Today was the last day of our Jumpstart - 28 Days to Healthy Living program. Now granted, I did not work the recommended burstacizing into my last 28 days...I worked my day job, grew my Arbonne business and worked on taxes...all pretty sedate activity. I pray that spring temperatures will bring movement into my life. Nonetheless, the toal weight lost during Jumpstart was 16 pounds. Which brings my total since September of 2010 to 78 lbs. I stopped in the post office today to mail out "Feeling Fit" sample packages, and the gal who always works the counter asked, "Something is very different about you, but I can't figure it out, what is it?" I visit the P.O. at least once a month, but it has been winter and a heavy coat covers me up, and it was only recently that I finally splurged on clothes that fit, four sizes smaller. Now that my clothes are not hanging, people are really beginning to take notice, and I admit, I love it!
People have asked, "will you keep the weight off?" My answer, "most definitely, or I will eat my words!" (LOL) This has not been a 6 month diet, but a process of making a lifestyle change. My family is converting to eat more like I want to eat. The kids no longer complain about whole grain bread, as long as we shopped and experiemented to find one they really liked. I wll not go back to pounding down the white carbs...I know what they do inside my body, and have no desire to revisit that point in my life. I have always been an extremely energetic person, so when people ask, "do you have all sorts of energy now?" My honest reply would have to be "I don't think so." However, my joints no longer ache - a.k.a. no more creaking knees! I can bend down, crawl around, and walk a hill that used to take my breath away and cause my gimpy foot to act up. Not any longer.
Do you want lose weight and restore your vitality, but you don't feel you could drink your breakfast? That is fine - all you need to do is find what works for you and your lifestyle and stick with it. I don't have time to cook eggs, etc. in the morning - and the AB Essentials shake provies my easy button, whch prevents me from stopping for a large coffee and donut on the way to work. Because my shake is soy and whey free, and offers so many benefits, it will continue to be my "breakfast of vitality". :-)
Losing weight is a choice, a choice in choosing foods. Here are my tips:
First and foremost - stop eating processed foods loaded with chemical additives, such as monsodium glutamate, that actually make us gain weight. Check out my sidebar on the right for the link that lists other names for MSG. Processed foods such as "cream of" soups, boxed dinners, salad dressings, soy sauce... the list is long!
Diet sodas have chemicals that actually make you more hungry - personally, I think the soda inudstry is a top cause for American obesity - actually, I probably read that. Do NOT drink them -find a natural substitute.
Thirdly - cut the white carbs! This includes bagels, white, and often wheat bread, muffins, donuts, pasta - I reduced simple carbs, which your body processes as table sugar, 90%. (A cinnamon roll is allowed on Sunday ONLY if I was good all week.)
Fourth - drink lots of water. Carry a water bottle at all times, and actually tip it up to your lips once in a while.
Fifth - reduce stress. Invite me to teach a class on hormone balance and what that does inside. The Creator has made us so intricately that I have really come to appreciate more and more the awesomeness of His creation...which is us.
Diet sodas have chemicals that actually make you more hungry - personally, I think the soda inudstry is a top cause for American obesity - actually, I probably read that. Do NOT drink them -find a natural substitute.
Thirdly - cut the white carbs! This includes bagels, white, and often wheat bread, muffins, donuts, pasta - I reduced simple carbs, which your body processes as table sugar, 90%. (A cinnamon roll is allowed on Sunday ONLY if I was good all week.)
Fourth - drink lots of water. Carry a water bottle at all times, and actually tip it up to your lips once in a while.
Fifth - reduce stress. Invite me to teach a class on hormone balance and what that does inside. The Creator has made us so intricately that I have really come to appreciate more and more the awesomeness of His creation...which is us.
You do not have to continue as you are if you are determined to turn things around. Regaining vitality requires mental determination...when temptations beckon picture the devil, red horns and all, trying to tempt you - Satan would love nothing more than to weaken the body, the earthly temple of the Holy Spirit. Create mental pictures and call on them. Go find a new spring outfit you would love to wear, and try it on in a size smaller than what are now wearing. Do NOT buy what fits...tell yourself you cannot get this most desired article of clothing until you lose weight and fit into the next smaller size. Clothing is a great motivator! (LOL)
Below are definitions for vitality, and as I read them it is a perfect word for this time in my life.
1. Exuberant physical strength or mental vigor: a person of great vitality. Now, physical strength is NOT my strength, but God has blessed me with an enormous amount of energy and mental vigor. For me to able to absorb and remember so much of what I have read these past 6 months from the books and doctor's newsletters, I can only credit this to divine intervention.
2. Capacity for survival or for the continuation of a meaningful or purposeful existence. Purposeful existence...this past weekend I attended a Beth Moore "Loving Well" seminar, and during thought and reflection, it is quite clear to me that my new business has come into my life so I can help others who are struggling where I have been. I am just an ordinary mom, with a pretty ordinary life - and God has given me the tools to do something extraordinary in this season of my life, to which my doctor says I have turned back the clock 20 years.
3. Power to live or grow. I love that one. I like to say I don't just DO Arbonne, I live it. I have restored hormone balance through using products without mineral oil and other xenoestrogen tagged chemicals, I incorporate a little bit of bio-identical progesterone in my routine to ensure balance, and the nutrition and fit products have restored vitality to my body.
The origin of the word vitality is Latin - vītālitās. Anyone besides me see the root word for vitamins in that word? I had one issue that I have noticed has taken care of itself in the past 10 days. I began the Daily Essentials Power Pack vitamins at the start of the 28 day program. In that time I had read than an iodine deficiency is a common causeo of the issue I had had, and the addition of iodine into my daily diet has probably been a contributor to dissolved symptom.
The medical dictionary describes vitality as "the capcity to live, grow or develop."
I really love this. Don't we all want to live, grow and develop each day? God does not call us to sit around and do nothing to exercise or grow our mind, or let our body go to waste. He has given us the capacity to restore vitality if it has been lost. Perhaps your eating choices are fueled by unhappiness or stress. Say hello to God, maybe it has been a while, and ask Him to come in to your life and be a part of your "temple restoration project". Nothing is impossible. Jesus died on the cross for me and I felt I owed it to Him to take care of the body in which the Spirit dwells. Now, to Jesus, he does not care what shape my body is in. He loves me no matter what - unconditionally. But we are called to be stewards of what God has given, including our bodies, and restoring "my temple" was an answer to a call for obedience.
Quoting Martha Graham, “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.”
There is only ONE of you. Do you embrace every day with vigor and excitement, or is vitality missing in your life? I encourage you to meditate on what prevents you from having vitality in your life. I am living proof that vitality can be restored. You have to come to the point where you say, "enough is enough! not another pound!" Don't make the excuses that you cannot give up your carbs, or you can't give up soda, or a myriad of other food choices that are dragging you down. If you sincerely, with all your heart, want to restore your body it is totally possible - asking God for the wisdom to make healthy choices, thanking Jesus for his sacrifice every time you sacrifice and pass by that chocolate chip cookie, and asking the Holy Spirit to be present in fighting the tempation Satan puts before you. Who knew that losing weight is not only a physical battle, but a spiritual one as well? May your vitality be restored so that you may fulfill your holy purpose in this life.
-Rita S.
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