Ending the year--juice, anyone?

Here we are with one week left in the year. I SOOoooooooooo want to end this year at my lowest weight of the year. (which was 250) When dad got sick, I gained some. So, I'm working on getting back down to 250. Wish me luck! Even though luck has nothing to do with it. It's Christmas Eve. I'm going to have pie at mom's house. That means I have bran flakes and banana for breakfast and a homemade nutribullet juice drink thing for lunch. It tastes terrible but it is so good for me.

So that's my focus. Are you focused? Or have you thrown in the towel until after the 1st of the year? It's not easy but it can be done. Let's do this.

A blogger in my shoes

I've searched and searched for a blog to read about someone who was on the weight loss bandwagon----while dealing with tragedy. If you find one, will you please pass the link on to me? please and thank you

My gift

Brief recap for those of you who may have missed it: My dad has stage 4 lung cancer with no hope of recovery. As I type this, we are at the cancer center having chemo. I haven't handled this well. Physically, I gained back 10 of the 81 pounds I had lost. Mentally, I've been overwhelmed. I go to the doctor tomorrow.

Now............I want to tell about the gift my mother-in-law gave me. She is a retired cancer center nurse, so she knows what I'm going through. She came and got my kids and took them to her house (2.5 hours from me) for the next two weeks (they left yesterday). She gave me the gift of time. Time to take dad to his appointments without worrying about finding a babysitter for the kids. She gave me the ability to focus on MY health and taking care of Me for a change. Hubby and I are eating healthy and I'm going to exercise classes that I wouldn't have been able to attend otherwise.

And already, the weight is coming off. It's a great feeling when you take care of yourself.

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

I haven't always handled the "dad's cancer tragedy" as well as I would like. I've had days that I've fed my emotions. a lot. I'm up about 7 pounds from my lowest (which was in September). Depressed. Not doing well. I want to be honest.

When you feed yourself junk, and a lot of it, not only do you gain weight, but you get sick and feel bad. I've felt horrid.

I was going to go to the doctor but I lost my insurance card.

A little less than 24 hours ago, I started taking St. John's Wort and I hope the initial results keep up. I have felt better. Not amazing, but better. And I am determined to feel myself healthy foods and cut out the junk that makes me sick.

Because I need to.

I just wanted to post this because I want it to be real. And this is life right now. And I'm still going to lose weight and be healthy and be the queen. Sometimes there's just a bit of ugliness in the beauty. And I don't want to lie and pretend it's all beautiful.

All is well that ends well.

Dealing with it & manipulating valid excuses

Dad's cancer results came back bad. Very. Stage 4. Four to eight months to live. wow.

It's one of those things that you just can't understand unless you've been there. I didn't realize that before.

And so, yeah.......it's been hard. I won't bore you with details and a pitty party.

We had a surprise birthday party for dad and I made a ton of cupcakes and did the "cake batter therapy" thing. I stood in my kitchen and ate half a batch of cake batter and cried on the inside and justified it because my dad is dying. MY DAD IS DYING, SELF, GET OFF MY CASE ALREADY. Yeah...I have conversations with myself in my head. And I think what I'm going through is a pretty valid thing. I mean, your dad doesn't die every day.

But no. Regaining weight will make me feel worse. I deserve better than that. I NEED heatlhy food to pull me through. I need to take care of me.

I decided to manipulate my excuse and say "My dad is dying. Therefore, I must take care of me!" That's so much better than "My dad is dying. Therefore, I will eat 5,000 calories today."

So even though I was super busy, I dropped the kids off at the library, paid ten whopping dollars for a day pass to the gym and poured my emotions out on the treadmill. It had been several months since I'd done a 5K, so I was pretty out of practice....but I did a 5K on that treadmill that day and beat my personal best time by 2 minutes. Because my heart was in it. Or rather, I poured my heart out into it. I ran until I couldn't run, then I walked, then I ran some more. I was dripping sweat and it was good. Sweat therapy. yes. I need it during all of this.

I could go on and on about cancer but I want this blog to be about weight loss, not cancer. So yeah.

I can make healthy choices in the face horrible stuff. Yep. You can too.

dress/pictures/new normal

This pic is of me last week on our 16th wedding anniversary. I decided to try on my wedding dress. It zipped and lacked about half an inch from buttoning. That's the closest it has come to fitting since I was 18, so I'm pretty proud. I'm excited to know that next year it will be way too big. :)

Several weeks ago, we were at an event that was iaway door prizes. One of the door prizes was a gift certificate for a professional portrait session. I told hubby "If I win a door prize, I will get that certificate and save it to have 100 pounds lost pictures made!" However, I was working (volunteering) at this event and I didn't see who won what. Imagine my suprise when on my anniversary, hubby presented me with the gift certificate! Yay! My goal was already to reach the 100 pounds lost mark by the end of the year (19 more pounds) but now that desire is on overdrive because the gift certificate expires the last day of the year!

I have been financially strapped lately. It can be depressing. Last night someone left kashi cereal, wheat bread, and tomatoes on my pew at church. They knew how much those things would mean to me and it touched my heart. Also my cousin/friend randomly sent me $50 of "Christmas money". How precious. God bless them!

In a short while I must wske my kids and get them out the door. We are driving dad to the hospital about an hour away to have bloodwork done. Then tomorrow we get to leave the house at 6 a.m. to take him to have his biopsy. Hard times. I haven't handled it as well as I would like to say I have. However, finally....I feel like I'm adjusting and accepting. There's just going to be a new normal for us. I have to let the old normal go and learn to thrive and be happy with the new normal.

Immunity

People get vaccinations to prevent them from getting disease. The vaccinations build up an immunity. There is a terrible illness going around. It is the "eh...I don't care. I'm just going to eat" virus. Wouldn't it be great if we could take a shot and never suffer from that again?! We walk into a buffet and decide that we will just have a salad and a piece of grilled chicken---because we are immune from all that other junk. That would be awesome! What a fairytale.

But in a way, there is such an immunity. There are times in our lives when we are just in the groove and we've got it going on and we are pretty much unshakable. During these times, we aren't tempted to mess up. It's almost like being immune to unwise decisions.

I had a season of immunity last April. I was losing weight well. We were staying in a fancy hotel in Tulsa over the weekend for the TOPS State Recognition Days. Lots of weight loss winners were being recognized. I was proud of my accomplishments and I was motivated to be on the stage the next year. I was just PUMPED! And I was immune. Nothing was going to make me junk out and nothing would make me miss my exercise.

Like vaccinations, these feelings wear off. You can't get a flu shot in 1978 and expect it to still be working in 2012. You have to go back and get immunized again. The same thing goes with our health. We don't stay on the mountain. We find ourselves in a rut sometimes.

Are you there? Are you in the rut? Pull yourself out, my friend. Remind yourself of your dreams. KNOW that you can do it. Give yourself that shot in the arm.

See you lighter!

~Amy

Breaking the mullygrub glasses

We've all heard saying about looking at life through rose colored glasses. Most of us aren't guilty of that though. Most of us look at life through mullygrub glasses. Recently I had several days in a row where I felt unbalanced, depressed and blah, feeling like a failure. Feeling like stuff needed fixing and I needed to be the one to fix it. If I were a better person, I would be able to fix things and everything would be perfect and happy with butterflies and cotton candy. If I wasn't so lazy, if I wasn't so incapable, if I wasn't such a loser.

Have you been there? Surely I'm not the only one who every wears mullygrub glasses.

Last night I went to bed and started praying, asking God to "fix me" because surely I am a failure and surely I'm doing things wrong,etc. THEN this thought came to me:

"What if you are just looking at it wrong and things are actually PERFECT? If things were lined up exactly the way that I (God) know is best, wouldn't THAT be perfect? Or must YOU be 100% happy with every little thing....must everything be going YOUR way for it to be a perfect day? Cancer, poverty, troubles...these things build character and have purposes that you don't realize. I AM doing great things in your life. You already do seek me--that pleases Me. You do your best most of the time-- that pleases Me. Keep doing those things. Then, whatever comes, trust that it is part of MY PERFECT plan for you. Your life is so perfect and you don't realize it. Break your mullygrub glasses and enjoy this perfect day."

Take time for you today. Ask God what you should do.... even what you should eat and if you should exercise. hum..............

Tough

I said I would blog each Sunday. Then my computer died. So now I will blog on Thursdays at the library while my daughter is at storytime. Sunday, Thursday, same difference.

What do you do when life gets tough? How do you react during seasons of chaos, extreme business or stress?

We have a tendency to put our health on the shelf during these times. The only problem with this is this: life if FILLED with tough times. If we put our health on hold during hard times, then 85% of your life, you health will be on hold. Life is tough. Often.

I took my dad to doctor appointments and medical procedures on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The doctor is 95% sure dad has lung cancer. Hard times.

Last night I ate when I needed to cry. As soon as I finished all of my "absolutely have to do/ bare minimums" for the day, I put on my pj's, and went to bed with leftover spaghetti, half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a glass of milk.

Hubby came in, sat on the bed and asked me if I was ok. I replied "I'm doing exactly what I tell my TOPS chapter not to do--I'm eating my emotions." Then he held me as I cried and talked to me for a while. (He's such a good husband). I went to sleep early. This morning, I feel better.

I keep thinking of one thing the doctor said to dad yesterday--- "We need to build your health up, because we want you to be as healthy as possible before you start chemo." This morning I'm thinking about me and my health and you and your health and just health and life in general. Life is hard. We go through lots of rough stuff in our lives. Compare this to going through chemo. It's not fun. We need to be as healthy as possible to pull through it.

Build up your health. You will need it to carry you through the hard times.

So that is my focus this week>>>>> realizing that taking care of my health is not selfishness, but a good thing. My health is a major priority. If you don't have your health, what do you have?

~Amy aka thatTOPSlady

Dear friend

Oh my.Time flies.Sorry I haven't posted.My new goal is to post every Sunday---at least for the next 3 months. That's my plan. I'm teaching a lesson at TOPS tomorrow about being focused and having a plan to have a very successful last quarter of the year. Blogging each Sunday is part of my plan. Perhaps next Sunday I will post details of my plan for the quarter.



Since I've been here last, I have hit my 80 pound mark. Yay! I can now fit (barely) into a size 20 skirt but I'm still wearing my size 22 skirt because the only 20 skirt I have has a split up to the kazoo and I need to sew a pretty piece of material in that before I wear it in public. I started my weight loss journey as a size 30.



I met someone recently who didn't know the 331 pound me. This friend is also on a weight loss journey So, the point of this post is to tell about the 331 pound me.



Dear friend,
I wonder what you see when you see me. Do you see me as morbidly obese? I am still classified as that, I think. In my mind, I'm no longer morbidly obese. I still have 60 pounds to lose,but after having lost the first 81 pounds, I'm feeling pretty healthy and confident these days. And so I wonder if you see me as healthy and confident or if you see me as obese. Not just you, but I wonder about people in general--how they see me. Not that it matters--I am what I am. And I know that I'm on my way to my goal weight and then no one will see me as obese.

Regardless of how you see me now, I want to paint a picture for you of my life 2 years ago and before. I've always been big. Really big. Maybe I could blame various people and various things for that, but that doesn't matter. For whatever reason, I've always been a big girl.

I have an outgoing personality but in my teen years, that personality was choked and died from ridicule from my peers. I had horrible teen years. Long story short, I was the school reject. It was so bad, I thought about suicide. But I was too scared. So I just became a hermit.

Fast forward to the early 2000's--I'm a mother of two kids and I weigh 331 pounds. My clothes are homemade because I couldn't get them to fit me. I owned one store bought skirt and it was a size 30. The rest were homemade. And they weren't pretty. They were horrid. Not that it mattered, because no matter how nicely I could have dressed---even if I could have afforded clothes from a specialty store---my obesity would still have been the first focus and thought of all that saw me.

I was so tired. I woke up late. I was always sleepy. I HAD to take a nap every day, just to survive. Things like washing dishes totally wiped me out. I was addicted to food. I would get a box of little debbie brownies and eat the whole box and then call my husband and tell him that I felt like I was going to pass out (duh, Amy. You just ate a box of brownies. Think that might be a tad bit much sugar?) I didn't want to be the way I was, but I couldn't break free.

I could eat massive amounts of food before I could feel full. Of course, during all this time, I lied to myself and told myself that I ate normally.

We went out to eat with our church one night, and the only place to sit was booths. I didn't fit. I was humiliated. I spent the entire time refilling people's drinks for them, getting a spoon, going to the bathroom, etc., just so I wouldn't be sitting down, because I couldn't.

Speaking of church, I felt ashamed to be so big because I felt like I was a reproach, a blemish, a flaw, a defect in the body of Christ---because of my obesity.

I wore out shoes incredibly fast---probably from my weight putting so much pressure on them.

My back hurt and sometimes it would "go out" and I couldn't do anything but lay down on the couch for days.

I couldn't fit the seat belt in the backseat of my husband's car or in my van.

We went to a concert in a school auditorium that had movie theater style seating. Truthfully, I didn't fit but because I was so embarrased, I forced my fat to squeeze in between those arm rests (and overflowed into the surrounding seats). It hurt so bad. I was in pain as I sat there and ripping myself back out of those seats was even worse. If I remember correctly, it left scrapes on my hips that bled.

I joined TOPS and ho-hummed around and didn't really do much. I gained 5 and lost 5 over and over. Finally, I lost 20 and then I spent about 2 years just sitting there juggling 5 pounds.

I met a friend who decided to take me under her wing and help me. SHE WAS A GOD-SEND. She spoke positive things into my life (such as the day when she discovered that I didn't like fruits or veggies and she said something to the effect of "Well, since you are going to become the TOPS queen, you are going to learn to like them" instead of "You can never become the queen since you don't like them". Guess what?! I do like them now! She started me slowly with bananas and taught me to learn to like new foods. You really CAN retrain your taste buds!). She read my food diaries and made comments about my choices. She REQUIRED that I exercise 6 days per week,eat my fruits and veggies, stay in calorie range and drink enough water. I texted her every single night and gave a full report of my calorie count, number of fruits and veggies, amount of exercise and amount of water. She was tough on me. But that is just what I needed. Even now,when I see that I am slacking up a bit, or when I'm pushing hard for a goal, I will go back to texting her.
I was improving but I still felt very addicted and bound to some very unhealthy habits. I felt that those addictions had more control over me than I had over my own self. It was also at this time that I went to a health seminar that mentioned that the pH level of diet soda is only one number different than that of battery acid. (NOT GOOD!)At this point, I had 113 pounds left to goal (or maybe it was 118--I can't remember which number). So, I decided that I would go on a 113 day fast from dessert, fast food, and soda. It wasn't easy. But I did it!!!!! The fast did 2 things for me that were obvious-- it proved to me that I COULD say no to temptation and it got me past the withdrawl symptoms (which are very real) from these addictions. You'd think I'd lose a ton of weight during that fast. I didn't. I overcompensated with way too much mac & cheese, etc. But it did show me that I could do hard things. And now, I'm not a soda drinker.

September 2011, I made a focused effort to be happy. I actually wrote it down as a goal>>>This month I will be happy no matter what! It did wonders. I started reading motivational literature. I started thinking positively and listening to happy music. I told myself that I was pretty. And the weight loss increased in speed. I do think the brain is the best weight loss tool we have!

Now all the seat belts fit, I can fit in any booth or theater seat, and this weekend....I.....(wait for it....) I KAYAKED! (think canoe). Yes, I kayaked! I fit in it! And I even fit the life jacket! You know, like a normal person! *high five* Being normal is so much fun :)

So here we are with 3 months left in the year. Tomorrow at TOPS, we are all going to establish goals for the remainder of the year--- weight goals, physical fitness goals, and miscellaneous goals. My weight goal is going to be to end this year with a 100 pound loss. Depending on what I weigh at tomorrow's weigh-in, that may be a 20-25 pounder. I will have to focus. I will have to push and work very hard. But I can do it. And guess what? You can do the exact same thing. I know you can. I just want to give you a big hug and jump up and down with excitement about the new freedoms you will be finding very soon as your health improves day by day! Every day, tell yourself "Today I am heavier than I will ever be again...tomorrow I will be lighter and smaller and healthier than I am today!"



Goodness, I love this! How exciting!

Until next Sunday,
~Amy aka thatTOPSlady

mile stones

Definition of Milestone, from wikipedia: A milestone is one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at intervals of one mile or occasionally, parts of a mile. They are also known as mile markers, or mile posts.Milestones are constructed to provide reference points along the road. This can be used to reassure travellers that the proper path is being followed, and to indicate either distance travelled or the remaining distance to a destination.

The first mile markers were made of stone, hence the name "mile stone". In ancient days, only a few miles could be traveled in a day. The milestones had great meaning to those travelers. This reminds me of a scripture: Joshua chapter 3 and 4. The Israelites (exceedingly large number of people) needed to cross a river. When those who were carrying the ark of the covenant stepped their feet into the water, the water fled and all of the Israelites crossed over on DRY ground. (it wasn't even muddy!) God told them to gather stones from the river bed and to build a memorial, so that when their children were older, they would ask "What do these stones mean?" and they would tell them, and the story wouldn't die.

Each of us have come so far with our weight loss. Have you noticed the milestones? Speeding down the busy highway of life, we often forget to notice them. This week, I challenge you to notice the mile markers in your journey. Maybe gather more stones and make a memorial out of it, so your story will be told from years to come. Take pictures. Make a list of things you can do now that you couldn't before.


In Washington D.C., there is a milemarker that is numbered zero. It is intended to be the mile marker from which all distances in the united states are measured. Look back at YOUR mile marker zero, where you started. Did out the pictures of you from your heaviest. Remember and write down the ways your life was different then. You have come so far from mile marker zero! What a journey!

flop

Yesterday I fell flat on my face. I could easily not post about it and keep the image of being "perfect" but that's not reality and I don't want to be fake.

Most of the time I am doing super great. Yesterday I wasn't feeling well and I ate and ate, this and that, trying to find that one thing that satisfied. Nothing did.

Anyway.............it happened. I'm over it. I'm just being "out there" and telling it like it is!

I did my first 5K today!!! :)

One year ago, my friend asked me to do a 5K walk/run. I was about 315 pounds at the time. I physically COULD have completed it, if I walked very slowly. The main thing that kept me from doing it was the mental aspects. I didn't want to be the morbidly obese lady that everyone whispered about. Plus, I had an "I can't" attitude. So I said, "Not this year, but next year for sure."

Today WAS that next year and I'm so excited that I did my first 5K!! I've lost a lot of weight since then but the main thing I've lost is the "I can't" attitude. Guess what-- I CAN! and I did! :) (You can too.)

I was #64 out of 94 ladies, #15 out of 22 in my age division. My time was 49:03 which is 2 minutes faster than my fastest time in training. My feet hurt. NEXT YEAR is going to be even more awesome because I won't be carrying around 70 extra pounds. :)

If they would have divided up people into categories of how overweight they are, I would have the best time for the "still carrying 70 pounds of excess weight" division. LOL!

I can't wait to compare this year's pictures and times with next year's. :) I want all of you to do it next year too! Seriously, If I can, you can.

Hubby and some other TOPS members represented our chapter at the area fun day today. Our chapter won the award for "Best Average Loss Per Member" for the quarter, with a 9 pound per member average. I've got such a motivated and "making great changes" group. Goodness, I'm proud of them!!!! (the other girl in the top picture is from our group and she rocked the 5K today!)

Tonight hubby is cooking bbq chicken on the grill. It is 4:30 p.m. and I'm already in my gown. I'm so tired but today has probably been one of the top 10 best days of my life!!! :)

Thank you, Jesus, for helping me---for I can't even walk without you.

Annual fast

In 2 days, it will be a year since I declared a 118 day fast from #1 soda, #2 fast food and #3 dessert. At that time, I was 118 days above goal and that's why I picked 118 days. I had such strong chains of addiction binding me and no matter how much I fought, I couldn't get free from them. During the fast, I lost my chains.

So, here I am a year later. As of today's weigh-in, I'm 74 pounds above goal. And just this past month, the chains have come back. They are still lose. I can get them off. They aren't tight. But if I DON'T get them off and I mean NOW, then they will continue to tighten and I will be in the same bondage as before. Why wear chains when you don't have to?

Therefore, beginning today, I'm going on a 74 day fast from the 3 things as last year, plus one more. #1 no soda (This isn't an issue anymore. I pretty much never drink soda now anyway) #2 No fast food. #3 No dessert (this has been a biggie for me lately) and #4 No going over calorie limit at all (because sometimes I say "oh well" and just eat what I want. But not during this fast. When my calories are gone, I'll be done for the day)

I just needed to speak this! I believe God will honor it, as he honored it before!

~I refuse to be bound~

This is reality.

I have made such HUGE changes in my lifestyle that it is easy to sometimes give them impression that I am now perfect. I am not. The past 3 days have been a real struggle. I want to be transparent here, plus I think blogging about them will help me deal with them, so here goes.

Short story: I'm tired and stressed.

Short story about stress:
CAMP>>>I leave in 3 days to go to work at a youth camp for 5 days and will miss my husband. We didn't have enough appropriate clothing for the children and I to have the necessary 2 outfits per day, so I've been searching here there and everywhere (thrift stores and regular stores) for clothes that fit, are appropriate and inexpensive. It has taken a lot of time and I'm so confused I'm not even sure we are finished.
MONEY>>>We don't have enough to pay everything that needs to be paid right now. I won't elaborate--most of you can relate.
DAD>>>This week my dad has been very sick and the doctor said he things dad may have cancer. Dad doesn't read or write well and I have been taking him to his appointments and everything.

Short story about tired: Because of all of the busyness and mental drain of the above stress PLUS.........the past 3 days I have eaten wAAAY too much JUNK because of business and that stupid comfort food thing, and you know what junk food does to you? It makes you tired and want more junk!


And so..................that's reality guys! And I'm SO going to slap it's face and tell it to get over itself because I have a plan and I'm going to win!

The plan: (I am hungry, craving junk, and there's not a lot to pick from in the kithen) Tonight>>> eat 800 calories of whatever for supper. Tomorrow>>>fast (I was planning to fast a day before youth camp anyway. It's for religious purposes but the health benefits are great too!) Also tomorrow>>>plan Sunday's meals and pack healthy foods to take to camp. Sunday>>>> eat what I planned and be back on track 100%.

That is all. :)

70 pounds lost--half way there!

I sure hope you can tell which is before and which is now! I've proven that I CAN lose 70 pounds..now I just have to do it AGAIN! And I will, with God's help.

(And for the person who asked about the newspaper article--it was about my weight loss and it went great and it was an honor!)

practicing 5K route

I woke just after dawn and walked/jogged the route of my first 5K (that is less than a month away). Hubby understandably didn't want me out there alone so he and my 10 year old came along. We took 2 vehicles and parked one at the half way point, just in case. By the half way point, my 10 year old (who was already not happy about waking and walking at such an early hour) was just exhausted. So, she and her daddy got in the vehicle and I walked on. Hubby and daughter kept driving around the blocks near me and yelling "You can do it! Come on! Come on! We believe in you!" LOL It was great :)

1st time on bike in 22 years today!

I did it! Today I rode a bike for the first time since I was about 12. My son wouldn't let me get on it until he got the camera ready--he wanted to video it--"In case something funny happens, we can win big money on America's Funniest Home Videos". I was pretty wobbly but I made it ok. I was on a men's bike which doesn't go well with a girl in a skirt but I put exercise capris on under my skirt and went with it. It wasn't pretty but it was modest and it worked. The kids kept yelling at each other, "Don't get too close to mom, just in case!" and I think they were actually trying to make the neighbors notice what was going on. Two of them were outside. I waved.

I went through the neighborhood twice-- 15 minutes.

Overcoming mental blocks that tell me I can't---and replacing those with thoughts of "Yes, I can. Just watch me".

Successful day!

I'm in the paper!

Our local newspaper contacted me today---I'm going to be in Thursday's paper! I'm so excited!!!

What successful people do

Last night's TOPS program was "People who succeed, do these things". I loved the message when I first read it and was excited to present it. The things are: work, change, fail, become, take charge, push, have a vision (and then I added, pray).

Work-- Success doesn't just fall out of the sky into your lap.

Change- If you want things to be EXTREMELY different, you are going to have to make EXTREME changes in the way you live your life.

Fail- Because everyone is human. Learn from your mistakes, then get up IMMEDIATELY and keep going.

Become- Allow yourself to become a new person.

Take charge- Are you waiting for the ball to be passed to you? You ALREADY HAVE IT and you don't even realize. You have within you everything you need to succeed. You just have to let those things rise up and be bold in your life.

Push- This is a step beyond work. Pushing is painful. When you hit a wall, PUSH through it.

Have a vision- Vision is your ability to see down the road. Envision GREAT things for yourself. Daydream about your success. THE MIND IS THE MOST POWERFUL TOOL YOU HAVE. The body *WILL* achieve what the mind believes.

Pray- Because if we could have done this alone, we would have done it a long time ago. Ask the Lord to touch your mind and TEACH YOU what you need to know about nutrition, exercise, health, etc.