Progress: Body After Baby

This week with Body after Baby has gone much better than last week! And last week wasn't all that bad. But this week I have really fallen into a pretty good routine and the dieting is becoming much more routine and much less having to force myself to do it.

Eating:
I have maintained the original food plan. A couple of days I added a slice of cheese, and yesterday as I was making a meal to take to a new mom, I will admit that I "tested" the foods a little more than I needed to.

This week I want to work on making sure I don't serve myself too generous a helping at dinner.

Exercise:
I have been faithful with the Shred video. And I'm loving it.

I did stroller strides. We have a new instructor, and let me just say, I only thought the last one was hard. She's hardcore, and it's awesome. I felt muscles I forgot I had!

I ran once

This week I want to increase my running and I'm looking forward to starting a swim class at the gym. I haven't swam regularly since I was pregnant, so I'm super excited about getting back in the water.

Weekly Question:
MamaNotes is asking a question of the week, so you can head on over there to view this week's question. As for my answer, my favorite thing about the workout is knowing that I am pushing myself. It would be so easy for me to put it off, but each time I choose not to do that I am aware that I am deciding to better my body even though it is not easy. And I just love the time to myself too. I'm definitely an introvert and I'm finding that having my time to just workout and be alone (Well, alone with Jillian, anyway!) is very energizing.

Progress:

This week was so much better! The first week, I felt miserable so much of the time. This week I don't, and I am really learning to listen to my thoughts instead of my feelings when it comes to food.

I still don't know if I've lost weight, and that has been a struggle at times as I'm in the midst of a hard workout and doubting that it's making a difference. I'll find a scale at the gym this week and weigh. I have a general idea of what me weight was when I began. It also occurred to me that I should have measured myself at the beginning, too, but I forgot that too. Oh, well.

I'm continuing to go through Elyse Fitzpatrick's book, "Love to Eat, Hate to Eat: Breaking the Bondage of Destructive Eating Habits." It really helps me stay on track physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Some of you dear readers seemed to appreciate last week's information from the book, so I've decided that each week as I update about my progress I'm also going to share some more thoughts from the book.

One thing that continually strikes me each time I pick up this book is that my attitude toward food is really deeply rooted in heart issues. I think we all struggle with food and body image in different ways, but at the root of the matter is what is going on in our hearts and we're not all so different there.

So, I'm going to start at the beginning of this book at walk through it chapter by chapter, or probably, to be a little more brief, part by part. Starting next week.


This week I'm going to skip ahead and share 12 questions that the writer suggests you consider when eating. These might seem a little strict, and can even be somewhat legalistic, but they have been helpful to me, so take it as you will. She uses the acrostic D-I-S-C-I-P-L-I-N-E-D Eating to help the reader remember these, and she also attaches a scriptural reference to each one.

D - Do I Doubt that I can eat this food without sinning? Romans 14:23
I - Will eating this food demonstrate a heart of Idolotry? Exodus 20:3
S - Will eating this cause a weaker Christian to Stumble? Romans 14:21
C - Am I eating this food because I am Coveting it? Exodus 20:17
I - If I eat this food, will it create an Inroad for sin in my life? Romans 13:14
P - Can I eat this food with Praise and gratitude? I Timothy 4:4
L - Would eating the food harm my Life or health in any way? Exodus 20:13
I - Am I Illustrating good eating habits for others? I Timothy 4:12
N- Am I able to just say No? I Corinthians 9:27
E - Does my desire to eat this flow out of any sinful Emotions? Genesis 4:7
D - Will eating or preparing this food Distract me from something better? Luke 10: 41-42

E - Will eating this food Enslave me in any way? I Corinthians 6:12

(From Love To Eat, Hate To Eat: Breaking the Bondage of Destructive EAting Habits, chapter 8)

I tend to justify my eating habits by whatever is convenient at the time. This list cuts right through all of my justifications, though, and takes me right to the depths of my own heart and forces me to be honest about why I really want to eat and why I really want to eat what I want to eat. And that's why I am memorizing this list and posting it on my fridge.