Christian Encouragers ~ AUGUST
 

:angel: Welcome Friends :angel:
--------------------------


You've found a great place to come
and vent, share or ask for prayer support.
This is a great group who will be very
encouraging, caring and loving....
....anyone is welcome to join!

A Servant's Prayer --

Jesus, My Jesus....How marvelous are your ways....
Far more splendid than my mind can envision.
What an honor to be chosen by you.
A lowly child I am, but empowered by the Holy Spirit
to fulfill the great hope to which you have called me.
I give myself totally to you, Lord.
Take my imperfect heart and make it perfect.
Peel away the hardness.
Close the doors I have opened to the temptations of this world.
Gently remove the roots of painful memories, sins, doubts and fears.
Discard anything that separates me from you.
Lord, fill the emptiness with the light of your love
that I might be a beacon calling the lost back to you.

To love as you love.....
To serve as you serve.....
To forgive as you forgive.....
Always mindful of my nothingness while doing great
and marvelous things in your name and for your glory.
This I pray, Jesus, in YOUR name ...
Amen.


:angel:

:wave: Well, another month has come and gone -- is summer almost over already? Well, it does extend into part of September they say, so we do have some good weather coming yet, I'm sure. I hope things cool off for you all down in the southern states as well.

Southern Canada had some really :hot: temps this summer too. Our temps have cooled off up here (yeah!); and we were blessed with some :rain: the last two days -- we even had some hail during the night that woke us all up. I thought my fan was spitting at me; thank goodness it wasn't ... :lol:

My beans are flowering and starting to grow baby beans now, so we really need the precip at this time. My hanging Cherry tomato plant really produced well (it just continues to produce more & more as I pick them); I think this is the best one we ever had, so I hope the nursery gets them again next year.

DH is zooming around on his new bike; having so much fun -- it was worth every penny, just for that! I'm just doing stuff around here: light housechores, some sewing, some reading, some light gardening chores like deadheading & watering, and some walking.

Eating went really well for July in spite of a few close calls and a bit of hunger a few days; turns out I was a bit short on my calories those days. Some people may think that's a good thing, but if I go too low, my blood sugar levels plunge.

My goals for August are to eat more nutrient-rich and high-fiber foods to feel more satiated, and to continue my walking regime each day. Of course I'd welcome some lost lbs and inches too, so we'll see how I do this month. So far, it's starting out real good.

Hope you all have a great month; and feel free to update your posts from the last two days into this new thread, if you like ... :flow2:

LAURA ~ congratulations on reaching your first mini-goal. I know that you will accomplish many, many more ... :cool:

Thanks Rosebud, I was really excited too! My new goal is to lose 13 pounds by Labor Day.

Well, my sweetheart left. We had a great visit. We didn't workout today except for a 1 mile hike. We were still sooo sore from yesterday's hill climbing! At least we stayed on plan and we had lots of cuddle time.

When we get together we tend to eat out a lot. And go for treats like icecream. But this visit I made every meal at home. Counted my ww points the whole time. Our only "eating out/treat" was a stop at McDonalds for a lemonade after a really long walk yesterday.

Tomorrow I hit the Y again and I have a 3 and a half hr workout planned so I'm praying for strength!

Chubbygirl, congratulations on staying on plan, you will see great results as you continue.

thanks Bargoo!

I'm tired following my workout but I'm glad I did it. I still have a short hike later with my mom. Today at the Y my workouts were:
*30 min spinning/ stationary bike
*45 min yoga
*1 hr deep water aerobics
*30 min strength training
With the hike that should make it 3 hrs and 15 mins exercise logged for the day. I'm happy with that!

diet is going great too. So how is everyone else doing?

:wave: EVERYONE ~ We've been having some amazing :rain: storms up here the last few days/nights -- with unbelievable winds tossing our trees and plants to and fro. We had to tie up my vines today as they were almost knocked down completely by the storms the last two nights. Lots of water came down; sure glad our water pump is working well, or we could have been flooded here ... phewie!

Eating is going well for this month already; so very glad for that. We had lovely bbq spit chicken for dinner tonight with new potatoes, green & yellow beans, and baby carrots -- so yum!

I have been doing some of my laundry on the weekends as the hydro is half off on weekends, nights, and holidays. We had :sunny: in the AM so I was able to do my bedspread set for our bed today. It dried just before another mini-rain storm passed through. I hope some of these little storms work their way down south to those places that need it becuz they sure dropped a lot of precip for us.

Monday is a "civic" holiday in our province; so stores/businesses are closed so workers can have an extra days rest, which is nice for them and their families. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and a great week coming up too ... :flow2:

LAURA ~ are you resting from all that exercise? Hope you didn't overdo it now. :)

I did rest today after working out so much Friday! It was in the 90's all weekend so the pool in the backyard came in very handy today. Even though the temps were near 100 we all kept cool in the water most of the day. (water temp 75 or so) I was glad my mom who is almost 68 came over and spent the majority of the day in the water because I think yesterday she was having some heat exhaustion symptoms. She thinks 70 degrees is a heatwave and just doesn't fare well in the heat at all. But she was comfortable all day here and we had salad and chicken breasts we bbq'd on the grill for dinner. So my only excercise was playing in the pool. But I didn't just float around on a blow-up raft. no, no! I did handstands to the delight of my 2 yr nephew, somersaults, jumping, swimming, splashing, etc. I know my hours upon hours of playing in the water burned some calories. My only cheat today was taking my nephew for an hour to a birthday party down the street where I had a red velvet cupcake with homemade cream cheese frosting. yikes.

Oh-- I had a nsv yesterday!!! Mom and I walked around the track of the high school down the road. I alternated walking and jogging in 1/16th of a mile segments. I can't believe I jogged half a mile in total (and walked the other half mile.) It took everything I had, but I JOGGED! unbelievable! I'd like to work on getting better at that when we get out of this heat spell. I was sick last night afterwards because that was the hottest part of the day and the track was in direct sun. I should have known better.
But I'm better now! Ready to hit the Y for yoga, spinning, and water aerobics tomorrow.

Chubbygirl,
Great job with your running! Running/walking is great for you. And I happen to love exercising in extreme temperatures (wisely, of course). Give me 100 or -10 and I'm out there. Rain, too, is fun. I like feeling "tough", even though I'm totally not!

Chubbygirl and Jen you two make me feel like a sloth.

Noooooo Bargoo! You aren't a sloth! Although I move like one after a hard workout. You should see me at the end of the day, I get up from sitting several minutes and I feel like I'm 99 years old. I just have to keep plugging away at it.


So sometimes I find myself in a situation where I realize I need to pray for a bit more grace. I found myself in one today. And I'm still irritated about it. I was in my shallow water aerobics class. The pool isn't that big and it's always very crowded. Especially the deeper end. The deepest end of the shallow pool is about 4.5 ft so my friend and I like to be on that end because we are tall. I'm about 5'7 and a half, she is 5'10. The shallow end doesn't even hit me at the waist. The class is full of little old ladies who could easily stand in the shallow end and be comfortable but they choose not to. And although I wish they would move over I know they pay their dues just like me so I understand they can stand where they like. Fine. But it is hard to ignore when they are pushy and they try to strong-arm us into scooting to the shallow side. It's a bit like a clique. We are newer to the class and they feel like they own it. The pool is theirs and we're in the way. They aren't very welcoming of newcomers, probably because they feel the class is too full as it is. Today one woman kept puposely pushing us further away and when I quit budging because we were already so close to the people behind us she scolded me. She asked me to move over because the exercises were causing our arms to brush. And I responded that there was no more room on that side for me to move, that there was twice as much room on her side. By that time her and her 2 friends had monopolized the entire corner for the 3 of them, where as the rest of us in that area were piled on top of each other. I wanted to lash out and tell her she was being selfish and rude. I wanted to scream 'how come 40 other people in this pool manage to share the space but you and your 2 friends wanna push and shove like bullies in the schoolyard?' I wanted to point out that those 3 ladies barely attempt the exercises, they mostly talk. But I bit my tongue the way I was taught to act around my elders. My mama would snatch me bald if she ever heard me talk to an older lady like that even if they were being childish. So I'm reminding myself that they don't need to be the welcoming committee. That I don't need to be the water aerobics police. If they wanna chit chat instead of burn calories, so be it. I'm reminding myself that the Y has recently put out surveys about offering additional classes and are in the process of trying to do that so I need to be patient. And I might not be comfortable in the 3 foot deep water where the water barely meets my hips but I might have to tolerate it. And I'm going to keep working on my grace.

Chubbygirl, to bad you didn't go to church with me yesterday.The title of the message was "Christians At Work" . I could change it to "Christians In The Swimming Pool." The scripture was Ephesians 4: 1-16. He spoke about having patience and showing love, sometimes very difficult to do. We need to pray for patience and love in getting along with others especially with those who make it difficult. Just thought I would share that with you.

thanks Bargoo! I'm trying to not be upset over it. My choices are to deal with the rudeness and crowding and continue to test my patience and stretch my grace beyond its capacity or to make a little more room in that pool and take a different class. The only other water aerobics class doesn't work with my schedule as well but I can make it work even though I will have to wake up quite a bit earlier. But I'll be getting my workout with nicer people in a pool that I actually have enough room to exercise in. When I am losing pounds it will be worth it. So I'll try that option for a while. Maybe another class will open up. If nothing works out the way I hope, I can always go back to the crowded class and either camp out in the shallow water or find a way to put up with the rudeness gracefully. What I'm not going to do is let the situation slow me down!

LAURA ~ yes, it seems there are all kinds of situations that can test our patience for sure. I have a few in my life too -- I think we all do. Some people share about it, and some don't. Definitely sounds like your aquatics class is over-crowded; the teacher should be able to see that and pass that on to the powers that be, so maybe they will offer another one soon. Good for you for being so gracious to those ladies ... :hug:

We had a busy day; lots of errands and pick-ups to do today. So, I got in lots of "extra" walking, which did stress my back again, so I had to lay down for a while this evening. I walk every day, but I have to be careful too. In the past, I used to walk anywhere from a few times a day to several times a day depending on how I felt or what else I was doing. I walk indoors and out. DH and I want to resume our "extra" walks a few times a week. Right now, I do short walks many times a day. I am very pleased how I am progressing considering the challenges I face with my body.

The weather is much nicer here; it's mish-mash of :cool:, :hot:, breezy, :sunny:, and some :rain: too; but this allows me to go outside more this year than other years. It is cooling off a bit more and I enjoy that for walking more too. Eating is going well. BTW: we had so much :rain: the last few days that I noticed that some of my beans are ready to pick (will do that tomorrow AM).

Hope you all have a wonderful week ... :flow2:

take it easy Rosebud! Don't over-exert yourself!:hug:

Good Morning!
 

Today was weigh in day and I am back down the 2 lbs I gained last week. I am still patiently waiting to crack that 10 lb. mark. Hopefully next week. I've been doing really well with the eating part. It's the exercise that's still a challenge for me. Laura, you are an inspiration to me. Thanks for that!:) I plan on getting out walking more and I found a great weight workout on Pinterest I want to try. No excuses.

Have a great day everyone!

aww! thanks wilma!

Rosebud, I may not post every day but you are in my thoughts a lot and always in my prayers.

BARGOO ~ thanks, I know it and likewise for you too! :hug:

LAURA ~ thanks, I have to watch it for sure. It's a fine balance between getting some exercise and not over-doing it at the same time. So many old injuries and a genetic back issue to keep an eye on.

I am feeling better today ladies (and gents), so I'm sure all your prayers are helping me too! It seems as soon as I tell you guys what's wrong, it starts to feel better almost immediately. GOD is good. If we are faithful to pray; HE is faithful and will answer too. :)

I picked my beans yesterday. Got two baggies to put in the the freezer; and that was just the first little patch. Hope to get some more as the month progresses. Eating is going well; I've had some NSV's of making better choices this month. Warding off some temptations with determination; heard that little voice that shouted -- throw them out! Some junkies went into the garbage today; can't eat them if they are not here, right ... :lol:

Nice day with :sunny: and cool temps -- luv it! Have a good week everyone. You are ALL in my prayers as well ... :hug:

Rosebud, I have given myself permission to throw "perfectly good food out" a thought that was impossible for me a couple of years ago. I knew I had achieved something remarkable when I threw out half a peach pie.....one of my favorites.
I was raised with the admonition "children are starving in China" therefore I must clean up my plate, this was not negotiable and it was many, many, many years before I learned I did not have to clean up my plate.

hi all! I am so jazzed cuz I lost another 2 lbs! That makes 20 now. Since I started exercising the fat just seems to be melting off, which is no surprise considering how hot and sweaty I get, lol.

I had my best workout of all today! I'm on cloud 9 and so proud of myself. I did 3 hours of really intense cardio and 30 mins of strength training and 30 crunches. Yay me!

I started doing the couch-to-5k training. I did my 1st session the other day and my 2nd session today. It feels incredible to be working toward this goal. I am not going to push myself on the timeline. The program is intended to have you ready to run a 5k (3.1 miles) in 9 weeks. I'll be stoked if I can do it in 9mos! I'll probably do "week 1" for 2 or 3 weeks until I feel ready to move onto "week 2."


Hope everyone is doing great!

Congratulations on the loss, you are doing great !

BARGOO ~ ya, gonna share with you what happened -- we went shopping on Tuesday. DH bought some junkies; that's fine, but he usually eats them or puts them away (he has a special cupboard just for that). Some tempt me; some don't. Well, he bought these chocolate peanut butter things and just left them there on the counter, but didn't eat them. By the next day, they had started to melt, so I suggested he put them in the fridge.

Big mistake. Every time I open the fridge, there they are -- I'm sure I could here them calling ... "eat me; eat me; eat me". So, I ended up having "one" on Tuesday (OK, just about 50-100 cals but still), and then another "one" on Wednesday -- but by now, I'm getting annoyed becuz they are still sitting there tempting me every time I open the fridge. Finally, by Thursday afternoon I'd had it -- so I threw them into the bottom of the garbage bin.

You see, we had a deal that he had to eat or hide his junkies, or I'm throwing them out. He had three days and never ate one. Don't worry, he didn't even recall that he had them in the first place; and wasn't even upset when I told him that I threw them out (He said he didn't blame me). He's not deprived becuz he still had his chippies, his muffins, his 6 GIANT cinnamon buns, his donut holes, his candies, his ice cream, and so on; so he had lots to snack on. :lol:

So, guess what we are not buying anymore? He's OK with that. He is supportive and understands that some things drive me bonkers: peanut butter & chocolate -- :eek: Like you, I thought about the wasted money, but then thought again: my health is more important. Another Non-Scale Victory: throwing junkies out!!!

On another good note: We all went for a walk in the neighbourhood early this AM. We took our furry baby with us as we are training him not to pull with a special face harness we found; and boy, it works well too. Now that the weather is better, we can go more often.

LAURA ~ congrats on another 2 lbs!!! :D

Have a great day everyone.

I cheated...
 

I took a sneak peek at the scale between weigh-ins. I lost 2 lbs yesterday when I weighed in officially but I couldn't resist peeking again today. I think I lost a couple more pounds today but it isn't official. I don't like to weigh every single day because I have a hard time telling the difference between natural fluctuations in weight or actual loss. So it won't be official till I weigh on Sunday but I have some high hopes. I really can't let myself cheat too often with sneaking peeks at the scale because I tend to obsess when I do that. It was just so hard to resist because I've been so good with diet and exercise lately and I am starting to feel a difference.

Chubbygirl, when I was first dieting I was so obsessed with the scale I weighed myself several times a day, if I got up in the middle of ht night to go to the bathroom I weighed myself. I was driving myself crazy. I finally locked my scale in the trunk of my car and since I lived in a third floor apartment I at least thought about it before I weighed myself. I am at goal now and weigh myself everyday, ONCE a day , I no longer obsess about it but I do want to know where I stand.

Bargoo- LOL! I can kinda resist at home but I can't seem to pass by the one in the locker room at the Y without stepping on it. But tomorrow is my weigh day so i'm allowed! Yay!

I lost 3 more lbs today!

happy dance!

Congratulations !

LAURA ~ congrats on another 3 lbs ... you are starting this month off well! :)

We've had lovely weather here this week; some cooler temps and then some :sunny: into the evenings as well. We had a bit of :rain: this afternoon, but just for a short time though. Woke up in the middle of the night with hot flashes thanks to hormone fluctuations; plus had to have the windows open and the fans on to cool me off so I could sleep ...

My eating is going well this month too; very pleased about that. Have added some strategies to ward off hunger and they are working. Added in more veggies, lean protein, and nutrient-rich foods and that helped a lot; plus making sure to get all my calories in each day. We had turkey thighs and loads of roasted veggies for dinner tonight -- one of my favorites, and so yummy and very filling!

Hope you all are having a good week too ... :flow2:

I'm tired today. Did 3 hrs and 15 mins of cardio and 30 mins strength training. Stayed on plan even though I had pizza for dinner. (Papa Murphy's DeLite Hawaiian)

Today is weigh in day and I lost another pound. I am finally at the 10 lb. mark. It's coming off slowly but it is coming off. I plan to increase the exercise and that should make it happen a bit more quickly. I've done well with the eating so far.

Laura: I don't know where you find the energy to exercise that long. Way to go. It's definitely showing up on the scale for you.

Rosebud: I think it's important to plan ahead with food. I know it's working for me and it's obviously working for you too. I also know what you're going through regarding the hormones. I think that's why I am losing so slowly.

It's a rainy, dreary day here but we desparately need the moisture.

Have a great day everyone.

I used to think that these were the major food groups.

Peanut butter and choclate, a marriage made in heaven.

Good job throwing them out.

BARGOO ~ :lol: have you ever seen those giant cinnamon buns? They are the size of a 7" plate and look like a pyramid! He ate them all! It's a good things those things don't bother me to have around, but like you said those heavenly chocolate-peanut butter bars just had to go ... ;)

WILMA ~ congrats on another lb; it will all add up. I'm trying to get up the gumption to brave the scale again myself. Surely by now, I must have lost at least a lb ... :^: Maybe this month sometime.

LAURA ~ I bet you are a bit tired; your youth helps you but be sure to get some good rest too. :D

thanks rosebud. Yes, I got some rest today and I feel refreshed. I still worked out and did 3 hours of exercise but it was easier and lower impact. (Water aerobics and yoga was 1hr45mins of that time)

I'm still doing well staying on plan. But tomorrow is a busy day. Those are the days I'm tempted by fast and convenient drive-thrus. Have to keep the workout to 2 hrs. so I can go home and get showered/dressed and eat something healthy before I get my hair done (across town), and I have to change into something nice and make sandwiches for the gathering after a memorial service for a lady at church. It's a lot of running around to get done and be ready to pick my mother up by 4:45 for the service.
I think I'll plan a quick lunch tonight so when tomorrow comes along and I'm busy I stay on track.

have a good day everyone! I won't be able to post till tomorrow night kinda late.

Chubbygirl, planning ahead is the key, looks like you have figured that out.

Ironically I was worried about staying on track between my workout, a hair appt, and a memorial service but I was ok since I planned ahead and had cottage cheese and a green salad with light Italian dressing... but then after the rush, after the service... I gave in to the urge to stop at McDonalds and had a non-diet lemonade, a small fry, and a double cheesburger. I stayed within my calories for the day and I did work out for 2.5 hrs today so I think it'll be ok. I hope! Because I lost 4 lbs when I weighed in this morning and I don't want to get any of them back!

LAURA ~ you should be OK since you stayed within your calories for the day, but you may retain some water-weight from the salt. I used to work in a MD's -- they put a lot of salt on their fries. However, that should come back off in a day or so. :)

Having a good week here -- have been under on my calories the last 2 days, but not feeling too bad about it. That's good becuz tonight we are having home-baked pizza but I'm sure I'll still stay under my calories anyways.

On Wednesday, I made Creamy Mac (hamburg/pasta dish in mushroom cream sauce + 2 cups leftover roasted veggies added in); with enuff leftovers for lunch yesterday & tomorrow. Thursday, I had 2 turkey bangers (sausages), a cob of corn, and a light romaine salad with my own cherry tomatoes in it (yum).

PLus this week, I made some raspberry-rhubarb compote with a couple of apples in it (just to use them up) for snacks/dessert. It's quite nice and tastes mostly like raspberries. Mmmm. I'm trying to use up last year's Rhubarb, then I'll put this year's in the freezer to replace that. Probably should get started on that today/this weekend.

Hope you all have a fabulous Friday today ... :flow2:

Rosebud, love the sound of your rhubarb-raspberry compote. I have some raspberries but no rhubarb, might be a good thing, love rhubarb pie although I haven't had any for a long time.

I've had 3 days in a row of high sodium. I'm done eating for the day but starting tomorrow I will be keeping a closer eye on that. I think I am probably holding on to some water weight. Great, just in time for weigh day tomorrow. ugh. On a good note, if I see a number I don't like on the scale I am going to sweatin some of it out when I hit the Y. The week went fast and tomorrow is time for that super hard class again that I tried last week. Thank God its only once a week, lol.

Trust me, many of us "little old ladies" are trying just as hard as you are to get in shape and yes, we do pay our dues. I would not "choose to stand in the shallow end" for you either. And that is all I had best say in this thread. :)