Cheating and.... THE JOURNEY AND DREAM...

So... Friday, yesterday was a bit of a poo-poo day. Started out good! I actually woke up and did my work-out.... so it was the SECOND day in a row that I worked out early!! That was cool. I like it! But, then from there, I think it was my job that got me in a weird mood.... had a lot of servicing issues that were a bit frustrating.... 

...so then, when I got home, Tyler and I ate dinner. That was yummy...well... I was very "blasee" so.... we went on a "date" but no good movies or anything out, so we went to Starbucks to chat for awhile.... I just wanted something sweet.... so, I had a rice crispie. It was yummy, and 100 calories which was suprising. Then...had 2 squares of a chocolate hershey bar, then had a bowl of popcorn. So I kinda cheated 3 times!! --- But, since I'm on a 1200 calorie nutrition, I still probably ended up around maybe 1400-1500.... that makes me kinda feel justified a bit more.

I'm ok with that. It was just one of those days and I don't plan on making it a habit!

My GHD Program is going well. I had a REALLY good LONG time in the Word and with the Lord today. That was good!! Read a lot about Joseph and his journey. I really got a lot of REVELATIONS out of that! Do you know from the time that he received his DREAM at age 17, it took 22 YEARS for him to see his full dream come to fruition!! He was 39 when his brothers and family came to Egypt and "bowed" down before him.... and he revealed himself as their brother. 22 YEARS! He went through being sold into slavery, being wrongfully accused by Potiphar's wife, thrown into STATE prison spending 2-3 years there, until FINALLY he was elevated by Pharoah to be Governor over ALL of Egypt, 2nd ONLY to Pharoah. This all took 13 years. Then it was STILL 9 years until his dream was realized and his family came to seek food and provision in the famine. 22 YEARS in all to realize his dream!! A great realization for me. I know God has GREAT plans for Tyler and I.... things haven't gone quite as I would have "written" them out, or planned... but Joseph's story encouraged me. Then it goes on to say that the last 5 years of the famine, he PROVIDED for ALL of his family and gave them the BEST of the Land in Goshen! THE BEST! He gave his family THE BEST! He was true to his dream! 

We are sticking to the plan. God is preparing us, and I am excited, like Joseph to have FAVOR in every stage of our Journey, in the end to be able to give the BEST to ALL of our family!

JACKED!

Where to begin!?!?

Well... the GHD Program is going well!! :) GHD??? What's that?? It's the "Good Habit Development Program"! :) So.. that habit I wanted to work on over the next 21 days is a more quality devotional time, preferably in the morning. Well! I did it again, so I have 2 days of success. It was awesome! And... I got up and did my 4321 workout this morning. 2 sets, and I did the "Group A" that I talked about a few days ago. It was good... and easier when I did it on Monday! :) Good stuff!

So, what I was JACKED about most, was this... this may resonate more with the ladies out there, but guys too.... So... ladies, you know when you go to put on "that skirt" and it is WAY too tight, but you wear it anyways? You either SUCK WAAAYYY IN so you can get it zipped up, or you decide not to mess with it today, and just roll the top of the band down a bit.... "Oh, I'll just wear a jacket over it, so no-one can tell that it's not zipped all the way." I KNOW I'm not the only one that does that.... WELL... I had an AWESOME VICTORY this morning! I decided I wanted to wear a skirt and my boots today.... so as I was thumbing through my skirts, I decided to pull it out..... The SKIRT....yes... the SKINNY SKIRT! (I got it from Bebe, so I like it!) I thought, "Hum... this will be interesting to see how this fits." I was a bit nervous to be honest... I got on my tights, and pulled up the skirt, to my AMAZEMENT I DID NOT EVEN HAVE TO SUCK IN! It ZIPPED PERFECTLY! Not tight at all... no rolls hanging off the side, nothing! It is a perfect fit! Now, that got me JACKED!!! :) Gotta love it when some of your NICE clothes are fitting good!
PRAISE THE LORD! What a fun victory!! :)

Renewed...

Hey... 

Well... I must say, I have a new excitement about things! I received some information from Coach Di (Diesel DI!).... it was an article about how to overcome when you are in a Plateau. I guess it's pretty common for people to hit a plateau around weeks 4-6.... it was great to just read what your body is doing in a Plateau and it listed 10 steps to come out of a Plateau. It was really helpful. She encouraged us to choose 1 or 2 things that we are going to apply. My thing was "Intensity" when I'm working out, and drinking more water! Should drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces. 

Well... so I've increased intensity the last 2 workouts. They felt great! Yesterday was a cardio day for me.... Coach Di has me doing 4321 - 3 days/week, and a cardio day 2 days/week. So... I went out and ran for 30 minutes.... wow! I went out 15 minutes and turned around and came back. My goal when I turned around on the way back was that I would be able to get back to my front door in 15 minutes! You know on runs, most of the time, the run out is a bit faster b/c your fresher.... AND on my way back I had some uphills.... well... I made it!!! I did have to SCOOT to make it, but I did! It was a GREAT run! It motivated me b/c it felt so good. 

It's going to be a bit weird b/c I'm not weighing myself for 3 weeks! WHOA! That seems like a long time!!

Spiritually renewed also.... well... I got home last night and spent some time in the Word.... as I was reading, I had to ask for forgiveness for my lack of discipline spending consistent time in the Word. It was so awesome though.... as I was praying and journalling, I was prompted by the Holy Spirit that I need to "not put idols or any other gods before the Lord".... the Holy Spirit was just giving me some good stuff, and reminding me that this Program is not my "God", not my "Provider" nor my "Source"..... it is a tool, and is part of my calling, but my focus still needs to be on "Jehovah Nissi" - "God my Banner - God my Victory!" It was a re-focus.... but it was also good the scripture that the Holy Spirit prompted me to read..... Leviticus 26 .... and guess what the first thing I read was?? :) "....do not put any other gods before me...." - I LOVE IT when the HS does that! When you are praying and He's laying things on your heart, and then confirms it by leading you to the corresponding scripture!!! SO... I'm renewed and refocused! God is my Source! He CHOSE me for this program and I'm going to finish strong and do my BEST! :) 

Finally.... the motivation to do this came from our open meeting speaker last night.... Chris Faulkner mentioned if you took a habit to focus on for 21 days, you could create 17 good habits in a year!!! So.... I wrote down all the things I wanted to focus on, and the FIRST habit I chose that I wanted to focus on, was spending my "Quiet Time" or devotional time with the Lord! I want to be more consistent at that, b/c I've been a bit sporadic. I've gotten a bit of track, so now I'm getting BACK on track!!! Thanks Chris! :)

Changin it up! Take it to the next level!!!

One word.... WHOA!

I just got done with my workout! Well... right before my workout, I had a 45 minute talk with Diesel Di.... my coach! Well... she gave me a lot of great ideas that totally played into KICKING MY BUTT tonight!!! WHOA!

I feel great though! You know the feeling after you have had a REALLY good workout and you feel really good about yourself?? That's how I feel....

So... let me share what I did....

I did 2 sets of 4321.... rather, I did 44332211. Kicked my booty!!!

Too cold to go outside, so I went across the street to our gym...

Warm-up: 4 minute walk on the treadmill. Walked at about a 4 mph pace. 

HEAT: 44- 8 minutes of cardio - Did this on the Treadmill.... whoa! Haven't ever done this.... but DD recommended that I get the treadmill up to a fast speed, do my 30 seconds hard, then for my 30 seconds easy instead of slowing down the treadmill, jump off onto the side-rails and do a slow jog on the side rails for 30 seconds... and then jump back on for my 30 seconds hard.... WHOA! Well.... NOTE TO ANYONE TRYING THIS AT HOME.... Make sure you grab the rails at the FRONT when jumping back on for your fast part.... the first interval, I grabbed the side rails and almost fell forward (which, I would've hit my teeth! PRAISE the LORD for Angels being all around me always!). 

Anyways... besides the brief learning experience.... it was BRUTAL!!! I sped up the treadmill to about 10.8 mph. BRUTAL! By the 8th one, I had slowed it down a bit... to about 10.3. But, that was tough! A GREAT workout though.....

STRENGTH: 33 - 3 different strength workouts, 1 minute with a 15 second break, then repeat...

 - 11 - (2 min) - Wall Slides - Lean up against a wall and slide up and down for 1 minute.... break 15 sec, then go for another 1 minute.

 - 11- (2 min) - Reverse Static Lunges - Basically like you would do forward lunges, but step backwards instead of forwards... alternate legs. Do for 1 minute, rest 15 second, repeat 1 minute.

 - 11 - (2 min) - Bent leg push-ups - "Girly" push-ups... do it slow enough to do 20 in a minute, rest 15 sec, and do another minute.

CORE: 22 - 4 minutes of abs and back. 

- 22 - Ball crunches - Use a resistance ball, do crunches for a minute, 15 sec break, then repeat

- 22 - Reverse Leg Raises- Use a resistance ball, lay on stomach on the ball, raise legs to the level of booty... then back down.... raise legs up and down for 1 min, 15 sec break and repeat.

STRETCH: 11 - 2 minutes of stretching... 1 minute stretch laying over ball, 1 minute stretch laying on each side.

WELL...I threw in something at the end that DD told me to do... she said to do 2-4 sets of this: 

"Group A"

(1) Squat to Jump - 30 seconds

(2) Sumo Squat - 30 seconds (this is a FULL squat almost to the floor and back up)

(3) Static Squat - 30 seconds - lean against a wall and hold it. 

Do these back to back with no break between... once complete, take a 15 second break and repeat! 

I only did 2 sets of this.... it KICKED MY BUTT! But... after it was all said and done... it felt great to work hard!

Ok... this has been long! Just wanted to share my workout for anyone looking to change it up! 

Love ya'll! Happy Fitness to ya!

WHOA! Online at AG....

If you are online with Amway Global (www.quixtar.com), you can check out the before pictures and weekly updates from me and the other 6 people who are participating in the New Way New You program. 

Go to the health section: 

"Health:Diet & Nutrition", then go to 

"Seen & Heard: New Way New You"

YIKES! The "fat" pictures are up! :)

HOW TO EAT CHOCOLATE BIRTHDAY CAKE??!!!

So... we had a pretty amazing night last night... it was my birthday, Feb 28th. So... how did eating right and exercising work out on a SPECIAL OCCASION?? Well... let me share.... when we were in CA and went out to eat with Dr. Duke... he shared some CHOCOLATE CAKE EATING TIPS! :) Yes... if you are like me, you're like, "How can I eat chocolate cake properly?" ... stay tuned... I'll tell you at the end.

My day started out sleeping in a bit and had 45 minutes until I had to get to my birthday present, an HOUR and 1/2 MASSAGE! So.... since it was raining I got dressed, rushed over to the gym and did 2 sets of 4321.... so 44332211.

• 44- CARDIO - 30 seconds as HARD as I could go, 30 second recovery - did this on the eliptical for 8 minutes.
• 33 - STRENGTH - Basically this is 3 different exercises done for 1 minute straight. I did 1 minute of Dumbell Squats, 1 minute of Tri-cep Extensions and 1 minute of a plank.... then i repeated it for the second set. (so did each for 1 minute 15-30 second break before the 2nd set) - The plank is BRUTAL!!!! Great for glutes and lower back!! Get in a push-up position, but rest on your forarms, hold it for a minute!!! As Joey would say, "WHOA!"
• 22 - CORE - this is abs and back. I did 1 minute of dumbell crunch, and 1 minute of Single leg bridge. 15 second break before doing them again for 1 minute. The single leg bridge is a bit brutal too! You can feel it on the booty! Lay on your back, feet on floor with knees bent.... when you come up in the bridge position extend one leg out, then bring it back to the floor when coming down, repeat with other leg.... so when you are "bridging up" you are alternating extending out a leg! Whoa! You will feel that in your butt for sure! Especially after 2 minutes of it!
• 11 - STRETCH - basically this is 2 minutes of stretching. on my program I have where I'm suppose to do a "cobra" and "back pat". Cobra is suppose to help get my back some flexibility... the back pat, to stretch my arms a bit. I did some other stretching too.

Came home for a QUICK shower, and then to get my deep tissue massage. It was wonderful!!

So, we had a dinner in Charlotte with about 150 other people who flew in from all over... it was super fun. It was catered in.... let me tell you what I had to work with for my exchanges... I was actually pretty proud of myself! :)

• 2 Protein exchanges
• 7 vegetables
• 2 grains
• 4 fats
• 1 fruit
• 2 free

Here's what I ate:

• 2 protein - may have had 3. Had about 1/2 a chicken breast - which was probably 3 oz.
• 7 veg - i probably didn't come close to this! b/c remember a veg exchange is 1 cup of RAW veggies, or 1/2 cup cooked/steamed. Well... I had a salad maybe 2 cups worth (which lettuce is actually free, but we'll count it b/c it wasn't iceburg) (= 2 exch).... then i had about 1 cup of green beans (= 2 exch), and 1 cup of cooked veggies (= 2 exch) in marinara sauce (= 1 exch). So... that would equal SEVEN! I may be stretching it a bit, but it gives you an idea.
• 2 grains - Bruchetta cracker (= 1/2 exch) (yes, i'm sure had oil on it, it was yummy!), we'll count my choc. cake as the rest.
• 4 fats - we'll count the oil for my veggies as 2, and 2+++ for chocolate cake.
• 1 fruit - had about 1 cup of strawberries (= 1 exch)
• 2 free - chocolate cake!!

So... how to eat chocolate cake properly?? Dr. Duke said to always eat the BEST BITE first!! What happens is your taste buds send a signal to your brain.... and it's like the "sensors" are going overtime!! They are excited! Then it begins to satisfy your desire quicker. So... that first bite is the most important... then, take the 2nd, 3rd etc bite... the best... well... that what I did. I took the bite with the MOST chocolate first! It ROCKED! I may have had 4 bites total... and they were all good! But, I ended up leaving 1/2 the chocolate cake on my plate. But... it was the middle part that didn't look as fun anyways! So, i left several 100 calories on my plate! Cool! AND I was satisfied! I had birthday cake! It only happens once a year.... but there are occasionally special occasions that do call for dessert! Nothing is FORBIDDEN, it's just about moderation!

So.... this is super long today! Just wanted to fill you all in! Love ya! Have a great day! Happy work-outs to you and may it be an OPTIMAL HEALTH kind of day! :)

Amy & Angie's: "OFFICE MAKEOVER"

So... I have the pictures that I wanted to share with you all! :) QUITE amazing if I do say so myself! This is what Ang and I worked on for about 3 days..... but, the final outcome will bring great benefits to me! Keeping my husband motivated and dreaming is very important for my FUTURE! SO... we created an atmosphere that would keep his goals and dreams in front of him. It is so wonderful.... peaceful.... I just LOVE it!! :) 

SOOOOO....here goes.... enjoy the BEFORE and AFTER pictures!!! :)

#1 - BEFORE

This one is of the corner closet. Messy and cluttered, always stuff on the floor, trying to maneuver around. Clutter! And what a site as you walk in the office to see such a messy bookshelf!

AFTER

This is the corner of the office, by the closet. Notice the clean floor, organized bookshelf. We moved this bookshelf from the other side of the room! This bookshelf has our biz and spiritual books and we boxed up a TON of books b/c before we had about 8 shelves of books! So we kept out our favorites and left some room to add. Then AMY actually gets some storage bins! Yeah! 

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#2 - BEFORE

This is looking at the door to leave the office. Notice the bookshelf... it is in front of the bathroom door, so we obviously didn't ever get to use this door! And, the nice CLUTTERED bookshelf!

AFTER

Notice you can actually use this door to get into the bathroom! This wall is the OLYMPIC WALL! This is still one of Tyler's dreams and passions, to go to the Olympics and win the Gold in the Hammer Throw. He missed the Olympic trials by a toe fowl when he was finishing college - so... he threw the distance, but his toe touched the line!!! 

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#3 BEFORE

This is the corner of the office... stacks of supplies for his job. 2 very messy bookshelves, and just an abundance of clutter!

AFTER

Now this corner is a comfortable, relaxing corner... Tyler's favorite "thinking" chair, a picture of him throwing at Coastal Caroline University, a poem that I wrote "The Olympic Calling" and we framed, his college jersey and the CCU Record holder still, and then some throwing parafenelia.

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#4 BEFORE - The GRAND FINALE

This is what you would see the first thing when you walked in the office. A big white board, a calendar in the corner from 2006, a small path to get to his desk, and his 2 desks that he uses.

AFTER

We framed out a section of the wall, got a smaller white board. The shelf contains pictures of our business and life mentors, and the center one a picture of Tyler and I speaking at a conference in front of about 10,000 people, a Victory in our life. The room is bordered with 8x10 pictures of our dreams, goals, past travels, victories we've accomplished, friends, mentors, and things that are just inspiring to us! Tyler said, "I feel like a great cloud of witnesses are looking down on me, cheering me on." - The bookshelves have bins to put supplies in, and it helps them not to look cluttered. 

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DETAILS....

This is our "Seed-Board" - Financial seed we've sown into peoples lives... and excited about God bringing the harvest. :) As it says in the Word, "We put YOU in rememberence of your Word"... and we know sowing seed is one of the steps to Break-Through and victory!

This is the poem I wrote so we could hang it in Tyler's office. 

The Olympic Calling! :)

This is a compilation of pictures we put together. All the pictures are some of the LEGENDS in the Hammer. People who will be Tyler's peers one day. The middle picture is the medal winners at the last Olympics. This was what Tyler said he was most excited about and impressed with, that we found the pictures, and got it all framed... very inspiring! :)

There ya have it! Pictures of our OFFICE MARATHON!