Falling in love with water!

When I fell in love with John it was new and exciting and fulfilling. But it took a lot of work to maintain the love affair. When the newness falls away and we see the good and the bad, we both had to consciously decide to work at it. Well that is how I am going to approach my new task this week. To re-fall in love with water. Everything that God made is good! And because he formed my body to need and crave water, that is what I am going to drink.

My addiction to food isn't my only addiction. I have always been addicted to soda also. Diet coke and Dr. Pepper were my poisons of choice. Anytime that I would have a diet coke, my stomach would start churning from the moment of that first sip. I knew what it would do to me. I knew there would be stomach pains and gas, much too much time spent in the bathroom and just an over all feeling of yuck. All from one can! But would I put it down, no. I was more afraid of being free from it. It was my comfort my shield. The same way that food is. When  I was a teenager I would freeze a 1 liter bottle of Dr. Pepper overnight and have it for breakfast. I remember stopping Dr. Pepper for awhile and that first week the withdrawal symptoms were awful! I had headaches mood swings and even shakiness. This should have deterred me from ever picking one up again, but like any addict I couldn't truly stop without the help of God. 

In the recent months, God has been preparing me to cleanse my body of the poisons that I have been putting in my body. The fattening food, the Carb catastrophe, the overload of sodium, the soda and the deadly portions of all of them. I have been feeling that I am finally ready to kick this addiction to food. Food will no longer be my master. I will not be ruled by what I can or cannot eat. I will not spend countless hours planning, thinking, and meditating on food. How will I do this? Only with God's help. I am counting on the Holy Spirit to guide my thoughts and change my habits. I will speak more about this on Weight loss Wednesdays, but today is about water. 

My love affair with water started when I was very young. My Memaw and Papaw had a pool and by the age of 6 months I could swim in it between Mom and Dad. I was definitely a water baby. When I am near water a feeling of calm and peace slip over me. I am safe I am home and I am nearer to God. I remember going to Maine to visit my best-est friend and she took me to the ocean for the very first time. I was so excited. I think it was May and the water was ice cold, but I stuck my feet in it. I had to touch it and feel it. I even made a sand castle. Then later in life I took a trip to California for church and we spent a couple of hours on the beach and I never felt closer to God. He was there making sand castles with me and watching His child be sublimely happy. 

Many of the adventures that are on my list involve water. Para-sailing, water skiing, swimming with dolphins, going on a house boat, etc... These things are some of my inspirations for falling in love with water. Also the overall health of my body. Feeling good and getting closer to my goal weight. Saving the money that I would spend on soda when water is free. Teaching good water loving habits to my daughter. 

Today, May 09, 2011 I hear-by start my water drinking habit. No more will soda touch my lips. I will limit my tea drinking to minimum. I will drink at least 64 ounces of water a day, more if possible. I hear-for assign accountablility duty to my friends, family and internet friends, in-which you are allowed to gently scold, and direct me back to a water loving habit, should I stray. Thank you for your support, Teresa

How will I ever do it?

150 pounds! That is what I want to lose. How will I ever do it? Well, I don't think that I have ever been more excited about this weight loss project, then all the times I have been on diets before. Mostly, because I am not going on a diet, I am going for a life change. What is the difference? Well obviously a diet is to lose weight, and a life change is to change my life. I just hope that weight is lost in the process. I have been on many diets and some of them work and some dont, but none of them I can stick to. So this time I am trying something different.

About a year and a half ago, my wonderful husband purchased the program The 6 week Body makeover by Michael Thurmond. I opened the package with mega excitement, did all of the preperations, and figured out my body type. We threw away all the food in the house and started over. The body makeover is a wonderful program, it has many great elements. First of all, you can't eat anything processed, meaning no dairy, I love cheese. No chicken nuggets, no barbeque sauce, ketchup, anything. Why, you say? Well, most processed foods have one common denominator, SALT! The main thing that this diet focuses on is sodium and the less you have the better. Secondly, the diet requires you to eat 6 times a day. That seems a lot, but it is very necessary if you want to boost your metabolism. These are great ideas! I lost 20 pounds in a month on this system and never gained it back. I mean still havent gained it back.

So, my plan is to start in 2 weeks back on this program, and I will do only this for 2 weeks. I want to get my body used to the eating 6 times a day, smaller portions, and the no sodium. Interesting fact, the first 2 weeks that your body goes without salt, everything taste very bland, but, after that anytime you taste a spice, it has more flavor than ever before. See we can't really taste the spices in their true form because of all the salt we eat. After, the 2 weeks are over I will slowly add in the things I love, like dairy, but stick with the portion sizes and 6 meals. The reason I want to do this is because, i got very bored with the makeover fast because I couldn't have the things I love. I know now that I can't fully give up everything I love or it won't be a true life change. Eventually, I will find a way to eat what I want and forget all that I have learned. I am so excited though, because I really want to start to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables and this diet requires them.

Next, I plan to start walking. There are few things in life that are quite so easy, for someone like me. I like to complain about many things, but when I actually go walking I enjoy it. I really want Joslyn to start enjoying her surroundings, and this is a great way to make that happen. We live in a little community of trailer homes in which every member has 1 to 5 acres of land. I really love our neighborhood. It feels like a very safe place to be. Maybe our walking will inspire others to walk too. There are horses and cows, great sights for a little girl to see. Not to mention all of the other critters.

So, that is my plan and I hope that I can honor myself enough to follow through with it. After all, I am God's creation, and I am beautifully and wonderfully made. I hope that you will enjoy my trials and triumphs of this journey and that most of all God is glorified. Please feel free to comment with ideas and advice or positive thoughts. I have no room for negitivity in my life.

P.S. tomorrow I will post on some of my ideas for part 2 of my goals, going green! The picture is of a critter that lives very close to our land.