Beauty and the Beast Within

Sorry I haven’t been here all week.  I have a hundred reasons but no time for that right now.  I have something very serious I want to talk to you about.

My mother-in-law fell and is in the hospital.  She is 68 and she is not well enough to have the surgery she needs.

It really has me thinking about my health and where I want to be when I am 68. I don’t know that I will be the 65 year old woman in the USA Today I read about yesterday that competes in triathlon’s but I do know I want to be able to live vibrantly well past my 60′s.

I also know that even though that is far away the choices I make today WILL have an effect on my health in my future.  Good and bad. I am seeing that played out in front of me right now with my mother-in-law.

This is serious business.

This isn’t just about how cute we look.

This can be years added to our life.

It is time to get serious about our health and take back control of our future.  1/3 of Americans are considered obese.  We have more medical breakthroughs than ever before and more health problems than we ever saw in the past.

I believe it doesn’t have to be this way.  We can make small changes that will have an enormous effect on our overall health someday. That is why I wrote the book.  I want women to be empowered and to be happy, healthy, and the best they can be as they grow older.

It’s not just about us either.  We need to do this for our families.  So what’s holding you back?  Today pick one thing and DO IT!

Take a walk.

Drink water not soda.

Choose a healthy snack.

Find a new “skinny” version of your favorite meal and make it today.

I say it all the time and I will say it again:

TODAY MOVE MORE AND EAT LESS.

Not less in the way of starvation but less in the way of what is the right amount of the right foods to fuel your body. Today maybe you can take a short 1/2 mile walk because that’s all you can do but everyday you choose to do that you will get stronger and you will be able to go farther.  This won’t be instant but in 20 years you will be so glad that today you started something new and made changes in your life.

Let the story of my mother-in-law motivate you today to take control!

Please e-mail me if you need some help getting started or some accountability.  I would love to hear from you!

Be blessed!

So what is your favorite skinny recipe?

There are so many options out there.

Low fat, low calorie food no longer equals no taste.

Today I challenge you to find at least one new recipe this week to try.

I will be trying this one I came across on Skinnytaste.com.

It looks yummy!!!!

Be blessed!

What an awesome visual motivational tool!

And that the king is ALREADY enthralled with your beauty.

The God of the universe is not waiting for you to lose a certain amount of weight to love you.

Don’t try to get your self worth from a number on a scale.

Know who you are in Christ.

After you have done the above then make healthy lifestyle choices so that you can be a more effective woman able to do the things that God calls you to do.

Drink your water.

Eat less.

Move more.

And at the end of the day rest in the peace that you know your true identity.

Be blessed!

Thought I would share something with you today to think about:

Be blessed!

Day 3 of the 31 day challenge!

Have you seen this?

Made me so sad but glad she was confident enough to speak out.

Please take a few minutes to watch this:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The other thing I thought about was how often we attack ourselves the way this viewer so ridiculously attacked this beautiful woman.

SO today I continue to challenge you to no more negative self talk and no more being bullied by others.  Let’s be confident role models who know where our true beauty comes from.

Be blessed!

Today is day 2!

How is the stinkin thinkin? Hope you are replacing all that old negative fat talk with some good positive truth about who you are.

Today I posted a recipe over at Choosing Today.  It seems a bit contradictory to post a dessert recipe in one place and talk about heath, fitness, and weight loss in another.

I struggle with this. I mean I want to be a veggie and fruit girl all the time.  I really do.  But the thing is I am not.  have a family and we love good food and many memories are made sitting around the table.

So then what?

Well I could start putting myself down and then give up in defeat and eat the whole pan of dessert or I could enjoy my family and enjoy a piece of my dessert and have some self control.

I don’t want to be remembered as the grumpy momma who was always dieting.

To a certain extent I think we can have our cake and eat it too just not the whole cake. Eat small portions and eat them slowly and savor them.

So day 2′s challenge is to learn to enjoy our food and occasionally eat our dessert in moderation.

This week enjoy your family.

Enjoy your food.

Be blessed!

The 31 day challenge is starting today!

Over the next 31 days I am going to encourage you and hopefully help motivate you to make some changes!

Not just change on the outside but change on the inside.

Permanent change.

The first thing we are going to work on is our stinkin thinkin! No more fat talk. No more I can’t ever be different. No more this is just who I am. No more standing in front of the mirror and saying negative things.

No more.

Today we are done with that.

Tell yourself…..

                I am fearfully and wonderfully made!

Replacing all the lies with the truth is where our self image battles will be won!

You will never act differently apart from what you think.  It is all tied together.

So today the negative self talk

Stops!

I often get asked questions about the book and so I thought I would occasionally post one along with my reply!

One reader asked me what to do in the evening when you are truly feeling hungry???? In the book I talk about not eating after 6 PM….no mindless night time eating. This was my reply:

I do have a few suggestions for when I am truly hungry any time of the day and its not meal time….first I drink a glass of water. This ensures my body isn’t confusing thirst for hunger and also I found I will eat less after that.

Then I try to make sure I have something healthy and easy on hand for snacking. Eat a piece of fruit or a cheese stick or a small protein packed Greek yogurt. After that I walk away from the kitchen:)

A little hunger is ok to feel especially in the beginning when my body was adjusting to less food. I was used to eating so much that my body/mind thought I “needed” it. As long as you are eating a healthy number of calories a day(DO NOT STARVE YOURSELF) you may have to struggle with the hungry feeling a bit until you adjust to your new amount of food you are taking in and once I go to sleep hunger doesn’t usually wake me up:)

Hope this helps! Please email me with any questions you might have!

Be blessed!

Hi All!  Looking for anyone who is interested in losing 10lbs in 10 weeks.

All you need is a copy of the book and leave a comment that you want to join in the fun.  Starting in March I will be expanding on the topics in the book in the “reader only” portion of the site and will be encouraging you and answering your questions along the way!

So who wants to be 10lbs thinner by mid-May?  Just in time for summer:)  Sign up today…what do you have to lose?????

Besides 10 pounds!!!!