​I started to write a Facebook post about my day, and it became too long. So, I am sharing it here because I don't want to waste all those beautiful words. (Sarcasm.) Enjoy. I am sure you will clearly see why its here and not on FB. Or maybe you will see why I should have deleted it altogether.  
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I've been a working maniac. I am on my 8th full day of working in a row and I am feeling the tiredness. I was going to try to take part of today off, but GUESS WHAT!? Dave and I were woken up by someone pounding on the front door. Dave answered it ('cause I wasn't about to get up), and it was a road construction guy. He was there to inform us we had 10 minutes to leave the house before the road would be closed. 10 MINUTES! That's not enough time to pee. Well, maybe to pee, but not much else. Yes, we knew the day was coming, but we didn't know which day. I get up, quickly put on a workout outfit, feed the cats (because I know better than to leave Dave with the task) and jump in my car. Dave, well, he had to reschedule with a client, and has been trapped at the house all day. Oh and he is fuming. He said he wrote a letter to the President and signed it with my dad's name. I think he was kidding. Well, I got to work at 8:30am with coffee in hand. Apparently, a lot of people come to work at that time - y'know, on time. I never know, since I usually come in around 10am.  And since I was dressed so comfy, I totally cleaned my office space, organized weeks and weeks worth of event stuff that was making piles in my office area and I took care of tons of stuff I've been avoiding. I feel very accomplished. #accomplished I also set up new speakers and am rocking out to the "Sunday Morning Drive to Church" Amazon Prime Playlist. Tomorrow is a fun 12-hour day at the church with the start of my Tuesday Night Lifegroup (aka WLG) and I am really, really praying for the energy, enthusiasm and focus to make it through! I just heard there are over 40 amazing women signed up for the group. AWESOME. So, even though I am tired, I am happy. And even though I really, really wish I could go home and go to sleep, I am happy my office looks nice and clean. And I love this playlist.

Juice: 2 carrots + 2 apples + nub of fresh ginger.
Tasty.
I've been sipping on it from 10:30am to 4:30pm.
I'm fairly certain the lack of other food is why I am so stinking hungry right now. And fantasizing about the sea salt and honey donuts from Pip's Original Donuts. 

Mood: All-over-the-place. Swamped (SWAMPED!) with details to do for the next big women's event. My email is exhausted too. I love it. Did I mention: I'm hungry! (EAT GIRL, JUST EAT! QUIT WHINING!)

Steps: 1,463. Pitiful. I blame working at my desk all day. Darn those office jobs.

What I am doing next: Meeting with Miss K from the youth group for a sips and snacks before we meet up with rest of the youth group at 6pm. Tonight, we head north to Vancouver for a Darrell Evans worship concert. The way things are going for me, once I get into worship and stop thinking of the crazy checklist I have, I might start sobbing. #thankyouJesus

Last November 2014, I began a journey of health, healing and beauty. I was inspired by my friend Beth, who had begun her own journey of beauty the previous year. Her journey could totally be renamed: A Journey of Kickassery, as she grabbed the reigns on her health and personal life through diet, exercise, personal writing and more. Seriously. She lost tons of weight, went through major family changes, raised and home-schooled a child and stayed grounded in her faith. She is a passionate, super-fun person, and was able to take all that natural enthusiasm and focus it on improving the quality of her life. I knew I needed to bottle some of that kickassery and jump-start my own journey and proclaim my own fight for health and freedom. 
So, I started by going to my doctor and a natural path. I got my diagnoses in order [more on those later] and made a promise to myself to be super diligent about taking my prescribed medicines and supplements. Folks, this was a biggie for me. I hate taking pills and have always struggled to maintain a daily habit of pill popping. 
I also made a chart, old-school-style, on a big ol' piece of poster board to document my weight loss. I had no idea what a good starting goal would be, so I just marked the chart as far as the paper let me. That was my first goal: to make it to 271lbs by mid-July, 2015, which was about 25 pounds to lose over the course of at least nine months. A super-safe goal. [Nearing so close to 300lbs was a real wake-up call!]
I maintained taking my medicines throughout the winter, but saw no physical difference. My weight stayed fairly consistent, and clothes were no looser. I was pretty disappointed. I did notice changes in my mood, which I credited to my B6 supplement. 
I needed to make another step forward, and when my friend Joy (you'll hear a lot about her too) shared that she was going to use the MyFitnessPal app to maintain a food diary, I said I would join her. This was mid-March. I added everything - EVERYTHING - to that app. A couple things became super clear to me: I didn't like to eat in the morning (so all my calories were in the evening when I was the most inactive) and my portions were all off. I also drank too much soda, specifically Diet Coke, and not enough water. I loved fatty, sugary foods and tended to binge when stressed.
I made a deal with myself to drink one Diet Coke per day. A little over a month later, I realized I hadn't had Diet Coke in several days. I looked up my last Diet Coke on the MyFitnessPal app and it had been over a week since I had consumed a soda. Almost on cue, I got a massive headache that lasted several days, but I maintained not drinking Diet Coke, or any other soda. I was determined. It's now mid-September and I have yet to drink a Diet Coke. Confession: I have had orange soda and Root Beer on occasion, but feel proud of myself for not giving in to drinking Diet Coke. 
I remember years and years and years ago reading an article where Alison Sweeney talked about how when she gave up Diet Coke and sodas, she lost a lot of weight. I was hopeful. 
I added tracking steps - first with a step tracker on my phone and eventually with the FitBit Charge HR. Tracking steps led to making it through two 10,000 steps a day online support groups, walking my neighborhood, and joining a gym. I also tracked water intake. After all of this effort, patience and prayer, by mid-July, I was down to 270.5. I made my goal! Clothes felt better, and people were noticing. To celebrate, I walked/ran my first 5k on July 11th. 
What happens next? I was post-5k, post-meeting my first goal and, honestly, burnt out from maintaining everything. And, well, life happened.
IT was a busy season of youth ministry fund-raising (firework stand!), my 5-year anniversary, a week of camp, big events at work, turning 35, maintaining a home and caring for my hubs and cats AND, folks, it was simply being the hottest summer Oregon has experienced in, like, forever. Due to all of these excuses, my journey took a bit of a pause. I continued to wear my FitBit (though don't make the goal every day) and watched my food and soda intake. I've managed (by God's grace), to maintain my weight, but definitely need to get moving again and get busy on my next big goal.
Enter this blog. As I kick things up again, I am going to add keeping a journal - or well, a blog. I will share goals, ups and downs, and what I am doing to make it all happen. Let's make it happen!