Lots of stuff to think about... And Gracie Update

I updated my weigh ins on here (left column) my lowest weight was in June and since then you will see ups and downs. The story of my journey. Weight fluctuation, plateaus, gains, losses....

I have mentioned a book before called "10 tips from a former fat girl" I recently stopped by Barnes & Noble and read the first half of "lesson two" 

The beginning of that lesson she talked about her 7 rules of weight loss in regards to food. They are below:

Water - drink plenty
Calories - monitor them
Breakfast - never skip it
Frequent meals - levels sugar
Protein, Carbs, Healthy Fats - make sure that meals/snacks have a balance of these three things. 
Avoid white - breads, rice, etc. 
Sodium - pay attention to it. 

So I realized that I knew these things. I have parents who taught me these things, I've read a lot, I watch Dr. Oz, and I haven't missed an episode of Biggest loser since season one (11 seasons). I know the "rules" but I have trouble implementing them. 

That is exactly where she went next in lesson two. 
She said "What You Say Matters..."
Matthew 12:34 "You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."
The second half of this verse is powerful. What we say is a defection of our hearts. Am I believing in myself or am I tearing myself down for not reaching my goals? Am I saying " I can do this" or " I can't do this". What's in my heart? What do I say?

Then she said..."Our words are powerful..."
James 3:3-6
 3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

This all really something to think about. How big of a part our minds and our hearts play in a wright loss journey. So I've been working on this. If I wrote everything from lesson two in one post you wouldn't finish reading it because it would be too long. I will continue with this in the next post. 

I have started something new. I previously weighed with my trainer only. I would wonder what mess ups from the week messed up the weigh in. Or what good things provided a loss. So now I weigh in  every morning and log my weight on MyFitnessPal. When I lose 0.2 pounds I'm thrilled. It's success. When I lose more than that I take not of what I did the day before because it worked. When I gain I take note of what happened the day before ....  Did I drink soda, have a cheat meal? 
This new method seems to be working well for me so far. 

Update on Gracie : she is staying with Mom and Dad right now since Lily had her puppies. She's lost like 2 pounds there. Mom and Dad are getting her running inside the house playing several
Times a day ( she won't run in our house... It's the wood and tile she prefers carpet)
That is helping but the big difference is that she doesn't have other dogs to steal food from. We have to monitor very closely here and she still sneaks bites and mouthfuls of food from the yorkies, who by nature are graisers.
So she is doing well. We know Shawn she comes home that we have to come up with a plan to keep her from stealing food. 

Last thing.... Biggest Loser season 12 starts Tuesday!!!!

Yoga mat and a quick nap.

Back to yoga I went tonight. 

My trainer had something come up last minute and we rescheduled for Tuesday. So I had my workout clothes packed. I stopped by home and checked on Lily and headed back out for an hour of yoga before band rehearsal. 

I hadn't been back to yoga since I fell in Jan. Once I was able to go back the musical was in full swing and yoga class didn't fit into my schedule because of rehearsals. So anyhow, I didn't know what to expect. I have done yoga at home on my own and I've don't Bob's (from Biggest loser) weight loss yoga at home, but I was still a bit nervous. 

So me and my Vera Bradley yoga mat headed on in. The strengthening and flexibility poses were just as easy if not easier than last time I went. I guess all the other exercise is keeping me up to speed. 

Then came the stretching and relaxation at the end an oh my goodness. I didn't realize how good it was going to feel. The stretching all throughout was just great. It felt so great to stretch out all the tension. 

Then the relaxation was so badly needed that I fell asleep for a second during the last relaxation pose (the corpse pose). 

I also burned over 200 calories in my 1 hour of yoga. 

I highly suggest yoga. If nothing else it's nice to do something that has the intent to keep your mind off of stress and just be sort of absent minded for lack of a better way to say it. 

When I would look in the mirror tonight to check my poses I would turn of the choir director/ wife brain with all the to-do lists and I would just focus on me and my weight loss goals. I focused on how I felt physically. 

It was amazing. 

Weigh in is postponed to Tuesday.