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Mar

My journey to 100: Week 3

Categories: health, journey to 100 and weght loss

This week was a rough and slow week for me. I was so stinking tired Sunday-Tuesday. I only ended up getting in 30-45 minutes of cardio a day this week. This is the week of our Easter cantata and it has really worn on me for some reason. I also drank 2 cans of pop this week. I was doing so good drinking none then I had a weak moment. I also had Taco John’s for lunch once this week.

So this is the bad news.

The good news is…

I’m down another 5 pounds this week. So I’m at a total of 13 pounds lost in 3 weeks. Which isn’t too bad. I’m wide awake and ready to go this week. I’m hoping to get back to 2 hours of cardio a day. I’m thinking I can cut 8-10 pounds this week if I can swing 2 hours of cardio a day.

I’m going to start having weekly pictures taken starting here in week 4 to track my progress better. So…here we go into week 4.

Mar

My Journey to 100: Week 2

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Categories: health, healthy eating and journey to 100

Most people think I am crazy when I tell them about my goal of losing 100 pounds by this coming September but I know I can do it. It is definitely a lot of hard work but I am up for the challenge.

I’m through my second week of my journey to 100. I can already tell a big difference in the way my clothes are fitting. I ordered a new belt so I’m looking forward to having to punch holes in it in a few months so it will still fit. Here are some highlights of my 2nd week;

It’s been 2 weeks since I have drank any pop
still going strong on eating healthy. I love my mid-afternoon fruit or veggie snacks now
my scale broke. I don’t know why it’s not working but I know I’m down a few more pounds this week
I am up to 35 minutes on the elliptical machine now
I am averaging 18 miles a day between the elliptical and the bike (that’s a total of 126 a week! I’m hoping to reach my goal BEFORE September)

I love the elliptical machine where I work out at. It’s a True Strider TS1. Instead of being a rear or front drive system like most this once comes from the center allowing more stability as your on the machine. I just really like it now. At first I hated it but now that I am getting the feel for it it’s an awesome machine. Here’s a pic of it.

Mar

Pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone

By serial youth pastor 0 Comments

Categories: health, journey to 100 and leadership

I have been re-learning what it’s like to really push myself while in the gym. Honestly even at just a week and a half in my journey to 100 I am feeling so much better. I have more stamina. More energy. I seem to keep losing weight. My belt is looser today than it was Friday. Sounds crazy I know but it’s all true. For some reason my scale hasn’t been working…at all. I’m hoping it will start working again becuase I don’t want to have to spend money on a new one. I know I’m cheap right.

But pushing yourself doesn’t just happen in the gym. What about in your ministry? How ar you pushing yourself to excel in your current ministry situation? I think it’s an important part of leadership development. You always want to stretch yourself in ways you haven’t been stretched to become a better, more effective leader. If we aren’t pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones we will become stagnant and eventually our ministries will as well. Here are some things to do to keep pushing yourself;

Get someone to critique you messages weekly: Our senior pastor comes in every Thursday and critiques my message to the students. I may not always agree with him on the method of delivery but he’s a good sounding board on exegesis and whether or not I am twisting the text to make a point.

Read, read, read: Hey you may not agree with everything in every book you read but make sure you are reading. There is a lot of great insight that comes from reading. And not just spiritual books. Read outside of the Christian community. You may be surprised at some helpful tips or creative ideas you can find.

Spiritual Journey: How is your walk with Christ going? How are you pushing yourself in this area. Make a commitment to read every day. Read a commentary on a book of the Bible. Allow people to ask you the hard questions. Be open and honest with them as well. Pray like there is no tomorrow. Prayer is such a powerful thing as well as a great way to commune with God.

Be visible: Try to be as visible as possible. Sure you may not stay for the whole game. It may be 5, 10, 35 minutes. Whatever amount of time it is be visible. Students love it, parents love it and the people of your church will love it. Just 5 minutes at an outing can make a huge difference in how you are perceived.

Challenge your leaders (staff): Be sure to challenge your leaders (staff) and allow them to challenge you. Your team is one of your greatest assets and you need to use it to your advantage. Challenge them with information but don’t drown them with it either. Give them articles or sound bites in small amounts at first. The ones who really want to (or have the time to) go deeper with it will be evident. Not all of your leaders share the same level of passion as your other leaders OR you.

This is by no means an exhaustive list but hopefully these things will help you kick-starting your way to pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone in your ministry.

Mar

Breakfast and snacks…

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Categories: health, healthy eating, journey to 100 and weght loss

So I am no trying to change my eating habits after years of a fast food diet. As I said in an earlier post I am now eating breakfast. Also I have never been a big breakfast eater. I would use the exscuse “I’m too busy.” Now since I’m getting up early to work out in the mornings I have more time to get my breakfast ready and bring it with me. I have found this to be a fairly good thing for me.

This is what a typical breakfast looks like for me now. honestly it’s about 350 calories and it works well for me. This is what a typical breakfast looks like for me now. There are variations I have as well. I use the Myoplex meal supplement shake from EAS and I also have yogurt smoothies as well. I love myoplex. It tastes just like a malt and only has a little over 200 calories per drink.

I am also snacking now. I try to snack between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and supper. Sometimes I’m still full from breakfast so sometimes I only have one snack a day. Usually I have sugar snap peas with ranch dressing or baby carrots with ranch dressing. Or I will have some apples. Either way my snacks only have between 35-70 calories.

Mar

The journey to 100: Week 1

By serial youth pastor 5 Comments

Categories: health, journey to 100 and weght loss

Well today marks 1 week since I have been trying to eat healthy and lose weight. I am still a long way from my goal of 100 pounds lost but I am gaining ground. I have been doing a lot of reading of articles online and have joined the Biggest Loser Club. They give some great advice that seems to be helping.

Things that have happened this week;

starting eating healthier and more frequently in smaller controlled portions
I actually eat breakfast now
I have been trying to get in at least 1.5 hours of cardio every day
I’m loving sugar snap peas and baby carrots

I did my weigh-in this morning when I got up. I always hate stepping on the scale. I always have. Even when I wrestled in high school I always hated weighing-in. Well last week when I weighed I was 385. Today when I stepped on I was 378. I’m happy with a 7 pound loss and I’m down a notch on my belt. Hey it’s a minor success but still it feels good to know the work I am doing is paying off.

Thanks for praying for me for those of you that are. I really do appreciate it.

Mar

The “gym” is my new home…

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Categories: journey to 100

That’s right. The “gym” is my new home. I use to quotation marks becuase really in Ogallala there is no such thing as a real gym. I swear I have joined the smallest “gym” known to man. It’s a good thing i only paid for the 90 day pass. I was able to go last night and work out with one of my youth leaders. I didn’t get as much cardio in as I would have like to. Still it’s a start. Tonight we are going again. I am hoping for at least 45 minutes of cardio tonight but we’ll see.

Mar

The journey to 100: Intro

By serial youth pastor 4 Comments

Categories: health, journey to 100 and weght loss

I will be posting weekly updates of my journey to losing 100 pounds. You can read about my decision to lose 100 pounds here. It has only been 5 days since I made this commitment. I haven’t started keeping track of my weight loss yet becuase I haven’t joined a gym yet…I am looking into them today and hopefully will have joined today as well. I have already started adjusting what I am eating. I figure, “Hey if I’m going to be serious about it I need to make some radical changes.

Here are some things I have done so far;

I have gone through my refrigerator and thrown high fat, high sodium and high sugar foods out.
I’m drinking 64-128 ounces of water a day now.
I bought some Ziplock Steamer bags. These things are GENIUS! You can go from raw chicken breast to fully cooked in 3 minutes in your microwave with these things…and yes they taste AWESOME!
I am not longer drinking pop. Hey I know it’s only been 5 days but it’s a start.
I restocked my fridge with lots of fruit, veggies, yogurt, yogurt smoothies and low fat meat.

I have already noticed that since I am eating healthy I am super hungry throughout the day. I’m taking in about 1800-2000 calories right now which is where I want to be. For snacks I’m eating apples, oranges, bananas, carrots with ranch and sugar snap peas with ranch. The sugar snap peas and baby carrots are packaged by Chiquita and come with a small ranch cup. In total there’s only 50 calories per snack bag.

Mmmm….veggies.

So next week I will have a weigh in weight to start with. Join me on my journey. It should be interesting.