Rummage sale event

I've been preparing for a month for the rummage sale held in the parking lot of my church on last weekend. I've been making bookmarks, necklaces, earring and bracelets. I made about 100 pairs of earrings alone! I've been having too much fun preparing for this event. 


Here I am at the Rummage Sale at my table. I had so much fun.

These are the paperclip bookmarks that I made. 

These are some of the single strand bracelets that I made. They came out so nice.

 Here are some of the memory wire bracelets. They were a very popular item.

 Paper bookmarks. I wish that i had my laminator for these.

 Supplies for making baskets

These are some of the finished baskets and bracelets

Here is a finished journal, made by a friend.

At the rummage sale, I found some Cubs fat quarters, which I promptly made into a Cubs journal for  a friend.

Inside cover of the journal.

The finished product.... She loved it.

Swimming and Carb lesson learned again

Friday, I went to swim Fit and it was a great class. I've learned which exercise that i can do and which ones to avoid altogether. Some make my knees and back hurt. I love being in the water walking and even running. I do my exercises with the heaviest weight available. I stay in for 45 minutes and then go shower, since there are about 20-25 women in class and only 6 showers available. So, I go down early and shower and get dressed. As I got out of my friends car and started walking into my building, I felt so, so very light. I felt amazing. I had done my cardio exercises at home for one hour as I started my day earlier. 

I was feeling great! I weighed less than I had in 12 years and I kept feeling a dread, as I was thinking that in the next couple of weeks or so, I'd be in a weight that I hadn't seen but once, in decades. That dread increased and I ate a little  more carb than I should have (I knew better) and I was soon eating a whole box of protein bars and spoonfuls after spoonful of PB and nuts. Thank God that I had nothing else in the house to pig out on or it would have been worse. It was downright FEAR, FEAR, FEAR of entering the unknown.  The fear of even feeling so much lighter, the bounce in my step. I felt the fear, tasted the fear but I couldn't overcome the fear. I should have starting praying and fighting it as soon as I felt that little something within me. The nervousness and fogginess, the crazies coming over me. but, like I said in the title, lesson learned. 

It's a War!

I have to realize that In a war, we listen for movement, every twig breaking, sounds, inflections, the unusual. So therefore in my own war, I have to be on the lookout for every thing not quite right in my spirit and mull over it, meditate on what's causing that. Listen for whispers in my ears, move more slowly and be alert, on guard and gird up my mind for any and everything that comes into my realm, good or bad or questionable. That's how battles are won or lost.

So Yesterday, I zeroed in on Zero-Five eating, which means that I ate when I was hungry ( eat when I'm not hungry and just because) and to stop when I'm satisfied, not full. I had a smoothie in the morning and I didn't get hungry until 8pm and I had a great and tasty salad with a Morningstar Farm Griller. Correction from earlier posts, I'd been saying these Grillers where made by Gardein but, I was mistaken, they are mad by Morningstar Farms. I also use Gardein meat substitutes in my other dishes.

It's Sunday July 30th and I've just finished my hour of Cardio and had my smoothie. I'm getting ready to go out to a jewelry class in a few hours, which is relaxing and fun.

I have to remember daily, that I'm in a war and it's a fight for my life and health!

Thursday July, 27, 2017

Good day everyone. Sorry for the blurry pics today. But, you get the idea. It's time to stop sitting on the sidelines or straddling the fence, it's time to up in, leap forward into our future. Nike say "Just do it". That's what I'm talking about. let's do this thing!!!!

I learned something again, I finished a 7 day smoothie cleanse recently and lost 6 pounds. That was good, but, 4 of those pounds have found their way back fast. I love the cleanse because it resets the palate and cleans you of toxins but, its' just not so good for sustained weight loss. The same holds true for juicing. So now in order to have a good weight loss total for the month, I'm going lo-carb mostly veggies for awhile. I love lo-carb, because I get nice and full when I eat, even though I don't eat meat.  The cravings diminish and it's not such a battle. This also means no  cauliflower, quinoa and also no berries in my morning smoothies either. But, it will be worth it in the long haul. 

I exercised for an hour cardio and on the beast pictured below. My neighbor calls it "The Beast". She loaned it to me and it has been a blessing. I did't go to the gym today but, I still don't want to miss a day of exercise either. I wanted to relax today and not be flustered with catching the bus, since my ride backed out of the class today.  

Well, I'm going shopping today for the week and there will be plenty of asparagus, bibb or boston, romaine and the Artisan blend of lettuce, along with tomatoes, Purple onions and other veggies to complete my salad. I'm so glad that I finally love salad, because it seems to be a mainstay a lot of the time. I'll be so glad after this year is over, so I can relax into my other veggies and foods that I now love, but which have a few more carbs. when I eat them I don't lose weight but, I just maintain my current weight. Things like Brown rice, sweet potatoes, lots of quinoa,a few fruits, like berries and mango, grapes, apples, even a little fish. All healthy stuff, but things which stall my weigh loss quickly. So, Im finishing my 7th month on this and I've learned what I can eat and what I can't eat, the hard way. I'm also glad that I have learned to love exercising too. Getting up at 5:30 am was so hard but, then again it wasn't when I thought of my goal for 2017. It was a no-brainer for me. I have to exercise and when I exercise I feel so much better halfway, even when it was torture getting out of the bed.

That's all for today folks. Now, you get up and go out and grab this day by the horns.

This is me in a wheelchair in the nursing home back in 2014, not able to walk yet. 

Now 3 years later, Here I am getting my health back.

 As you can see, I am in the Swim Fit class twice weekly and below I'm using NuStep machine at the gym to regain strength in my lower body.

 Late last year in 2017, I visited the doctor and she said that all of my numbers weren't good. I was being attacked by high blood pressure, cholesterol and Pre-diabetes. I left her office an unhappy camper to say the least. Then as the year was nearing a close, my journal was getting filled, so before I selected a new book, I decided to review the events of the earlier months of 2016 and to my horror, I discovered that I had not grown at all. I was praying for the same thing over and over and I was not making progress at all. So as of January 1, 2017, I got off Facebook for one year, so I could focus on God and my health. I decided to go on a plant based diet to lose 100 pounds during this year. Here is my story  as I look back almost 7 months later  know the success of losing 41 pounds, normalizing my cholesterol and high blood pressure, reserving pre-diabetes, by lowering my A1C from 7.0 to 6.1. But, most importantly gaining a viable relationship with God and His Word. I've memorized over 18 scriptures and written an article on "Transforming the Mind from the inside out".  

My weight loss has been as follows:
High weight: 287 (2014-2016)
Starting weight:275 (2017)
Current weight: 236.6

Jan-14.5 pounds down
Feb-6 pounds down
March-8 pounds down
April-4 pounds down
May 3.5 pounds down
June-1.5 pounds down

My doctor was shocked and happy. I asked her why she was shocked, she said: people won't change their eating lifestyle, especially at your age. I'm 65 years old and I know I had to change or watch my health diminish.

As you can tell it has been a battle for real. Old mindsets, resistance to change, downright rebellion, self sabotage, disobedience, lack of surrendering to God and other factors have had to be overcome on a daily basis.

January was a great weight loss month, because who doesn't lose weight  when they start out on a new lifestyle of eating?
I gave up all meats, dairy, breads and other unhealthy things such as sweets, pop and chips. It was hard, but the results helped me to hang in there. I ate mostly smoothies and tuna.

February as difficult too but, I was still making progress, as was the month of March.

Then came April and May, my most challenging months, My flesh was tired of doing without all my goodies and was looking for any excuse to rebel. I started adding stuff to my menu. All kinds of crazy stuff, like yogurt (I can't even eat dairy!),  crisp breads, Sugar free jello and whippings to go on top( which has dairy) and numerous other things, which I didn't need. I need to mention that month three is the month where I rebel and give up. So I was well aware of what was happening to me, but, I sought the Lord and prayed and cried out to hold on this time and not give up as I had done EVERY time before.

God's grace kept me through those two difficult months, then came June. The month of my birthday and everybody's, birthday, graduation, wedding and so many other events. I struggled and managed to lose 1.5 pounds.

 I was elated to say the least for even that weight loss.

Well, it's July and I recommitted to obedience to doing what God wants me to do regarding my seeking Him, my eating and my prayer life. So fat this month I have loss 6 pounds. I'm so happy. I'm halfway home and I hope to lose 60 more pounds this year for a total weight loss of 101 pounds.

So now since you know the past, I'll be blogging by day to day or week to week journey. 


I hit a weight of 233.6, a weight that I haven't seen since 2005, along with an important paperwork item I needed for my work assignment to be completed It made me nervous. I felt fear and an unsettling in my spirit. Then chaos began, I was eating more of the things I'm allowed to eat ( I don't even keep crazy stuff in my house).  For the past 3 days, it's not been good. Too much peanut butter and nuts. Then after having my smoothies, I'd want 2 Grillers (soy burgers by Gardein). Why? I was becoming unglued again, because of fear. God has blessed me so much with fear and being delivered of it this year. So I decided to fight and battled harder. No more nuts and PB in the house, after I finished what I have. I don't have much left. I packed it all up and  hid it out of sight. I'm hoping out of sight and  God will bless with out of mind.

I've decide to Smoothie cleanse until next Tuesday, which will be August 1st. I'm determined to keep this weight loss. I refuse to give in for another moment longer. I'm so glad that I noticed this nervousness on day #3 and not on day #30-#45 asI used to do and then come out of the fog and wonder "How did that happen?'. That's what  surrendering to God does, He reveals things to you. When we want to please Him, He gives us our hearts desires. Yeah, I know my hearts desire is to lose 100 pounds in a month, but that ain't happening! But, I believe someone out there knows exactly what I mean...lol. Yes, God could deliver me in the blink of His eye but,  how would that help me? It wouldn't Instead, He tells me that His grace is sufficient for me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
Wow, that's deep. 

Sufficient:
This which is adequate, enough for a particular purpose as much as is needed; equal to what is specified or required; enough, competent; well-qualified; able.
So what God is telling me that He has already put in me that which I will need to make it through this particular phase of my journey. So now, it's up to me to choose to believe this or to continue to wander off on my own ways an plans, which always fail. People, my plans have failed for decades, decades! So today once again, I surrender, submit and obey what God wants for me at this juncture, no Peanut butter nor nuts. MY eating thingy is so broken that once I get started on them, I ca't stop. So in order to have victory, Ill just not have any for awhile. God has promised that He has already given me the grace to make it through this, and I choose to believe Him.

Exercise
That's a word not many people like to discuss. Well, I've been exercising since Jan.1 I sit in a chair and walk and thenI get up and walk in place as long as I can and then I fall back into the chair and do some more. I do this an hour 6-7 days a week. I have up at 5:30 in the morning to accomplish it and to have a good Bible study, because it's no longer business as usual for me this year. Now in this my 7 month, I can say that I enjoy it most days.
Week before last I found out about a program called Silver Sneakers, which is for old adults on Medicare. It's a free program,in which I can go to as many fitness places as I desire at no cost! So, I joined the High Ridge YMCA and the Levy Senior Center. I wanted to go to the YMAC and swim but, I was full of trepidation and body shame. But, I enlisted a friend to go with me and  was even willing to pay for her so I wouldn't have to go alone.I also joined the LevySenior Center, because on the videos there were a lot of people who looked like me (senior citizens). Well, my friend and I went to the YMCA and I fell in love with the place, so clean, even the locker rooms and the pool and staff. The weight room was amazing with every kind of equipment possible and one hour of free training on the machines. Oh Yeah... My friend and I swan the very next day in the Swim Fit class, which was filled with mostly seniors.
I had to get used to the whole thing, lockers, showering in public shower stalls and getting dressed with others around. but, it was amazing, just amazing. The next day  since my friend had to work, I went to the Levy center on the bus by myself (another fear conquered). I went into the weight room. I was shocked to find out that I could not use any of the bicycles, because my left knee is completely frozen again. I need two knee replacements but, while I was in the nursing facility, they had gotten that left knee unfrozen. So I had to request physical therapy sessions from my doctor to work on that problem. the other thing was that I thought that I'd just get on the treadmill an blast away at it, since Id been walking at home. Not so! I lasted only15 minutes on that thing and that was a real struggle.
So now I've attended 3 swimming class and been to the workout room twice. Yesterday I swam for an hour, lasted 20 minutes on the treadmill and 40 minutes on the NuStep (picture above).Pretty good, I'd say. Ys, I'm sore today but, I feel so great.

Well, I had a lot to add to this blog, since I have been away for awhile. I hope this is helpful to someone. Catch you later. We can do this with God as our head, no matter what our age. Yippee!