Exercise for Good Causes

There are 2 things on my mind that I want to talk about tonight. #1 is that we only need to sacrifice 30 minutes a day. God keeps putting that on my heart. I keep whining and complaining about how much I hate exercising and God keeps saying "30 minutes a day, Holly- it's just 30 minutes a day". I do a lot of things in my day that I don't like doing and I do them for more than 30 minutes and there is very little reward for me. I deserve to spend 30 minutes a day taking care of my health so that I can be around for my family, so that I can enjoy retirement, so that I can the things that I have only dared dream. I encourage everyone to just find 30 minutes a day- and it might be after everyone has gone to bed (please note the time of this post). If you aren't lucky enough to own any workout equipment then find a big can of peaches and use them as weights. If you have stairs in your house, walk up and down the stairs. Go to Vintage Stock and spend $2 for an exercise tape, or heck I probably have one you could borrow. Just get moving, however that looks to you. Maybe you just need to dust off the exercise equipment that is in the garage, basement, under the bed etc.. and use it. I am not preaching my friends as this is a constant struggle for me ...but we need to get moving..somehow..someway.

Thought # 2 - I keep thinking that I need a goal. Just a short term goal. I am like a lot of people that are working on getting healthy- I look at what I would ultimately like to lose and it's 40%. That is A LOT!! and it seems so far away from reality. I need something to work towards that is a little closer to reality. I have been looking at 5k walks and bike rides and any type of physical activity that I (or we) could do that would give me something to work towards that would also benefit others. I open to suggestions from anyone who knows of good events that are taking place. It has to be something that doesn't require me to be superfit..and that I can do (no matter how slowly). It also has to help others. There was one in February that I was looking at but I don't think that realistically I want to set myself up for a failure. The one I am looking at right now is "Vertical Dash for Diabetes" on Saturday March 7th. The cost is $18.00. Chris and Leanna's father has been beating his diabetes, Molly has dealt with Diabetes, a dear friend of mine was recently diagnosed with diabetes, and a lot of others in my life are affected. This is a cause I can get behind. The event is as daunting as it sounds. It is a vertical dash up 34 flights of stairs. I can assure you that the website makes it very clear that it is not necessary to "dash" up the stairs and they welcome anyone who wants to "walk" up the stairs. They state the goal is to raise money for Diabetes while encouraging individuals to take part in physical activity. Do I think that walking up 34 flights of stairs would kick my butt?? ABSOLUTELY!! Do I think that I would be dang proud of myself when I got to the top?? ABSOLUTELY!! Then imagine how much fun it would be to go back next year and blow your time out of the water. So my question is --- who wants to do it with me???? Anyone..anyone..anyone...Bueller!! Once I get an idea if there will be enough to form a "team" then I will register the team so everyone else can register. The website is http://www.kcfit.net/verticaldash/index.html. Pray about it and let me know!!

God Bless!!!!!

Everyone on the bandwagon

A lot of people have talked to me about their weight loss journey lately. I think the blog is serving the purpose that God intended it to. It is a place where we can be honest about our struggles and support and encourage each other. I have had several people ask if they can join our biggest loser competition. The funny thing is, it isn't really much of a competition because we have no prizes..we are using it as a motivator. It is a way to hold each other accountable- it is amazing how much you think about the fact that you have to report your weight on Mondays. Sometimes it is all you need to put down that cookie you are about to eat.

Having said that- my philosophy is..the more the merrier. I am going to continue to track and post the weight loss of the original four people. I am going to encourage everyone else who is walking this journey with us to post your weight loss percentage in a comment. To figure your percentage, take the amount of weight that you lost over the previous week and divide it by the weight you weighed last week and then multiply it by 100. This will give you the percentage of weight that you lost. As an example, if you weigh 200 and then on the next weigh in you weigh 197 your calculation would look like this 3/200 = .015 x 100= 1.5%.

If it's too much work for you, you can simply send me an e-mail at holly.waugh@thermofisher.com on Mondays and I will calculate and track your weight loss on the Monday Weigh in update. I recommend that you always weigh in first thing in the morning (after any morning potty business) and weigh in as close to naked as you can get. I promise to never post anyone's weight (except my own) on this site- only percentage lost over last week and overall percentage lost. If you have been dieting for any length of time and you want to provide your starting weight, the date of first weigh in and your current weight I will reflect your total weight loss percentage in the overall totals.

Let's work together to beat this bad health once and for all.

God Bless

Do It Anyway

There is a lesson I learned at a Women's Conference that keeps coming back to my day to day thoughts. Very often when there is something you don't want to do, you need to do it anyway simply because it's the right thing to do. Your feelings will eventually catch up to you. If you know you should go for a walk but you really don't want to, get up- tie your shoes and get to walking. About halfway through your walk, you will start to feel better and you will find yourself glad you did it. If you and friend have a disagreement and you have each walked away offended, even though everything inside of you is screaming "I'm not apologizing- I was right and I don't care if I ever talk to her again", be the one to go back and apologize for your part in the disagreement and eventually your feelings will catch up with you and you will be glad that your friendship was restored. In all things, ask yourself what God would have you do and then do it..even if your flesh doesn't want to...and eventually your feelings will catch up to you.

Tomorrow is the weigh in for this week. Several people at church have asked how it is going and so far I think I am doing pretty good. It isn't always easy. I have been craving Mexican food. I mean REALLY craving some cheesy ooey gooey goodness. I even went so far as to look at "On the Borders" nutrition information but couldn't bring myself to eat 1800 calories for a meal. To split it would still be 900 calories plus you HAVE to have chips and salsa when go to a Mexican restaurant. I found a recipe for low calorie/fat Chicken Chilaquiles, and made up some fresh guacamole and my craving has been taken care of for now. Now don't get me wrong, I know it is critically important not to deny myself food or I will be right back where I started. I got some sort of exercise on 4 days this week so that is definitely an improvement. I am finding people crawling out of the woodwork who are trying to lose weight. Everyone seems to be motivating each other and encouraging each other. I think that's pretty awesome and just another super duper way to build RELATIONSHIPS!!!