Quick post

Just a quick post to let you know what is going on. We have been hard at work getting Seth's 4-H projects done. I helped him with his photography and fine arts (drawing) projects, Kevin helped him with his wildlife and small engines projects, and Grandpa Jack (my dad) helped him with his woodworking project. To answer your question, yes, I'm crazy to let him do that many things. But all I can say is, that is me. I do everything big! lol! Unfortunately, that includes food. But we are almost done. He and Kevin just have to get one more thing done tomorrow. Of course, we turn in the projects at 5:00 tomorrow night.

We have fair from Thurs-Tues. We are at the fair grounds every day with things to do. Friday, June 25th, Seth turns 11. Shay will be home Tues, June 29th. Hopefully, after that things will SLOW down! I sure hope, I'm ready to enjoy the summer. Please, keep Shay in your prayers, she is still in Paris tomorrow, and then heads to Switzerland. Praying she is having a wonderful, SAFE time!

Have a blessed day!

Jen

Cleaning house...

I have been soooo busy! Shay is leaving for Germany, France, and the Alps for 9 days tomorrow. Seth went to the Respect the Law camp at USI last Thurs, Fri, and Sat. We are, also, working like mad people to get his 4-H projects done by next Thurs. lol! Nothing like waiting til the last minute. I feel like we have been on a whirlwind of events and obligation since the 3rd week of May. But, hopefully, things are going to start slowing back down.

We wanted Shay to get her room COMPLETELY clean before she left. (which if any of you have an 18 yr old with a messy room you now what an undertaking that has been) We pulled everything out of the closet and has went through an purged a LOT of stuff. It has really gotten me in the mood to completely clean house. I'm planning on going through my room and Seth's room this week. I've already started in my living room. I'm ready to have a clutter free life, and that means all of it. I'm ready to get everything in order.

I'm ready to purge myself of everything that is holding me back. So, I'm making a new plan. This plan includes getting rid of anything just lying around collecting dust, paying off bills, getting work done on the house, making a menu, and making an exercise plan. I just want to be more organized. I've made a vow with myself that I'm going to tackle all of this. I can't expect to lose weight and maintain it if the rest of my life is in disarray. Kevin and I are setting down tomorrow night to discuss all of this and make a reasonable plan. I'll let you know how it goes.

I've done really well on the exercise plan this last week. Wednesday I went to the gym, Thurs I worked in the yard with my dear friend Annie for 3 hrs and then did water aerobics for an hour. Friday I worked in the house cleaning, moving furniture, and really got my heart rate up. Yesterday and today I haven't had time to exercise. My plan for tomorrow is to get some walking in and maybe the Biggest Loser workout. (i still haven't done that yet)

Plan for tomorrow: stay within my 37 WW pts, drink 8 glasses of water, walk, exercise, and make a plan with Kevin. A side note: I, also, have to take Shay to the Louisville airport (sending my firstborn to France sniff, sniff) and take Seth to 4-H at 6:00. So, it will be another busy day! lol! But what would life be if it was slow and boring.

Also, I hope you all are as blessed as I am to have a great dad to spend Father's Day with. We took him out to eat after church this morning. It was great spending time with him and mom. I'm very blessed to have the parents that I have. I'm doubly blessed to have a wonderful husband that is a fantastic dad! Love you Kevin and Dad! Thanks for everything you do!

Have a blessed day!
Jen

Focusing on how far I've come...

I've done really well today. I had my meeting with Andrea this morning and it went really well. I told her I would love to have her say "This is why you are fat and you need to do this to fix it". I know that isn't reality, but boy would that help! lol! She tried to get me to see how far I've come and she is right. I've been able to back off on some of my medicines, they've lowered the pressure on my sleep apnea machine, and the biggest is that my level of pain from being over-weight has gone down. That is the biggest one for me. I like that I can do lots more walking before it hurts. The first thought isn't how far will I have to walk anymore, which is a huge step forward. I'm going to try and focus on that and not on the fact that I'm not perfect with my eating all the time.

I got to have lunch with a great friend today at the Patio and then went to Evansville with Mom, Shay and Seth. So, I've had a full day of family and friends. You can't ask for much more than that. Annie and I are weight loss buddies, so lunch was a breeze. I wasn't tempted to cheat at all. I love having great supportive friends. Another friend, Pauline, showed up and the three of us made a plan for water aerobics on Thursday nights. So, that will be three water aerobic session a week! :) It's a butt kicker, but makes you feel wonderful!

My food for the day went like this:

Breakfast - Peanut Butter Sandwich - 3 pts

Lunch - Salad - 3 pts

Chicken Breast - 6 pts

Baked Potato with butter - 4 pts

Supper - Burger King Jr. Whopper w/cheese (no mayo) - 8 pts

Small Fry - 5 pts.

Snacks - Popcorn - 2 pts

100 Cal Cookies - 2 pts.

Grand Total - 33 pts of 37 pts used!

So, I'm 4 pts under today, which is great! Didn't get any exercise in, so, no extra pts earned. As you can see, my nutrition leaves a lot to be desired. That isn't what I'm focusing on at the moment. It's a future goal, but right now I just want to stay on course with my points.

My plan for tomorrow is: stay within the 37 pts, drink 8 glasses of water, and exercise at the gym during lunch.

Have a blessed day!

Jen

Hi, my name's Jenny and I'm a food addict....

That is suppose to be the first step to recovery. At least, that is what I've seen and read. You admit you have a problem and it gets easier to manage. Well, real life isn't like TV or books. I have admitted that I have a problem, but it isn't fixing anything. I have to now use that as a tool to make myself better and not an excuse to eat everything that I see. I feel like sometimes I use the food addiction as a crutch in my own head. I've had a bad day or a good day and I want to eat, in my head I'm waging a war and it's easy to say "I have a problem, it's not my fault" and then just eat. I'm working on it, but my internal dialog has to change. Andrea (my therapist) says that you have to "think about what you are thinking". It's a lot harder than it sounds.

I have been gaining and losing the same 10 pounds since Christmas. I'm tired of it!!!!! I've really started doing well on the physical activity part, but am still struggling with the food. I said I was going to post my food choices, but I still haven't. Mainly, because I'm not writing anything down all day long! :( When I was tracking I lost weight. It's not a magical thing, it's just being aware of what I'm putting in my mouth. So, my goal for tomorrow is to track everything I eat.

I did water aerobics with my friend Annie today, she has come up with a wonderful routine for us. The plan is to do the water aerobics 2 to 3 times a week, and we are going to start going to Zumba twice a week. I know it's going to kick my butt, but I'm really looking forward to it. Have any of you tried it?

OK, my plan for tomorrow is: track ALL my food, get 8 glasses of water in, see Andrea (my cognitive behavioral therapist) and get in my Biggest Loser Workout.

Have a blessed day!
Jen

I Eat 33,000 Calories a day - Lisa Sellers

I can relate so much with her! I have no doubt in my mind that this would have been me in a few short years if I had decided to do something about it! Food is a very hard addiction, because you can't quite eatting you have to learn to control it.

How does this video affect you?

Have a blessed day!

Jen

Thanks Chris!!!

I've been following a blog "A Deliberate Life" and she has some amazing entries, I was getting caught up on her blog and came across one I want to share with you. She has been at this for a year and has lost an amazing amount of weight.

On June 4th she wrote about being "Wholehearted" with her weight loss and it completely inspired me. I've been struggling again, and I really needed this. Thought someone else might needed to hear this too. Enjoy!

chrislivessimple.blogspot.com

Have a blessed day!
Jen

And the hits just keep on a coming!

Well, my wonderful plan for this weekend didn't quite pan out. I didn't eat horribly but I didn't stay on plan either. But I'm back at it and would love to be at 299 by July 31st. That is my new goal. I really hope to smash that goal early, but I think it is a very reasonable goal.

Had a wonderful service at church Sunday. We have a "new" pastor for the next 3 months. Our minister's daughter, Muriel, just graduated from seminary. She is preaching for our church this summer while Chip is teaching at the seminary, going to Niger, and taking a trip with his wife. We will miss them, but it is great to see things through new eyes. Muriel is doing a great job!

To the title of this blog. Work has been very quiet and tense the last week and a half, which just makes me want to eat! I know that I'm filling an emotional problem with the food, but that doesn't make it any easier. I'm a very vocal person and when you only work with one other person and they are being extremely quiet it makes it hard. I really like the lady I work with, but the quiet gets to me. I start feeling like I've done something to upset her. Which I know that she wasn't happy with me last week, but it was unavoidable. I wasn't going to miss Shay's college orientation. Just pray that it gets better again, (Which I know it will, I've been working with her for 4 yrs now) and that I find another way to deal with my emotional stuff other than feeding it.

My plan tomorrow is to track my pts and then post my food choices on this blog. I think it will help keep me on track better. As for exercise, I'm going to do the Biggest Loser Workout again and maybe walk tomorrow evening if it is cool enough.

Have a blessed day!
Jen

Skillet - "Monster"

Proud Momma!

I just want to say how proud I am of Shay. Let me clarify, I'm proud of both my kids, but today was Shay's day, lol! We had Orientation at USI and she auditioned for the choir. USI has two choirs; one is the Chamber Choir, they only admit 25 to 40 people and they perform all over the US and Canada, they, also, travel over seas,too. Last year they were in Ireland. The other choir is the Women's Choir. Well, Shay not only got into one of the choirs, but she was asked to be in BOTH!!!! She has an amazing gift from God!

Didn't stay on track with my food today. It was very hard not being at home to make the meals. We left at 6:00 am and didn't get home until 4:30. Then I immediately left again. lol! But I got A LOT of walking in. So, back to it tomorrow. The next 2 days are going to be hard food days, but I'm making a plan now to help make it not as stressful.

Some of you know that I'm a serious metal head when it comes to my music. Don't get me wrong, I love almost all music, but I LOVE metal and hard rock. I've been trying to find a christian alternative to this and was very pleased to find Skillet last week. We already listen to Flyleaf, but it is hard to find a truly metal christian band. At least, it has been for us. So, I'm listening to the CD and one of the songs really, really stood out to me. It's called Monster and it described exactly how I feel when the "Beast" shows up. It put to music how I've felt about my weight, lack of control, and complete addiction. Right now I'm in a really good place and haven't had to deal with the "Beast" since my candy bar incident, but it does feel like it looms right under my skin. I'm going to try and post the video off of YouTube.

My plan for tomorrow is to eat a healthy breakfast before I head to the food sell at the auction. (The woman's guild at my church is doing a food stand at an auction. I just know there won't be anything healthy to eat. lol!) Eat a good lunch at home before heading to a friend's birthday party and eating a healthy snack before heading to the graduation party. See what I mean about tough food day! lol! I'm going to try and get in my Biggest Loser workout, also.

Have a blessed day!
Jen

I'm back!!!

The last few weeks have been EXTREMELY busy! Something had to give and it was the blog. Just not enough hours in the day. I gave myself a break from the pressure of watching every bite that went into my mouth last week and it helped. I'm not saying it was the best idea for lossing weight, but it kept me from bingeing. I don't weigh until tomorrow, but I'm guessing that I'm up a pound or two. Not great, but with me it could have been a WHOLE lot worse. I've gained 8 pounds in one week before, because of The Beast!

I'd like to thank you all for the kind comments and encouragement you gave me. It meant a lot. Thanks, Lis, for ALWAYS being there for me! Elisa is "one of my girls". lol! My core group that keeps me sane.

As I promised a few blogs ago I have some pics to share with you all. Here we go!

This is the Tri-Poster we made for the choir concert.

This is Shay's Baccalaurette Service. She is giving her reading and then with friends after.


This is Shay with her Outstanding Musician award for choir. Sorry it's sideways. Can't figure out how to edit the photo once it's on the blog.

This is the four of us after graduation! So proud of our Shay!

Well, me plan for tomorrow is to stay within 37 pts and try to get some exercise in. I have to get back on track with the exercise. I'm having a lot of knee issues, but I have to find something to do.

Have a blessed day!
Jen