This is Pondering writing...

This morning when I got on the scale I was down a little bit.  The weight is coming off slowly, but it is coming off which is the good thing..

I have lost 16.5 lbs now since Christmas, and about half that weight I have lost more recently.  I'd love to be able to lose 3 lbs a week but am finding I have to work hard at eating right and exercising to lose 2 lbs a week.  So, 2 lbs a week it is!  Last week I did not lose any weight though.  In the past this would make me really discouraged, but I have decided I cannot give up.  I find myself praying about it.  I find myself thinking about the race with the tortuise and the hare.  Slow but steady and I will get there..

I recently dropped out of Curves and joined a different gym.  I walked on the treadmill for several weeks but then I discovered the arc trainer and I have been using that lately.  I am a bit bored with that machine I must admit, but truly I have never found exercise to be the most fun thing in the world to do.  What can I say?  I am lazy.  It helps that they have TV's there and I try and go when the news is on as I don't like most daytime TV. 

For me the hardest part of dieting really is the fact that I like "instant results" and that is not going to happen.  People will say one does not gain wait instantly, but I have to say I can gain it faster than I can lose it.  Still, patience is a virtue and I know this will pay off.  Plus I know I have to change the way I eat for good, not just for the season of weight loss.

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Maybe we could start posting how much weight we lose or gain each week?  Just an idea.  I am open to suggestions...

This is Angel45

Well, its been a while. I hope everyone is doing ok. I'm doing ok. I didn't get to post about my last weigh in. I'd lost 1 1/2 pounds when I weighed in on August 16. But I wasn't discouraged at all.  For some reason I alternate between months, one month I lose weight, the next month I lose inches. I really don't like the scale but I have gone along since I started the program. We have our last weigh in September 15th and 16th, but I am going to continue with my routine after that. I have lost 30 pounds to date and maybe a few more since my last weigh in. I am now down to size 20, yeahhhh!  But I have added more to my workouts. I now go to an aerobics class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday...it's the light and easy class for seniors  and my tongue is hanging out when I leave and I ain't a senior yet. The lady that does the arthritis class workout is 84 years old  and she looks good and lifts weights to boot. (I can see how people become addicted to physical exercise, its very addicting) Seniors ain't no joke when they work out!! but I hang in there with them. I'm glad that I did not start a few months ago, I would have quit. But its a nice change, I think that I was getting bored with the same old routine, so now I go 4 to 5 times a week and sometimes when I leave the Powerhouse (thats the gym) I go to the park and walk a mile. I've become a gym junkie But I feel great!

The gym has really been a blessing to me. A few months ago when I started the program, I was really having physical problems. My blood pressure was high, I am a diabetic, and arthritis is in both my knees and my left hip. I knew somethings had to change because at 47 I wanted to live and not be in the chronic pain that I was in. I was in bad shape and hurt all the time and walking was difficult for me and I thought for a while that I may be forced to quit my job. BUT GOD!!! I found a Rheumatologist who got me in almost immediately after I got no successful results with the orthopedic Dr.. The first thing that he told me was..."there is help for you, you do not have to suffer". I could have cried. I don't know why I am telling you all this  but anywho... I was in such pain and so run down that he started me with a cortisone shot with B-12. He did not inject my knees he gave it to me in the hip. He does not like to do injections into inflammated areas. He talked to me about herbal supplements, vitamins and natural medicines...yes there are Dr.'s who will use natural medicines. I was on an arthritis drug for 3 months or so until I my pain was under control, he never gave me Vioxx or the other drug that is so controversal. He gave me one prescription of a narcotic for a month and monitored me. He dealt with my immediate pain until it was under control. He was very positive and now I take 2 aleve a day and I am not in pain. As far as my diabetes is concerned, his assistant worked with me on that. She told me that at the stage that I was in I could turn it around. She said if I lost some weight and exercise and ate right that I could control it with out medication. At that time she put me on a small dose of medication and now I am not on any. I have to watch my sugar and starch intake, but my blood sugar is in the normal range again

But what I was saying about the gym, well at the time I cound not afford to pay the fee for a gym, my job had been cut, I'd lost 2.00 on the hour and paying monthy installments on a gym was a luxury I could not afford. BUT GOD!! Little did I know lest than a mile where I lived was a park operated by the city that had renovated and old building and turned it into a gym. It is owned and operated by the city and open to anyone who wants to use it. But, there is a fee....50 cents a day  ain't that a hoot. I can go five days a week for 2.50...yep. It has all the modern equipment of a regular gym (except a sauna), they have weights, large exercise floors and small ones, they offer aerobics classes that anyone can take, water aerobics, core training and so much stuff...yep for 50 cents. Thats God. I get all the benefits of a gym for 50 cents a day. So I feel like God is meeting my needs in other ways. I am in so much better shape, even though I have a ways to go, my energy levels are going through the roof, I just feel good yall, I just feel good. I've babbled enough, so be encouraged and press your way, it will pay off, just like serving God. love you

Angel45

Hi everyone,

Well, weigh in was Thursday and I was down another 7 1/2 pounds. I was so happy. The working out 3 times a week is paying off. I am so thankful to God for giving me the strength to endure, and thanking Him for you because it is helpful and encouraging to come here to talk and hear from you. I am encouraged by you all. I'm at work now and don't have much time, but I wanted to drop in and say I love you and hang in there.

Hi everyone, this is Freedomchirper. Hope you all had a fun and safe Fourth of July. Everything here survived except my glass top patio table. It was shattered by the big booms of the fireworks.

I read this in the Daily devotional booklet called Our daily Bread. I thought of this site and wanted to share it . This is the condensed paraphrased version.It talked about a rubber plant and how if the leaves are not wiped off peiodically,  the accumulated dust can actually prevent the light from reaching the leaves, causing its leaves to fall off making it difficult or impossible for the plant to do what is needs to do to flourish and grow. 

How you ask does this relate to a food blog?  Well if  we call our poor food choices "sin" and our hiding and shame "dust", then eventually we will suffocate ourselves and we will wither and die. UNLESS we remember that Jesus died for our "sins" and it was His blood that wipes the "dust" away. When we confess our sins, we allow God's light to touch us. We allow Him to feed us and we flourish, so we can stand tall but humble in His garden. There we can show the world what a talented and loving gardener He is.  

If we Act as if God has forgiven us, in time we will live fully believing  what all that means and encompasses.  Eventually,  our actions will live out that gratitude in the form of obedience.

So lets strive to treat ourselves with TLC until we get  to that place of gratitude and obedience, remembering that God's garden has all different sizes shapes heights and colors of flowers in it. Until then,  Dust as Often as Needed !

This is Angel45

Edited

Hey all.   I've had a pretty good couple of weeks. I've been working out Monday, Wednesday and Friday and have kept on track for the 3rd week. I will not lie and say that its been easy because it hasn't. it's been hard work. I have resigned myself to it as being hard work because it burns fat . Though I was going to whine again, huh. haha  I have been eating pretty good, I've had a couple of bad days, but my good ones outweigh the bad ones.

Well, here is a little good news. I have this beautiful cream colored dress that I have had for years. I haven't worn it in 8 years because it was too small. Well, it is getting time for my family reunion and we always have a formal party. Well, I wasn't going to buy anything new and I thought about that dress. I decided to go way back in my closet and get the dress out and dry clean it and hang it on my closet door as incentive to get into it. So I decided to try it on to see how close to getting in it I was. To my utter amazement, I COULD WEAR THE DRESS ALREADY!!!!! I laughed so hard, I could not believe it and, IT HAD ALMOST TWO INCHES OF SLACK IN THE WAIST!!! I was screaming!!!  The dress is a 22 petite. That was the only petite that I ever bought and it is very porportioned, and it fit like a glove when I bought it and I only got to wear it once. So then of course I thought, I may fit some of my 20's now. So I got out some blue jean peddle pushers (they call them capri's now...lol) and they fit! YES!!!!, and had room to boot! I was so excited! I haven't worn those in 3 years...HA! It's not a great big loss, but it is a loss. Well, I better stop now, I am a little beside myself!  This is a good day for me, for once in my life I wanna go backwards, into old clothes that is.  Have a great weekend ladies.

Edited: Well after all that excitement when I got to work today, I decided to go and weigh. Since I had lost some inches I wanted to see if I had lost some pounds.  I did! I've lost the 3 pounds that I had gained back plus 3 more pounds. HALLELUJAH!!!  So 6 more pounds down. I guess the exercising is paying off. July 14th and 15th is our next weigh in date on the program, so I'm gonna stay on it.  Thanks for listening, I had to tell somebody. love you guys