Emotional Failing

Which direction do YOU choose?

 It's easy to blog about the journey when things are right on track but it's a lot harder to lay it bare when you're struggling.  Over the past 1 1/2 years I've written a few entries such as "Self Evaluation," "A Blog on Failing" and "Forgive Yourself" that were about set-backs.

This past week literally felt like HELL to me and it's easy to find yourself attempting to drown out your sorrows with bad habits.  When everything seems out of your control, it's also interesting to see how we react over the few things in life that we are still able to control.  I jogged my best 3 mile time last week, all of a sudden the usual lack of breath didn't even bother me, something about that jog freed me from the stress surrounding me and helped me gather my thoughts and emotions.  I made my bed every day, sounds silly, but every morning I woke up and made my bed before leaving the house which is not a usual occurrence in the life of "Mesha."  It wasn't until the end of the week that I realized it was one area in my life I was able to organize and by doing that simple task it made me feel accomplished and a little less like a failure.


Emotional Eating

I felt like I had learned enough on this road to where I was beginning to react to negative circumstances with positive response - which I did for the majority of the week, until the weekend hit and it all went out the window.  One 'old friend' that rejoined me this past week was FOOD (and LOTS of it).  Sonic, Peach Wave, Wendy's, Burger King, Chick-fil-a, Taco Bueno, Taco Bell, Long John Silver's, chocolate cake, Back Yard Burgers and Mi Ranchito ALL found their way onto my menu this past WEEKEND. Not even the week - the majority of it was on the WEEKEND! From Friday night until yesterday, I ate more fatty fast food than I've probably had in this past YEAR!  From Thursday until today I gained 7.2 lbs and have been in such an emotional whirlwind that I don't even know myself.


I feel like I watched the last 9 years of my life vanquish over night with the events of this past week and needless to say - it hurt!  The Bible says, "Therefore, there is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," I've learned that to be true in CHRIST, not so much with people though.  Even through the heartbreak, I'm thankful for the events of this past week and know in my heart what I am doing and although others may look at me from the outside in with cold hearts - all that matters is how God looks into the depths of MY heart.  For those who may think contrary, unfortunately they didn't know, love or respect me enough in the first place.  The reality of my situation is that my scars may be a bit uglier than the ones others bare, but Christ is still the healer of them all.


NEW Chapter of my life...

 I am embracing the consequences of my own actions, but that doesn't make it sting any less.  I've been digging into the story of King David a lot (the good, the bad and the ugly) and I'm finding HOPE. I've been clinging more to God's word and His truth than I ever have before and crying out in prayer because even in my lonliness and pain, I am comforted by the reminder that He is the only one who never leaves and never forsakes us.  Even when nearly everyone else you've grown to love and respect decides to throw you out as "no good," ONE still remains - JESUS.

It wasn't something I wanted, but it happens with any good book...I've turned THIS page in my life and I'm onto a NEW CHAPTER.

VERSE OF THE DAY:

One of my friends said to me today, "If you fall seven times, make sure you get up eight." It reminded me of the verse I chose for today...

Proverbs 24:16 (NLT)

"The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.
But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked."

I'm choosing not to let what felt like a DISASTER this past week to overthrow me...I'M GETTING UP!

Ali shared a devotional with me today that Mandi sent her and it really encouraged me in the midst of everything.  It reminded me of the only one who not only wont, but CAN'T fail me.  It reminded me not to be angry, bitter or upset no matter how right or wrong I think things are handled or a picture is portrayed.

“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” 2 Corinthians 1:20

We all have family and friends who have made promises to us; to help us; to stay with us; to love us; to give us something; or to stand up for us. We believed them because they ‘gave us their word.’ When someone gives you their word, you should be able to trust them. But because we are people, living in these fleshly bodies and living in the world, we sometimes make promises that we can’t keep; sometimes we ‘give our word’ and our promise falls through. But thank God that He is not like us; He is not limited in what He can do.
 
God gave us His Word, that He would help us; that He would never leave nor forsake us. The Lord gave us His Word that He would protect us and keep us; supply our needs; and comfort us when we hurt. When you begin to doubt that help is coming, you must remind yourself that God gave you His Word and “God is not a man, that He should lie. He is not human, that He should change His mind. Has He ever spoken and failed to act? Has He ever promised and not carried it through?” Number 23:19 NIV


As you face this day and face tomorrow; as trials and tribulations, tests and troubles try to come your way, remind yourself that God gave you His Word that ‘you are more than a conqueror.’ As you are tempted to sin against God, and wonder if you are strong enough to say no, remind yourself that God gave you His Word that ‘you can do all things through Christ which strengthens you.’ The Lord gave you His Word that if you come to Him, He would give you rest; He gave you His Word that if you keep your mind stayed on Him, He would give you perfect peace. He gave you His Word that if you acknowledge Him in all your ways, He would direct your paths. He gave you His Word!!

ONE STEP SPOTLIGHT: Gene Milstead

There is so much SUCCESS in the weight loss world and I am daily amazed by awesome stories I hear on facebook, by blog, at work or by word of mouth. I often see people walking or jogging on the sidewalks of town and in my car whisper a "Good job," because it fills me with joy seeing people push themselves to become a happier, healthier person.

The "ONE STEP spotlight" recognition comes from the famous quote, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." You have no clue how many people you can impact in life just by setting an example. So here it goes...

*****ONE STEP SPOTLIGHT*****

-101 LBS -

Name: Gene Milstead

Occupation: Weight Loser (lol)

Start Weight was 460 Current Weight is 359 for a Total Loss of 101

What is your game plan/approach to weight loss?

I am looking at this as a lifestyle change. This is something I am going to do for the rest of my life and help as many people as possible do the same. As for me and my house we will be passionate people about health and God. Lol

Favorite healthy food/recipe?

I am pretty plain since it is just me. I do my shake in the morning and a tuna sand with fruit for lunch a couple of healthy snacks and some chicken and vegetables for dinner. I am simple like that. If I have guests I like to make some turkey burgers or a wheat pasta with garlic, oil and spices. I also found some spinach and carrot wheat pasta it is really good.

Name 5 “must have” foods for your home?

1. Water
2. Tuna
3. Grapes
4. Protein Shake with Fiber
5. Sweet Potato

Favorite guilty pleasure?

Yogurt Land

What inspires/motivates you?

The thought that I am doing something bigger than myself. I am doing this so I can help others do the same thing. I want to pave a road to healthy success that others can drive on. I want to be able to show people that it can be done. If I can do it anyone can do it. I was 460 pounds and lazy and had no motivation. I had put this off my whole life. Then one day I realized there is so much I can't do because of my size. I made a list of all the stuff I wish I could do. That is a huge motivator. I am marking one thing at a time off that list.

What differences do you notice about your life NOW vs. before you were living a healthier life (ex. physically, emotionally, spiritually, socially)?

Physically- I have so much more energy. I am all over the place. It feels amazing. I love being able to go for a 4 mile walk or being able to go to a sporting event and not be tired when I get to my seat. I like being able to get dressed and not be worn out by the time I am done.


Emotionally- This is the hardest part for me. Through all of this I have been up and down emotionally but I know it is for the greater good. Before I was always down and depressed about my weight and with the loss of my parents. Now when I get down or mad I just go to the gym and take it out on the treadmill or elliptical.


Spiritually- Any time you make the decision to be healthy you are being obedient to God which is a good thing. The healthier I get the more clarity my thinking becomes. When you are overweight it runs your life. It controls where you go and what you do. I am not having to deal with that anymore.


Socially- I get more women flirting with me. Just being honest. Lol It is giving me more self confidence. Not cocky or arrogant. I am still the same person I just don't have a low self-esteem anymore. You have to learn that no matter what size you are you are still a beautiful person. You just need to lose the weight because you need to be healthy. If your main goal is to look good you will not be successful. You need to do it because you want to be healthy. A lot of people lose weight to look good and are still not happy with what they see. It is a mental battle.

Tell me your story? When/Why did you decide to start this healthier lifestyle?

I have been big my entire adult life. I was raised in an unhealthy home and both of my parents passed away very young due to health issues. This is one of the things that really motivates me is I want to live to see my kids that I will have some day grow up. Instead of realizing this when they died I actually got worse though. I gained over 120 pounds after my mom died. I finally made the decision to lose weight one day when I was having my quiet time with God. The night before I had watched The Biggest Loser and I was like I need to change my life. While I was praying I felt like God told me that if I didn't change I would be dead in 10 years. It hit me like someone had just knocked the wind out of me. I laid there and cried for about 15 minutes then got up a different man. I have not looked back. I wrote a letter to my friends and asked them to sponsor me and help me through the next year. I am taking a year away from everything and focusing on weight loss. I then created a website to help other people while on this journey.

WHAT HAS BEEN MOST REWARDING ON YOUR JOURNEY?

The most rewarding thing to me is seeing the lives that I am changing already. I am not special I am just being obedient to what God told me to do. I have a group of people I am encouraging to lose and they are following me on FB and my website and as a group we have lost over 400 pounds. To me that keeps me going. That drives me to be a better man, to get out of bed on the days I don't want to go to the gym. People are important to me. Even if I don't know you I still love you and I am here to help you in your journey. We can learn and shrink together.

DO YOU HAVE ANY PERSONAL GOALS YOU ARE STRIVING TOWARDS?

I want to lose 200 pounds during my 1 year journey. My overall goal is to get down to 200 pounds.

WHAT WOULD YOU TELL SOMEONE ASKING FOR ADVICE?

You need to start slow. Cut a few small things out of your meal plan at a time. It is a lifestyle change not a diet. This is a marathon not a sprint. Start walking around your block once a day until you can do more. If you try going to the gym for an hour a day you will get sore and burned out really quick. Just start slow and work your way up to it. You are not a reality show. This is your life. You don't have a group of Dr.'s and specialist watching every move you make. Also if you have questions feel free to ask me. There is a contact me section on my website. There are a lot of people like Demesha and myself who are here to help you on your journey. Don't be afraid to ask and there isn't a dumb question. This is your life we are talking about. Choose life, Don't Just Exist! My site is http://www.nomorebiggene.com/

WOULD YOU CONSIDER A CAREER IN HEALTH AND WELLNESS?

I am in the process of getting certified as a personal trainer and after the first of the year I am going to open a home to help young men lose weight. I feel like it is a spiritual, mental, and physical battle and you have to get a control of all three.

Interesting Article from a Friend...

This is an interesting weight loss article that a friend sent to me...

Although I don’t relate 100% to her “fat girl” life before, I related well enough to the emotions and thought processes she lived by in her overweight life and even am starting to see the same differences in the social world in relation to “then vs now.” The contrast many experience based solely on weight is amazing and SAD all at the same time.  I know my girls of F.I.T. and I have all shared stories of social differences we are experiencing now and some of the anger and trust issues it causes internally because if I wasn't good enough "then," what has opened your eyes and heart to me "now?"  Hmmm…enough from me, GO READ!

__________________________

Emily McCombs' before and after photos look like two different people.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/09/02/tf.lost.100.pounds.fat/index.html?hpt=T2

She drops 100 pounds, gains new world

-- I come from a small-ish town in Oklahoma where we've never met a vegetable we couldn't fry and the only things more super-sized than our portions are the huge church complexes that alternate with fast-food restaurants along our roads.

So it maybe isn't such a big surprise that by the time I graduated from high school, I weighed 260 pounds. My prom dress was a size 24, and my mother had to help me zip it up, a five-minute ordeal during which we grunted and cursed at one another.

My aunt had to custom-make my graduation gown, a huge white tent in which I resembled the Stay-Puft marshmallow man.

Still, I left for college in New York City feeling relatively confident. After all, I wasn't just fat. I was also stylish, managing to alter and combine pieces in a way where they overcame their origins as shapeless sacks designed by people with the gall to decorate plus-size garments with ice-cream cones and slices of pizza.

And I was hilarious and sexually brash, defense mechanisms mastered by fat women and gay men everywhere.

I wasn't immune -- hurtful things would happen on occasion. Groups of rowdy teenagers sometimes yelled insults at me from car windows. I gave my phone number to a nice guy, only to find out when he called that he had a fetish for overweight women, shamelessly telling me that he likes "something to grab onto." Or someone would approach me out of nowhere on the street and tell me not to worry about how I look; someday -- when I'm ready -- I'll lose the weight.

And of course, I compared myself endlessly to the impossibly thin women in magazines, just like the average-weight women I knew, to whom I also, by the way, compared myself.

Despite these blows to your self-esteem, for the most part nobody close to you really tells you to your face what they think about your weight. As a result, a fat girl's worldview is missing vital pieces of information. When you don't get invited on your friends' man-catching all-girl outings, or when men who enjoy sleeping with you over and over again fail to want to date you, you can't quite comprehend that all this is really caused by the way you look.

But then, the summer before my junior year of college, something changed. I made a promise to myself to diet just for one summer, and for the first time I saw results. On a low-carb plan, I started melting away, shrinking inwards. I began to grow collarbones and hipbones, sprouting bony, sharp spots all over my body. By the end of the summer, I was 50 pounds lighter, and within a year I was down to 160 pounds on my 5'11" frame, a solid size 10.

It's been six years now that I've maintained that weight loss, and it is far and away the best thing I've ever done for myself. Not because I'm healthier and will probably live longer, but because I now reap the benefits of a society set up to punish fat people for the unforgivable crime of eating too much.

I hear the fat jokes right out loud now, instead of just a whispering breeze brushing past my ear. Men who used to let the door swing shut in my face now hold it open for me politely and look me up and down as I step past.

My own boyfriend, a man I began dating a few months after reaching my goal weight, sees the picture on my driver's license and admits he probably wouldn't have gone out with me when I looked like that. I appreciate his honesty. It's better than the good-intentioned people who gush upon seeing the new me, "You're so pretty now!" before stammeringly adding, "Not that you weren't, uh, pretty before."

Finding yourself suddenly thin after a lifetime of being fat is a bit like stepping into that "Saturday Night Live" sketch where Eddie Murphy goes undercover as a white guy and discovers that white people act completely differently when there are no black people around.

With no outward sign of my former body type, I became a renegade spy for Team F.A.T.

Of course, I didn't discover that thin people drink cocktails and dance when fat people get off the bus. But when I lost weight, I was rewarded with membership in a club I never knew existed, where the benefits included better treatment, greater professional success and, above all, a new status as qualified participant in the social world including romantic relationships.

Of course, I lost weight to reap these benefits. But it doesn't stop me from being angry that I had to lose weight to reap these benefits. Of those who are nice to me now, who would have been rude to me before? Which ones made the cruel jokes? Who can be trusted?

As the years pass, it is easy to forget. I have even, on a few occasions, found myself looking at an overweight person with faint disdain, forgetting those years I struggled with the very same issue. I hope never to gain back the weight I lost. But I have seen another side of people that I cannot forget. And with any luck, I never will.

I hope I always stay fat on the inside.

_____________________________

Verse(s) of the Day:(dealing with NOT being partial to others)

Job 34:19

“Yet He is not partial to princes, nor does He regard the rich more than the poor; for they are all the work of His hands.”
Romans 2:11

“...For there is no partiality with God.”

James 2:1-4
The Royal Rule of Love

"My dear friends, don't let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, "Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!" and either ignore the street person or say, "Better sit here in the back row," haven't you segregated God's children and proved that you are judges who can't be trusted?"

ONE STEP SPOTLIGHT: Kristin Brinkman

There is so much SUCCESS in the weight loss world and I am daily amazed by awesome stories I hear on facebook, by blog, at work or by word of mouth. I often see people walking or jogging on the sidewalks of town and in my car whisper a "Good job," because it fills me with joy seeing people push themselves to become a happier, healthier person.

The "ONE STEP spotlight" recognition comes from the famous quote, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." You have no clue how many people you can impact in life just by setting an example. So here it goes...

*****ONE STEP SPOTLIGHT*****

~ 97 LBS LOST ~

Name: Kristin Brinkman
Occupation: Insurance

Amount Lost: 97lbs

What is your favorite exercise?

"Zumba as far as good cardio and fun. Spin for when I want to push myself to the limit and sweat like no other."

Favorite healthy food/recipe?

"Cracked Pepper Turkey Tenderloin on the grill…it’s my new obsession. I needed a change from just chicken and turkey breast. It is delish! My brother in law cooks it on Sunday and I eat it all week for lunch with steamed veggies or a salad."

Name 5 “must have” foods for your home?

"Every Sunday I have to have:

1. Steamer bags (no sauce)
2. Lean protein
3. Fruit (pineapple and watermelon are my 2 fav’s)
4. Light Sarah Lee Bread
5. Crystal Light packets for a sweet drink or Sprite Zero.

Favorite guilty pleasure?

"Chipotle…which I’ve trained myself to get the salad with grilled chicken, peppers, lettuce, and lots of mild salsa. You still get the taste and it’s better for you."

What inspires/motivates you?

"My son Jacob motivates me to keep going and he makes me want to do my best. Also my friends and family have been so supportive through this process. I feel so empowered now to finish what I’ve started and that’s a lot because when you have so much to lose it’s hard to get any program started as you feel hopeless."

Tell me your story? When/Why did you decide to start this healthier lifestyle?

"I have always been big but I was active. The last several years I kept getting bigger and bigger and stopped moving. Everything became harder I felt hopeless and that weight loss surgery was the only option for me to ever really lose this much weight. After 2 unsuccessful attempts at having the surgery I realized I have to figure something else out. I have spent hours and hours of my life wondering how I was every going to be able to change my life on my own.


Things everyone takes for granted were all of a sudden very hard for me. Taking my son to the circus or Disney on Ice was painful because the seats were so tight. Riding on a plane and being asked by the flight attendant if I needed an extension was not a good moment. Walking out of a casino in Las Vegas and having some stranger say “What do you weigh 3,000 pounds?”


There were a lot of things that contributed to my weight piling on. Eating out all the time mostly fast food was terrible on my body. Eating or drinking for a bad day or a great day. It’s such a cycle that is hard to break. I still have moments I forget that I don’t do certain things anymore.


So last February I had my final “Enough is enough” moment and took my tax return money in and joined Slim4Life. That day changed my life. I was very emotional when I left that day because I knew I was ready to change and I knew with the results I was hearing about that this would be a program I could stick to and that could accommodate the amount of weight I had to lose. I love my ladies at Slim4Life. Next week when I reach 100lbs lost, I can’t wait to share it with them.


I feel like I’ve gotten my life back and even though the smallest adult weight I can remember is 220lbs (and I thought I looked good) I feel ready to continue what I started. There is really now end date or end goal. I want to get where I feel phenomenal and then I want to maintain."

What has been most “rewarding” to you on your journey?

"Everything! More energy, cute clothes, self confidence, this new found strength to improve other areas of my life. It has all been so rewarding."

Do you have any personal goals you are striving towards?

"I want to weigh under 200. Even if it’s 199 I want to get there. Basically I’m going to keep losing as long as it feels right and maintainable. I don’t have an “end” number I just want to feel good. So whether that is at 199 or 150 we’ll see when we get there."

What would you tell someone asking for advice?

"You have to be ready. Just wanted to lose weight to fit a certain outfit is not going to be enough to stick with any plan long term. Also you have to realize this is not going to happen overnight. Even after you’re at your goal, everyday you have to make the decision to eat right and exercise. Everyone is going to have a bad day or a bad week…the difference is what you do to “bounce back” from that."

Anything else? Additional comments?

"If anyone reading this can relate to the part of feeling hopeless and that there is too much weight to lose please feel free to email me. I want to help people that are like I was when I started out. I have no dietician experience and I’m not a trainer. What I do know is the struggles you face and the struggles you will continue to face as you change your life. It’s nice to have someone in the same boat. Your friends and family love you unconditionally but often times it is hard to fully open up about this terrible struggle."

"Off Season"

I had an email conversation a few days ago that got me thinking about challenges.  A friend was talking about how boring the food plan she received from her trainer was and how it was going to be hard to stick with it for the 9 weeks of her weight loss challenge.  For those of you who know me or have followed my blog for much time, you've probably taken note that I'm always up for a good challenge and have competed in several weight loss challenges during my journey.  I recently just concluded a 9 week challenge for Kansas City Fitness Magazine that I finished in 2nd place and I'm halfway through an 8 month challenge with Sylvester Powell Community Center that ends in January.

I'm thankful for my 8 month challenge because it offers more time to turn a challenge into a real change in our lives.  The difference between a long term and short term challenge though is intensity.  Short term weight loss challenges are like quick sprints to the finish line.  It's a race that equally receives a reward, but it takes a different type of discipline and endurance than a long distance event.  Keep in mind that BOTH require hard work and discipline though.

Now, I want you to think about a football player. He doesn't train the same way during off season as he does during pre-season or game season.  He still has to take care of his body and exercise all throughout the year to stay in shape, just not as strictly.  When it's pre-season and game season, he's beating his body harder than ever before and pushing himself to new limits.  Putting in 5 hours at the gym and icing his knees at night may not be on his Top 10 "Likes" list, but he's an athlete in training and he's getting himself ready to perform!

I feel the same is true about short term weight loss challenges such as the Kansas City Weight Loss Challenge.  For the 9 weeks that I "competed" against 20 other contestants, I trained harder and became a lot stricter in my daily routines because it was GAME TIME.

The awesome thing about game season is you learn what you are capable of accomplishing.  You learn that what you thought was your limit can be far surpassed and personal records are broken when you put your mind to it and believe in yourself.  You learn new disciplines and an obedience that is obtained from pushing beyond your comfort zone and laying all you've got out on the floor...at times that includes tears.  Game season is when you find that spark buried deep within you and realize, "I can do this, I am stronger than my weakness and am capable of great things!"  Game season comes to an end though, then what?

Weight loss challenges end. Football seasons end. Bootcamps end....then it's everyday life. Now's the time you are able to apply the disciplines you learned to your everyday living and there is more than just egg whites and exercise. The weight loss challenges, the sports seasons, the college semesters, the job training, the WHATEVER IT IS that you've spent a period of time disciplining your life with comes to an end and NOW is when we really start putting those lessons learned into action, now is the TRUE test of time.

Game season is followed by what many athletes call "off season."

OFF SEASON IS LIFE...

Off season is when the games are over, the 5 am training sessions aren't mandatory and everyone packs up their lockers to go back to everyday living - it's LIFE as we know it.  I think most would agree that day-to-day living during "off season" is quite different than that of game season.  It's not nearly as structured, its a lot more flexible, not as strenuous and stressful and not as demanding.  You aren't pressured by anyone to perform and there is no longer an audience.  IN WEIGHT LOSS, the "off season," is harder to manage and maintain than any game season!  You are now your own accountability partner and continuing to live a disciplined healthy & active lifestyle is lying solely on you.  There aren't anymore public weigh in's to keep you motivated, determination is the leading factor now.  Do you have the determination to continue on, even when you may not be "motivated?"  This is where you start to face YOU!  You look in the mirror and you now have a choice to make for YOU!  Are you going to continue living healthy for YOU?  Do you feel like it's all still worth it when its just for Y-O-U???  Are there fears?  Anxieties?  Doubts?  Insecurities?  Do you still have that faith IN yourself to believe FOR yourself as you had when you were performing during "the challenge?"  It's back to you now and whatever held you back from taking this weight off before doesn't magically disappear just because you pushed through a challenge. Did you shy away from trying because of internal fears of failure? Do you tend to do your best for everyone else?  ...but what about for YOU?  What if not another person in this world paid attention and/or cared - is your better health worth it for YOU?  QUESTIONS? QUESTIONS?

I'm throwing out some of the "questions" of off season.  This is where you will start to search your own heart and realize that if you are serious about this journey, at the end of the day you face no one other than you (and God).  This is where some of the deeper mind and heart issues start to surface while you are living healthier and getting "better."   Weight loss is kinda funny because I think it often starts on the outside but ENDS on the inside.  It's like all that extra weight was a big scab and once you start to remove it the infection underneath starts coming out, but its so you can be HEALED!

CAN I ASK YOU A QUESTION?

How did you climb to the weight you reached?  What held you back from living healthier BEFORE the challenge was introduced?  Did you know overeating and food can be (not always, but can be) an addiction?  Did you know that compulsive overeaters share a lot of the dependency traits as drug addicts?  They say that others can hide their struggles but those who are overweight walk around displaying an outward sign of an inward issue.  Again, not everyone has some deep, emotional explanation for their weight, but I believe a good percentage of overweight people do.  What's been hiding behind all of your excess weight?  Lonliness? Addiction? Stress? Broken family? Guilt? Rejection? Heartbreak? Death? Depression? Abuse? Self-esteem? Social anxieties?  Keeping in pace may have been "easy" during a weight loss challenge when you were performing for others, afterall, who likes letting people down.  But what really kept you back B E F O R E you took those first steps towards shedding the pounds?  I'm asking because I promise you that those "inner issues" will start surfacing themselves on this road to better health and they don't necessarily go away after acknowledging them once.  It's been 1 1/2 years now since I started my journey and I'm still learning more and more about myself (inside and out).  I'm learning more about myself NOW than I ever have before in life.  God is daily unsurfacing, healing and restoring me through weight loss.  I'm learning what's held me back, what drives me forward and what throws me off course.  I'm understanding that "inner fat girl" a little more through my experiences. I'm seeing the mental, spiritual, emotional and physical sides to my weight and it's not all easy, but it's worth it.  I always tell people that eating right and even exercise really aren't that difficult, but overcoming the psychological (mental & emotional) parts of weight loss are a mountain to climb.

HOW DO YOU WEIGH-IN DURING "OFF SEASON?"  Are you ready for the test of LIFE (inside and out)?

Verse(s) of the Day:

Galatians 5:13 (NIV)

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 (NIV)

But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

ONE STEP SPOTLIGHT: Jera Leathers

There is so much SUCCESS in the weight loss world and I am daily amazed by awesome stories I hear on facebook, by blog, at work or by word of mouth. I often see people walking or jogging on the sidewalks of town and in my car whisper a "Good job," because it fills me with joy seeing people push themselves to become a happier, healthier person.

The "ONE STEP spotlight" recognition comes from the famous quote, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." You have no clue how many people you can impact in life just by setting an example. So here it goes...

********ONE STEP SPOTLIGHT**********

J E R A  L E A T H E R S

- 37.8 pounds lost -

Occupation: Claims Representative


What is your favorite exercise?

Boxing Class – vo2 Max with Franchesca at Golds Gym. My favorite machine is the Arch Trainer.

What are your goals?

I want to lose another 100lbs, my goal weight is 125-130

Favorite healthy food find?

Protein Shakes

Favorite guilty pleasure?

Mexican food – I can’t resist good chips and salsa.

What inspires/motivates you?

My mom and my good friends inspire me the most. But once I started working out the feeling I get from it, seeing the results definitely inspire me. You have to inspire yourself, others can only inspire you so far in weight loss. You have to believe in yourself and keep on pushing.

Tell me your story? When/Why did you decide to start this healthier lifestyle?

I have always been overweight; I don’t know what it is like to be skinny. I just woke up one day and was like I am tired of being fat. The Kansas City Fitness Weight Loss Challenge was just what I needed to get going. I want to shop at the cute clothes store, I want to find a good guy, I want to just be healthy. I love sports and it is hard to play them when you are overweight. I want to be able to do anything, and being healthy is the only way not to be held back. I have held myself back way to long.

What would you tell someone asking for advice?

It might seem impossible, but you can do it. Taking the 1st step is the hardest, and then just staying with it is the next hardest part. I still have a long way on my journey but finding the willpower in yourself you can do it. Find the right gym, or person to help you is the key. Believe in yourself and you can do it.

Spotlight Verse:

Romans 13:7-8 (NIV)


"Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor."