Well, it's time to lose the baby fat. I've had four beautiful babies and I gained a little more permanent weight with each one, but the latest pounds have been the trickiest... The ones I gained after one of those babies got married... when my littlest girl got married. Wasn’t it yesterday that I was getting out of a 7pm movie with her dad? Could it have been 23 years ago that we wandered over to the DQ for a strawberry misty cooler, two weeks overdue with an appointment the next day with the dentist and an appointment for ANOTHER ultrasound ...when I finally just looked at Andrew and said, “Take me to the hospital; I'm having this baby.” I had plunked my butt in that waiting room and wouldn't go home even though they said my contractions were just false labour and they had been stuck at 10 min apart for days... ‘til they finally called Dr White and she came in to see me and said a more patient doctor would send me home and wait but she wanted to see this baby so she was going to rupture my membranes so this little sweetheart could just slide on our into the world. And that's just what she did. Dr White broke my waters at midnight and Jessica was born 45 min later... that dear lady held that baby up and said she thought this one was 7 lbs 4 oz and that’s what she was. I held that little miracle and she grasped my finger and looked in my eyes and nursed right away and fell asleep and I called and cancelled my appointments with Dr Ingham 🦷 and with the ultrasound Dept 💕
How was this not just yesterday?
I'm just thinking, when your youngest baby was born 18 years ago, baby weight is no longer a viable nor credible excuse...this extra 50 pounds I'm sporting, though lovely and matronly and curvy, is now officially a cookie baby, it's raising my blood pressure, decreasing my flexibility and endurance, hurting my feet, putting me at risk for type two diabetes or heart troubles; maybe even shortening my lifespan... Ain't nobody got time fo that. I love hanging out with my children and granddaughter, playing, swimming, hiking, getting smeared with ice cream at the annual Bayswater Beach Bash by them (angry face, Ted Beeler).
So I've read Mark MacDonald's book Body Confidence and I've been listening to LIFE fitness cds in preparation for my new and forever approach to food. I've had results with diets before, they definitely have worked for me, but I'm not interested in doing this again, EVER, and I'm DEFINITELY not interested in what always has happens AFTER my diet results. Which has been for me to put it back on plus 10. No way. I'm doing this once. And the only way will be to change the way I think about food. That will change my habits, and that will give me the results I want.
My hero Lana did it: entered and PLACED in her first ever fitness competition. My bestie Catherine cheered me on with the words, "make the decision to do this once, Sonya" ( she has since placed second in a fitness competition too!) My best boo Marcia tied her weight loss and fitness goals to her effectiveness and transparency and consistency as a leader, lost her weight and inspired her team...and that resonates with me deeply.
So I've read Mark MacDonald's book Body Confidence and I've been listening to LIFE fitness cds in preparation for my new and forever approach to food. I've had results with diets before, they definitely have worked for me, but I'm not interested in doing this again, EVER, and I'm DEFINITELY not interested in what always has happens AFTER my diet results. Which has been for me to put it back on plus 10. No way. I'm doing this once. And the only way will be to change the way I think about food. That will change my habits, and that will give me the results I want.
My hero Lana did it: entered and PLACED in her first ever fitness competition. My bestie Catherine cheered me on with the words, "make the decision to do this once, Sonya" ( she has since placed second in a fitness competition too!) My best boo Marcia tied her weight loss and fitness goals to her effectiveness and transparency and consistency as a leader, lost her weight and inspired her team...and that resonates with me deeply.
If you ask me to list the top priorities of my life, I'll rattle 'em off: God, family, health... And yet I live my days in a way that doesn't reflect health as the third priority of my LIFE. Which means it's not a priority. Ouch.
I've been listening to a teaching pack on finances and in one of the CDs, it says something that made me pause, brush midair, step off the ladder and rewind the cd back to hear it again. And what's funny is, I've heard him say it loads of times. I've even listened to that cd before many times. I've even SAID it to people. But like Lana says ALL the time, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." What I heard on the CD was this: most people don't have a financial problem; they have a wisdom problem." I immediately recalled what I heard said last week, "you don't fix money problems with more money. You fix money problems with better information. How you help a kid get from grade two to grade three is you teach him a whole bunch of new information."
I love that!
Andrew took me on a honeymoon...23 years delayed, mind you, but it was TOTALLY WICKED! After our FIRST daughter Gaëlle got back from the Disney Cruise she and Jordan went on for their honeymoon, she convinced her dad that we should be the next people we send on a honeymoon, so Andrew booked it and we counted down the days.
As the date drew closer we thought a lot about the bodies we WISHED we had for this trip, but instead of going on a crash diet to try to lose weight BEFORE the cruise, we started dreaming about
the kinds of food we'd be able to eat and the activities we'd have time to do WHILE we were cruising. So when we hit the buffet we were PSYCHED about the seafood and colourful fruit and
veggie choices... We ate all the best, most colourful foods and we made sure we ate a nice variety every three hours, finishing off the day with an elegant dinner with friends and a small delicious dessert we could share.
We found out that three laps of the ship was a mile so we were excited about how many laps we could do each day and how much we improved over the course of our eight day visit. We went on hiking tours and went swimming several times a day and ONLY took the stairs, planning our day around ensuring we had to walk the farthest and do the most stairs. We came home lighter, fitter and thinking completely differently about the way we feed and care for our bodies. I'm a little over halfway to my goal to lose fifty pounds and I'm so excited and pleased about how much more energy I have and how much stronger I feel. My blood pressure is consistently excellent and I don't seem to need naps to get me through the afternoons! But the best result has been by far how much more I believe in my own ability to change and grow and keep the promises I make to myself. I feel like a champion every day.
I love that!
Andrew took me on a honeymoon...23 years delayed, mind you, but it was TOTALLY WICKED! After our FIRST daughter Gaëlle got back from the Disney Cruise she and Jordan went on for their honeymoon, she convinced her dad that we should be the next people we send on a honeymoon, so Andrew booked it and we counted down the days.
As the date drew closer we thought a lot about the bodies we WISHED we had for this trip, but instead of going on a crash diet to try to lose weight BEFORE the cruise, we started dreaming about
the kinds of food we'd be able to eat and the activities we'd have time to do WHILE we were cruising. So when we hit the buffet we were PSYCHED about the seafood and colourful fruit and
veggie choices... We ate all the best, most colourful foods and we made sure we ate a nice variety every three hours, finishing off the day with an elegant dinner with friends and a small delicious dessert we could share.
We found out that three laps of the ship was a mile so we were excited about how many laps we could do each day and how much we improved over the course of our eight day visit. We went on hiking tours and went swimming several times a day and ONLY took the stairs, planning our day around ensuring we had to walk the farthest and do the most stairs. We came home lighter, fitter and thinking completely differently about the way we feed and care for our bodies. I'm a little over halfway to my goal to lose fifty pounds and I'm so excited and pleased about how much more energy I have and how much stronger I feel. My blood pressure is consistently excellent and I don't seem to need naps to get me through the afternoons! But the best result has been by far how much more I believe in my own ability to change and grow and keep the promises I make to myself. I feel like a champion every day.
Now that little Jessica, born just yesterday but somehow a full grown married lady now, is an incredibly disciplined, fit encourager and has agreed to coach me into shape! Here we go, Jess! Let the adventure begin!!!
"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have
received from God? You are not your own;" 1 Corinthians 6:19
"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have
received from God? You are not your own;" 1 Corinthians 6:19
