Perfect Weakness

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Yesterday, I shared weight loss success story to help encourage those of us who are be struggling to stay on plan. I want to thank those of you who left me a comment saying that you were struggling with your weight loss. God knew that we needed more than just a good success story, but we need the truth of His word to cling to during challenging times. God shared a very encouraging word with me that I am going to pass on to all of you.

This morning, while I was eating breakfast I read through this Proverbs 31 devotional. I knew that God would be speaking to me when I saw the title, “Perfect Weakness”. The devotion opened with one of my favorite Bible verses, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9a (NIV).

Do you know that when we are weak God is strong? It is in our weaknesses that His power can shine through even the most challenging circumstances.

God is not expecting us to be perfect. He knows that we are human. He knows that we do not have it all together. He is also aware of our fears and insecurities. In this verse above He is not asking for us to be perfect, but He is asking that we come before Him and admit our weaknesses.

Are you feeling weak and weary of battling your weight loss? Take some time right now to cry out to the Lord in your weakness and trust in His perfect care.

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Perfect Weakness
July 26, 2011
Micca Monda Campbell

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9a (NIV)

It started out like any other evening at home. Donny made dinner while Annie attended aerobics class after work. It was a good arrangement. Donny got to practice his cooking skills and Annie got to exercise. Once Annie was home, dinner was served.

Unknowingly, their lives were about to change forever. In the middle of dinner, Annie’s right hand suddenly went numb. Unable to hold her fork, she dropped it to the floor.

“Are you okay?” Donny asked. Annie felt ill. Her head pounded like never before. Something was wrong.

The next day, Annie’s MRI exposed bad news: a brain aneurysm. The good news was it was operable. Alarmed by the dreadful findings, Annie fell to pieces as the doctor explained the procedure. He would start by shaving her head where the incision would be made. Then, the brain specialist would remove the left part of Annie’s skull.

Her heart would have to stop for a split second in order to put a metal clamp around the artery in her brain. This would definitely affect her speech for a while. The doctor couldn’t guarantee how things would turn out, but he was hopeful. Distressed, both Annie and Donny melted with grief.

After sharing the news with friends and family, Annie sank into a deep depression. The unknowns of her condition left her scared stiff. Her mind raced with possible outcomes. She didn’t get out of bed or bathe for days until she visited her pastor. Surely, he could offer her the peace to face her illness. But peace didn’t come during their conversation.

“I need something more,” Annie confessed to her pastor.

“He is what you need,” the pastor said, as he pointed to the large cross hanging at the front of the church. Annie walked slowly toward the cross, knelt down in front of it, and cried out to the Lord. She didn’t ask God to heal her. She didn’t even ask to live through it. “Just give me the strength to do Your will,” Annie pleaded.

At the moment Annie placed her life before God, she was filled with His peace and power. She had no more tears. Annie knew in that moment, no matter what — live or die — everything was going to be fine.

Annie’s surgery was a success. Though it took several months before she could speak again and nearly a year to heal fully, she had something better than a life without trials or sickness. She had the companionship of Christ and the assurance of His strength and enabling grace.

The world’s philosophy says, “What can’t be cured must be endured.” Our key verse says the opposite. What can’t be cured makes us dependent on the power of God. In that dependency, His power is given and we are made strong. I’ve come to learn this truth myself. God doesn’t always remove me from my painful circumstances, but He supports me in them. This strengthens me like none other.

Something amazing happens when we faithfully cry out to the Lord in our weakness and believe in His perfect care. We experience His super-natural power and peace. Our faith suddenly becomes stronger than our fear, and our trust becomes a strong witness to others. Go ahead and be weak when the crisis comes. His strength and grace are sufficient.

Dear Lord, thank You for Your strong grace when my circumstances look bleak. In my weakness, I cry out in utter dependence on You. Make Your power known to me. Be my hope, my peace and my strength. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Our Morning Dose of Encouragement

Good Morning! It was another challenging weekend on Weight Watchers. I need to get my head back in the game. Our schedule has been busy and we have not been home a lot which makes it hard to prepare and fix meals! I work Weight Watchers tomorrow evening, which also happens to be my weigh in night. I am going to weigh in, take the gain that I know is coming, and then I am going to hit the restart button.

I thought that it would do all of us some good to take our eyes off of ourselves and focus on someone else. I want to share a Weight Watchers success story that encouraged me throughout my weight loss journey. I hope it does the same for you today!

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Mind Over Belly

Rebecca, Age 34, Height 5'4", Was 200 lbs, Lost 67 lbs, Weight 133 lbs

Before

After

For most of my life, whenever anything upset me, I'd open the refrigerator. It could be the kids acting up or sad stories on the evening news &150 my solution was food. Weight Watchers helped me realize that eating wouldn't solve the problem; I'd just wind up feeling worse. Now when I'm stressed I reach for a book, turn off the TV or do anything except stuff my face. It's become mind over belly.

Light Bulb Moment
It was a typical Saturday &150 I ate like a pig. Very atypically, I woke up Sunday disgusted with my weight and determined to make a change. Later that week, some coworkers suggested Weight Watchers. Since my husband travels a lot and I have two kids, I signed up for Weight Watchers Online.

The Web site's BMI calculator was helpful throughout the eight months it took me to lose 67 pounds. At the beginning, my Body Mass Index was 36 &150 obese. I'm so proud that it's now in the healthy range at 23*.

Following the POINTS® Weight-Loss System would have been much, much tougher without the Recipe Builder. It showed me how to cook lower-fat versions of my favorite foods. I'd never tried egg substitutes before Weight Watchers.

In the beginning I needed lots of motivation, and I got it from the online community on the WeightWatchers.com Message Boards. These wonderful people gave me reassurance that it gets easier &150 it does! &150 plus great tips. I've gotten so many small wonderful ideas like ordering a slice of pizza minus half the cheese.

The Couple That Loses Together&133
My husband signed up two weeks after I did. We're each other's biggest boosters. When we reached our goals we treated ourselves to a long weekend at a hotel without the kids. Our getaway included a spa day filled with glorious treatments. Facials aren't fattening! (Read more about Rebecca's husband Larry's success here!)

Larry and I have more energy now to play with our sons, and we are teaching them healthy eating habits. I'll measure their French fry portions instead of just grabbing a handful or two. I also give them water bottles instead of juice boxes with their lunch.

The Secret
People ask me all the time about the secret of my success. It's focus: I think about long-term goals instead of immediate gratification. In my mind's eye I pictured myself thinner. Now I weigh the same as I did in ninth grade! Being thin makes my life feel fat with promise.

Rebecca's Tips:

I promised myself I'd jog 30 minutes a day no matter what. Some days I don't feel up to it, but a promise is a promise. I lace up those sneakers.

I still track my POINTS values every day. It keeps me honest.

Balance is key. I'll plan a lower POINTS value dinner to allow for an afternoon snack to eat while I'm watching my favorite soap opera.

Buy snacks for your kids that come in individual serving sizes so you won't be tempted to share their goodies.

If you need help with a dinner suggestion, go to WeightWatchers.com. You'll be swamped with great ideas.

Give low POINTS value substitutes a try. My family and I have come to love turkey burgers, veggie burgers and light whole-wheat bread.

What a Week

I am so thankful that it is Friday!!

It has been such a long and busy week in our household. Monday I picked up Jon from the airport on Monday night and we did not make it home until 2am! I think that this event really threw off my entire week. I do not function well when I am tired and sleep deprived!

As a result, it has been a hard Weight Watchers week. I have been overeating. I eat to try and keep myself awake. Jon has been busy working and I have been home alone eating, because I am lonely. Do you hear a theme? I've been eating...a lot! I had a small victory yesterday when I resisted cupcakes at a work barbeque! Hey it’s not much but I need to celebrate anything I can, no matter how small it might be.

On top of that, I was not able to weigh in this week. I normally weigh in on Tuesday evenings, however my meeting was cancelled this week. I have this really weird thing about how I only weigh in at Weight Watchers on Tuesday evenings. I made this rule, because early on in my weight loss journey I was weighing myself multiple times a day. I weighed myself so much that I was stressed out, because my body would fluctuate throughout the week. So, I decided to stop stressing myself out and only weigh in once a week.

I know that I should weigh myself at home, but there is just one problem my scale is broken and the battery does not work! Figures!

I do not mean to complain, but I want to be honest with you about where I am at in my healthy eating journey. Just because I have made it to my goal weight does not mean that all of this is easy for me. It is extremely challenging at times.

So, what I am going to do in response to my bad week? Well, I am not going to quit. I am not going to give up and throw in the towel

I am going to start by remembering how far I have come. I want to let that motivate me to keep going. I am going to pray that God helps me get back on track and stay there. This morning I wore a pair of my tighter jeans, so that I could feel if my stomach is growing. I went walking on Wednesday evening in the 100 degree heat. I am tracking what I eat and will continue to try to stay on track! It is going to be challenging with summer barbeques and parties happening this weekend, but I am going to TRY.

Thanks for listening and letting me be honest about where I am at this morning!

If you are struggling, you are not alone! Make a plan to get yourself right back on track as soon as possible.

Just for fun I thought that I would share this comic with you. I received it earlier this week and it made me laugh out loud at work! It describes exactly how I feel here in Texas.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Fitness Mistakes

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Here is the latest Get Fit email from Dr. Jacobs.

Ten Common Fitness Mistakes
If you are experiencing pain while working out, not seeing the results you want or becoming bored, you may be making common exercise mistakes.

Many people don’t realize there is a right and wrong way to workout. Cooper Fitness Center Professional Fitness Trainer Loren Maine gives us ten common mistakes you might be committing during your exercise routine.

1. Exercise frequency - Too little exercise can lead many health problems. However, too much exercise can cause aches and pains, fatigue, weakened immune system, decrease in performance and more. Aim for four to five days of physical activity each week for around 30 minutes each day.

2. Keeping the same routine - Your body will stay at the same level of fitness if exercises aren’t new or challenging. At this point, your body is said to be on a plateau. Change is good!

3. Only practicing cardio - Your exercise program needs balance. A successful training regime should address both cardiovascular training and resistance training.

4. Keeping the same volume - When the body gets used to an amount of weight, fitness improvements are limited. Change the number of sets, repetitions and weight being lifting to avoid reaching a standstill.

5. Eating too little – You might not think that your diet affects your work out. If you aren't eating enough, your body goes into "protection mode" and actually stores fat to survive. Also, exercise performance will be hindered if the body is not properly nourished.

6. Skipping the warm up - Properly warming up reduces the risk of injury. At the beginning of the exercise routine, dedicate approximately ten minutes to prepare the targeted muscle group.

7. Lifting too much weight - Lifting weight that is too heavy alters proper posture. This can lead to muscle and joint compensations that increase risk of injury. Lift a weight that is challenging enough that the muscle fatigues by the last few repetitions.

8. Not drinking enough water - Drink plenty of water before, during and after exercise. Dehydration alters exercise performance and may cause dizziness, cramps, lethargy and more.

9. Working through an injury - Acute pain could turn into chronic pain if not properly addressed. If you have an injury, consult an expert and/or remember the acronym RICE: rest, ice, compression and elevation.

10. Forgoing a professional fitness trainer –Utilizing a professional trainer keeps you on task, challenges your body and provides expert assistance. As a motivation factor, it’s easier to go to the gym when you know you have an “appointment.

Love Your Fruits and Veggies

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Here is the Meeting Summary from July 12, 2011.

This week in the meeting room we had a special visitor....Mr. Potato Head! He helped to remind us about how important it is to dress up our fruits and vegetables!!

You know fruits and veggies should be a more important part of your diet, but it's hard to find ways to fit them in. Here's help.

If you're like many people, you may find it hard to work five servings of fruits and vegetables into your menu each day. Even a die-hard veggie lover might be challenged to hit this goal every day, but it's an important part of the Plan, so do what you can to make the change. It's worth it. In addition to (most of them) having 0 PointsPlus™ values, fruits and veggies offer the following perks:

- They make you feel fuller.
- They're rich sources of disease-fighting antioxidants.
- They reduce the risk of heart disease.
- They provide folic acid, vitamins and minerals.
- They increase energy, fight infection, improve regularity, keep skin healthy, promote normal blood clotting and build bones!

Fitting Them In
There are many ways to include more fruits and vegetables into your meals. Variety is key to keeping your taste buds happy and preventing boredom. When you go grocery shopping, pick up a fruit you've never tried before or spice up your green beans with a fiery peanut sauce instead of the usual butter spray.

Here are some tricks to try:

- Add vegetables to frozen entrees, pasta dishes, soups or wraps.
- Use frozen veggies to save time. Add them to recipes or eat them on their own.
- Snack on crudités with salsa, hummus, low-fat dip or dressing.
- Buy fresh seasonal, local or organic veggies, which are often more flavorful, think corn in the summer, squash in the winter.
- Mix fruits into green salads for a surprising new taste.

If all else fails, just remember to eat the rainbow!

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Happy Monday

Jon has been gone all weekend. He comes home tonight and I cannot wait!! I have been blogging a lot over at our personal blog, Newsham Flight Log. God has been teaching me so much about so many different things and I cannot help but blog about it.

I had lots of things planned for this past weekend. I tried to be productive and keep myself busy so that I would not just eat the entire weekend. Weekends like this are such a challenge for me! It's hard being alone, because I snack and eat much more then I needed to. This is one reason that I do not like being home alone! I did overeat, but not as much as I thought I would.

I have been going without sugar-free foods and artificial sweeteners for several days now. However, things are going great! I do not have headaches like I did when I was eating those things all the time. I also do not feel like I am as hungry as I was before when I was eating sugar-free foods on a regular basis.

I do not have many pictures from this weekend, because Jon took our camera with him on our trip. However, I took this picture of me Sunday morning before church. What do you think?

Have a great Monday!!

Giving Up Sugar-Free Foods

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Do you find yourself hungry after eating Splenda or other artificial sweeteners? I do.

For the last several weeks I have been so hungry! I could not figure out what was wrong with me! Why am I so hungry? I tried to eat more fruits and vegetables, but I still experienced a high level of hunger despite my efforts to eat more healthy and filling foods. I have been chewing more gum, because The Biggest Loser advertises Extra gum, which is supposed to help curb your hunger.

It was not until this week that I feel like I have finally had a break though! You see, I heard on the radio that there was a new study out about how sugar-free gum and diet soda can make you feel more hungry. What!? I wanted the reporter to say it again. Had I hear her correctly?

I searched high and low for the study, but could not find it. I did find an interesting article at LiveStrong that you might want to check out.

I normally chew gum as a way to suppress my appetite. If I am hungry right after lunch, I will chew on gum to distract myself from the fact that I feel hungry. I have been chewing gum more often, because I have felt more hungry more often.

Not only that, but I wanted to learn how to like regular, plain, old oatmeal. I did not want all the sugar in the sweetened packets. Plus, I wanted to be able to save some money by buying the plain stuff. I decided that I could put some Splenda on top of my oatmeal to sweeten it just enough so that I would enjoy eating it.

Could these things I have done to help myself actually be causing me to be more hungry? How frustrating!

This happened to me once before about a year ago. I was drinking too much Crystal Light and it was giving me headaches. I decided that I would not drink it anymore and I had the worst headaches as my body went through withdrawals! I am frustrated that I let something like this happen again.

I am not a medical professional. But for me, I have decided to stop eating sugar-free gum, Splenda, and other artificial sweeteners, because I do not think they are good for me. They obviously give me headaches and increase my hunger levels. These are two things that I am not willing to live with just so I can eat something for 0 pointsplus+.

I am sure that I could consume these things in moderation and it would not be that bad for me. However, why eat them at all when I know that there are negative side effects that are harmful to my body?

The bottom line is to do what is best for you. You might be able to handle sugar-free gum, Splenda, and other artificial sweeteners. If so, that's great! But, if you have been suffering from some of these same things I have been talking about, maybe it's time to make a change.

Tell me about you? Are you experiencing some of these same things? Are there other natural sweeteners that you use instead?