On the eve of a weigh-in.

Tonight is the eve of another weigh-in for me. This will be the third one. I thought this would be a good time to write about the beginning of my weightloss journey.
A short background... All my life I was active. I took ballet and tap from the time I was three years old and continued dancing until my college years. The reason I stopped dancing is a whole other story its self. I'm 5'11" and have always been a bigger person. There were about two glorious years, while I was marching with the band in college, that I was totally fit.




Here I am in my best physical condition... about five years ago when I was 21. Two years later I met my husband. I had not been dancing for almost two years, but I was still pretty fit. Here is a picture of AJ, me and our parents a month before we got married in 2009. I was also working out almost every day to prepare for our wedding day.




Still looking and feeling great as far as I was concerned. Coincidentally, my parents (on the left side) have both dropped a ton of weight now and look great. I'm so proud of them. The first six months AJ and I were married I was able to maintain a healthy weight for my height. Close to our one year anniversary I started to slowly gain weight. Mainly, I thought, due to my inactivity and just being happy. I've heard that a person gains weight when they are happy!




At first the weight gain was slow. Then between September 2010 and September 2011 I gained 30 to 40 pounds. Mixed in that year AJ and I completely uprooted our lives and moved to Memphis for him to go to school. (So glad we did!) In September 2011, I stopped taking birth control. (TMI? So sorry!) A couple of months passed and NO CYCLE. I've always had irregular cycles so it was no big deal... at first. Fast forward to May 2012 and still NO cycle. Also, I've only continued to gain weight. Tipping the scale at almost 250 pounds! I made an appointment to see a doctor. After blood work and an ultra sound it is determined that I have PCOS. Poly-cystic Ovary Syndrome involves and can mess up so many things with your body. I won't bore you with all the details. I'll just mention that PCOS is why I wasn't having monthly cycles... because it totally messes with a persons hormones which can totally mess up a persons metabolism which can cause a person to gain a ton of weight if gone undetected. ::sigh::




(This is me shortly after we arrived in Memphis. Getting bigger...)
So after I was given the diagnoses and immediately began thinking of fertility... or infertility. I began reading and reading. It is possible for a woman to become pregnant with PCOS with the help of different medications. Well, at the time AJ and I weren't interested in becoming pregnant so I determined within myself that I was going to correct my PCOS symptoms with weight loss. I've read that sometimes just losing 5 to 7% of you body weight can correct some of the symptoms.




(Here I am, tallest in the middle, at my heaviest back in June 2012. I had actually already started training but not showing a change yet.)
That week I signed up with a personal trainer at the local gym and began changing my diet. I started training at 237 pounds. At my first weigh-in, almost 6 weeks later, I was still at 237. However, my body fat % had gone down and my muscle mass % had gone up. I was showing some promise. At my second weigh-in I was at 226!! I had lost 11 pounds!! I couldn't believe it. I had also shed 4 inches off of my waist alone. I had my trainer measure twice because I just couldn't believe it. I was ecstatic. Losing 11 pounds gave me the boost of confidence and belief that I needed. Just two days after that weigh-in, AJ had a long break from school, two weeks. Thats two weeks away from home, away from the gym, eating out and little to no control over what I was eating.
That brings me to right now. August has been a bust for sure. I am just hoping I am at the same weight I was at when I weighed in at the beginning of August. I think I gained back two or three pounds though. There isn't another break from school until the middle of December. That's over three months of continuous hard core exercise and eating the right foods! I've set a huge goal of thirty pound by January 1st. I can totally do it.
So that's [part] of my story and I'm sticking to it. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far, ha ha! I'll be back with an update after I weigh-in tomorrow.

**Update** Just as I suspected. My weigh-in results are only a minor set back, though. Ready to hit the gym hard.

Four months later...

I'm back! For some reason I cannot explain I just fell off the blogging wagon for a little while. I was still putting in the same amount of time READING other people's blogs of course. Now, I have so many blogs bookmarked that there is no way I could possibly follow them all... it overwhelms me if I try so I just don't. I have bookmarked blogs about sewing and crafting/DIY; pregnancy, childbirth and parenting; cooking, baking and gardening; fitness, dieting, and clean eating. Then I have several blogs that I follow through the blogger reader tool. Although I don't read each one every day they are there if I need an idea for a project or a recipe or to see what the latest is on the "best" style of parenting out there.

There is a blog that I recently found, don't remember how, called She Learns as She Goes. The author posts resolutions for each month and then grades her self at the end of that month to see how she did in keeping those resolutions. This is something that I would really like to start doing for my self. When SLASG does it she opens the post to a "link party". I don't want to do that though. I'm not SO interested in other people reading my resolutions. If its something you might like to do though you can follow the link to her blog. If you are subscribed to "BlimeyCow" on youTube you might recognize the author of this blog.

So, that is how I want to get back into blogging. I am going to start doing "monthly resolutions". At the beginning of each month I will list 3-5 resolutions that I want to keep. At the end of the month I will grade myself to see how well, or bad, I did. Guess what, its the first of September. Perfect timing, huh?

September Resolutions:

Hit the gym at least five days every week. I recently joined a new gym and have started working with a trainer every week. I'll post more about that later.

Start and keep up with the Digging Deep Bible study, "Sanctified". You can find more information about that here. It looks like it's going to be a really awesome study. You should follow along, too! The study starts today :)

Stick to our budget Dave Ramsey style, envelopes and all. Aaron and I really need to attack our school debt so we can start saving like we want.

Continue the Light for Your Path Sunday blog series!


Do you have a favorite blog that you read almost every day?

A Light for Your Path

Another beautiful Lord's day here. The sun is shining and the sky is clear blue. The heavens truly do declare the glory of God. Psalm 19:1

Have you ever heard someone tell you, "You do not have to DO anything to be saved"? Have you told someone that yourself? If someone believes this they will usually lead you to Ephesians 2:8 and say, "See? Through faith, not by works!" Obviously this person has not taken into account the entirety of God's word. We read in James 2 that we ARE justified by works and that like the body is dead without the spirit, faith is ALSO dead without works. So which is it? Does the Bible contradict itself? Skeptics would stop here and say, "YES!"

NO! The Bible does not contradict itself. Read the passage in Ephesians again. "for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory." (Ephesians 2:8, 9 ASV) "not of works, that no man should glory." What works could a person glory in? Well, works that they created by their own devices. So what type of works ARE we justified by according to James 2? Works of God. James refers to Abraham and Rahab and how they were justified by their works. Well who's idea was it for Abraham to sacrifice is son to God? Who's idea was it for Rahab to remain in her home to receive the spies? GOD. Abraham and Rahab, along with many others in Hebrews 11, did those things by faith in obedience to God. God TOLD them what to DO and they DID it. So when we are "doing" something to be saved, we are not "working our way to Heaven" as long it is something God commanded. We are simply submitting ourselves to God's will.

Please consider the following.

Mark 16:16- "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."

Does that sound like if we DO NOT believe we can be saved? Does the word damned describe salvation? (Most people in the religious world will certainly agree that you have to believe in Jesus in order to be saved, leaning solely on John 3:16. Someone might even say, "You do not have to DO anything to be saved EXCEPT believe..." contradicting themselves.)

Luke 13:3- (Jesus speaking) "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

Does that sound like if we DO NOT repent we can be saved? Jesus repeats himself just a couple verses later. Does the word perish describe salvation? (Here we go again. Someone might say to you, "You do not have to DO anything EXCEPT believe and repent..." contradicting themselves even further.)

Luke 12:8,9- (Jesus speaking) "Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God."

Does that sound like if we DO NOT confess Christ we WILL be saved?

John 3:3- "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Does that sound like if we are NOT born again we CAN enter the kingdom of God?

So is there anything we must DO in order to be saved? It does not seem like according to the word of God that all we have to do is believe. It is true that God's grace in an unmerited gift to all people, but we MUST obey Him in order to recieve His gift. Matthew 7:21; Hebrews 5:9 Notice the words DOETH/DOES and OBEY.

Please consider the "whole counsel of God" when you are studying His word. Acts 20:27

Poached perfection and firsts.

*Hello :) If you like what you are reading or have a comment please let me know! You can leave a comment at the end of each post. Thank you!

After reading many different methods on the internet about how to "poach" chicken, I finally asked a few of the other student wives here at school. The over all concensus says to bring your water to a boil (enough to cover the amount of chicken you want to cook) then drop chicken into the water and boil for about thirty minutes. I just tried it and sure enough it worked! I cooked three chicken breasts (skinless, boneless) to poached perfection! ...well, I think next time I will not let it cook as long. After thirty minutes I checked the internal temp of each piece of chicken and they were reading above 180 F which is well above well-done. Maybe the chicken won't be rubbery, dry and tasteless. I am putting it into a casserole so if it is it will at least be camouflaged by cheesy, broccoli goodness. *I am writing this as I cook and the chicken is dry and chewy. Surely the soups and cheese will make up for that.

By the way, the recipe I am trying tonight is from the Once-a-month Mom. It is a chicken, broccoli, rice casserole... something you have probably made more than once. If you will notice, OAMM used homemade cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup to make the meal more "whole foods" friendly. I, on the other hand, opted for the canned versions... making my casserole even less spectacular... :/ I am sure it will at least be tasty, and as my husband says, "It will". On second thought, you do not want to know.
*I did not go to the gym this afternoon because I did not poach my chicken last night, like I wanted to. I do not know why I always think "easy" when I think "casserole". I definitely got my work out tonight. Think two cups freshly grated cheddar cheese. Yeah. My cheese grating muscles are out of shape have never been used like this. Is that another first?!

So there you have it, the first time I have ever poached chicken. Another first for me occurred while preparing supper last night. I cooked a roast in a crock pot (My second time, so that is not what I am talking about.) and made gravy from the meat drippings! It was SCRUMPTIOUS! I love gravy on my creamed potatoes... yum. I am drooling thinking about it now.

I know. My cooking skills are elementary, but I have to start somewhere! Pay no attention to the fact that AJ and I have been married for almost three years. I suppose the first three years of our marriage I cooked a lot of the same things over and over. They were all things that I know how to cook very well. I use the word "cook" lightly. Usually just opened a few cans and mixed some stuff together and "Viola! Supper's ready!" I do make a mean meatloaf! ...ah, as good as meat loaf actually is, the name just does not do it justice! Loaf is just a funny word. Just like congealed salad is so delicious... congealed is just an ugly word.

What is for supper at your house tonight? Accomplish any "firsts" this week so far?

...congealed... blech.