Piyo/T25 Week 3 Round Up

This week has been such an awesome one. I've had a great balance this week and I've also got some much needed sleep. We put the baby in her crib in her room for the first time this week. One night she slept for five hours ate for 30 minutes. Then slept for 5 hours. Another night she slept 4 hours and for 30 minutes. Then she slept for 4 hours. She ate for 30 minutes and then slept for another 3 hours. This was so awesome! Now if I could just get the toddlers to sleep through the night!

Monday was a great day. We were in Hershey, PA. I started the day out with my workout. I wanted to get it done before I got busy. The workout was T25 Core Cardio which is from Beta cycle. This workout was so challenging. I'm thinking that I may need to change up my schedule to include not Beta cycle workouts I'm just not strong enough and it discourages me.

We went to the pool this morning. It was so much fun swimming around and giving the girls rides. Then we went to Zoo America. It was so much fun but a lot of walking. It was 85 degrees and really warm. I made sure I kept drinking my water. Then we went back to Hershey Chocolate World one last time before we left as the girls wanted to ride the free ride one last time.

My eating was really good till dinner. We had pizza as we stopped at my mother in laws on the way home. I also got little sleep as we didn't get home until 10:30 pm.

Tuesday was time for Piyo Scuplt. It felt so good to workout at home. It felt so awesome to get moving. I love this workout as it is 30 minutes. One thing I've learned is that I love doing the 30 minute workouts and not any longer. If they are closer to 45 minutes I start to get bored. The four different series in this workout uses different muscles. My arms were sore by the end.

My nutrition was spot on today. I was so proud of myself.

Wednesday it was time for T25 Ab Intervals. I have a confession to make. I'm struggling. I don't want to do T25. I'm making excuses...IT is too hard! I am having a hard time as my knee is hurting from all the impact. I know it is because I'm 15 pounds heavier because of the pregnancy. I'm thinking that I may need to table my T25 Piyo hybrid schedule because of my knee until I lose some of this weight.

I loved Ab intervals and my abs were sore after I finished this workout. This one is easy as there isn't much jumping in it. But he rest have got me down as I have to modify so much of it to make it low impact and not hurt my knee. I know that this is just a stage and I will be able to do it soon! My nutrition was perfect again today. We even got to take a family walk this evening.

Thursday it was time for Piyo Buns. I love doing all the different types of squats in this workout. I love how it targets all my leg and butt muscles. My legs felt like jello at the end of this workout. My legs really hurt while walking down stairs! It was so awesome to fill my workout way after it was over.

My nutrition was spot on again today.

Friday it was time for T25 Total Body Cardio. I again made every excuse in the book to not do this workout. I hate myself for thinking that something is too hard. I think I am just going to go back and start Piyo by itself on Monday to get myself out of this funk. Being active is better than just sitting on my butt. I know I will get back to T25 once I lose some of this weight!

I didn't feel like cooking dinner so we ordered pizza. Not my best choice. But I am going to move one and forget about it.

Saturday was a beautiful day. We had a lot of Spring Cleaning to do. We put in a bathroom fan. Filled three bags of garbage. Made a huge pile of stuff for a garage sale. I have been doing laundry for three days. I'm up to 12 loads. I think I can finally see the end. It was a long but fun day. We even took a family walk as it was so beautiful out.

We did Piyo Strength Intervals in the midst of all our "work". I absolutely love the low impact nature of Piyo. Even the burpees being a little bouncy don't hurt my knee but help make me stronger. My nutrition was spot on today.

Sunday is my rest day. I love doing nothing on Sunday's but investing in us as a family and serving our Lord. It is a great way to start the week on the right foot. My nutrition should be spot on today again.

Here is my schedule for this next week:

I'm going to start with the week 2 Piyo schedule. I'm excited to see if I can get myself out of this funk and back to wanting to workout everyday. I want to look forward to my workout not loath it. Soemtimes we just need to be honest with ourselves and find something we like. That is why I love Beachbody and the variety of workouts they have.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Why Protein Matters

Protein plays a very important role in weight control. Lean protein helps you maintain your lean body mass when your calories are restricted. It also helps you suppress your appetite.

The USDA defines lean meat as having less than 10 grams of total fat, 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat and fewer than 95 milligrams of cholesterol in a 3.5-ounce portion.

Eating lean protein increases your metabolism due to the thermic effect of food, which is how much energy you burn to digest the food. Protein has a thermic effect of 30 %. This means that if you eat a lean protein food that has 100 calories, 30 of those calories are used to digest and process the food leaving only 70 calories of net energy available. Carbs have a thermic effect of 10-15 %, while dietary fat has the lowest thermic effect of only 3%.

One of the things I cannot stress to you enough is eating many times a day instead of eating three meals a day. You need to eat breakfast every day. Within 1 hour of waking up eat breakfast. Eating breakfast keeps the body nourished while providing energy.  The body does not run well on poor fuel!

Eating more frequently helps us stay lean and healthy and from becoming too hungry. Each one of these meals is essential to your health, NO SKIPPING, if you want success! Set the timer or alarm on your phone to remind yourself to eat, I honestly have to do this.

By eating protein with a complex carb you slow down the carb to fat conversion process. Choose high quality protein: nuts, seeds, legumes, quinoa, tofu, poultry, lean beef, eggs, fat free plain yogurt, or cottage cheese.

Complex carbs are high in fiber and aid digestion. Vegetables, fruits and whole grains are all complex carbs: brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa, whole grain pasta, bananas, carrots, sweet potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, apples, berries, and grapes.

Example: 1 apple with 2 Tbsp. natural nut butter or 1 small handful raw unsalted almonds or low fat cheddar cheese stick. Hummus with celery or carrots.

Remember cleaning eating is a lifestyle. It isn’t a diet!

One of the best Beachbody programs regarding portion control and spacing out your meals is the 21 Day Fix. It has taught me so much about clean eating and portion control. You will see a short video about the 21 Day Fix. Please let me know if you’d be interested in joining my next challenge group that starts April 27th by filling out my challenge group application. Hope you have a blessed day.

Cleaner Brownie Recipe

I always love to make brownies. It was something I sued to make for the girls about once a month as a special treat. My favorite recipe was from Hershey's. This recipe used a stick of butter and a cup of sugar. I decided that there had to be a better way to make these.

 So the first thing I wanted to replace was the butter. I recently bought some coconut oil from Sams Club. I decided that chocolate and coconut go well together. Instead of 1/2 cup of butter I swapped out 1/2 cup of coconut oil.

Then I wanted to substitute something for the sugar. I decided to use honey. I used 3/4 cup of honey instead of 1 cup of sugar.

Finally I substituted whole wheat flour for regular flour and omitted the baking powder and salt all together.

Here is the final recipe:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/3 cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey's special dark)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp water

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Place coconut oil in a small sauce pan and melt over low to medium heat until it is a liquid.
3. Mix oil, honey and vanilla
4. Cool a little and then add eggs. Mix until thoroughly incorporated.
5. Add cocoa powder and whole wheat flour and stir until well blended.
6. Spray an 8x8 glass baking dish
7. Pour batter into the baking dish
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

The kids absolutely loved these. I served them at a play date meeting yesterday morning and everyone loved them. I then made a second batch for A's preschool snack tomorrow.

If you are on the 21 Day Fix this would count for one of your treat yellows. You'd cut the pan into 9 pieces and one would be a yellow. They are so yummy and worth it to me as a treat.

I hope you enjoy these as much as my family did.

Beachbody's Newest Program Cize

Today it was announced that Beachbody's newest program will be called Cize. Does anyone love Shaun T as much as I do? Well this new program that Shaun T created will be released in July. I absolutely love Hip Hop Abs and T25 and cannot wait to try out this program.

This program will have a very different format than T25, Insanity and Insanity Max 30. This program will be a dance program. If you love Zumba then you'll probably love this workout! The workouts will leave you drenched with sweat. If you've been doing the same routine for awhile then this may be something you want to try.

I saw such amazing results with T25 that I'm excited to try some of Shaun T's other programs. I've also had a few challengers who have seen awesome results with T25, Insanity and Insanity Max 30 so I know from experience that this next program of his will be a good one.

What is Cize?
Cize will be a four week dance type workout that will give you an awesome cardio workout without feeling like you are working out. In each workout Shaun T breaks down challenging moves step-by-step and builds them into a full dance sequence in just 35-40 minutes. You won't even realize you are burning fat and calories while you are mastering these moves and having fun! Here is the preview:
 

When is it being released?
This program is set to be released in July. A sample workout will be added to Beachbody on Demand sometime in June. Beachbody usually allows Team Beachbody customers with a coach to order the workouts first so sign up for a free account with me as your coach today. I will keep you updated on release dates and make sure you are one of the first to get this workout. I will also be running a Test Group for this workout and would love to have you join me for accountability and tips.

I hope you have a blessed evening.

What motivates you?

If tomorrow you knew you could do anything and not fail what would you do? Is there something you are passionate about but are afraid of trying? I often ask myself these questions. Why? Because I know of two things I know I don't want fear to control my life and I also know that God often gives us things that we think are too big for us because he wants us to rely on his strength.

Do you have any idea what you passion is? I love loving on others and teaching. If you've never explored this question start by writing down the types of activities you like to do and the types of activities (hobbies) that make you feel good when you do them. What are your special skills and talents - don't be shy - usually if it's something we like to do we are probably good at it? What inspires you?

Once you know your passions sometimes God will give you something that you'll think is way bigger than you can ever handle. In Lysa TerKreust's book "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God" she talks a little about this. She says that as long as it doesn't go against God's Word and you are hearing affirmation from multiple sources than this "big" adventure" is probably God trying to tell you to go for it.

God will see us through. Would you imagine with me doing something that you thought was totally impossible? I never thought I'd ever lose the weight. I thought I loved food too much and it was completely impossible. I thought I don't need to care about my body as I know that I'm going to heaven no matter what. I thought that my husband loves me just the way I am and it doesn't matter that I am big.

But then God continued to give me the message that I needed to lose the weight. I kept continually being told that without losing the weight I would have more health problems soon. I was also having back and knee pain. I could barely carry both the twins at the same time. I was having trouble walking up and down stairs because me knee hurt. I also was being affirmed in scripture that I needed to take care of my body. I was seeing in scripture that our bodies are God's. That they are his holy temple and I needed to take care of it.

So last year I decided that I could do the impossible. I decided since I heard God telling me I needed to take care of myself and that everything I was hearing from trusted advisors was affirming I needed to lose the weight I made the leap of faith. I knew God would help me.

I notice that when I am close to God I make better choices. I am not as prone to eat because of emotional reasons. When I want to snack I pray first to see if that is really what I should be putting in my mouth or if I am just trying to feed my emotions. When I don't feel like working out I ask God for the motivation. In the middle of a workout when I feel like I cannot go further I ask God for that last little push. And guess what I'm succeeding.

So who wants to join me in this journey? I have another challenge group starting Monday and I'd love to have you in it! I've learned so much over this past year and I'd loved to pass it on to you. Please fill out my Challenger Information Form and I will get back to you soon. Hope you have a blessed day!

Spending Time Playing

Lately I'm feeling some mommy guilt. I've been so consumed with everything that has been going on in our lives that I feel like I haven't been spending enough time with the girls playing. I feel like when we are home I am always trying to get them to clean up or sit still or eat dinner. When we are out of the house I expect them to behave and act like little ladies. Then I came across this graphic this morning and when I saw it it hit me hard.

Lately I've been having unrealistic expectations of my kids. I need to remember that they were built to play. I need to remember that this stage in my life my most important job is being a mom. I need to remember all my other "jobs" are not the primary one. That God should come first, my husband second and my kids third. Everything else can wait.

In today's Proverbs 31 devotional it talks about Genesis 25 when Esau traded his birth right to Jacob for a bowl of stew. It talks about how some trades are good while others suck. What trades am I going to make today? I am going to trade my time to read this afternoon for a snuggle nap with the baby. I'm going to trade playing video games tonight and instead spend time with my husband. Instead of doing laundry before and after dinner I am going to spend time playing with my kids.

I also need to remember that I'm not someone else. My kids were made for me. They are different than someone else's kids. They each are different from one another. What works for one of them doesn't work for the other. I also need to remember my challenges and skill set is different from another mom. I'm made to handle what I have while another mom has a different purpose.

I also keep thinking of the course of this song:

It says:
"Love like I'm not scared Give when it's not fair Live life for another Take time for a brother Fight for the weak ones Speak out for freedom Find faith in the battle Stand tall but above it all Fix my eyes on You On You"

I am going to let these words soak in today. I want to fight for my kids. I want to show them my love. I want to show them what it is like to give to others. I also want to show them how to fix their eyes on God. I also want to show them that they are more important then me. I want them to know they are always loved and that I am here for them. That nothing else but God and daddy are more important then them.

I hope everyone has a blessed day. 

I'm struggling

Today I am struggling. I feel like I am a hamster in a wheel. I feel like I just cannot win and I am far from God. I feel like all I want to do is crawl back into bed and give up for the day. I feel like I'm being attacked from all sides. I feel like I'm a failure and I'll never succeed.

 Lately, if you've been following me, you know I've been saying we have some big family decisions coming up. The reason is because Brian is currently looking for a job. His contract is up on September 30th. We really don't know what we are going to do or where we will end up.

 

 I don't want to move. I don't want to leave my friends and the area we are living in. I love our church. I feel like we just started to get our feet under ourselves her and now this. I feel like the carpet has been pulled from underneath us.

But then I cling to the truth of God. Right now I know we are under attack. I know these thoughts above aren't from God but from the devil. I know God isn't tempting me but the devil is!

Today I get to go to Bible Basics and I'm leading it. A few months ago when I was trying to choose a book of the bible to study the book I kept coming back to was James. God knew I was going to need the book of James to go through this trial. He knew what I needed before it happened. It has already helped me so much.

So today I am going to live fearless. I am going to get rid of all my fears and thoughts of failure and rejection and hold on what is true, right and pure. God loves me and he will help me through this. We will persevere and we will get through this. I'm so lucky I have Brian and we have each other and our God.

I hope everyone has a blessed day.

Piyo/T25 hybrid Week 2 Round up

This week was a great week. I felt so successful and got all my workouts in. My eating was much better this week. I'm excited to see what week 3 will bring.

Monday was Piyo Sweat. We had some extra time so we decided to do this 37 minute workout today instead of Wednesday. Wednesday we will do Drench. I love the heat section in the workout. I love how many burpees are in it and that I can do them. I also love how many pushups there are and that I am getting stronger.

I was remembering when I first bought Piyo last year. I remember Brian asking me why I was wasting money on it. That we had tons of pilates and yoga programs. Why did we need another one? He thought it was going to be easy. This was him after yesterdays workout.

He actually said to me that he'd be interested in doing the full ten week program after we finish this eight weeks of hybrid Piyo and T25.

My nutrition was spot on today. I ate within my containers. I feel so good when I fuel my body correctly. I'm ready for a great week.

Tuesday was T25 Total Body Circuit. It was a challenge. I couldn't believe how much harder I could push myself than last year this time. I did have to modify some of the moves as I was just spent. I was pushing myself really hard and had to modify to keep going. It felt great.

Tuesday was one full year of clean eating and 30 minute workouts everyday. I love how much my body has changed and how much better I feel. IT has been an awesome year and I cannot wait to see what this year brings. I'm loving every moment of this journey.

My nutrition was prefect today. I didn't have any cheats and ate on my plan. I did drink a beer this evening as it was National Beer Day.

Wednesday was Piyo Drench. IT was hard for me to get in this 47 minute long workout. Brian was at work later for a meeting so I was trying to get dinner on, my workout in  and entertain the girls all while trying to keep the baby happy. I got it done but it wasn't pretty and I had to push pause a thousand times to keep everything running. It felt great when I was finished.

I didn't feel like working out today. I was just tired. We were up a lot with the baby last night. This morning we went shopping with a friend for stuff for MOPS. We went to four different stores and then I took BCD to the mall play ground to play for awhile with my MOPS table. I was just exhausted. I also had dishes piled in the sink and laundry to do. This was all excuses I was using to not workout but in the end I was glad I did.

My eating was spot on today. I love days where I stay on track.

I work up Thursday morning to my pants being to big so I decided to weigh myself. 10 weeks ago D was born and I saw a new middle number on the scale! This is so exciting. I'm 24 pounds lighter than the day I delivered! I cannot wait to see how much my body changes in the next six weeks of this hybrid program.

Thursday's workout was T25 Ab Intervals. I for some reason don't remember this workout as well as I remember a lot of the other T25 alpha round workouts. I actually had to modify more than I would have liked to as my abs aren't strong yet. I did the plank series, the side series and some of the other series in a non-modified position, but definitely had significant trouble with the v sit. I know my abs have a long way to go to get stronger but I know everyday they are getting better. I also loved the little burst of cardio in this workout.

My eating was awesome today. I aloud myself to substituted one of my yellow containers for a chocolate chip cookie at MOPS today. Other than that I stayed within my plan for the day. I was proud as sometimes on MOPS days I allow myself to have it as my cheat day and I didn't do that today.

Friday was Piyo Strength Intervals. I forgot how much I loved this workout. I love how it interlaces great cardio with strength exercises hence the name. I love the skater jumps in this work out as the arms make them so much easier than the 21 Day Fix. I also like the Beast section at the end of this workout.

We had pizza for dinner. I used my recipe that is 21 Day Fix approved but did have 1/2 a serving more as I was starving. It was so nice to actually have pizza while clean eating. The rest of my day my nutrition was spot on.

Saturday was Speed 1.0. I barely got this workout in as it was a crazy day. We moved B and C into their big girls beds. Then we tried to put up Danielle's crib. It was a busy but fun day. Then we drove to Brian's parents house for the evening. I got my workout in but just barely.

Then we went to Eat n Park for dinner. I always get the baked cod Floridian as I know it is within my eating plan and wont kill my week.

Sunday was a rest day but I did anything but rest. We drove to Hershey's Pa for a family day trip. We went to Chocolate World and I did eat a candy bar. We did so much walking and had a ton of fun. It was a long fun day exploring Hershey. I ended up falling asleep at 9:30 pm. Im happy I actually got some sleep last night!

Here is my schedule for this week:

 

I'm still working on cleaning the pantry, fridge and freezer so I won't be making a meal plan this week. I know our portions and will stay within them. We also won't be back to Erie until late tonight so I don't know what today will bring but I know I'll make smart choices.

 

I hope everyone has a great and blessed week.

Are you ready for summer?

I cannot believe we are almost six weeks away from the unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day. Are you ready for summer this year? Are you excited to put on a bathing suit and strut your stuff at the beach? Or are you dreading that first trip to the beach this year?  Maybe your bathing suit is too tight? Maybe you feel like a beached whale lying on the sand?

Do you feel like this?

I'm actually excited for beach season this year. I cannot wait to go purchase a new bathing suit. My one from last year is a little big already and I am hoping in six week it is even bigger.

On April 20th my team will be hosting a free seven day Dust Off Your DVD challenge group. During these seven days we will provide you with motivation, tips, recipes and  accountability. This group should be a lot of fun. This group will be for any workout.

If you are one of my past challengers and need some extra motivation than this group is for you. It will be a great seven day jumpstart to get you back into the habit of working out or just give you tips and accountability to continue in your journey.

If you aren't one of my current challengers and would like to join us all you need to do is sign up for a free Team Beachbody account. Once you are one of my challengers I will contact you to discuss which workout program you will be doing and get you added to the group. You can use any workout DVDs you already have.

If you are interested in a 30 day group. I have one starting on April 27th. This group will take you through how to prepare your household before your program begins, how to meal plan, some grocery shopping tips, provide motivations, and much much more. Most of my past challengers have found that being in a group helps keep them focused. They have better success knowing that someone in the group is watching them verses trying to do it on their own.

For this 30 day group you need to purchase a challenge pack. A challenge pack is a workout program plus your first 30 days worth of Shakeology. These will help you lose the weight. I have had quite a few challengers who have decided to just purchase the workout program first and had okay results but when they coupled it with Shakeology they saw even better results. Shakeology helped them curb their cravings and helped them stay fuller longer so they weren't snacking as much.  Since they were controlling what they ate better they saw better results. They also reported having more energy and that made their workouts "easier" and this helped them to push further than they thought possible and lose more weight.

Who'd like to join me for this group? Let's get our body's ready for swimsuit season. To join this group please fill out my challenger information form and I will contact you to help you pick out the program that is perfect for you. We have some great programs on sale this month so maybe one of these would be perfect for you!

I hope to hear from you soon. Hope you have a blessed day and a great weekend.

Get in touch with your values

When we feel like we are working hard but not getting anywhere it is probably because our priorities are not aligned with our values. A priority is  when we hold one thing more important than another. A value is something we regard as having high worth or is very useful. So let's starts to explore our values.

My first thing I usually ask myself when examining my values is what is important to me. Some of the words that come to my mind are faith, self-respect, love, family, fun, service, community, trust, leader, and caring. Your values will be different from mine. Everyone was made unique with a certain set of skills. Since yours are different than mine we each have different items that are important to us.

My next questions usually involves who is important to me. For me I will not lose my time with God. That is the most important thing for me each day. It is a non-negotiable. Everyday my time with God id both a priority and a value this relationship. My husband and then my kids are the next in my list of important people. I value my time with my husband. I also cherish every moment with my kids. In this stage of life my kids get more of my time than most other stuff as they will only be young like this once.

Another thing you need to look at as you look at your values is are any activities that are important to you. I absolutely love scrapbooking but in this season of life it has taken a backburner. I also love to read, play video games, and spend time with my family.  Reading and video games are something that I do for relaxation. I will only do these times when everything else on my to do list is complete. Brian and I have our scheduled Friday night date  nights. Also most evenings we spend some time talking. We also have our morning devotional and prayer time together. The girls have been my main priority lately. ABC are a pretty independent  but still need me for some things. D is completely dependent on me.

I also love to workout and cook with my husband. We make our workouts a priority. This is our time each day. It is only 30 minutes and we can give it our all and forget about everything else that has happened that day. Cooking with him has been less lately with a new baby. I'm usually trying to breastfeed while he is making dinner. It is only a season and we will get back to cooking together every night again soon.

As I wrote out these values and what is important to me I realized that the reason that I've probably been successful is that my priorities and values align with one another. I have some non-negotiable like my time with God. I also have things that are so important to me that I won't miss them like time with my kids and husband and working out. It made me realize that I have gotten rid of the items that aren't helping me right this second like scrapbooking. While I love it there just isn't enough hours in the day.

I also realized that I've already prioritized even my values. I took my top three or four and made them things I do everyday. Those that weren't as important to me may or may not happen in a day and those that were just purely for fun don't happen at all in this stage of life. I realized everyday I have a chance to choose my actions and am I going to choose those that will help me achieve my goals or will I choose those that will pull my down.

So today I am going to embrace my values and priorities. I am going to get rid of the worry of what others think about my list of priorities. I also going to quit comparing my values to others. I going to surround myself with those positive people that help me see that we need community to succeed. That each of us has a specific function and must come together to get anything done. I'm also going to trust myself and what I believe in and try not to second guess every decision I make.

See if your values and priorities align today. Why don't you try this exercise? I hope everyone has a blessed day. I'm excited to have a day playing in the gym with B and C and then I get to have a fun family weekend.

Coffee Rub

Tonight I really wanted to try something new and decided to make a coffee rub for our pork chops. I had found a store bought one that Weber makes but the first two ingredients were sugar and salt so I decided to try and modify it so that it was better for us.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp Chili Powder
1 Tbsp Coffee (I used the Tim Hortons we had but I'm sure you can use any.)
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Sea Salt

Direction:
Mix together and rub on your favorite meat. Cook meat as directed and enjoy.

This is such a good rub. The girls love it. I hope you have a great day.

Emotional Eating

Lately I have been having issues trying to curb my emotional eating. We have a lot of personal things going on and some big family decisions to make within the next month. We also have all the normal things that occur in a day. Instead of turning to the throne lately I've been wanting to turn to the ice cream, buffalo chicken dip, or chocolate. I'm struggling with eating because I'm emotional. Anyone else ever been there?

I know that I shouldn't even get myself on this cycle.

I keep this image in mind when I want to eat the ice cream or chocolate. I keep telling myself that if I eat it I will feel guilty. I know that I don't actually need it. I know that it will just head straight to my hips and then I'll be even more upset when my favorite pair of jeans that I just got back in to after being pregnant don't fit again.

My favorite acronym that I learned while doing Made to Crave through Proverbs 31 ministries was HALT. HALT stands for hungry, angry, lonely, tired. Am I eating because I am hungry, angry, lonely or tired?  This is always a good check for me if I am eating for the right reasons. If I'm eating for anything besides I am trully hungry then I should just drink water and walk away from whatever I was thinking of consuming.

But I also need to make sure I'm not letting myself get too hungry! I need to make sure I am eating every 2-3 hours during the day. I need to make sure I am fueling my body properly. I also need to make sure the hunger feeling my body is feeling actually isn't dehydration. Have I drank enough water today?

I love this graphic that tells about why we emotional eat.

Have you ever reached for food for any of these reasons? I know I have!  My favorite is number 11. I used to eat even though I was full. I was taught to finish everything on my plate. Therefore I would finish my plate and then finish the girls plates. Next thing I knew I had consumed many more calories. Now that I know portion sizes better I hardly ever have food left on the plates.

So what are some strategies we can use so we don't eat because we are emotional. I love this graphic that describes some things we can do:

I also like the main purpose of the book "Made To Crave". Every time you want to eat something for some reason other than you are truly hungry you are supposed to pray. What if we took all our problems to God instead of eating to "fix" them?

I hoping to do better today on my emotional eating. I've done good the last few days but last week wasn't as good as I'd have wanted it to be. I'm a work in progress and I know I need to pay attention to this especially. I hope everyone has a blessed day.