Change your confession

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue…

Once I had made the decision that I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, the next thing I did was take action.  For the next 14 days I ate no carbs and no sweets.    When I would tell people that's what I was doing, many times the first thing they would say is "Oh I couldn't give up my bread", or " No pasta?  No way!  Can't do it."   The Bible is clear when it says you will have what you say, and changing to a healthy lifestyle was no exception.    I too felt that I could not live without bread (oh how I love bread) and sweets; but I found that in addition to taking action, I had to change what I was saying about what I could and could not eat.   I had to change what I was saying in order to get different results.

Was it that simple?  Just stop eating carbs and sweets?  No, BUT I had made a decision, and I was going to stick to it.  When I began to think about how many carbs & how much sugar I was eating in a day, it helped me stop eating so many carbs and so much sugar.  Here's what a typical carby, sugary day in my life was like:
Breakfast:
1-2 cups of orange juice
hash browns
cheese eggs
2 pieces of toast
2 pieces of bacon
Lunch:
5 Guys Little Cheeseburger
more fries than the law should allow (you know they give you too many fries!)
Regular size Dr. Pepper
Dinner:
Fried Chicken
Rice & Gravy
Green Beans
Dinner Roll
1-2 cups fruit punch
Snack:
Kit Kat
Potato Chips
Popcorn
Jelly Beans
Total calories:   approx.  2858!!!!!
Total Carbs:   approx.  346!!!!!
WHAAAAT!  Need I say more?!?

Instead of saying how I couldn’t live without bread and sweets, I started saying that because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, I can stop eating these things that I know are not good for me.  Instead of focusing on what I couldn't have, I focused on what  I could have.   I could still have all of my favorite proteins like chicken, fish, steak, bacon, etc.  There are so many low to no carb cooks books & meal planners out there, and with the power of Google, recipes were very easily accessible.  I often just eliminated the carb part of a meal and replaced it with a small salad.  For example, if I fixed pork chops, cabbage and scalloped potatoes for my family, I would replace the scalloped potatoes with a small salad for myself.

Here’s what a typical no carb, no sugar day was like:
Breakfast:
Hot tea sweetened with Stevia
2 Egg Omelet with spinach, feta cheese & green onion
2 pieces of turkey bacon
Lunch:
Grilled Chicken salad with spinach, arugala, tomato, cucumber & feta cheese
Water
Dinner:
Baked chicken
Collard Greens
small side salad
Water
Snack:
100 calorie pack of almonds
water
Total Calories:  1244
Carbs:  13

Man, what a difference it made!  After 14 days, the main thing I noticed was that I didn’t feel bloated all the time.  I didn’t realize that the carbolicious life had me constantly feeling bloated.

After the 14 days, I incorporated small portions of carbs (no more that the size of the side of my fist) back into my diet, and for sweets I would have fruit.  Something like this:
Breakfast

Turkey Bacon & egg over easy on wheat flat bread
Great tea sweetened with Stevia
Lunch:
Roast  Beef & Turkey Sandwhich from Port of Sub on wheat bread
Baked chips
Water
Dinner:
Blackend Catfish
Grilled Zucchini
Side Salad
Water
Snacks:
Apple
Naked popcorn
Snap pea crips
Water

Total Calories:  1477

Total Carbs:  145

After 14 days I had lost about 4 pounds, and was well on my way!

Another thing I did that was critical to my success was I tracked everything that I ate.  I had tried this in the past and was never very successful; I didn’t want to always be counting the calories, carbs and sugar of everything I ate!   Oh but the power of technology makes it so easy!  I found an app called myfitnesspal and with it was able to track the food I ate and my exercise pretty easily.  After each meal I would enter what I had eaten and it would track everything and tell me if I had hit or missed my target calorie intake for the day. I could even use my smartphone to scan a label of something and it would put the informtation in my food journal.

I encourage you not to kill your quest for a healthy lifestyle before it even gets started by saying what you can’t do and what you don’t like; I challenge you to change your confession and every time you are about to say what you can’t do, and what you don't like, speak the word only and say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” (Philippians 4:13)

Once you made the decision to change to a healthy lifestyle, what steps did you take to put action to it?  I would love to hear from you!  

Next week I’ll talk about the second part of the Put That Fork Down and Move Around plan…EXERCISE!   (and some recipes too!)

Make A Decision

The purpose of this blog is to share with people what I've done and found to be successful in my healthy lifestyle journey.  That's right, not weight loss journey, but my healthy lifestyle journey. The weight loss was a result of changing to a healthier lifestyle.

Another purpose of this blog is for you to share you story.  Share what's worked for you, what hasn't worked, anything from advice, exercises, recipes...I would love for this to be a place where we can come for encouragement, ideas, practical advice and information.

I do not claim to be a health expert by any stretch of the imagination.  All I know is that I was 47 years old, and 40 pounds overweight; I didn't like the way I looked or felt, and I knew I had to take action.

Which leads me to the first thing that I had to do to get on the road to a healthy lifestyle.

Make A Decision

Yup that's it, the first thing I had to do was decide...decide that I wanted to get healthy and lose weight more than I wanted to eat everything that wasn't nailed down.  I don't know about you, but the older I get, the better food tastes, and the more I want to cook it AND eat it!!!  Having that attitude I was gaining weight at a rapid pace, and my clothes were letting me know it.  I'm here to tell you, that the clothes don't lie, I don't care what that scale says, the clothes tell you the truth, and the truth was I had gone from a teight (a tight 8 not quite a 10)  to a comfortable 10, and truth be told, the 10's had gotten tight.   I'm only 5 feet tall, so a size 12 really wasn't an option for me.

During all of this time that I was gaining weight (literally years) I would continually threaten to do something about it.  BUT, those pastries were tasting better and better, I was perfecting my chocolate cake recipe and honing my baking skills in general, not to mention I could fry up some catfish, greens and cornbread that would put a hurtin' on you! The bottom line was I liked the way food tasted much better than even the thought of exercise.

At my job we have a health coach that comes every week to check your weight and blood pressure.  I had been telling this woman that I was going to start eating better and exercise almost every week for two years, and had done absolutely nothing!  As my pastor says, until you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, you won't to anything to make a change.

I did get sick and tired of being sick and tired.  On July 8, 2013 I decided that I was ready to commit to changing my life for the better by eating right and exercising. What led me to this decision? Two things. During that time I was recovering from eye surgery that required me to stay face down 24/7 for 10 days.  I figured that if I had enough discipline to stay face down for 10 days, I could be disciplined to lose weight.  The other motivating factor was that I could not hide my stomach any more!  I would be taking a picture, and you know how especially when you're taking a picture you suck your stomach in, well with my stomach sucked in I still looked like I had a watermelon under my shirt!  Once at church, a little girl asked me if I had a baby in my tummy!  I couldn't  even be mad....I had to take action; and I did.  What did I do?   My sister calls it the Push the Plate Back & Exercise plan, my husband calls it the Moderation & Movement plan, or as I call it:  Put That Fork Down and Start Moving Around Plan!!!

I made a decision, put action to it and stuck to it.  That's it, that's all.  In 4 months, my eating habits have dramatically changed, I'm exercising 3-5 times a week and I've lost 22 pounds.

In the coming weeks I'll share what I did more specifically, I'll share recipes, tips and advice that have helped me along the way.

When did you decide to make that change? What did you do?  I would love to hear from you!
Or maybe you're that person that needs to make the decision...do it now, don't weight to be healthy, start today and change your life for the better!