Inspirations

So this past week I had the opportunity to hear some pretty amazing people speak and I just wanted to share with you some of the notes I took of the thing s that stuck out to me.  

The first man I was able to hear from was Chad Hymas.  I briefly mentioned him in my last post, but I wanted to tell you a little bit more about him and his message.  Chad was paralyzed 10 years ago in a farming accident and has turned himself into one of the top motivational speakers you will ever hear.  The day of his accident he was on his way home to see his son who had taken his first steps that day, little did he know that would also be the day he would take his last steps.  One of the questions Chad asked us was, "Are you willing to change a habit for someone else?"  He told us, it was never about you.  When he was in the hospital after his accident, his dad came in to see him and he asked Chad, "are you just going to sit there?"  Chad's first initial response was, well yeah, I 'm paralyzed dad, not much I can do.  Chad quickly turned that attitude around and has made such an amazing story of his trials.  Chad travels all over the world speaking.  One very powerful statement that Chad made to us that day is that a lot of us are more paralyzed than he will ever be.  That is really so true.  How many of us let little things like fear hold us back from things we would like to do.   A few other really good statements he made are:

"Give more than you take."

"Don't be a talker, be a doer."

"Focus on what you still have and not what you have lost."

"Don't wait to be asked."

"Give other people hope by your actions."

I strongly recommend that if you ever get the opportunity to hear him speak, that you do.  I promise you will not regret it.

Another great man I have had the opportunity to hear from a couple times this past week is Dr. Marcus Laux.  Dr. Laux is a doctor that specializes in natural medicines and has spent 20 years traveling the globe looking for natures medicines.  He also appears on TV regularly teaching others the amazing things he has learned.  There were so many great things I have learned from him, that it would take to long to go into all of them, but I will list some of the things I have in my notes, and I want you to just take the time to think about each of them.

"If you want to save your life, you have to change your life."

"It's not your fault, but it is your responsibility."

"Persistence not perfection"

"You are AMAZING"

"Imagine what you will know tomorrow."

"Become a lighthouse and shine for others to see."

"The hardest thing to widen is a narrow mind."

"Watch not only what you eat, but what is eating you." (in your mind)

"Single best thing you can do is exercise."

"The body knows how to correct itself."

Another couple of things he told us that I wanted to explain more, he said that when going to the grocery store and shopping for produce and other things, and you don't know what type of food it is, you can look at the numbers on the labels to tell. If the first number is 4 then it is a conventional product, if it is a 9 it is organic and if it is an 8 it is a GMO (genetically modified).  I haven't had a chance to look at any products to test this out yet, but I found it very interesting and helpful.  Another interesting thing he taught me was about sweat.  The first 10-15 minutes of sweating, is just that, sweat.  But after that you will notice that your sweat starts to feel a little greasy, and that is because you are actually melting the fat inside you body and it is coming out of your pores.  It is very important to shower or atleast wipe it off, otherwise your body will reabsorb it.  The next time you get super sweaty, wipe some of the sweat on your fingers and rub them together and you can feel for yourself that it feels greasy.  I tried it this morning after running.

So you can see that I have been up to a lot of good learning lately.  I know it is a lot of info and I would be happy to expound on anything more you would like.  Knowledge is power and I definitely need as much power as I can get right now.  If any of you have any great knowledge to share with me, I welcome all I can get.

I also had my weekly weigh in yesterday and was down 3.6lbs for the week, for a total of 56.6lbs.  Moving right along!!

3 Month Pictures and Stats!!

So I have been on my journey now for 3 months, and I can't believe how quick time has gone by.  I am finally to the point where I can tell a difference in how I look.  Plus I am getting random people who I don't really know coming up to me and making comments too, and that really helps too.  I had the amazing opportunity to hear Chad Hymus speak yesterday, and he was so amazing to listen to.  One of the main points in his talk was to show by doing and not by talking.  I really feel like I am getting to that point.  Yes I have done a lot of talking, but now I realize there are a lot of other people watching me that I am not talking to and that motivates me even more.  I really hope that as I go along I am able to help others as others have helped me.  I really truly feel amazing and want to be able to pay it forward.  So anyways, on with the results.  In three months I have released 55 lbs and 32.5inches.  The areas I measure are bust (down 6.5in), Waist (down 9in), Hips (down 7.5in), 

R thigh (down 5.5in), R calf (down 1.5in) and R arm (down 2.5in).  

 

I still have my ups and downs, which I am sure I always will, but I am becoming so much stronger physically, but more importantly mentally.  I really feel like I finally have a grip on this and really know that I am going to do it, and it feels amazing!!  I am still so grateful everyday for everyone in my life who is helping me through this and giving me the support I need.  I could not do this alone!!

 

So here it is, the big three month reveal!!

 I only included my starting and current pictures this time, so if you have missed the last two you can go back to last month and look at month one and month two pictures.

My goal for the next 3 months is to lose an average of 15lbs a month, which would mean at my 6 month mark I would be down 100lbs.  Oh my gosh, that is crazy to even think about.  One day at a time and as long as I am moving forward, that is really all that matters.

Ornery Ramblings!!

I don't know why, but for the past few days I have been so ornery at everything and anything, for really no reason.  I realize that people don't need to read about my moodiness, but this is more for me and I am hoping that by writing about it, it will help me snap out of it.  Yes I am on my period this week so I am sure that has a lot to do with it, but it seems to be going a little deeper than normal.  I am in no way going to quit, but I am just feeling warn out and tired from all of this.  I have had thoughts like, this is just too hard and is going to take forever, and I can't do it, but then luckily that new positive side of my brain is taking over and making me realize that yes I can do it.  I am able to realize that if I don't continue on with this, I will be way more unhappy than I have ever been before.  I think the thing that is getting me is that this is just HARD and it takes so much time and effort, and planning, and organization.  I am trying really hard to wrap my brain around the concept that this is a lifestyle change and not just some temporary change until I get the weight off.  I have grown so much in the past 3 months, but I see that I still have a long way to go.  Time is another thing however that I seem to get caught up on.  I can't focus on how long this journey is going to be take, because that only makes it harder.  I need to continue to take it one day at a time and just focus on that and before you know it, I will be another 3 months into this.  I really can't believe that it has already been three months.  I realize I am totally rambling and I apologize, but I just going to keep on going, cause this is helping me.  A good friend just came to my door to bring me something she had for me, but she also brought me one of those mini mint 3 musketeers.  She asked me how I was doing and I told her good, but struggling a little bit and that I was actually in the middle of writing this post.  And if you know me at all you know that of course I cried talking about it.  It was really good though and I appreciate the words of encouragement she had for me.  I came back inside and looked up the calorie guide for the treat she brought me and saw that it was only 25 calories and so I ate it, and savored every bite and it was so good.  Thank you Jessica, just what I needed.  When I was looking up the nutritional information Logan was standing by me and it showed that the mini bars came in a big bag and he said, "that is good she didn't give you the whole bag, cause she doesn't want you to get fat again."  It has really been fun watching my kids learn along with me and see the things they pick up on.  Yesterday Logan said to me that if he had one wish it would be that candy was healthy for you.  Me and you both kid!!  OK now I am getting off track, but I am starting to feel better.  So lets take this in the other direction now and focus on the positives for the week.  There are three things that I can think of positive for the week.  First thing is that I lost 1lb this week, not great but I will take it.  Second, I got to spend some time with a good friend, while she pampered me and did my nails.  I don't get out much socially right now, really for just a lack of time, and it really was nice to just relax and have fun chatting.  And third and the most exciting is that I won a weight loss contest that I was doing on Facebook with some ladies, and I won $110.  Yay!!  I am truly grateful for the contest, and not because of the money, but because it really put my mind in the right place to be open for the opportunity to embrace the program I am currently doing.  This contest started before I started Sponsor Me Slim and before that I really had not tried to lose weight for the past couple of years.  I was just so tired of failing that I stopped trying.  So when I found out about the contest, I kind of thought, yeah I should probably do this.  So I signed up, but really didn't do anything about it for the first month or so.  I did however do a lot of thinking about it and started to realize again, that I really did need to find something for me that will work and that I can stick to, I just didn't know what that was, until that day I met Stacey at the mall.  So I truly believe that this contest helped me in so many ways, thanks again Jaimee for organizing it!!  OK I think I have done enough rambling for today.  I am going to take the rest of the day and make it positive and snap out of this funk and into happy grateful Christa.  I truly have a lot to be grateful for and am not going to waste anymore time thinking about how hard things are.  A weight loss coach/friend of mine wrote on Facebook this morning to,"DECIDE TODAY to CREATE PEACE, LOVE and JOY", and that is just what I am going to do.

Success!!

I am so happy today!!  Today was weigh in day, and I always get a little bit, no a lot bit nervous when I get on the scale each Thursday morning.  I cheated and got on the scale on Tuesday of this week and was really excited by the number I saw, and realized I was only 2lbs away from 50lbs down.  I thought to myself, oh my gosh this could be the week I hit 50, but then my mind goes into sabotage mode and I start to have negative thoughts, like you can't do it, and that number is not right and is going to be higher when you get on the scale on Thursday.  I am trying REALLY hard to get control over the negative me inside my head, but it is not always so easy.  So on Wednesday night I was stuck with a battle in my head of the positive thoughts battling to get the negative ones out.  I am happy to say that the positive won the battle and I went to bed dreaming of the number 50.  I was so scared to get on the scale this morning, I even stayed in bed longer than I should have even though I was awake.  So finally I put on a brave face and grabbed my camera (I take a picture of the scale on weigh in days (sorry not ready to show you the number yet))and headed up stairs to the scale.  I stepped on and closed my eyes for a second.  When I finally looked, I had to do a double take and did not believe what I saw.  10.2lbs down for the week for a total of 52.2lbs gone FOREVER!!  I did it!!  I was so excited I started to jump up and down.  My first thought was I have to tell someone about this.  Unfortunately Tyler was in a work meeting and I couldn't get through to him, so I called my parents, and then I called my coach, then I called a couple friends, then I put it on Facebook, then I finally got a hold of Tyler, anyways, you get it I was excited!!  Having times like these are so important along this journey.  I know I have said it before, but there is nothing easy about losing weight and to have moments like this where I can truly jump for joy just make it that much better.  Thank you to everyone who has celebrated with me today!! 

Tested

So my family and I just got back from a 9 day vacation to Disneyland, and while it was so much fun, it was very challenging and tested me like nothing else.  There have been several times in the past when I have tried to lose weight, that I would go out of town and blow it and then come home and give up.  I was determined to be successful this time, but it was not easy, and I still didn't get the results I was hoping for.  I went to Disneyland with a plan of how to be successful.  I brought my crock pot along and planned to put a healthy dinner in it every morning and then continue with my shakes for breakfast and lunch.  Well I didn't end up using the crock pot even once and most days only had one shake, but I was still doing good.  We cooked a healthy dinner twice, went out to a nice dinner once, and ate at subway or quiznos the other 3 days we were there.  I was proud of myself when we went out to dinner though, because I asked our waiter if they had a copy of the nutritional information and he told me they didn't.  I proceeded to look at the menu and decide what I thought I could eat.  I had a meal picked out, when all the sudden our waiter came back with a copy of the nutritional info he had found.  I was very grateful for it, and happy to see that the meal I had decided on was the best one I could have picked.  It was grilled chicken on a bed of wild rice served with steamed broccoli.  It was so yummy and under 500 calories.  

The hardest part of the trip was being in the park and seeing and smelling all the good food.  If you have ever been there before, then you know what I am talking about.  Every five feet there is another cart selling some kind of treat, and I swear they have fans blowing to waft the smell in every direction.  Not only that, but my husband gave in to my kids rather often and I had to watch all of them eating said treats.  It kind of took some of the fun out of the trip having to focus so much energy on not cheating, but I am proud of myself for the choices I made and I know that if I would have given in, I would have felt a lot worse.  I did let myself have one little splurge though.  I told myself if I made it though the week, then on the last day I could try the dole whips, which are a fresh pineapple sorbet.  I bought one on the last day and shared it with everyone, and it was good!!  

So coming home from the trip, I felt really good about the choices I had made, and was anxious to see what the scale said.  I was very disappointed to get on the scale and see that I had gained 4 1/2 pounds.  What the heck, where did I go wrong!?!  I look back now and can see that some of the choices I made for snacks were probably not the best.  I ate an apple everyday, but I also had some pretzels, and a lot of beef jerky.  While none of that alone should have resulted in a big weight gain, I realized that I was also not drinking very much water and eating lots of salt.  All that combined with traveling in the car for 12 hours straight can cause some major water retention.  Like I said before, that in my past, having results like this would have caused me to quit and give up, and while I did struggle with feeling down about it and frustrated, I did not give up.  I have focused this week on getting back on track and back to a good schedule.  I had my weekly weigh in this morning and am happy to report that I am back to within a pound of where I was when I left for Disneyland.  I am glad to have had this opportunity to test myself.  I find that every time I go through something difficult like this, I come out stronger.  There is nothing easy about this journey I am on, but I am so glad I have finally decided to do it.  I have the best support system and the most amazing husband that supports and pushes me forward.

A good friend shared this quote with me today, that I love and fits in perfectly,

 "You have not failed until you have quit trying." - Gordon B. Hinkley

  Another great quote I saw today from Pres. Hinkley said,  

"Everything will be ok in the end. If it's not ok...it's not the end."   I love it!!

So to any of you that are on your own journey to get healthy, I encourage you to push through the trying times and I promise you will come out of it stronger.