Dashing Dish

When I was doing my morning devotionals the other day, God brought me to one that I knew He wanted me to share with all of you! It talks about how the Word of God can change the image that you have on the inside, which is the key to any lasting change that you hope to see on the outside!

Here’s an excerpt from the Faith to Faith devotional written by Kenneth Copeland:

According to Romans, hope is actually looking at something you can’t see. How do you do that? You do it by looking at the promises of God in the Word until with your inner eyes- the eyes of your spirit- a picture is formed.

For example, one of the hardest things I ever had to do was face the fact that the inner image I had of myself physically was overweight. It didn’t matter how hard I tried to change, it wouldn’t go away. I was always on a diet. I must have lost (and regained) hundreds of pounds over the years.

I finally had to admit that as long as my inner image of myself was fat, my outer self was going to match it. Remember, it’s faith that changes things, and without the inner image of hope, faith cannot work.

So I decided to fast for seven days. I searched my bible for every scripture I could find on food and eating and I found many.

I meditated on every one of those scriptures and prayed for seven full days. What was I doing you may ask?! I was changing the image on the inside of me concerning my weight.

It wasn’t long before the new image I had on the inside began to shine on the outside. I began to see myself as the healthy, fit person that God created me to be, and over twenty years later, I have maintained my desired weight, (which is what I believe God created me to be at!)

I will tell you however, that this is not something that can be done overnight. It takes time. Especially if the inner image you’re changing has been there for years.

But you CAN do it and God wants to partner with you! I have seen thousands of people transformed by changing the image they have on the inside of themselves with the Word of God!

Go to the Word of God today and begin to change the images inside of you. Change them from the images of despair and defeat to images of hope! Let God give you a blueprint in your heart for what you are believing for, and let your faith build on it!

(Related Scripture Reading: Romans 4: 16-21)

Hey everyone! So, after explaining the details about how I prep for my wonderful work days, I thought I’d show you how I love to spend my weekends, (when I have off of work that is!)

One of my favorite ways to spend a typical Saturday off is in downtown Ann Arbor with my hubby! However, before I’m off doing anything with the hubs, I always start my Saturday with an 8am Body Pump class! It’s a blast and a great way to get the muscles working so my metabolism is revved up for the day!

I love to come home and spend time with the Lord, watch a bit of Food Network, and have a ‘Milkshake’ for breakfast, (Peanut Butter-Butterscotch Flavor…Of Course!)

This past week was my birthday~ My 26th birthday to be exact! I must say, the years ‘fly’ by, and I hear it only goes quicker as you get older…Which is why i’m trying to remember to enjoy every moment in the ‘right here and now’.  Sometimes I think we tend to think about the past or future more often than enjoying the present moment. If we’re not careful, we could spend our whole lives waiting for what’s to come, or even dwelling on what was… And miss the joy of this present moment!

Speaking of the ‘joys’ in life, my birthday was a day FILLED with all of the wonderful pleasures in life…all of the things I consider special anyways!

I started off my day by going on a walk with my husband and dog Zoey. We enjoyed the sunshine, and talked about some of the wonderful memories of our childhood. I came back home to have a delicious peanut butter protein shake (and yes, if I could have ANYTHING for breakfast, that is what it would be!) :)

Sean and I met up with my sister Emily for lunch, (it was her last day of her first year of teaching!) We went to our favorite restaurant Mongolian BBQ!

I am THRILLED to announce that all of my recipes will have Weight Watchers Points Plus! The fabulous and inspiring Jennifer Swafford from “It Sux to be Fat.com” is an amazing woman of God, and she talks all about her journey on her site!

She has personally lost tons of weight using Weight Watchers, and she offered to use the official Points Plus Calculator to factor the Weight Watchers points for all of my recipes! Now anyone on Weight Watchers can enjoy my recipes without having to figure out the points~ how awesome is that!?! Thank You Jennifer!!! Be sure to check out her amazing weight loss journey at www.ItSuxToBeFat.com!

When I began my journey to pursue a balanced and healthy lifestyle, I knew that the first thing that I had to do was establish realistic goals for myself. I had spent so many years of my life going from one extreme to the other, and I knew it would take a well thought out plan to get to a place of true balance in my life.

I truly believe that in order to achieve any goal you must have a vision and a plan for how you are going to get there. The Bible even has something to say about this! Amos (3:7) says, “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants.”  If God doesn’t do anything without first having a plan, then surely we are going to need one in order to achieve what we desire!

I’m going to share the steps which were inspired from the book, God Hunger (written by Desiree Ayres) that helped me tremendously in setting a plan into motion to get on a healthy road once and for all! I encourage you to not just read this post, but to take action by getting out a pen and paper and use these steps to set your own goals to get healthy today!

If you’re feeling hopeless today, and that you have set goals and failed before, today is a new day! It doesn’t matter how long you have been where you’re at, or even what you did yesterday, you only have today to start doing something! You can’t get yesterday back!  …So start heading in the direction you want your life to go TODAY!

Memorial Day weekend marks the start of Summer, (At least that’s true in ‘my world’) ~ And I’m sure glad it does, because I am more than ready to let the summer begin! :)

To me, summer means days filled with sunshine, long walks with my sister, family BBQ’s, homemade ice cream (oh yes…recipes to come!), laying out by the pool, vacation, and bonfires at night!

This past Memorial Day was a great start to summer~ and it was spent just the way it should of been…With my family! My sister, husband and I all had the day off of work, so we started the day early with a ‘bootcamp’ workout at our gym.

We came home, and my sister and I enjoyed some coffee and a Peanut Butter Protein Shake together!

Hello friends! I hope everyone had an amazing week! I know I sure did…seeing as I’ve had the past 4 days off of work! You see, that is one of the perks of being a nurse…You can work 12 hour shifts, or a lot of shifts in a row, and then have a nice stretch of time off! It’s wonderful because it really does refresh you, and I think, make you a better nurse when you come back! :)

Speaking of 12 hour shifts…I thought I’d show what a 12 hour work day looks like for me! I generally try and take those days as ‘rest days’ from working out, so I might do a walk with my dog Zoey, but if I can’t fit in my workouts elsewhere in the week (or I work more than one 12 in a week), then I do a quick circuit training class in the morning, or a 30 minute Turbo Kick Kickboxing workout dvd at home.

This particular 12 hour work day, I started my day with a circuit training class at 8:30 am. I go to the circuit class with my husband Sean, which makes it more motivating!  Plus, we get to spend a little time doing something fun together before I head off to work. :)

When I start my day with a workout, I generally wake up at 7:50 am and eat a Fiber One yogurt (I freeze them and microwave them for 30 seconds… they taste like ice cream!) I always eat something really light before an early morning workout. It usually consists of some type of yogurt and maybe some frozen fruit!

What I am about to share with you is how I got completely free from a negative self-image, an unhealthy lifestyle, and how I reached (and have maintained) my desired weight.

When I began my journey to find true health, (to read more about my journey read “my story”)…I began to search what the Word of God had to say about healing and restoration. I went to the bible because ultimately I knew that, “Jesus is the Word made flesh,” (John 1:14) so anytime I want to know what Jesus thinks or has to say about an issue, I go to the Bible!

It was over the course of a year that God revealed some important truths in His word about how what we say, think, and believe about ourselves ultimately comes to pass in our lives. It was this scripture that God initially used to speak this to me: “For as a man thinks in his heart, so shall he be.” (Proverbs 23:7)

I hope everyone had an amazing Easter and enjoyed time with their family and friends!  This year was the first Easter that I had to work, so my family and I planned to spread out some of our Easter traditions throughout the week!

It also happened to be my older sister Sarah’s birthday this past week, and my younger sister Emily had Good Friday off, (she’s a 3rd grade teacher), so turned out to be a wonderful week with lots of time spent with my family!

Since I had so many ‘celebrations’ this week, I decided to share a weeks worth of ‘highlights’ on this Daily Dish post, as opposed to just a single day! So here you have it…The Daily Dish~ Easter Week!

Because I work the afternoon shift at work, my family and I were able to spend Easter morning together! We attended the early church service, which was awesome, because it was truly a celebration of our Savior Jesus~ (Hey thats what Easter is all about after all!)

I hope everyone had a blessed week! I personally had a very busy week (as usual), which at this time of my life it is my job that keeps me the busiest, which is SO rewarding.  So, I have to say that every bit of ‘hard work’ is worth it (especially when I keep my focus on working for the Lord!) :)

This week I worked a 12 hour shift and a few 8 hour shifts.  And let me tell you…I have to get pretty creative with my workouts and meal planning when I work a 12 hour shift!  However, I must say that it’s proof that you can still eat healthy/exercise no matter how busy/long your days are…It just takes a little extra planning!

So, how do I do it you may ask!?! Well…I always take a few minutes somwhere in the beginning of my week to plan my workouts and pack my meals for the week. I always take (at least) 2 rest days a week, so I try to plan my workouts on the days that I’m not working, and/or on the days that I only work 8 hour shifts. I also take about 30 minutes somewhere in the beginning of my week to pack my lunches and snacks for the week! (I discussed this in more detail in my Healthy Lunches To Go video post!)