Time for YOU: Week Five

Here are our 5th week goals:

1.) Time for YOU: Exercise
Continue to Focus on Exercise - check calendar for your weekly plan and design your workout based on the muscles of the body
(See body chart on Exercise Email- fun activity to bring out the kid in us all)

2.) Time for YOU: Nutrition
*Eat every 2-3 hours to keep your metabolism sped up. (THIS DOESN'T MEAN 5-6 BIG MEALS. Try your three meals and 2 healthy snacks in between meals).
*Read Email about: The impact of Stress on nutrition and top 5 foods for stress.

3.) Time for YOU: Knowledge (Spirit, Emotion, Home)
*Write down your the top 5 things you would like to make priorities in your life. They don't have to be in order of importance. Read through and see if you are including them in your day. This activity encompasses all that we are, and what our desires are. Set your timer for 15 minutes. It doesn't have to take all day.
*For those following Dr. A's Book:
Read chapter 5,6,7 of companion guide - decide what you want to fill out, but just get through it and read

Time for YOU: Week Four

Finally getting these out so you can reference in one place. Way to go this week!


Here are our 4th week goals:

1.) Exercise: Continue to Focus on intensity and doing your workout
2.) Nutrition: Answer three questions about preparations, Portions, and Sugar Intake
3.) Knowledge: Read chapter 5 of Habits of Health and ch.4 of companion guide
4.)Emotion: Positive Affirmations
5.)Home: Write down morning routine
6.) Spirit: Continue Daily Personal and Family Scripture Reading

My journey of discovering food as fuel: Why do I Eat What I Eat?

 (pictured above: Bean Burger on a bed of fresh spinach and tomatoes and topped with fat free salad dressing and mustard) 

Why do I eat what I eat? 

It's a question I asked myself a lot.  Emotions are so much a part of what and why we eat that we can not discount their place in our journey to health.  I shared these ideas with a friend this week about food and wanted to share them with all of you.

I started to think of HOW and WHAT  and WHY I was serving my family food or feeding myself.   Do I cook dinner so they'll oh and ah to make my effort worth while (or whatever it is we get from making dinner), or do I feed my family to nourish their bodies?
Once I figured out why, I made an active effort to form habits that would replace the unhealthy ones.

I learned these three things about food:

*Serving size DOES matter - a portion for my body is not the same as my three year old or my husband, so the nibbling on kids leftovers did count and why did I do it?  Mindless eating!  I started to teach my family how to take the amount of food and kinds of food that were best for them.  Serving each person's plate, like a restaurant and putting just the plate on the table is great. Also, leaving the food in the kitchen and letting the family dish up and then sit at the table, the food is not right in front of your face to just have more of.  You have to make a conscious effort to get up and get more. Put your leftovers in serving size containers.  They have great divided containers and you can just pull one out when you need to eat and heat it up, no waste, proportions under control and great for on the go.  Do if after you've eaten, because when we are hungry we tend to grab more than we need. 

*WHY am I Eating? Same as above, am I eating to nourish my body and give myself energy, or am I just eating to feel better emotionally. HALT - post it on your fridge! When you go to put something in your mouth are you HUNGRY, ANGRY, LONELY, or TIRED?  If you are hungry, feed that body good fuel that won't weigh it down.  You know that feeling when you've eaten too much, and feel heavy?  Eating to feed emotions is never ending eating. You never feel quite satisfied and keep eating to feel better and it never comes. Try to drink an 8 oz glass of water first and HALT to see where you are at.  Replacement Habit: Drink  8 oz. water and do some activity...my sister has her children run to the end of the block when they have challenging emotional responses.  This does two things: 1) Distracts you from your thoughts and changes your mood from the adrenaline 2)Gets you away from whatever is emotional for you for a moment - physical distance.

Since we can't just run out of the house, try walking in place when tired, jumping jacks when excited, punching the air when frustrated (give yourself room), or laying on the floor with your feet on the wall when you want to change your attitude. (Great one with kids too!- you can join them and have a few minutes of laughing while you try to get your feet up on the wall ;)



















*Social Events (Church Meetings, family functions, and eating out) aren't about the food- Once we see the food as a nutrient and the people we are with as company, we enjoy the event, and it's not about the food.  This is a hard one in our society, because we even make the movies about sitting in a dark theater and consuming large amounts of buttery popcorn and mindlessly eating.  I bring food I know is good for me to functions and have something in my purse or bag to eat at all times. I know it's not going to ruin any progress I made that day, but also that it's fuel for my body when I need it. You will seriously think about whether you are really hungry when all you have are carrots and broccoli or nuts in your bag when you crave a chocolate bar when your stressed with kids from running errands or grocery shopping. You'll love it more when the sugar is out of your system.  They learn to know when they are hungry or just bored when they are with you as well.

Give yourself time to build these habits. You didn't get here over night. You've worked on it all your life.  Be kind to yourself when you revert back to an old habit, but be aware of it. Resolve that it doesn't ruin your whole day or week, but that your will try harder the next meal, or nourishing time for your body.  This is all about one meal and one snack at a time, making better choices, and creating new habits for a lifetime. 

 Keep flowing like a river and molding your body, one rock (habit) at a time!

Time for YOU: Week Three

This week has been a great one. It was fun preparing for Valentine's Day and finding fun ways of showing love for my family.  This is a quick reminder of where we have been focusing this week, and check out the weekly video to see what we are working on this next week.  Every fourth week we will reevaluate and focus and review a little more before we move on to new goals.  It gives you a chance to really see what is working and time to reflect on where you have been. 

Here's our review for week three:


1.) Exercise: Focus on Intensity
2.) Nutrition: Replace unhealthy fats
3.) Knowledge: Ch. 3 of companion guide - also Make annual checkup with your doctor if it's been a while
4.)Emotion: Evaluate Self- Talk
5.)Home: Continue 15 minutes of De-cluttering
6.) Spirit: Daily Personal and Family Scriptures Study

My 15 minute De-cluttering Mission!

This week I've focused on decluttering for 15minutes a day.  I got so into it, I decluttered 15 minutes for 3 times a day.  I started with my kitchen and it's gone from there. I can make dinners quickly, and find food in the cupboards to snack and make meals with. IT HAS BEEN FREEING!  I've followed flylady and I think after these 2 1/2 years of being in my new house, it hit.   I've been holding onto everything, because I thought if I got the house clean and organized, I'd have to move again. I've moved every 2 years, or so.  Well, I was not going to move again....can you feel the stubborn in my voice?  All I did was make my life harder and take time from my family.  

I love to walk into my kitchen!  It is really the heart of my home. 

The RESULTS: I've got my every kitchen cabinet, besides the china (which I will use these two weeks and see how often I use them.), and my desk is next.  I threw one black garbage bag a day and 3 on Friday.  My house didn't look that dirty.  I can pick up the rooms in 5 minutes with a room rescue.  27 fling boogies end up being 35 + fling boogies.  If this sounds unfamiliar, go check out www.flylady.net.

I am on my way to my desk in the kitchen.  These are the steps I go through.

1.) Decide what room and space is Most Important Right Now for your families functions.
2.) Got three baskets out, one for trash, one for give away, one for keep. I used a small handled basket for those things that need to go to another room, or space.
3.)15 minutes in that space, or area - Set the timer
4.) DO I LOVE IT? DO I USE IT? CAN IT BLESS SOMEONE ELSE?
5.) Take the garbage out, take the give away to the car, and take the basket of things that belong to other rooms and put them AWAY.
6.)Put those things you love back in their place and smile and give yourself a pat on the back!

This is what I do.  It feels great and I'm well on my way.  I just keep remembering that someone else can be blessed by my excess and the things that I don't love anymore.  Garbage is garbage, so I know not to share that with someone else by donating unusable and broken things.

I continue on my journey, motivated and feeling so much joy at night when I think of all that is changing in my life. 

Time for YOU: Week Two

We're Staying Connected!

So we reached the end of week two.  I hope you have all enjoyed this process. It has been so rewarding and motivational to me. I find myself able to accomplish more, think better, and feel an accountability for my personal growth. I know so little and you complete your own puzzle, but I appreciate you joining me and forming part of mine.  It is bringing  joy to my journey.  Here is our week two in review.  Go back and "check off" those things you've accomplished.  We need a day to reflect back on what worked and what didn't in our week.  Remember, these are not in order of importance, just how I decided to put them in list order.

1.) Exercise: Take picture, weigh, and measure - weigh only once a week, same time, usually in the morning

2.) Nutrition: Clean our your environment - throw out the junk on your cupboards and pantries

3.) Knowledge: Fill in Chapter 3 of Dr. A's companion guide - Read a book on habits - even if you are not following with Dr. A's book, make sure you are reading something, even little articles, this is why I send you something each week if you don't have a book.  Look for my emails mid week. This week was about Vitamin D. (drwayneandersen.com)

4.) Emotion: Set 3 attainable goals for your 3 months - use feeling and emotion and imagine what it would be like to achieve them and how you would feel


5.) Home:De-cluttering for 15 minutes a day - Remember! You CAN'T ORGANIZE CLUTTER.  Make your environment healthier with one 15 minute session a day. (www.flylady.net)

6.) Spirit:Continue Daily Personal and Family Prayer - Focus with a purpose and be specific and just stay connected with our Heavenly Father (Did You Think to Pray? - Download)

Time For You: Week One

If you are coming across this blog, you are either following us in our TIME FOR YOU group or happened upon the blog.  I shared in another post what this was about, but I want each of you to remember that these are broad goals in 6 areas of our lives.  Take them one at a time, two at a time, or all at once.  It's just about making a process of habits, because our habits create success.

Here are our weekly goals in 6 areas: 

1.)Exercise: Make a weekly plan and put in on your calendar. Choose 3,5, or 6 day plan.

2.) Nutrition: Watch your portions. Remember your balanced plate of carbs, protein, and veggies and fruits.

3.) Knowledge: Dr. Anderson's "Habit's of Health" chapter 1-2 and companion guide chapter one.

4.)Emotion: Watch what you say to yourself this week. Keep track in your journal.

5.)Home: Create Monthly Habit of Shining Your Sink.  See www.flylady.net

6.)Spirit: Daily Family and Personal Prayer (from 7 vital signs)

You're Doing IT!

I choose the best in 2010!