Celebrate You!

"The best gift you can give your family and the world is a healthy you and you cannot be healthy without celebration being a regular part of your life. You can change the entire atmosphere in your home simply by giving yourself permission to lighten up." This quote is from Joyce Meyer's new book Eat the Cookie, Buy the Shoes.



The book talks about reasons to celebrate life. Women, especially, have issues with taking time out for themselves. God made us to be the nurturers, caregivers and to make sure everyone is taking care of. A good example is the description of the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31 in the Bible. It describes how the virtuous woman makes sure her family has food, clothes and a nice home. The virtuous woman also clothes herself in fine linens as well. Clothing ourselves is the part a lot of us tend to miss.

We get so caught up in caring for others that we forget to take care of ourselves. Sometimes when we finally do care for ourselves we feel guilty about it so we do not do it any more. That is why Joyce Meyer wrote the book she did to let women know it is okay to go treat and celebrate yourself as long as we stay in God's will. Staying in God's will means to find a healthy balance because we should not over indulge. We are to be good stewards over everything. Going on a shopping spree once a weak when your family is behind on bills, for example, is not a good way to celebrate yourself. Buying one thing for yourself to celebrate working hard to pay off a bill is a good example. Going for a stroll in the park by yourself to get some quiet time is OK. Your family and/or other responsibilities will be fine for a couple of hours. When we are rejuvenated we have the energy to continue to care for everyone else. As the quote says above we set the tone for the environment. I have heard many husbands say that when their wife is happy, everyone in the house is happy.

I have taken notice of this in my own family. When I am bubbly and happy sure enough everyone else is too, including my husband. It is awesome that God blessed us with that kind of power. We should make sure we do right with the gift from God to have a joyful atmosphere by celebrating ourselves and not feel guilty about it.

Food Commercials Drive Me Crazy

I am writing this blog to vent because this is my weakness. Tuesday night is my favorite television night. I watch the Biggest Loser then TiVo Lost. After the Biggest Loser goes off I watch Lost. Both shows were very good. The Biggest Loser always gets me motivated to exercise. Sometimes I will start doing jumping jacks or sit ups because I am that motivated. However, what is very tempting and not motivating are those yummy looking food commercials. OH MY GOODNESS! My stomach growls at every commercial and it so tempting to run in the kitchen to grab any food I can find. Sometimes I have the urge to run out and buy something after seeing the mouth watering food in a commercial. And I am not ashamed to admit I have done that with cinnamon rolls. I sure did!

Did you know that 80% of commercials is on food? And health experts wonder why America is so over weight. For example, watch Nickelodeon with your kids and count the food commercials. More then half of the commercials will be about food.
How do we stop this madness! It is driving me crazy! Do we stop watching television at night? Help women, lets come together and figure this one out.

The Key to Successful Weight Loss

The  #1 key to successful weight loss is consistency. 

Staying consistent means maintaining a balanced diet for the rest of our lives. It may sound frustrating, maybe almost impossible but I am here to tell you it isn't. I used to look at women on television with their perfectly chiseled bodies and get all depressed because I could not look like that. I have learned that I could if I stuck with it. I made it a habit to count calories, including drinks. I make it a point to exercise five times a week. I am in better shape then I have ever have been and I am turning thirty next month. I treat myself to some high calorie foods about once a week. I advise that treating yourself should not be done until you reach the weight you want or you completely trust yourself. Early on in my journey treating my self for one meal would turn into one day of high calorie foods, then a week. Next thing I knew I had gained three pounds back. Then I was right back to square one.

A good way to get into practice is to make an eating schedule. Planning out your meals in advance is a great to keep track of what you eat. Many weight loss programs, like Nutri System use this method. It helps the person to stay focused on what they had already planned to eat, drink and snack on.
Another thing that helps me stay consistent in my eating habits is keeping a picture on hand of someone famous whose body I admire. Disclaimer, this is a healthy admiration. There is a difference between comparing yourself to someone and it puts you down. A healthy admiration is comparing yourself, but it pushes you to better yourself.

I have a picture of Regina King in the bathroom next to my scale. She is thirty nine and she says she is in the best shape she has ever been in. Every time I get a craving for something sweet out side my schedule I run to the bathroom to look at the picture. It helps keep me focused. I am not doing it to compare myself to her but it gives me a vision of the goal I have for myself.

Remember women it does not happen over night. It takes time to develop good consistent habits. YOU CAN DO IT!