I need a challenge!

Getting motivated to start doing my healthy living program again has been hard since having my son in November. The first 3 months of his life I barely got enough sleep to think let alone start doing all my Building a Healthy Living Temple things. By the second month I had started going on walks with Asher. That was a good thing. I needed that.

On the third month I started running again... very slowly. So slowly in fact that my husband was able to "Walk" at my pace. My son began sleeping in the third month so I figured that would be a great time to start getting back in shape. It didn't work. Exactly the opposite happened. I was pretty much down to my pre-Asher weight when I began to gain again.

I thought maybe it was because of what I was eating... I had had to change my diet in the second month due to colic like behavior in my son. I had very limited things to choose from as far as eating so I began to eat more processed foods again... even though those foods were gluten free and made of healthy things. I also had mostly snack type items. Not enough protein, veggies and fruit. It is very difficult to cook while feeding a baby. My body just didn't like what I was giving it so I gained.

Now that Asher is 4 months old I feel like I really really really need to get back on track for my health! So I am taking steps towards reaching a healthier life again. For me though doing this for my healthy (which should be a good enough reward) isn't challenging enough.

I know that if I join up with some others to start making positive changes I will do much better. So does anyone want to join me in a healthy living challenge?

I was thinking about starting out like this...

1. Begin by focusing on one of the 10 keys that helped me get healthy last time every 3 days!

• Key 1- Putting God First
• Key 2- Avoiding Chemicals & Artificial Ingredients
• Key 3- Eating Smaller Meals More Often
• Key 4- Down Sizing Dishes
• Key 5- Water, Water, Water!
• Key 6- Limiting Unhealthy Foods
• Key 7- Choose Organic Fruits and Veggies
• Key 8- Choose Organic or Wild Caught Protein
• Key 9- Exercise
• Key 10- Vitamins & Minerals

2. Be accountable to someone about how I am doing on my goals.

3. Be kind to myself (someone who was on bed rest for so many week last year and the year before can't just magically get healthy over night!)

4. Celebrate each day!

5. Reward myself for healthy steps taken!

6. Be honest with myself... if I make a mistake pick myself up, dust myself off and start again.

7. Pray without ceasing!

So who's up for a challenge? Anyone want to work on their goals along side me? Let me know!

It is much easier to work on things when you are sharing your journey with others!

Time to start again!

My journey towards Building a Healthy Living Temple began in 2007 after a long battle of infertility and obesity. I was at a point where I needed drastic change and I wasn't given much hope medically to fix it.

I was told that I would be on medications for the rest of my life and that the best option for me would to get a hysterectomy. Neither of those things appealed to me. I didn't want to be on medications that would just cause the need for more medications to counter act their effects. I had refused to even consider a hysterectomy because of my desire to have a child.

To make a long story short I found the root cause of my weight struggles and infertility. It wasn't the doctors that helped me find this but my own diet helped me find the problem. I am gluten allergic. My allergy cause me to have hormonal issues that effected every system in my body.

I lost 118 lbs after stopping glutens. I wrote a book about the diet that the Lord revealed to me through a vision and 9 months after starting this journey I was pregnant with our first son Nels. It was a miracle and amazing. Unfortunately baby Nels was born with a rare problem that happens to 1 in 8000 boys called PUV and he only lived one short hour. Within 3 weeks I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight. 4 months after having Baby Nels we were expecting again.

I spent half of 2009 on bed rest. It was a very difficult pregnancy, unrelated to anything from before. I quickly lost most of the pregnancy weight but then after 3 months began to bloat up a little. So now I am working on getting back into shape again and I thought this would be a great time to start blogging and share my new Building a Healthy Living Temple journey with others.

My goals are pretty simple, I want to be healthy, be able to run, fit into my pre-pregnancy clothing, feel healthy and do all of this while still keeping my focus on God. I know that if I take my eyes off of God and begin to obsess about my weight that it will spiral out of control, but if I keep my eyes focused on God and do what He has shown me to do I will be back in shape in no time!

I am looking forward to getting back on my Building a Healthy Living Temple plan. I think I should probably read my own book as a first good start. I have already started exercising, both walking and running, but the running isn't going as well as I would like. I think I need to work up to it a little more.

I think it will be important for me to remember the 10 keys I wrote in my book. I know the most important key for me was to keep God the focus and not food or exercise. When I put food or exercise as the focus I can easily get too obsessed about them. When I get obsessed it seems to back fire. I stop enjoying the exercise if I focus to much on it... then I don't want to do it. When I get obsessed about food... I think about it too often and it makes me more hungry. So Key #1 it is time to put you back into place! I will stop stressing and obsessing and start rejoicing and praising God for each day!

Lord God, I thank you for helping me get healthy a couple years ago. I thank you for giving me the keys to Building a Healthy Living Temple. Lord I ask that you lead and guide my steps as I begin this journey again. Lord help me to focus on you and not the food or exercise. Lord help me to begin enjoying my life for you and help me to make healthy choices each day for myself and my family! I thank you God for the tools you have given me and for your word that is the true bread of life. I thank you that as I begin this journey again you will help me to shine your light and be an encouragement to others. In Jesus name, Amen!