My End of the Summer Slimdown Challenge

Well, it’s time to update on the Slimdown Summer Challenge!

I know we only have a little ways to go to finish this challenge, and I feel awful for starting something and not finishing strong, but I’m bowing out.

Believe me when I say I’m more disappointed in myself than any of you could ever be! L

When you said to tell how we feel this week, Rochelle, I didn’t think I’d be quitting a challenge so close to ending it…

For a few months now, I’ve been asking God what it will take to get my relationship back to the point where I can truly say that I’m in love with my Savior, that I desire to get to know Him, and that I yearn to spend time with Him. And I kept feeling like I needed to turn off my computer.  I need to get the distractions out of my way much like taking a tempting cake out of sight. It’ll be hard, but I am so looking forward to getting back on track with the Lord.

And it’s not that I’m giving up on losing weight, but I do believe I need to put it into perspective. I need to figure out why I keep giving up on myself when I get to a certain weight.

But most of all I need to be listening to what God wants to tell me. And as much as I love to read about everyone’s journey and how everyone and their dog is doing on Facebook, I need to get back to God and His Word.

I do want to mention 2 bloggers who have helped me see the wisdom in this choice. One is Kimberlyn, from Minding my Weigh. She had been off the grid for a few months before coming back and letting everyone know that she’s fine and was going through a difficult family situation. But what really got me thinking is how she had been reading a book (that I had just read!) and how it had really spoken to her. It was Lysa TerKeurst’s book Made to Crave.  Why didn’t it speak to me in that way? Probably because I didn’t take time to study it, but just read it!

Another blogger had not been writing for a while as well. Keelie from JUST REAL. And just the other day she mentioned starting a new First Place 4 Health Bible Study. Well, I had just downloaded a book (Give God a Year) from Carole Lewis, she’s the National Director for First Place 4 Health and I have ordered one of the Bible Studies (which will be here in a few weeks). I really want to be studying God’s Word and using these books as a guide to a healthier lifestyle mind, body, soul and emotions. And the 2 key words in the Give God a Year book are PRAY and OBEY.

 Now, some may say this is a coincidence that I happened to read these blog posts by Keelie and Kimberlyn now, but I think its God showing me that I’m not alone. And I’m not alone even if I’m not blogging with all of you wonderful people out there. And I don’t need the blogging world to keep me accountable, but rather I need to be accountable to God first!

So, I’m going to take a break from blogging. I’d love to keep in touch though and I will be keeping up with some of your blogs. A lot of you have really been a great source of encouragement to me! Thank you for that!

So, I hope I'll be back in a few weeks or months to tell you what God has been teaching me in regards to my overall health. I hope to be telling you that I have a thriving relationship with Him and that, by the way, I've lost a few pounds!

Thanks for understanding!

Casey

Summer Slimdown Week 11

Well, I'm happy to say, my birthday week went by without a gain! Whew!!!
AND
I was/am being successful at exercising 6/7 days.
Also I ordered some books on weight loss, fitness etc. Can't wait to get them...
But I will share what I ordered on my next post, which will hopefully not be this short. Sorry!

Week 11 - (begin August 12) - TELL US HOW ARE YOU FEELING AND SHOW YOUR WEIGHT LOSS IN FOOD

Gotta run,
Casey

A craft I made for my sister

Summer Slimdown Week 9

Weigh-in:

Last week:254.8 lb
This week: 253.3 lbs
Lost:  - 1.5 lbs

So thankful I had a loss!

Warning: This is going to be a short post!

My week went fairly well. I went from Monday to Friday, I knew Saturday and Sunday would be hard, because we had 2 invites and I didn't want to stress over it. But 5 days was good!

Once again I didn't get much exercise in.:(
One cardio session 45 minutes
One Volleyball night 60 minutes
One Walk about 30 minutes

Next week Rochelle has this challenge for us:

Week 10 - (begin August 5) - SET A FITNESS/WEIGHT LOSS GOAL FOR YOURSELF (and post pics/measurements if doing so)
Let's surprise ourselves....we can do more than we think. This week is about telling each other what fitness goals we have for ourselves, because in a week or two I'll be asking everyone (myself included) to aim to surpass those goals. Same goes for weight loss. What do you want to lose this week (think outside the box - maybe it's not just weight)? And tell us why!

OK - Fitness will be 45 minutes of exercise on 6/7 days. Difficult, yes! Impossible, no!
Weight Loss will be maintain this week. C'mon people, it's my birthday week! :) I will not binge. I will not overeat. I will enjoy my piece of cake and party food, but I will limit myself!

Have a great week!
Casey

Summer Slimdown Week 8

Week 8
Face your fitness fear!

No change on the scale, I'm sad to say. But not really surprised.

I'm at 254.8 again and still.

I don't even know what my fitness fear is. Maybe it's success! Why else would I be avoiding it?

What threw me off this week was that my kids had their winter break extended. I can't even go to the bathroom anymore without someone pounding on the door or even just walking right in. I'm going to have to start setting some bounderies.

Have you ever felt that anything you do, or atempt to do is destined to fail? That's how I'm feeling right now.

I did succeed in my 5k this week. Julie was hosting a virtual one and I actually thought I had failed that too when I couldn't get my walk in on Wednesday, but then she extended her entries til Sunday and so this morning at 6:30 I got up and walked and walked.

There's proof!! Funny looking cell phone pic!

I walked my 5k in 59 minutes. Very slow, yes, but I did it!
And I did go to exercise class on Monday night and played some volleyball yesterday. Fun!

Other than that... too many cupcakes around this week.

I will be happy to start the next challenge tomorrow, since I actually forgot about it this morning:(

Week 9 - (begin July 29) - NO SUGAR (unless it's all natural) AND NO SNACKING AFTER DINNER

Have a great week!
Casey

Summer Slimdown Weeks 6 and 7

Weeks 6 and 7!

Groan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These last 2 weeks have been awful in terms of weight loss!

Last I updated was a 4.6lbs loss and I knew I'd gain some back because that was a detox week. But I gained back.

I'm at 254.8 again and I am SO ashamed!

I did ok on the vegetarian week, but I had not tracked for detox week and didn't for vegetarian week either. Which was my first mistake! The second one was I was really craving carbs. I think I do better on a low carb diet than a no beef diet.

Last weeks challenge was to commit to a 5K. As we have none at the moment in my neck of the woods, I'll be doing one all by myself, hopefully on Wednesday morning. I'll post my time when I've done it, so hold me accountable, ok!

Since my kids are on winter break, my scheduled exercise time has gone out the window, and I'm having a hard time getting back on track. Tonight I'll be going back to my exercise class (she's been on break for 2 weeks as well.) and if my husband doesn't want to do anything special on his birthday night (wednesday) I'll go play Volleyball for an hour.

Speaking of Birthdays!!! My daughter turned 12 last Wednesday, and will be having a second party on Thursday (she had a small on last wednesday). My husband's birthday is this Wednesday Thankfully he doesn't like sweets! Actually one of the only desserts he likes is flan, so I'll make him that! And my birthday is 2 weeks after his. And unfortunatly, I like sweets! I'll have to come up with a plan!

This weeks challenge was to face a fitness fear. I don't know about this one. I already tried Zumba... I'll have to give this some thought.

So, ladies, I'm back on track today. It's been rough. And I hate the consequences, but it's turning around!

Have a great week!
Casey

Summer Slimdawn week 5

Fifth Week down!!

Weight:
Last week: 251.7 lbs
This week: 247.1 lbs

YEAH! Out of the 250’s.

I managed to lose more than the required 2 lbs this week.  I Lost 4.6lbs!

Like I said  last week, I did a detox, which was not 7 days but rather 5 days since we went away for the weekend.

First day was only fruit. Now don’t get me wrong, I like fruit, but it was hard to do that exclusively. I was surprised that I didn’t feel like I was starving though. Every day you can eat as much cabbage soup as you want. It’s actually very good and you can put in lots of different veggies, just stay away from starch filled ones like potatoes. And since I didn’t prepare for this I didn’t have soup on the first day.

Second day was only veggies. I really enjoyed a baked potato first thing in the morning (which I wrapped in foil and put in the crockpot the night before. It was perfect. Thank you Pinterest!)

Third day was fruit and veggies, but no bananas and no potatoes. Getting a little more difficult, but still didn’t feel like I was starving.

Fourth day, at first I loved the milk and banana idea, but like they predicted, I didn’t even eat the allowed 8 bananas. And of course, there’s the soup. I dreamt about food after this day.  I felt guilty while sleep ing because I kept thinking it was real and I was cheating on my diet.

Day 5 beef and tomatoes. And soup once again!!!

Days 6 and 7 were thankfully eliminated because we spent the weekend at a hotel. It was a spur of the moment decision, so I couldn’t do any planning. But that’s ok.

I had always thought I should try this detox, but in reality I don’t know how much it actually worked on detoxing me. Yes I did lose 4.6 lbs, but I’m not sure that at least half of that won’t be back on by nexrt weigh in.

I only got in 2 exercise sessions in this week. Once 45 minutes and once 60 minutes. A few walks, but nothing very intense. We went for a long walk yesterday and played volleyball with the kids this morning, and although it was quite cold out, I worked up quite a sweat.

And for this week, Rochelle has given us a challenge I don’t know if I even want to succeed at! It’s VEGETARIAN WEEK!

I love beef!!! And I don’t like fish! But my family likes fish, so they will be happy! OK, Rochelle, I’m gonna try! But I’ll tell you now, it’s gonna be from Monday to Saturday, because we are planning on hosting a Barbeque on Sunday. But even that will be amazing!

Oh, and here are the pic’s. I put last months pic’s up again. Can you see a difference?

Have a great week!
Casey

June weigh in

July Weigh in