2 Victories - a 3 year old and a 5K

I have a couple major victories I would like to share with you.  If you have read my blog, you have probably seen my post, Running – It’s What I Love.  I have been slowly trying to work up to running 5K again.  When I quit running a year ago this month I didn’t know if I would ever get back to that place again.  I started a 10 day cleanse and put my training running/walking 2 days a week on hold.  BUT I had scheduled a Virtual 5K with a mom’s group that I am a part of.  (If you’ve never heard of a virtual 5K, we all ran 3.1 miles in our own cities and posted our times in our online group.)  It had been my goal to run the entire thing.  After the cleanse, I felt great, but hadn’t done any running, just walking and Yin Yoga once a week.  I am currently in a Bible study called Believing God by Beth Moore, and in it we are challenged to believe that God will do big things in our life.  This was a big thing for me.  I set out Saturday morning believing that I could run the whole course.  I prayed that God would give me the strength and that he would let me know when/if I needed to stop and walk.  And boy did God show up!

As a mom's group, we were celebrating our kids all turning 3 this month.  I spent my 48:32 praying for my son, thanking God for him and asking for help to be the mother he needs.  I have struggled to be his mama.  I am not the same parent this time around.  I had very little energy in his early months and that was before I knew I had fibro so I was very confused and felt very guilty.  Not only that but I have held onto bitterness having to care for him being in pain and with so much fatigue, even though I love him with all of my heart.  God has healed me of that bitterness over time but on this particular run I asked him to take it all away, completely heal me from it all.   And do you know how he pried the rest out of me?  As I ran I held up my fist to the sky and recited the 5 statements of faith from our Bible study.

     1.  God is who he says he is.

     2.  God can do what he says he can do.

     3.  I am who God says I am.

     4.  I can do all things through Christ.

     5.  God’s Word is alive and active in me.

And there I was, open hand, clean heart.  Tears streaming.

Before I knew it I was getting close to where I thought my route ended, I couldn’t quite remember from the year before.  By this time my body was giving me clues to stop and walk.  Felt a little dizzy and was thirsty.  So I listened and began to walk the rest of the way home.  I ended up doing the total 3.1 miles, 10 minutes was walking and 38:32 was running.

Those of us in the Bible study use sign language for “I Believe God” when we need to remind ourselves to believe in those 5 truths.  I threw up one for the victory of running a 5K and another for healing my heart of bitterness (something I hadn’t even set out to tackle that day.

A cooling wind blew across my face the last few minutes as I was approaching my finish line, but the leaves in the trees were barely moving above my head.

Cleanse Day 10 - I'm Clean...now what?

I made it!  I wanted to do this 10 day cleanse for a few reasons.  I needed to jumpstart weight loss, I wanted to clean up my diet, and I wanted to see if it helped my fibro symptoms to eat better.  How did I do?

1.  I lost 6 lbs!
2.  I am really encouraged that I can now eat healthier!
3.  I am feeling really good!

I'd call that success.

So what now?  Well I've come up with a plan.  I have more weight to loose, so I'm still going to be fairly strict with my diet.  Since following this cleanse, I know I'll do well with the diet from Perfect Weight America.  I'll be in Phase 1 for awhile.  On their web site you can sign up for a FREE year of meal planning and support and plenty of other resources.  I signed up and played around with the meal planner, cut out all the icky stuff I know I wont eat (like fish and eggplant and their meal shakes)  I like that it's customizable.  I may not follow all of their recipes for lunch and dinner, but I have a good idea of what is acceptable and I can make that work for my family.  What is most important to me is that there are no processed foods.  I'm sure that is what has made the biggest impact on how I feel.  Which is very, well... clean.



To recap, I did the 10 day Perfect Cleanse from Garden of Life.  The instructions for the cleanse can be found in the book Perfect Weight America.  The author is Jordan Rubin who also wrote The Makers Diet years ago, in which he writes about his journey healing from Crohn's Disease.

Cleanse Day 7 - I think I'm getting used to this

Another good day.  I was thinking this afternoon I wonder what it will be like to eat other foods next week.  Trying to come up with a plan of what to eat next.  I'm really liking Perfect Weight America and think I might give that diet a try.

The last few days I have really noticed how things smell.  Like bread.  I just smell it while making the kids lunches.  I don't think I'll be eating white bread anymore anyway, but I've noticed that it is very satisfying just to smell it.  Same with pizza that I made for the boys the other night.  Just smelling it was fine.  And then while in the grocery store they were baking brownies.  Just stopping to think about those foods & smell & enjoy just that was enough.  I didn't take a bite, I didn't need to!

New fruit tomorrow, and YOGURT and fish!  (not a fan of fish, but I will stomach it for 3 days)

I am feeling really good today.  Not too tired, not much pain, my mind is very clear and I feel...well...clean. 

Cleanse Day 6 - keep on truckin'

Great day today.  Slept in (probably too much) so I was late eating, but got caught up.  I was very happy to hop on the scale and see that I have reached a goal!  Over 5 lbs lost so far!  That really made my day.

Loving the nuts & seeds on my dinner salad.  I changed up my salad dressing tonight and did an oriental salad dressing.  I didn't over do it tonight either, so I feel good.  Even went for a walk tonight after dinner.

I actually have to leave the house tomorrow, so planing ahead and bringing my fruit with me.  Going to Bible study where I will be avoiding the breakfast buffet and enjoying my peaches!

Cleanse Day 3 - yup, it's hard

Well, day 3 was the hardest by far.  Mostly that was my fault though for getting it off to a bad start.  Slept in (which is always nice) but since I hadn't gone shopping Friday, I didn't have a mango to eat.  Decided to run up to the store "real quick" and grab what I needed for the day, which turned into weekly shopping.  By the time I got home it was around 11 and I hadn't eaten.  Had a little mango, but it was even a chore to get that cut up, so I opted for watermelon (which I was late on eating for my 2nd meal anyway.)

The rest of the day went by pretty fast, but I struggled.  I couldn't wait for my dinner salad.  The part I was most looking forward to was the avocado.  Boy was it good!  I had a hard time getting to sleep too.  Definitely the hardest day so far.

Cleanse Day 2 - the challenge begins

Winding down day 2.  I prayed today to be satisfied with what I was eating.  Deuteronomy 8:10 says "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you." 

I hopped on the scale this morning "just to see" and was down 2.5 pounds!  That made me happy and gave me some motivation for the day.  Ate lots of yummy fruit today, mango for breakfast, watermelon for a snack, pineapple for lunch, then cherries for another snack.  This afternoon it clicked in my brain about eating these foods more often.  I was certainly not eating enough of them before.  And I discovered that yes, a small bowl of cherries is a great snack and will fill me up PLUS give my body the nutrients it needs.  Win win.

We went to church tonight so dinner was late.  That threw me off a bit.  I got pretty weak and a little dizzy.  Stopped at Subway on the way home to get my dinner salad since I hadn't made it to the store and I knew they had what I was allowed to eat.  Yummy salad with lettuce & spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, avocado & dressing.  Boy was it good.  Made the rest of the family Chicken Parmesan.  I did want to eat it, but again was completely satisfied with my salad.  Praise God!

On to day 3 tomorrow!  From what I hear days 2 & 3 are the hardest, so I'll be praying I can make it through. 

Cleanse Day 1 - Graperific

I've never done any type of cleanse or fast before.  This was a little scary for me!  I was worried I would be cranky, hungry, have a headache, not have the will power to follow through.
I prayed this morning for God to give me the strength for just today to endure.  And He has!  I'm in a great mood, I am hungry and have a slight headache, but confident that I have made it through Day 1 of 10.

The cleanse I am following from Perfect Weight America teaches that on day 1, I need to drink lots of water 3/4 oz per pound of body weight, and 4 meals of grapes (any kind, I got both) throughout the day.  Along with some special supplements that you can get at Perfect Cleanse.  It's a good thing I like grapes! 


I did alright during the day.  Around 4pm I was starting to get hungry and was worried that grapes for dinner wouldn't be enough.  It was just fine, even though I wanted what the rest of my family was eating.  

I'm feeling pretty good tonight.  My tummy is growling (for the first time today), but I'm heading to bed (it's just after 10) as soon as I finish the last of my water for the day, so I wont be tempted by leftover dinner or popcorn.  I'm looking forward to my mango for breakfast in the morning!  Night!