holy"that I was brought to tears.  I'm probably the only one who's ever cried for that reason during a workout.  It flowed very nicely into my prayer time.

That put me at 30 minutes already and it was breakfast time!  For the past 3 days, I did exercise, prayer, and Bible time all within that 30 minutes!  Today, I did 30 minutes of exercise!  Whoop!  All that meant was that I ate my breakfast during my Bible study.  And, that my morning routine time today was about 45 minutes.

Because I'm trying to read through the entire Bible, I read 1 Sam. 2-4 (this is where I am on that log).  This is the story of when God calls Samuel.  God calls him 3 times before he realizes that it is God Himself speaking.  Yes, this is the same Samuel, son of Hannah.  God is fulfilling His promise to Hannah.  "And Samuel grew and the Lord was with him" (1 Sam 3:19).  God will lead you if you will only listen to Him.  He is with us.  I am reminded of one of my favorite songs.  (I've seen them in concert and they are AMAZING).

So, I have to say that I am so excited that people are reading my blog!  While this is my first time watching my food intake and exercising, this is also my first time blogging!  Today, I had a few people that I know personally contact me to let me know that they are inspired by it!  Thank you so much!  That was and is one of the main reasons that I felt that God was leading me to blog in the first place!  With that, most people are curious about what I can/cannot eat.  But, I stay full.  So today,  took pictures.  Pictured below are the foods I ate today.  That's it, nothing more, nothing less. Looking at the pic, the left side going down is breakfast, lunch, dinner. The right side are the 3 snacks.

30 minutes before breakfast: Advocare Spark and ProBiotic Restore vitamins

Breakfast--Strawberries and banana, boiled egg, wheat toast (& Advocare Fiber drink)

Lunch--Salad (grilled chicken, romaine, peppers, radishes)

Dinner--Chicken tacos on a lettuce wrap  (& Advocare Omegaplex tablets) By far the best recipe we've picked out so far!!

Snacks--boiled eggs, banana, almonds, Spark drink, oranges

Bedtime: Advocare cleanse tablets

And LOTS of water!