Motivational Wellness Seminar & Exercise Session – August 3

If you missed the motivational wellness seminar & exercise session I’ve offered a couple of times, you’re in luck because I’m doing it again! Join me on Monday, August 3 from 5:30 – 7:00 pm at the Woodlawn PH Church. Childcare will be provided if you have kids!

First, I’ll be sharing Biblical advice on how God wants us to live happy, healthy lives as well as practical tips for good nutrition, health, and exercise. Then, about 6 pm we’ll do a 30 minute exercise session set to contemporary Christian music. Bring a friend and come enjoy some uplifting fellowship!

If you’re planning to come, please email me or call/text me at 276-779-3336.

Walk/Jog/Run Group – July 9 @ Noon

Who will be there this week? Interested in walking, jogging, or running with a small group? Join me & whoever else shows up at noon on Thursday, July 9 at the Galax Recreation Center. If it’s raining, meet in the lobby. If it’s nice, meet near the front entrance outside. We’ll open with a prayer & devotional, then figure out the group’s goals, then spend the next bit walking, jogging, and/or running. It’s my lunch break, so I have about an hour to be there. If you want to continue after I leave, go for it!

There is no cost for this. Just bring something to drink and think of your goal before you arrive so you know what you want to do for the day!

See ya there. Blessings!

FREE Seminar & Exercise Session – July 13

Did you miss the seminar on June 15? Well, make plans to attend this session on Monday, July 13 at 5:30 at the Carter Pines Picnic Shelter in Hillsville, VA. The shelter is located on the left as you drive into Carroll Wellness Center.

First, I’ll be sharing Biblical advice on how God wants us to live happy, healthy lives as well as practical tips for good nutrition, health, and exercise. Then, about 6 pm we’ll do a 30 minute exercise session set to contemporary Christian music. Bring a friend and come enjoy some uplifting fellowship!

At this point, I don’t have anyone lined up for childcare, but if you’re a CWC member, you can check to see if they will let you leave the kiddos in the supervised play area since you’ll be on the hill.

Hope to see you there!

Overcoming Obstacles

We all face obstacles everyday in our daily living. This morning, I had to overcome some myself! The baby woke me up about 4:45 for a bottle, so I fed him and then it was close to 5 am. I had planned to get up about 5:30 to practice the new BodyPump 94, because I plan to teach it the first time on Friday and I need to run through it some. Anyway, I had a choice to make…back to bed or stay up? I chose to stay up.

I spent some time reading in my “Motivated to Wellness” Bible study book about how Jesus is the light and the life. It was a good read.

Then, I went outside to practice my workout so I wouldn’t wake up the family (it was 5:30ish at this point). The whippoorwill was out and singing and it was such a beautiful morning. I soaked it in, breathed and stretched, while talking to God a few minutes.

I was on the 4th track of practicing BodyPump when this yellow jacket flew up. I thought he was just nosing around, so I kept doing my triceps kickbacks and the darn thing stung me on the pointer finger! It hurt like the dickens – I haven’t been stung in years. I stopped, went in and iced my finger for a few minutes and had to make a choice – keep working out or just quit? I chose to keep going.

I finished my workout and spent some time with my husband and boys this morning before coming to work. I’m a little sleepy, but I’m glad I chose to stay out of bed and exercise.

Each day, we have to make choices to keep going. Your situation may be harder than mine, but choose to keep going. You’ll be glad you did.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil 4:13 (That’s for my friend Michaela).

Updated Playlist for Thrive Strength & Cardio

Be sure to join me tomorrow at noon for Thrive Strength & Cardio at CWC in Hillsville. I’ve added two new songs to the playlist, so the workout is a little longer.

Day One – Matthew West

Soul on Fire – Third Day

Come on out for a great workout while you worship!

so stinkin’ excited

A lot has happened since my last post! I’ve started my own business/ministry and it’s really just falling into place. I believe that’s because God gave me the vision and he’s working out all of the details. 🙂 Check out my website!

My logo!

I’m teaching my first Thrive Cardio & Strength workout tomorrow…I’ve taken contemporary Christian music and choreographed a 30 minute routine. We’re going to start the session with a prayer and end with a short devotional. Then, I’m having my first seminar at my church on June 15.

Life is good on the home front too! I’m enjoying the extra time with my boys (including my husband) and my part-time job doing web development is going well. We develop our sites on WordPress now, so that helps!

What’s going on in your world?

FREE Wellness Seminar & Exercise Session

I’m launching my ministry on Monday, June 15 at 5:00 pm at my church – Stone Mountain Baptist Church in Laurel Fork, VA. Please join me and bring a friend for an evening of information about wellness & health, light/moderate exercise, and refreshments & fellowship! The fun starts at 5 pm and we’ll be done by 7 pm. I’m working on childcare options if you need to bring your kids, so stay tuned! View the event details here.

spooky superset workout by ACE

Thought this workout looked cool so I think we’ll do it in my 6:15 am class tomorrow. I was going to do BodyPump, but this has some neat, different moves and is themed. Now, I just gotta figure out what to wear as a costume tomorrow. My son has a “green goblin” mask and I could wear it. Freaky!

kickin’ sugar habit and lovin’ it

I’m leading a team of 5 folks in a weight loss competition right now – we have 2 weeks left after this one and so far, my team members are doing great. When I say “leading”, I’m the personal trainer for the group. I meet with them once a week for an hour to discuss nutrition and we do a workout. Anyway, the past two I’ve led, I was pregnant, so weight loss was not on my personal list. However, now I’m 3 months postpartum and really trying to get back into shape. I was losing some weight, but then I got stuck. Then, I contracted the stomach bug and lost 3 pounds over a weekend. After that, I was on a roll again and I think I’m back down to my pre-baby weight of 155 pounds (within a pound depending on the day).

A lady that was on my first weight loss team came to speak with the current team members about how she has lost 36 pounds in 10 months. It’s pretty much common sense, but she has opened my eyes to the devil SUGAR! It’s in everything (which I already knew), but I’ve really started paying attention to it.

Did you know that adults shouldn’t really consume more than 24 grams of added sugar in a day? That’s the equivalent of 6 teaspoons. Check out this recent article by Reader’s Digest that backs it up and also gives some recipes and tips on breaking your addiction. My friend that gave the lecture brought me a newspaper article just this morning with even MORE sugar info. Here’s a short excerpt to put it into perspective:

So it pains me to use M&Ms as an example, but one ordinary-size packet (1.69 ounces) contains 31 grams of sugar. This year, the World Health Organization recommended that sugar consumption should equal no more than 5 percent of your daily caloric intake. For the average adult, that’s about 25 grams of added sugar per day. The WHO isn’t just worried about the 69 percent of Americans who are overweight or obese. Diabetes and obesity are rapidly becoming a global concern.

My packet of M&Ms already exceeds 25 grams of sugar. If on a day that I eat the M&Ms I also have a 12-ounce Coke (39 grams of sugar), a one-cup bowl of Raisin Bran Crunch (19 grams), one serving of Campbell’s tomato soup (12 grams) and a 6-inch turkey sub from Subway (7 grams), that puts me at 108 grams of sugar, or over 400 percent of the WHO’s daily recommendation. And that’s in 950 calories. So either the WHO’s recommendation is ridiculously low or much of the reason the world is getting so fat — and not just fat, but sick — is that we’re swimming in an ocean of sugar and don’t even realize it.

Either way, about 2 weeks ago, for some reason the desire for sweets just kind of left me. I still add a teaspoon of raw sugar to my coffee each morning and I like my iced tea mildly sweet, but I’ve really cut out the cookies, cakes, etc. I feel better and I’m dropping the weight that is normally hard to get off.

I encourage you to look at your sugar intake and see where you stand, then make modifications if need be. There are TONS of resources out there to help, but let me know what your hurdles are. My best piece of advice – DON’T BUY IT! If you don’t buy it, you can’t eat it. 🙂

Next up…how to get my toddler down to 16 grams or less of added sugar. This one is gonna be fun…

recipes and halloween

I got on a kick this week and cooked a bit more than I have in a while. Baby Elam is finally starting to take some longer naps, plus I had Wednesday off which allowed me to cook a bit. Here are the recipes I used:

• Wheat Beer Bread – I’ve always wanted to make bread, but it seems so daunting. This recipe was easy-peasy and I whipped it up in just about 5 minutes last night. I liked the bread, but my husband wasn’t much into it. I also baked fish my dad had caught in the river and then I sauted up kale in oil olive and threw in a can of drained black eyed peas. Good supper.
• Apple Muffins – I follow the blog “100 Days of Real Food” and she posted a neat muffin recipe to try. I didn’t have walnuts and I only had 1/2 the syrup it called for, so I left out the nuts and did half syrup/half honey for the sweetener. Ezra gobbled his down and Mike (hubby) even liked them.
• Baked  Eggplant – A vegan man that is a member of the gym where I work brought me an eggplant earlier this week that I needed to use, so I made this dish for my mom and me. I added Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder. I liked it but mom loved it and made it again at her house. I served it over raditorre pasta with marinara sauce.
• Monkey Bread – This one I learned in middle school home economics and it just stuck. You take a can of biscuits and cut them into quarters, then roll in melted butter. After that, dip them in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon and bake at 350 for a few minutes. Ezra actually helped with this one and ate the raw dough (just a little). He’s such a picky eater that I let him just about anything that won’t make him sick! 🙂 It’s not the most healthy dish, but it’s a nice little treat from time to time. I need to find some wheat biscuit dough or make some from scratch.

Speaking of picky eaters, earlier this week I downloaded some neat docs and watched a short video by Tribe Wellness about picky eaters and how to remedy the issue. I learned some good tips and I encourage you to check it out if interested.

Another cool thing on the “100 Days of Real Food” blog was alternatives to Halloween candy. My son is having a pre-school party for Halloween and I think I will take some non-candy treats for that. The teacher sent home a list of what each kid needs to bring…the list included cupcakes, cookies, chips, cheese puffs, and pizza. I am responsible for the chips and I think I will bring some fruit salad to show folks you can still have fun with good foods…

Well, let’s get ready for the weekend. I hope yours is filled with fun, good food, and some physical activity!