Big Girls Don't Cry

Several years ago, the pop artist Fergie released a music single called "Big Girls Don't Cry." It was pretty catchy and popular at the time. As I was thinking about my next blog post, that song popped into my head. Here are a few of the lyrics (and no, this is not an endorsement for Fergie or any of her music, etc.):

I hope you know, I hope you know
That this has nothing to do with you
It's personal, myself and I
We've got some straightenin' out to do

And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket
But I've got to get a move on with my life
It's time to be a big girl now
And big girls don't cry
Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry

The path that I'm walkin', I must go alone
I must take the baby steps 'til I'm full grown, full grown
Fairy tales don't always have a happy ending, do they?
And I foresee the dark ahead if I stay

I started thinking about all the times I've cried since I started this new life journey, and wondered if they were significant at all. I thought about the difference between the tears I cried before this journey and the tears I cry now. I realized that my tears have changed.

Before I decided to make a change, I put a lot of effort into NOT crying. In case you didn't know, not crying can be a form of denial. If I cried, that meant I was acknowledging that something was wrong. If something was wrong, I would have to address it. And if I had to address it, that meant change and pain. So, the fewer the tears the better, no matter how far in despair I was. Better to not deal with it than to cry about it. The times when I did cry were brutal. I made sure to stop before I did too much damage to the "balance" in my life. I was teetering and didn't want to go too far.

The day I decided to do something different with my life and to do it God's way, I cried again. These tears were different. I got an empty journal and wrote down all of the things I hated about myself, my life, the activities I couldn't do, my limitations. As I wrote those things down, I realized I was finally acknowledging a lot of junk in my life. It turned into a confession to God about how far down I had let my sin drag me. And it was all because of choices I made. No one else did this to me. I did it. And I had hurt myself and my relationship with God in the process. So I cried. They were tears of shame and confession, but by the end, they were tears of relief. I knew that God had forgiven me and would help me to truly repent and stop living that old life. He alone could help me change, and He would.

I didn't cry again for a long time after that. In fact, I can't remember another real good cry until I hit the 25-lb loss mark. Those were the first tears of joy I cried on this journey. I wasn't expecting them. In fact, I cried right there in the WW place next to the lady who had weighed me in that day. Can't remember her name, but I remember her smiling like she had seen that sort of thing before. I left there dry eyed, but cried again on the way to work. All good tears. Thankful tears. Hopeful tears. Laughing tears.

Those tears have come up several times since then. When I reach a new milestone, or put on a pair of jeans I've been hiding in the dark crevices of my closet, or when I think about how far God has brought me in such a short amount of time, or when I get an email from someone who has read my blog and related... Those are good tears.

Don't get me wrong: I AM NOT A CRYBABY. (I am, however, a "sympathetic crier" and will cry if I see someone else cry. That condition is strange and cruel sometimes but has no cure. It is just one reason I no longer watch the Halmark channel or anything with "Extreme Makeover" in the title.)

These specific lyrics of Fergie's song stand out to me though because, as a "big girl," I spent a lot of time NOT crying. So please listen carefully as I type the next words...

IT'S OKAY TO CRY! 

It may hurt at first, but the tears don't cause the pain. The pain is already there and has been for a long time. You might as well acknowledge it. Not acknowledging it gives it power over you, and you were not created by the Almighty God to be a powerless person. In fact, He wants to give you His divine, supernatural power to overcome and be victorious!

So stop holding back. Grab an empty journal and start scribbling the words you've been afraid to say out loud. Or go for a long walk in a quiet place and verbalize your fears and disappointments. Confess!

And let go.

Only then can the good tears come. Clean tears. Freed tears. God-given tears.

Faithfully, fluffully His,

Taking Center Stage... Re-Valuing My Value System

As I've mentioned before, I use Lysa TerKeurst's "Made to Crave Devotional" a couple of times a week, and the last section I read was eye opening (Thanks, Lysa!). Lysa briefly shared that Esau and Jacob experienced a major life change that centered around a campfire and a pot of stew. Gotta love a Bible-based food issue, right?

I went back to Genesis to read the story for myself with fresh eyes, so here's the synopsis (full story found in Genesis 25:29-34). Esau and Jacob are brothers. Esau is the oldest and entitled to the biggest and best blessing from dad. He's also the big burly guy in the fam, super hunter, etc. One day after an unsuccessful hunting trip, Esau comes home famished and happens upon brother Jacob cooking some stew. He asks for some; well, demands is a better word. Jacob, in typical little bro fashion, wants to trade up for his cooking efforts. He agrees to give Esau some stew if Esau will trade him the eldest birthright. Esau declares that he's "about to die" of starvation, and thus agrees to the trade. This trade affects the future of nations (yes, plural). Esau sold his future for a bowl of lentil stew and bread! Darn those carbs!

He traded the long-term for short-term pleasure. I realized that I can totally relate to Esau and have placed myself in the same position many times. As with any food issue, the deeper issue was the desire for instant gratification and the focus on a flesh craving. How does this happen? Why do I do that? How do I stop?

As I contemplated those questions and prayed for understanding, the Spirit reminded me that God set eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). When we elevate our flesh cravings, we lose sight of the eternal craving in our hearts for God. Not only did God put it there, but it's always been there and always will be, unlike an afternoon carb craving. Our God craving is how we know we need Him.

So why is our flesh craving often louder than the eternal calling that is ever present in our hearts? Perhaps, because it is constant, we manage to sometimes drown out the eternal, like a mom who tunes out her child on a road trip when the question comes, "Are we there yet?"

We need to embrace the eternal call daily; amplify it! Give it a microphone and crank up its volume. Knowing that it is the highest calling, we should live in such a way as to magnify that craving so that we always seek Christ more.

Esau is a classic example of a microphone in the wrong hands. He chose to amplify the call of his stomach over the eternal call of God. The same is true for me. If I spend too much energy focused on a chocolate craving, I end up taking the microphone out of God's hands and giving it to my flesh, or the candy bar in my desk drawer. And along with the microphone goes the spotlight. When I put the spotlight on the temporary craving, that craving takes center stage and throws God into the background scenery.

This is a total misplacement of values! When we elevate the value of a temporary craving over the eternal design God has for our lives, we choose to be last in line for the Father's blessing, just as Esau did.

Lord, forgive me! Let me not squander that which is eternally precious for a temporary satisfaction that ultimately steals my joy! Re-value my value system! Here's the mic, Lord! Take center stage!

And flesh... you can exit stage right!

Faithfully, fluffully His,

A fluffy girl walks into a gym...

I'm on my third or fourth week of making exercise a consistent part of my life. In Weight Watchers (WW) terms, that's equaled a minimum of 14 Activity Points (AP) a week. In layman terms, I basically shoot for 20 to 30 minutes of steady exercise most days. So far so good.

However, most of that activity has consisted of walking in my neighborhood with my dogs, and it is officially hot  and humid in the Houston area. Therefore, activity outside is not the same appealing option it was a few weeks ago. That means, I need to find options now as alternatives.

I haven't had a gym membership in close to five years. The last time I had one, I only got it because my BFF had one and committed to going with me as a workout buddy.

My insurance sent an email this week about a new Fitness Program for just $25 a month and access to a variety of of gyms. A good deal with gyms in their program are in my neighborhood? SCORE! I was actually excited to sign up AND excited to go workout (in air conditioning). You need only to look back at my previous posts on exercise to know I'm not exactly a fan, so being excited here is completely new to me! Praise the Lord!

I had two meetings at church after work that night, so I rushed home from work, changed into semi-decent workout attire, filled a water bottle, grabbed a sweat towel, and headed to church for my meetings. I was on track for success. It wasn't until I started walking out of the church that I started having doubts.

I started thinking that maybe it would be a good idea to just go drop the paperwork off at the gym and go back in the morning for a workout. I told myself to get in the car and drive over there, but with every block I drove, my insecurity monitor went higher and higher. Excuses started playing in my head. Fears came to the surface. By the time I pulled into the parking lot, I had made up my mind that I would only go in if the parking lot wasn't crowded. It was crowded, but not full by any means. Plus, the gym is in a shopping center, so the cars could have been for any number of businesses there. Then I decided to watch the people traffic to see if anybody looked remotely like me and not some insanely gorgeous skinny chics in tight yoga pants and sports bras or body builder guys in spandex. There were a few guys who could bench press me, but most of the people coming and going were families who had just worked out together and a lot of older white guys with large bellies who looked like they were about to have heart attacks. My kind of exercise buddies.

Still, I drove around the parking lot for a full 10 minutes trying to convince myself that I shouldn't go in. Why?! I was scared of how others would stare at me or judge me as too fat to be there or just plain laugh at me. Then it hit me... I'm a funny gal who loves to laugh. I spend most days at work making people laugh and enjoying people's good humor. If the worst thing that happens is that I make someone else laugh today by going in that gym, is it really so bad? Plus, if I go home now, I have an entire evening ahead of me with zero items on my to-do list. That means I will literally end up on the couch for the next four hours. Is it really worth skipping a workout to be who I used to be, Couch Potato Kerri? No. And to boot, that Kerri does NOT glorify God.

So you may have heard this joke before. A fluffy girl walks into a gym... And guess what... The punchline didn't change. She still just worked out and life went on.

That's right. I pulled up my big girl panties, grabbed my ipod and exercise necessities and walked into the gym. Nobody looked my way. Nobody told me that I didn't belong there. Nobody rolled their eyes when they saw me approaching the treadmills next to them. Nobody cared! I was just another person doing my thing.

That's when I realized that every fear and excuse I had told myself in the parking lot wasn't just Satan trying to defeat me; I was trying to defeat myself. My flesh. Every pound of this fluffy flesh that I've earned bite by fattening bite does not want me to succeed. So it's up to the fluffy child of God inside me to take the lead and push through.

Why?

Because I'm worth way more than that. I am worthy of fearlessness. I am able to do ALL things. And I have the scars of a Savior who overcame death itself to prove it.

I walked out of that gym a little sweatier and with my head held a lot higher. No fear. And all I could say was, "Praise you, Lord. All things really ARE possible in Christ!"

What's keeping you in the proverbial "parking lot" instead of inside doing the work, whatever that may be? If it's fear or insecurity, you deserve better. Go get it!

Faithfully, fluffully His,

Stars, Whales, and a Fluffy Girl

(The following post is also provided as this week's "Fluffy Verse" and is posted under the verse tab as well.)


"Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens' praise him in the heights!... Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars... Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps... Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! Young men and maidens together, old men and children! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven..." Psalm 148 (paraphrase mine)

For the last few "verses of the week," I was tempted to use a praise verse. When I thought about which verse to pick, the first thing that came to my mind each week was to pick something from Psalms. For some weird reason, I chose instead verses that helped me work on me.

In so doing, I lost all sight of why I'm doing this. I'm not doing this to be skinny or lose weight. I'm doing this to turn my focus away from something insignificant and put my focus on the Significant One. Oh, how I failed so short of that! Forgive me, Father!

My sweet friend, Julia, emailed me a link to a YouTube video on Monday, and I didn't find the time to watch it until just this morning. Thank you, Lord, for your sweet and perfect timing! In the video, Louie Giglio explains the sounds that we've recorded of stars light years away as well as whale songs from the oceans. He speaks of them in the light of Psalm 148, which I paraphrased above for you for quick reading. I encourage you to look it up on your own and speak it aloud to the Lord!

Giglio then splices those songs together to give us a mere hint of the praise that God must hear every second from His throne. I can honestly say, I've heard the most beautiful praise song on earth this morning! I can only image how amplified it must be on the throne!

Then it hit me, there is praise from nature taking place every second, yet we cannot hear it because we, in our self-centered world, have added in so much noisy into our lives that such beauty is drowned out. And with it is drowned opportunities to join in the singing.

Well, not today, Lord! Today, I sing! Today, I want my very heartbeat to join in! You alone are God and worthy of my focus! May you be exalted in me today. May your name and renown be the desire of my heart.



...and all else fades away but my Savior and me.

(Thus, my sign-off is officially changed to...)
Faithfully, fluffully HIS,

Stop Believing the Lie

"This is just the way I am."

After trying so many different diet plans and seeing each one succeed in the short-term and fail in the long-term, I actually decided to believe this phrase. I even went so far as to become angry or be hurt when people wouldn't "accept me for who I am, as I am."

Guess what: I believed a lie. I chose to give my body far more credit than it deserved. Doing so not only affected my view of myself and my relationship with others, but it left a hole in my relationship with God. That hole allowed me to blame Him for creating me this way and for not rescuing me from this state of being. It must be my call in life to live this way.

Oh, what a lie I believed! God's Word tells me "to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:22-24)

You need to know that I am by no means "thin" yet. In fact, I am far enough away from reaching a "target weight" that I haven't even done the math to bother setting that goal! I have a long way to go. I think it's safe to say that I will most likely never be known as "skinny." But because my Spirit is in a renewed, recreated, redeemed state of health in Christ Jesus, I think healthier thoughts. I encourage others more. I make healthier choices. I crave lettuce at times!

So I present to you my new truth: That is who I was. He is perfecting me to be who He redeemed me to be.

In Lysa TerKeurst's devotional book "Made to Crave," she says, "Big things are built one brick at a time. Victories are achieved one choice at a time. A life well lived is chosen one day at a time."

I do not long, as I once did, to walk through this journey and come out skinny on the other side. Instead, I choose to live this life in His grace and come out changed.

Faithfully, fluffully yours,

Applying the "Follow-Through"

When I was a kid, I used to play basketball. When I learned to shoot the ball, I was coached to make sure and "follow-through" every time. It's not just the shot itself that matters, but what you do after the ball leaves your hands also makes a difference. That's the follow-through.

I want to document a victory and share it with you in the wake of my last Good Friday post entitled, "Yet I Will." I don't want to just share lessons from God that He teaches me. I want to apply those lessons to my life and heart in order to walk away changed. That's a spiritual follow-through, so to speak. Yesterday morning (all throughout the morning), I chose to follow-through with a "Yet I Will" mindset.

Tuesdays are both my favorite Weight Watchers (WW) days and my most dreaded. I weigh in on Tuesday mornings at 11, so it's a little nerve racking some weeks. However, my "week" of points actually starts on Tuesdays. That means I've survived another week and get a new set of points to look forward to all week.

This Tuesday was one of those nervous kind of days... all because of my weekend fun. You've been there, right? It's your best friend's birthday, and no one should eat an Ultimate Chocolate Cupcake by themselves! Not to mention it's crawfish season here in South Texas. (BTW, any time you choose to eat something "by the pound," there will probably be ramifications.) Hence, my nervous Tuesday.

I had fun this weekend. The crawfish were wonderful, and the cupcake was... Well, words can't really describe those beautiful bites. BUT I did make sure to swim around in the pool a little after we ate, so maybe that helped. I wouldn't know for sure until weigh-in.

As I spent time in prayer yesterday morning, I knew weigh-in was coming and that, most likely, it wouldn't be pretty. That's when I remembered that I can choose now how to respond. So I prayed, not for the scale to read what I wanted, but for strength to praise God even if the scale showed a gain. I told God that I would love to see a loss on that scale, but nevertheless, I was thankful for how far I had come already. I chose to turn my attitude from dread to thanksgiving and praise.

• Thank you, Lord, for giving me a best friend whose birthday I could celebrate!
• Praise God! I feel so much better these days!
• Thank you, Lord, that today is the start of a new WW week! And week 16 at that!
• Praise God! I lost over 30 lbs. in 15 weeks!
• Thank you, Lord, that the scale or the numbers on it aren't my source of victory!
• Praise God! I was able to put on a smaller size in shorts this weekend!
• Thank you, Lord, that I've been able to stop taking two medications since starting this program!
• Praise God! I have a friend and coworker who is going through the program with me!

What a difference it made to get rid of those "but statements" I told you about in my last post. I still had moments prior to weigh-in that had me nervous, but I chose those moments to go to God with a praise and a "yet I will" statement.

Baylor Bears Basketball Player Brittney Griner
(AP/Houston Chronicle photo by Michael Paulsen at komonews.com)

The results of weigh-in: I gained, but my attitude about it was positive. Not only that, but after all the fun I had this past weekend, I only gained about half a pound! 

God is so good, and this journey He's taking me on is good. I encourage you to not just hear a lesson from God, but follow-through and apply His lessons to your life. That's when permanent change takes root!

Faithfully, fluffully yours,

"Yet I Will"

I can barely type the words to share with you the beautiful revelation my Sweet Savior has blessed me with this Good Friday.

I’m studying Jonah using a study by Priscilla Shirer called, “Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted.” My lesson today was on repentance. The best way I know to share with you what God has taught me this morning is to take you on the same journey and show you the progression of His insights to me. This is a long blog, but I pray you’ll find it worth your time.

Start with the definition of repentance. Priscilla says that, “Repentance has two aspects:

1. Confession means agreeing with God about any sin or rebellion in our lives and asking Him to rid us of that for which we have no more use.
2. Change calls for changing our mind, attitude, and actions.”

I read on to find another nugget of truth that gave me pause as Priscilla turned my attention to Jonah’s story.
“…whether or not Jonah knew God was never the concern. Clearly he was well acquainted with God. He could discern the leading of God. Yet Jonah had a problem agreeing with God and changing his mind, attitude, and actions to comply with God. His heart was out of alignment with the heart of God.”

The question came to me after re-reading this paragraph several times: What does agreeing with God sound like? How do I agree with God in practice, even when I don’t like what He’s doing? There are some times that I just plain don’t like with how He’s handling a situation. What then?

I began to replay some of those instances and my prayers that accompanied them in my head. They sounded something like this…

“Lord, I know you want what is best for me, but could you…”
“Lord, your will be done, but if it’s okay could we…”
“Lord, I hear what you’re saying and want to change, but…”
“Lord, bless that person in this circumstance, but show them they’re wrong about…”

I realized that my version of agreeing with God wasn’t agreeing at all. My version was full of what I’m now calling “but statements.” In order to agree with God, I have to stop ending my prayers with the “but statements.” If I end a sentence with an exclamation point instead of a period, I completely change my whole conversation. The same is true in my use of “but statements.”

Then it hit me: Jesus didn’t use a “but statement” to end His prayers at the hardest point in His ministry. When He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, He lived out what it means to agree with God.

1. His prayer, mind, and attitude were pleading yet submitted.

Luke 22:41-42 says, “And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.’”
Mark 14:35-36 shows the same event. Verse 36 says, “And he said. ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’”

Christ, even in the depths of despair, didn’t say, “Your will be done, Father, but please don’t do it.” Instead, He presented He sorrowful, gut-wrenching plea to the Father, and ended with, “but your will.” Oh, how that changes everything!

2. His actions conveyed His agreement.

Not only did He say, “but your will,” He then followed through with God’s will… all the way to the Cross. He followed through, even though it cost Him His very life. The words Jesus prayed were beautiful, but they are but a glimpse into His submitted heart. The truest and clearest picture of His heart was displayed for the world to see in Jesus’ life poured out for us.

After I gathered myself up from all that, I went back to Jonah to finish my actual study guide lesson. Priscilla had me read portions of Jonah 2 (v. 2, 4, 7, 9) and underline phrases of Jonah’s prayer in the belly of the fish that showed he was having a change of heart. Guess what I underlined…

“I cried out to the Lord,”
“I called to you,”
“Yet I will,”
“But I will,”
“I will,”

Jonah gained a repentant heart when he chose submission. Choosing submission meant agreeing with God. Agreeing with God meant changing his former “but statements” to “I will” statements, followed by action in obedience.

I didn’t know I could see a picture of Christ in the story of Jonah, but oh, how I’m drawing connections now! I started out studying Jonah and repentance and made it all the way to the Cross and submission.

I didn’t bring my cup of coffee to my Bible study time this morning expecting to get a Good Friday lesson, but I’m humbled by His love that my Sweet Savior would give me one anyway. Thank you, Lord, for being my Teacher today! Thank you for drawing me back to the cross to celebrate and remember all you did that day so long ago and how it changes everything for me today.

Friends, I know this is a blog primarily about my weight loss journey, but part of that journey is repentance, submission, and a call to action. Draw your own connections in your heart. God is drawing them in mine.

I pray you have a truly Good Friday today.

Faithfully, fluffully, yours… NOT TO MENTION REDEEMED!

declaring battle and waging war

Why is my new blog called, "Battle Cry of a Fluffy Girl," you might ask. Well, you can read from my first post to find out why "fluffy" has significance in my life. Now let me explain my battle tactics and perspective.

Beth Moore, a Christian author and speaker extraordinaire, made a statement in her last Bible study that stuck with me and challenged me to the extreme. She told us to "declare war" on our sin and struggles because that is the only way we will ever truly overcome them.

You can read and underline in your Bible and devotionals all day long. But unless you allow God's Word to actually change you, what good is it? If you don't walk away different, what is the point?

At the time I took that study, back in January and all through February, her wise counsel to declare war rung out in my heart and mind over and over. It still does. Here's why...

Back in December, I decided that I would take my fluffy rear back to Weight Watchers. I had done the program before and lost a little weight, but fell off the wagon right back onto my fluffy rear, just as I had done on countless other programs throughout most of my adult life. I own more specialized cookbooks, infomercial DVD sets, and elastic strengthening bands than a hyperactive personal trainer. The result thus far: I was the largest and most unhealthy than I'd ever been in my life. Miserable to my core.

I decided that this time would be different. I say that every time I try to lose weight, of course, so what would really make this time different? What would make ME different?

I decided that this time, I would see my overweight condition and the habits, mindsets, and attitudes that got me to there for what they really were: sin and sin-producing enablers. I can blame family members and schoolmates for treating me poorly and calling me names, and friends for taking me to the fattiest restaurants to celebrate special occasions, but they didn't put food in my mouth. I can blame my emotions and the fact that I'm a woman on every calorie ingested, but other women in this world do just fine on carrots instead of chocolate. There's no way on earth that I can retain this much water. Get real.

The real issue is this: I am a sinful person saved by grace, but I have not chosen to live by grace. Instead, I've chosen:

• Pity parties over victory dances
• Miserable mentalities over edifying encounters
• Unsatisfying stand-ins over the life-sustaining Spirit
• Weakness as a shield over faith as my fortress

For that, and so much more, there is truthfully no excuse. The battle I'm fighting is not a battle of my fatty tissue or flesh, it's a battle deep down in my soul. How can I expect to defeat flesh if I fight with the strength I have in the very flesh that is against me?

I can't. Only God can win this war. This is His battle to sanctify me, not to make me skinny. While I desire a smaller size in my flesh, He desires to expand His space in my life and heart to overflowing.

Bring it on, Lord!!

Therefore, I declared war on myself. So far, God has dropped over 30 pounds out of my life and filled my Spirit with a greater awareness of Him in all that I do. PRAISE GOD ALONE!

Let me assure you, I'm nowhere near where I should be... spiritually or physically. I took 32 years to get this "fluffy," and it will take a very long time to get healthy. Thank goodness I have a Savior sweet enough to stick by me for the long haul. He set eternity in our hearts, not our flesh, and it's the heart of me that is shedding the most undesirable pieces to make room for more of Him.

So, if you find this blog and care to share the journey with me, know that the ultimate victory is way better than skinny jeans!

Here are some things that are helping me:

• Journaling: I've never been very good at keeping a diary, but I decided that I needed to write down how horrible I felt in the beginning in order to see the victories along the way. So I wrote down why I was declaring war, and once or twice a week I jot down how things are going, good and bad. Today, I re-read my journal entry from the first day and can already see victories. Praise God!
• "Made to Crave Devotional" by Lysa TerKeurst: It's been a great source of insight to the spiritual side of this battle. It's a 60-day book, but I read one day a week, or more if needed, just to keep me in check. Then I add any phrases or nuggets of wisdom from that day's devo to my journal. Writing those words gives them more weight and helps me to think about them more throughout the day and week.
• Wearing a pedometer: I genuinely loathe exercise. However, since I bought a pedometer, I have slowly but surely increased my activity on a daily basis. Just wearing it is a reminder at the office to get up and stretch my legs, go for a short walk at lunch, go get another glass of water. It has really changed my mindset on activity. Having a more active day does not require hours in the gym or long walks in the heat. 
• Weight Watchers: Going to the meetings gives me a accountability each week as well a positive environment to share victories and struggles. 
• Weight Watchers eTools: They come with my membership, but are totally worth getting on their own. Recipe Builder tool to help figure out what I'm cooking at home, ideas for cooking and activities, etc.
• Committed Friends: I have friends doing the program with me, which makes going to the meetings even better. Plus, we can talk during the week to stay on track or share ideas for success. 
• Family Praying for Me: I have two awesome parents who know the struggles I have and love me right through them with words of encouragement and prayer. Knowing they are praying for God's best in my life helps me stay on track. Find someone to pray for you besides yourself!

I'll keep you posted if I find any other resources to help me on my journey.

Faithfully, fluffully yours,