Fitness Goal: Made to Crave

Have you read the book Made to Crave?

I picked up a copy last year and it has sat on the shelf unread for a long time. But with my Fitness Goal this year, I knew I would need more than just trying to stick to a diet and exercising.  Don't get me wrong, those are both important and helpful, I've already started to loose weight. However, I think it's important to think about WHY you eat.

In looking at how I eat, I realize, I rarely eat out of hunger.  Instead, stress and my brain get in the way. For example last night, I opened a box of cookies.  I cannot get those cookies out of my head, now that the box is open and I know it, I'm probably going to finish it.  I'm craving them. Made to crave talks about how to use God to overcome those cravings.  It's divided into 21 days and is designed as something you can do with a group, since there are discussion questions at the end of each day's reading.  But I'm reading it on my own.

Stress is another trigger that I have for eating.  The other day, I ate 3-4 pieces of candy before I realized what I was doing!  It's really more mindless eating.  So I need to start being more intentional with what I am doing and watch so that I don't get to those 4 pieces of candy without realizing it.  So, going forward, I'm going to try to stop and think about what I eat.  Am I eating for the right reasons?  Am I really hungry? or is it just that the food is on my mind?  If it's not for the right reason, I'm going to try to not eat it.  If I can't get it out of my mind, I'm going to turn to God for help.

I love Lysa's book because she's really upfront about it.  She starts out by saying that she still doesn't crave carrots.  The realism helps me realize just how much I DO need God's help.

Now I realize that some people are wired differently and they need to eat even when they're not hungry, just so that their bodies have the necessary nutrition.  I'm NOT one of those people.

Why do you eat? Any other tips to get past the cravings? Have you read Lysa's book?  Check out their website.

Family Goal update

The girls really liked the idea of the jar and proceeded to add two or three slips of paper each to it.  They've slowed down now that it's been around for a few days though.

So my next step in the goal was to introduce Bible verses, the girls know some verses and that's great, but they don't know many of them, and frankly neither do I. So my next step is to help us learn (memorize) more verses.  It's easier for their young brains than my older one, but I'm trying.  To help with it, I've asked my husband to pick a different verse each week for us.  And then I'm posting it on the sliding door in our kitchen, which is right next to the table.  I picked the first verse, just to get us started, but my husband has picked one for next week.

I'm hoping to find a frame or chalkboard that I can hang on the wall but for now, this is working. The girls have almost got this one memorized and it has only been two days.

I'm interested in hearing ideas on how you help your family get to know God better.

Family Goal

The last of the five goals is a family goal.  My goal is to do something with my girls, once a week that will help them become closer to God.  This week, I'm going to start a jar like this.  And allow each person in the family to put in papers with happy or good things that happen this year.

At the beginning of next year, we will open the jar and read all the slips of paper.  For now the jar is going to sit in the middle of our table.

Two down, 22 to go!

If you read my side bar, you might notice that I adjusted my weight loss goal a bit.  I'd really like to be 200 lbs or less by the end of the year.  Since when I weighed myself I was 224 lbs, I decided to adjust my goal to loose 24 lbs this year, which makes it an even 2 lbs a month.  Still reasonable.  Will I be done after that? No, I'll still have more to loose, but I don't want to over aim nor do I want to loose it in an unhealthy way.  So, I'll stick with the 24 lbs this year.

I've got an interview today in a few hours.  Please pray that God will make it clear if this is the job He wants me to have or if He's got something else in mind.  I really would like to do what He wants but, I'm struggling with knowing what exactly that is.

Financial Goal

I've set my Physical goal, and my Spiritual goal, and now I'm going to talk Finances.

This is a difficult subject right now, since I'm unemployed. So, the obvious goal is to get a job.  Which is actually going to be my goal.  I know a lot of women are happy being stay at home moms.  Don't get me wrong, I can see that, but I don't think it's right for me.  I would feel guilty then with every dollar I spend, especially since both of my kids are in school, so we're not paying child care.  If it made sense financially for me to stay home, I'd consider it, but it doesn't.

So with that in mind, I'm going to continue my job search and see if I can find my Dream Job (those do exist right?).  I've worked for about 15 years testing computer software.  So, clearly that's an option for me.  I've worked on everything from mainframes the size of a refrigerator to mobile devices like the iPhone.  But, I've also done work in food service in the past and I have a degree in Mathematics. So, is now the time for a career change? or should I continue down the software path?

So, my financial goal is to decide on a career and go get it!

Personal Goal

Next up, Personal Goal!

This one I struggled with.  I thought about just doing the Iron Craft Challenge every two weeks, but I'm hoping to do that anyway and I don't think it's that much of a stretch for me to do.  So I thought about finishing some of the projects I've got laying around. But, would that take all year?  Maybe? But some I've decided that I'm not going to do.

So I decided to choose something that will stretch me a bit and will maybe help me with one of the other goals, getting a job.  What did I pick?  I want to learn Java, so that I can write an application that will run on my Android phone.

To start this, I need an idea for an app.  There are a lot out there already.  I'm going to think on it a bit while I learn the basics, maybe I'll start with "Hello World".

If you have a suggestion, feel free to comment below!

Spiritual Goal

So, yesterday I told you my Fitness Goal. Today, we're going to talk about my Spiritual Goal.

In 2013, I want to read the entire Bible.  I've read bits and pieces of it, and whole books, but I don't think I've covered the entire thing. So, I'm going to follow a reading plan and read a little bit each day.  However, you might've noticed, that it's not January 1 anymore, we're more than 15 days into January, so I've got some catching up to do!

The reading plan that I am following is actually in the daily devotional Our Daily Bread, that I do.  I can just click the link after I've read the devotional and go to my daily reading.

However, if you don't want to use their's there is this site which has a number of different reading plans (including the same one that Our Daily Bread uses).  You can even start on today and just end this time next year instead of the end of 2013, it shifts the verses for you.  Lots of different translations too!

Have you read the Bible cover to cover?

Five Goals

At church on Sunday pastor suggested setting five types of goals for the year.

1. personal goals
2. family goals
3. financial goals
4. fitness goals
5. spiritual goals

I think that part of what makes us meet the goals that we set is accountability.  So in that spirit, I'm going to set five goals (one of each type) and then blog (hopefully the whole year) on my progress of meeting those goals.

I'm starting this as a new blog so that those who are interested in my progress can follow that separate from my craft blog.  The concept of a blog that's got a defined end to it is a bit odd to me and I'm always sad when the end comes for the blogs like that that I read.  So, I'm uncertain if I'll continue this beyond the end of the year, I'll revisit that when the time comes.

So, for today, I'm going to introduce you to my Fitness Goal.  My goal for the year is to loose 20 pounds.  That's less than two pounds a month, but I REALLY love food!  It will also mean more exercise.  Right now, since it's cold in my neck of the woods, that will probably mean Wii Fit. Have you tried it?  I've used it before and it did help me to get moving.  What other types of exercise do you like to do inside?

Stay tuned for more on the rest of my goals!