Jump Start Week

Yesterday day I started my jump start program, you know the one that gets your metabolism going again. I am eating my Veggie, Veggie Soup Baby soup this week (started Tuesday) and I am also eating it again next week. I will probably hate it by then, but it does it's job. LOL

I am also jump starting my exercise by, well, exercising consistently for one thing and also by doing more cardio than I normally do. I have fibromyalgia and some arthritis and so cardio is sometimes (most times actually) painful, but I have to push through it and do it anyway. I love strength training and I do a lot of calisthenic type exercises. I also plan on walking some outside with my kids, but this crazy rain keeps me in doors right now.

I have to say that dieting is probably my least favorite thing to do, but it has to be done. A lifestyle change is necessary, I'm saving my life by making these changes. Fortunately I am not alone. God is strengthening me and my resolve to GET IT DONE. My scripture focus for this week is, "I can do everything through Christ, who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13 I realize that I got myself into this oversized problem, but I know that God loves me enough to give me the strength I need to finish the job.

My Veggie, Veggie Soup Baby recipe is in the post right below this one. Take a peek, you might like it!

Soup, Soup, Lovely Fat Blasting Soup!

Whenever I feel like I need a metabolism boost, I go on a week of extremely healthy, veggie soup. I use my crock pot and cook it for hours. I make a lot and I eat it for lunch and dinner everyday for a week. Sometimes for dinner I'll add a very lean, perfect portion, grilled chicken breast on the side for some protein. The lovely thing about my veggie soup is that it is very filling, very yummy and it is chalked full of nutrients! Another great thing about veggie soup is that you can tailor it to fit you and what you like. This makes a LOT of soup, I use my 5 quart crock pot. Scale it up or down to fit your needs. Here's what I like:

Veggie, Veggie Soup Baby!

1 64 ounces can of V8

32 oz of peas (frozen or canned, your choice)

32 oz of corn (I prefer frozen)

4 diced potatoes

48 oz of green beans

24 oz of cole slaw mix (one bag and half of another, I like lots of cabbage!)

Carrots (as much or little as you like)

Spices: basil, thyme, crushed red pepper and rosemary (use to your taste)

~Pour the V8 juice into your crock pot on the high temp setting, I add all my spices except red pepper in at this time.

~Cabbage mix goes in first, cook for two and a half hours on high

~Then add potatoes and carrots, cook for another hour and a half

~Then add in the rest of your veggies and the crushed red pepper and cook until everything is nice and tender

Really easy and really delicious and super healthy. A serving which is about 2 cups is about 180 calories!! I have made it with other veggies too, like squash and zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower. Sometimes I leave the potato out completely. Make it the way you like it and eat up. Its a wonderful way to get your veggies, feel full and kick your metabolism into overdrive!

~~Remember that you should be eating other, low calorie protein filled food (like skim string cheese) to get the protein you need for building and repairing muscle.~~

Digging My Heals In

Hello!! I am Joy. I am a very overweight mom and who wants to blog her way to a healthier lifestyle. I am on a journey. Won't you come join me, I know I need all the support I can get!

I am an Apostolic mom to three beautiful, funny, bright and super active kids. I don't want to be the mom I am now. The mom who can't go down the slide because her bum is too wide. The mom who can't run around the playground because her lungs might explode. I mean, I am a hefty gal and I would hate for the headlines to read, "Overweight mom has a heart attack playing soccer with her four year old". So it's time to put action to what I want to be, rather than sit on the sidelines and hope.

I have been over weight for as long as I can remember. I came from a loving and stable home. I liked to eat. I liked all the sweets and the starches (potatoes remain a favorite). I had lots of friends at school, but I also had lots of harassers. You know those mean kids who loved to point out that I was fat, chubby, fluffy or whatever you call it. As I grew older, like Junior High and High School, I have to say that life was difficult. I still had friends, but I was teased mercilessly by "the others". My heart was as heavy as my outside shell. I never told my parents. I never told anyone. No one except those kids who watched my humiliation knew anything was even being said to me. I learned that eating a chocolate bar eased my pain. By the time I graduated I was at my then, all time heaviest. I have now exceeded that. I went off to college and life was pretty good, but I still leaned on food and soda for stress relief. But college was good for me, because I was happy. I lost 34 pounds as a freshman and was down 4 dress sizes from the time I started school.

I met my now husband~~Amazing Man~~during the summer after my freshman year of college. We fell in love and married ten months after meeting. We had our first child a year and two months later. As life got stressful, I ate. And ate. And ate. And now 10 years and four kids later, I am at my all time heaviest. . . 325 pounds. I can't believe I just posted that. I used to say, I'll never get that big. Here I am, that big.

At the beginning of 2009, I had every intention of losing 100 pounds this year. Needless to say, I actually gained 10 pounds from the beginning of the year. I am taking control over my emotions. I am taking control over my addictions. I have known God in a personal way my whole life, I didn't need food to soothe me. I am tapping into God for a whole new purpose~~slaying my food addiction giant! I have faith for provision and healing and all sorts of things, but I never tapped into my faith for help in this area of my life.

I believe in the verse that says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me"~~Philippians 4:13. I know I can't do this myself. I have tried many times and failed. This time I am going to do this the right way, with God helping me.

My name is Joy. I weigh 325 pounds and I know I can't lose all this weight on my own. I hope you'll join me in this process of weeding through the hurt and food that got me here.