November Goals

I've been inspired by The Life and Lessons of Rachel Wilkerson and Beth's Journey and their lists of November goals. So I decided I would share my November goals.

• Clean up my house...one of the dangers of your spouse being deployed is that it is easy to ignore things because it is just you and you are the only one who has to deal with it. My kitchen counter is slightly buried in mail, my bedroom has piles of laundry (clean and dirty), my carpet needs a vacuum desperately, and I'm tired of it so I am going to get it back under control.

• Weekly Yoga Class...I have purchased some passes for local yoga places on Groupon and Living Social so I've been using them to take a weekly yoga class. I'm really enjoying it and I feel much more relaxed and energized following the class. Sadly Tidewater Hot Yoga Studio is closing at the end of the month but I'm hoping my experience at Zenya will be as good.

• Weekly Weight Lifting...for both the yoga and my dance classes I need to work on my core strength as well as my upper body strength. Also I know that muscle is important in losing weight. And I feel good after I do it. My ultimate goal is two to three times a week but baby steps first.

• Walking Two-Three Times a Week...both the dogs and I benefit from this. I am a person who cannot lose weight just on eating healthy alone I have to have exercise of some sort even if it is only 30 minutes three times a week. My dogs are high energy creatures who need to burn off their energy. If I take them for a walk I get two birds with one stone. (but don't mention birds in front of the dogs).

• Fix and Eat More Meals at Home...I like to cook and further I like my cooking. I also find that when I cook I save money and calories. My goal is to make dinners that I can then bring for lunch. I have a crazy obsession with found many recipes online that I want to try including a pumpkin pasta recipe from Rachel Ray. 

• Daily Bible Study...I saved the best/most important for last. I lead a Bible Study at work called Balanced Living by First Place 4 Health and it has daily Bible study lessons which I usually do in the two days before the Bible study class. I want to get back in the habit of doing them daily.

Temporary Suffering?

In the Bible study I lead we are in a book called Walking in Grace it is about God's grace to us and our grace to others. Last week brought a scripture from 1 Peter 5:10.
"And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you." 

At first I was struggled with this scripture but the discussion questions asked how does this verse relate to our journey with weight loss? We may consider exercise, passing on our favorite high fat/calorie foods, and dealing with our emotional eating to be suffering but in the grand scheme it is a little while. And in order to see a change sometimes we have to "suffer a little while." Now I do not think God causes the suffering or allows the suffering I think what this is telling us is that God will be there with us during the suffering and that it will only be temporary. Our reward will be restoration, support, strength, and establishment with Christ. 

As I pondered my Bible study I began to realize that is part of my problem. I'm not readily allowing for the suffering of exercise, giving up favorite high fat/calorie foods, and dealing with the emotional eating. I'm indulging in tv and the couch, my favorite not so healthy foods, and allowing food to be a comfort. So as of yesterday I made the decision to do the following:

• Eat less
• Exercise 3x this week
• Turn to other things other than food when stressed, tired, hurt, angry, etc. 

So wish me luck as I go through the week....