An AHA Moment?

Do you know anybody who is in perpetual waiting mode?  Waiting for some big AHA moment to shake them to their core so that they suddenly jump into active motion and do something about the things that they know they should be doing something about?  Waiting for Monday ... I'll start again on Monday ... I'll start again when school is out ... I'll start again when school is back in session .. I'll start again on my birthday ... I'll start again on New Year's Day ... oh crap, I ate a cookie, now I have to start again on Monday ... might as well eat a whole pie since I'm starting over anyway .... well guess what ... sometimes you have to FAKE IT.

Yep, sometimes you have to fake it til ya make it.  Stop starting over.  Stop waiting for some big monumental event to make you realize what you already know.   Life is full of excuses and obstacles.  There is pain and disappointment and kids and life and husbands and jobs and money problems and grumpy friends and people who let us down and interruptions and everything else.  Fall down 7 times, get up 8.

Stop waiting for an AHA moment.  Make your own.

As always, make champion choices,
Debra

Liebster Award

Well, apparently I've been given the Liebster Award.  If you don't know what that is, don't feel bad, I had not a clue.

"Liebster" is German for "dearest" and it's a blogger to blogger award for those having 200 or fewer followers/members, so they can get more exposure. Well, I'm ALL for spreading the love, so -- it is with blushing cheeks and humble gratitude, that I happily accept.  SO a big fat Thank you to Patsy from http://myarmsopenwide.blogspot.com/ for the great honor.  Smooches to you my friend.

Of course, there are rules, gotta love rules:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 11 blogs of 200 followers or less, who you feel deserve to be noticed, and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been nominated.
5. Answer the 11 questions the blogger presented you with, create 11 questions for the blogs you are nominating, and list 11 facts about yourself.

The Obligatory Questions I Must Answer:

1. Why did you start your blog?   I want to share my journey and hopefully provide some insight and motivation along the way.  I've learned a lot through self-study and personal success, and if I can save someone else a bit of stress or information overload, then that's even better.

2. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?  I hate this question.  Sorry, Patsy... I love you dearly, but I hate this question.  I have no idea.  This would require planning, and I am terrible at that, lol.  I'm the spontaneous girl dreamer with my head in the clouds.   I hope to have finished my bach. degree in 10 years and have my personal trainer certification completed.  I also hope some of my children have flown the coop by then. LOL

3. Would you support me in my endeavor to be Queen of our country?  Absolutely.  It's nice to have connections ya know.

4. What is your dream that you're afraid to talk about but secretly think about all the time?  It's not a secret, but it is my dream to be a published author.  I don't really have any secret dreams, and any that may qualify would affect the nature of this blog and hurl it into an entirely different audience and category, tee hee.

5. Of course, because I love to read, what's your favorite book?  Can I choose the easy way out and say 'The Bible'?   No, I didn't think so.  I'm in the midst of chaos and raising 4 lovely children right now, that is the season of my life, and I fear I do not read quite the way I wish I could.  If it's not Oxygen magazine or New Rules for Lifting for Women, I'm not sure.  You know what, I'm sticking with 'The Bible' ... you can't go wrong with that one.

6. If you had total control of the world, what are 3 things that you would do immediately, aside from crowning me Queen?   (1)  Crown Patsy Queen.   (2)  Eliminate persecution of Christians.  (3)  Create universal money. (4) Find a book to read.

7. What is one goal that you achieved that you are most proud of (not counting family)?  I lost over 100 pounds.  Well, I don't like to say I lost them, let's say I released them. 

8. What are you working hardest at right now?  Does raising children count?  Well aside from that, working hard on getting some medical mysteries of mine figured out and continuing on my health journey.

9. What is the most hilarious thing that has ever happened to you?  My whole life is a comedy act it seems.  Hard to pick one thing.  My wedding was pretty hilarious.  Groom/hubby lost his glasses, I had to drive, we had a flat tire, we got lost in a graveyard in the rain trying to put flowers from my wedding on my mother's grave.  Yeah, things like that happen to me all the time, lol.

10. Finish this sentence: In 2013, I will _____________________.  I will finish my personal trainer certification.

11. They're making a movie about your life. Who would  you choose to play your part?  Meryl Streep of course.  Is there any other choice?  I think not.


The Obligatory 11 Facts I Must Provide:

1. I use to work for the FBI.
2. I love lima beans.
3. I hate pizza.
4. I collect watches.
5. I wear mis-matched socks on purpose.
6. I love bridges.
7. I've driven across the USA twice (coast to coast)
8. I can pinch you with my toes like nobody's business.
9. I've been married for 20 years to the same glorious man.
10. I have four children, but have hosted dozens of foreign exchange students and foster children over the years.  Right now we are hosting a girl from Taiwan.
11. Two of my children were spontaneously born on holidays (Halloween and Valentine's Day)

The Questions My Nominees Must Answer: 

1. Why did you start your blog?
2.  Do you have a target audience for your blog?
3. What is your overall message you want the world to hear?
4.  What do you do about haters?
5.  Do you have a Facebook Page, if so, what is it?
6.  Who would you just LOVE to interview and blog about?
7.  If you could have a celebrity endorse your blog for free, who would you pick?
8.  Who are your heroes?
9.  What is your guilty pleasure?
10. If you could have an all-expense paid convention for all of your blog followers, where would it be?
11. Would you consider writing a book based on your blog?


Now the moment you've been waiting for (well, maybe) ... my 11 nominees for this very prestigious award ... drum roll please ... and they are:


1.  The Chicken Scoop
2.  Tri To Be Fit
3.  Living The Fit Life
4.  Fabulous Fitness
5.  Dimples Does It
6.  It All Makes a Difference
7.  Living Life in Louie
8.  Chell's Journey
9.  Girls Gone Healthy
10. Eat Good 4 Life
11.  Fit for Faith

Check out their blogs, and tell them Healthy Habit Girl sent you.  Enjoy.

Start by Eating !

Healthy Habit Girl's latest creation ... enjoy !

You must eat this, don't eat that .. too many carbs, but not enough fat.
Try this superfood, juice for your life ... cook all meals, like a good little wife.

Cardio is the answer, weights are the key ... eat six meals, no wait, only three.
Running is great, but not for you ... now go for intervals, in all that you do.

What is your heart rate, what is your pace?  I'd rather walk, then join a race.
Hows your cholesterol? How's your BP?  Now go tell me, the color of your pee.

Drink your water, but not too much.  Eat your veggies and fruits and such.
Avoid all soda, you know it's so bad... and sugar explains every ill you've had.

Gluten is the devil, or is it just wheat?  Now count those calories and all that you eat.
Salt is horrible - but sea salt is great?  Which leads to a whole other lively debate.

You're eating to much!  You don't eat enough!  And aim for abs, to be totally buff.
Skinny is now out, Curves are now in.  Do you eat for health or starve to be thin?

Do you follow the crowd, or lead the way? Or, do you just follow the diet of the day?
Do you read so much, you just get stuck?  Analysis Paralysis just breeds the bad luck.

Do something, or anything, but move your feet.  And by all means, if you're hungry, EAT!
Willpower is overrated. Motivation is fleeting.  If you want to lose weight, start by eating!

As always, make champion choices,
Debra

Weight and Finances!

I think for many people (not all) ... if they are undisciplined with their money and budget, they are also undisciplined with their diet, or managing their weight. Many people who have trouble managing their weight, also have trouble managing their checkbook. 

Things that are important require planning and patience ... you need to plan your meals, what you're going to eat, when you'll eat it, maybe prepare the food ahead of time, etc. Money is the same thing. You have to pay attention to your input and output, credits and debits. 

I think too often people suffer with the 'I want it now" disorder. They have no concept of delayed gratification. It's easier to put it on a credit card then it is to save money for it. It's easier to go through the fast food drive through then it is to go home and cook a meal. 

I also believe in the domino effect. Focus on getting ONE thing in line, and doing it well, and then that often leads to other things falling into place. You can't try to change your whole life in one day. Which leads me to the other disorder I run into a lot ... "all or nothing" disorder. You either do everything perfectly, or you say screw it, and don't even try at all. 

My mantra has always been about habits. Focus on changing one habit, replace one bad with a good. Then do another one, then another one. 

If this doesn't apply to you - then just smile and move on, not trying to step on any toes or anything. But if it strikes a nerve with you, maybe it's something to work on or think about. How do your finances look? Are you happy with your weight management? If they're both a mess, maybe they're connected to something bigger you need to work on. 

One last thought, if you have not read The Spark book. Read it. I have two copies. It is awesome. (click here for Amazon:  Spark Book)

As always, make champion choices,

Debra

Superbowl Sunday

My day started with my 4 yr old son throwing up all over me and in my face, literally. Yeah - that was just lovely. Had to laugh -what else can you do. Then later, I started feeling crappy and got a fever. Fun times. My 7 yr old son says to me, "you know mama, that was kind of rude for James to hurl on you and get you sick". Ahhhh well my son, not rude, just part of the job. Besides, it gives me a great story to tell his girlfriends about him when he's older. 

Meanwhile, I guess there is some kind of football game on today that everyone is talking about, and something about commercials. :) Yeah, I'm not watching it, I'm watching a documentary on Alaska. I'm such a rebel that way. 

Whenever I think of Superbowl Sunday I think about my sweet hubby and when we were just newly dating, 20 years ago. It was a Sunday afternoon, and he came to pick me up at my dad's house. My dad says "hey, where are you guys going?". We answered we were going to walk around Washington, D.C. (I lived in VA). My dad was like "WHAT? It's Superbowl Sunday, aren't you going to watch the game???" ... clearly my dad was shocked. My sweet Tom just looked at him with a surprised look on his face, and said "Oh, is that today?". He had no clue. Neither did I. It's not that my husband is anti-athletics or sports or anything, and he can watch a game now and then with the best of them ... but he just hadn't been paying attention. My dad told me to hurry up and marry that man because I had a keeper. My dad was right. I did marry that man. We will celebrate 20 years of marriage in April. 

At any rate; hope you enjoyed your Superbowl Sunday - - whether you were watching television, looking at monuments or dreaming of Alaska.

Here is our wedding pic:  (Happy to say I'm smaller now than when I got married)  ;)

As always, make champion choices,
Debra

Groundhog Dog - Different Meaning to Me

On this day in history, when I was 12 years old, my mother had a heart attack.  At that time, she was only 40 years old.  It was unheard of, really.  She had a major heart attack and was in the hospital for probably 3 weeks I think.  She was overweight and had been a heavy smoker.  This, of course, was the day she quit.  It's hard for me to remember that my parents were smokers before then, but they were.  This was in the 80's, and low-fat everything was all the rage.   So after mom got out of the hospital, we became a low-fat, low-salt household.  I remember her buying some sort of fat-free potato chips and thinking 'why bother?'! LOL   ....

She started an exercise routine after that to help rehabilitate herself.  She got to where she was walking about six miles a day.  She lost a good bit of weight, in addition to quitting smoking.

Fast forward five years, 1987 - she is 45 years old - she unexpectedly died in her sleep from another heart attack.   I was just 17 at the time.  I use to be angry and bitter that she worked so hard, only to die anyway, just 5 short years later.  However; now I realize it was a gift from God.  Her 1st heart attack was so severe, she almost died then.  All of her hard work bought her those 5 extra years, and if you think about it - the five years that a young girl goes through from age 12 to 17 - well those are pretty darn important.

So whenever I think of Groundhog Day - I don't really think about groundhogs or predictions of summer.  I remember coming home from school to an empty house (which NEVER happened) and wondering what the heck was going on.   I remember how everything changed that day.   Happy to say that my father, who is now 70, is definitely still smoke-free, and alive and well.

Present day, I am 43 years old.  I definitely think about the reality of my own mortality - especially given that my mom died so young.  But I'm doing well.  I still have weight to lose, but all my numbers are good (blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.).  I'm a work in progress, but thankfully I've never had to battle smoking or drugs or alcohol or anything like that.  Just food :)

This is a photo of my mother holding me as a baby.

As Always, Make Champion Choices,
Debra

30 Day Challenge Over

So, I just finished up a 30 day challenge that I did privately.  I did not tell a soul about this, not even my husband.  I just kept it to myself.  

You see, I often listen to contemporary Christian music, and here in town, the radio station is KLOVE.  But I never listened to it exclusively.  I would jump around between KLOVE and the local country station, and sometimes a pop station.  I'm not new to Christian music, I've been in love with it since I was a teenager, but it's never been an exclusive choice.

Anyway, the KLOVE station frequently promotes their 30 day challenge, where you make a promise to listen ONLY to Christian music for 30 days, whether on the radio or your iPod or whatever.   I took this challenge and actually did it for 31 days, all of January.  I started New Year's day (obviously).  Again, I never told anybody.

About the 3rd week in, my teenage daughter says to me in the car, 'you know mama, you sure have been listening to a lot of Jesus music lately'.   I just said 'yep'.  She then responded with she thought it was nice.  That was pretty much the end of the conversation.

I must say, I really did enjoy this whole past month of listening exclusively to Christian music.  I'm not saying I'm going to do it that way forever, but I did not change my radio station today, even though it is now February.  One unexpected value that I received from this is the confidence in completing something.  That probably sounds minor, but in all of my heath and fitness quests and challenges and things going on, it's nice to just quietly complete and accomplish a goal.  I find it very motivating.  It makes me want to set MORE goals and meet them/beat them.

Another neat thing happened, I discovered new music ... and found some great workout music.  I finally redeemed some iTunes gift cards I'd been hanging onto and loaded up with a ton of new songs (all Contemporary Christian music).

I also realized that I like listening to the news on the KLOVE station.  You see - in the past - that is always when I would change the channel, because I didn't want to listen to talking.  Once the news or jibber jabber came on, I'd switch to country or something else until I found music.  Participating in this challenge forced me to just leave the station alone and listen to the talking and the news and the testimonies and prayer requests.  I really found this uplifting and encouraging.  I must tell you; I had no idea I was missing out on some of the best stuff from the station.

Anyway, just thought I'd share that.  I'm more motivated, and have been slowing creeping out of this funk I had been in lately.  The month of January did wonders for me.   What goals will you set?  What can you accomplish in February that will put you in a better place?

And speaking of February - - I made a calendar of tasks to do each day this month.  I'm sharing it here, in case you want to participate as well.  Feel free to steal it, borrow it, share it, change it, etc.

As always, make champion choices!

Debra