Plumped Up Again

I just happened to look back at some of the posts with the most hits - my most popular post was "Pounds Are Gone" from just a little over a year ago. But here's the sad news that really hit me hard. This is no longer an accurate post. Yes, at the time I had reached my goal weight I set in January 2011. And it was a glorious thing. But now unfortunately, I've fallen off my healthy wagon, and I've Plumped Up Again.

I have stopped eating healthy most of the time, and very rarely consider calories, fat or carbs when choosing meals or snacks. I have gotten very busy the last month or so, and so I haven't made any time to work out. Sadly, I am back up over my goal weight again. The good news is that I'm not back to my starting point. I refuse to gain that much more weight.

I wasn't planning to share how much I had gained back, in fact I was terrified and embarrassed to do so, but I think it will be an important step to going on this journey again if I publicize my fears and insecurities. I need determination and help and motivation, and I think sharing the specifics will help me out. So total - I've gained back 20 pounds from when I was at my lowest weight back around August/September. My goal is to lose ALL of that again, hopefully by August/September. Plus a little more by the end of the year.

I'm not going to go crazy and starve myself or workout six days a week - because let's just be honest - that's just not me. I'm not that girl. But I am going to start eating healthy, exercising more, and just generally making better, more conscious decisions about the things I put into my body. This stuff has just got to go!

Tomorrow will be the official start of this journey again. (Today is Leap Day - and nothing counts on Leap Day...) Please feel free to send me random bits of encouragement or healthy tips you may find. I'm gonna need all the help I can get. Thanks for listening to me ramble. It definitely helps to get this all out there on the interwebs where my friends and family, and even strangers, can all see it. Helps keep me accountable.

Preparation Pays Off

This past weekend, we had Disciple Now Weekend for my youth at church. It was truly an incredible weekend. I completely planned the entire event by myself for the first time, (well at least 95% of it was by myself). I planned the same event last year, but Duncan was still around - and apparently he did way more work last year than I even realized. So many teeny-tiny details had to be thought through and planned - and God blessed me with a successful weekend for my kids.

We started on Thursday night with a kick-off banquet at the church - which was awesome. My parents have been in charge of the banquet for the past 7 years, and they always do a fantastic job. This year was no exception. They matched my Jungle theme perfectly, and cooked a great meal for close to 125 kids and adults. Also, we had The Ransomed play at the event, and the rocked!

The rest of the weekend started Friday night, and was jam packed to the rim. The kids participated in Bible study sessions, free time to make t-shirts and group cheers, service projects at the church and in Frenchtown, worship rally's, recreation and they may have slept for a couple of hours each night :) Some of the highlights of the weekend were:

• Seeing so many of my students invite their friends for the weekend
• Watching the high school kids serve and sing at Breakfast in the Park
• Praying over and laying hands on each other after our service project
• Canopy Red leading our kids in worship
• Bobbing for Tootsie Rolls at Rec
• Laughing so hard at the awesome group cheers for Rec
• Getting to spend time with 65 of my youth!!

I truly love my youth group, and thank God for the opportunity to lead them. They are so much fun, and amazing weekends like this really make my "job" incredible. I am so glad that I get to be a part of the lives of these amazing teenagers!