Hello February, Goodbye Football

Wow! I cannot believe January is over already! It has been a crazy, but good month. 

Life has thrown me some stressful situations so far this year, but I haven't let them derail my journey to becoming happier and healthier. I started a new small group at church called Overwhelmed. I'm really excited about this group! I'm also leaving Thursday evening to go to a ladies conference for the weekend. I'm nervous because I always feel out of place around other people, but I know I have to stop isolating myself. 

My trainer at the gym is leaving :( So I will be working with a new trainer named Jacob. I'm sad, but also excited to experience something different. 

I'm still struggling with a few physical problems, mainly my feet and back. After about 2 months of therapy, pain meds, muscle relaxers, and a TENS unit, my lower back is still excruciating. I had an MRI yesterday and will get results on Wednesday. I'm really hoping they can find something to relieve my pain. 

Tomorrow my youngest son is heading to our Statehouse to page for one of our representatives. I am so excited and so proud of him!

We were heading out to our pastor's house for a Super Bowl party, but I'm just hurting too badly. So I'm at home on my heating pad. Enjoy your day and be safe! And we can mourn the end of football season. 

Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari

Transformation Tuesday - Meet Ashley

I have been a bad blogger the past 2 weeks! Life has kind of taken over and this was the last on the list of things to do! But I am going to try harder to post at least 2-3 times each week.

AND today is Transformation Tuesday!

Today I want you to meet Ashley!

Hello my name is Ashley from www.facebook.com/LetsGetFitWithAshleyBarnes
I am a mom of 4 yes 4 kids 8yrs,6yrs,3yrs,and the baby is a girl she is 9 months. I have gained lots of weight each time I had a baby around 80-87 pounds putting me close to 300 pounds each time. I lost the 80-87 pound 3 times and am working now on losing it the 4th and final time. I have literally done every diet under the sun. After my 3rd son I found something that worked so well for me I decided to write a book about it called "The 16 Hour Diet" don't let the title fool you it's not just about dieting and how I lost the weight. I am also a certified life and fitness coach it's my passion helping others. So I put all my best tips and strategies to weight loss in one book so I could help others. It's available on amazon and kindle. Weight loss doesn't have to be complicated and it can be done. One day, One meal, and One pound at a time.

I am working on reading Ashley's book right now and I will let you know all about it when I am finished! I love how she closes with "One day, One meal, and One pound at a time."  That is PERFECT! Getting healthy and losing weight can be overwhelming,but making one small change at a time makes the goal so much more attainable!

I also want to take this time to ask you all to pray for me.  I am still having some issues with both of my feet and I saw my specialist last week.  He says I may be looking at TWO  MORE surgeries this year to fix the problems.  I left with a cortisone shot and a steroid pack (which scares me) and I go back in a month.  So keep me in your prayers.  I also have a colonoscopy scheduled for next week due to some issues there and an MRI for my lower back! I sure wish those parts of my body wouldn't age and could keep up with the rest of me!!! 

If you would like a chance to tell your story, click here to fill out the form. I LOVE seeing all of the inspiration and we have to lift each other up! We are all in this together!

Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,
Kari

I'm an Aunt again and Thursday weigh-in results!

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you know I travelled to Evansville yesterday to welcome my nephew into the world. He was born at 12:28 pm weighing 8 lbs 2 ounces and 22 inches long. Mom and baby, Spencer Ray Wilson, are doing great.

It was so cute to watch my almost 4 year old nephew anxiously awaiting the birth of his little brother. 

He was such a good boy with all the waiting!  Spencer is just precious. Here are a few pics!

I was sad to leave to come home last night, but so thankful that everyone is healthy!

And now for weigh-in news! As most of you now, I had put back on some of my weight since my foot surgery and just lost my motivation. But I am back and ready to get back to my journey! And this week my results were:

I was very happy losing 6.2 pounds. I am moving past feeling guilty for backsliding and gaining so much back. It happens to us humans from time to time! Can't change the past, but I can move forward!

And I bought the new starter kit today! It included a cookbook:

2 portion control plates:

A bento lunch box:

Lots of coupons! All on sale for $24.95!!!!!

That is it for today!

Tomorrow I head to St. Louis for the Super Saturday Plexus event. I'm so excited!!!

Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari

Transformation Tuesday!

I am glad to get back to doing Transformation Tuesday posts! Happy Tuesday!!!!! I love this day in the social media world because of all of the transformations that are shared. It is so motivating and inspiring to read about other people who are changing their lives by eating healthy and moving more. And today, I want to share a story with you!

I'm 28 years old and single mom to 2 kids. A 9 year old girl and a 6 year old boy. They are very active kids and participate in lots of extra curricular activities. My daughter does cheer, hip hop dance and girl scouts. I am her girl scout leader. My son does wrestling twice a week and boy scouts. Also t-ball in the spring. As you can imagine we are very busy!! I make it my goal to not only be healthy myself but to show my kids that being healthy and active is normal, that working out is not unusual. It's a part of our everyday life. I want them to know that healthy eating, is our every day eating and junk food is treats. I decided to live a healtier lifestyle when my kids started getting older and I was on my own to figure all this out. I knew I had to depend on myself to get my act together. You might have a support system, but it's you...YOU have to be the one to want this. At first I made little changes, I drank more water, cut out fast food, moved a little more. After that I found an exercise I loved and progressed from there. My life has changed a lot. It is drastically better. Simply because I feel good about what I'm doing with myself. I know that I'm continuously working on improving myself. That to me is enough. Even when I've had an off day and scarfed down enough junk food for an army... I know I'll get back on track the next day so I'm still working on being a better me. My best advice is take baby steps. If you rush into this full speed ahead you'll burn out quick. Make little changes as you go but continue to make changes then before you know it enough will have changed that it'll be your lifestyle.

For more, check out her Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/fitbunnyforlife

If you would like a chance to tell your story, click here to fill out the form. I LOVE seeing all of the inspiration and we have to lift each other up! We are all in this together!

Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,
Kari

️Water, water, and more water!!!

This week's small change is to drink more water! The recommendation is to drink half of your body weight in ounces of water. So if you weigh 200 pounds, you should drink 100 ounces of water each day. Check out some of the benefits of drinking water:

Every person is different in how much water their body needs.  If you exercise, breastfeed, or live in a hot, humid environment you will need more water! You should drink enough water that you don't feel thirsty and your urine has very little color and smell (lovely right?)

How to get the water in?

• Space it out: aim to drink 8 oz every hour. Set a reminder on your phone or download an app to help you!
• Carry a cute water bottle with you everywhere, if you have it, you will drink it!
• And I plan on sending out little reminders this week, so DRINK UP!

So this week, make the change to drinking more water!

Tune in tomorrow for a Transformation Tuesday post!

Sending you love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing, 

Kari

This Could Change Your Year and Your Life

I don't usually post on Sunday, but I just could not wait until tomorrow to share this with you.  Before the close of 2014, I signed up for a 52 week challenge that was based on making one small change per week to become a happier and healthier person.  This is hosted by a "new to me" site I have been following called the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans.  Click here to go to their challenge page, and check out their site for some other awesome stuff while you are there.  This challenge is based off of the book "52 Small Changes: One Year to a Happier, Healthier You" written by Brett Blumenthal.

I downloaded mine onto my iPad from Amazon.  

I will be honest with you, I sign up for these challenges and very rarely finish them, but tonight I read the introduction and first two chapters of this book and I was blown away!  Once you read the beginning, each chapter is meant to be a small change for an entire week.  The challenge does not officially start until tomorrow so you have plenty of time to sign up.  I am going to try to share parts of this challenge, as well as my reflections here on the blog each week.  For tonight, I simply want to share a few quotes that really stood out to me tonight:

"The Secret to making change that lasts is to acknowledge and accept that change takes time and that patience during the process is essential."

"When we attempt to make major change in our lives, it is natural for us to want to go from all to nothing...or vice versa."

"Easing into change helps make it seem less overwhelming and more manageable."

"If we set out to make a big change but ignore each small step we take along the way, we never have a sense of accomplishment.  If we make small changes and acknowledge our success in mastering each one, however, we feel as though we are making progress.  This in turn inspires and motivates us to forge ahead with small change after small change, ultimately helping us to master the big change in the end."

"The idea is simple: make one small change per week for 52 weeks, and at the end of the year, you'll be happier and healthier."

"Don't let slip-ups make you feel as though you've failed. Life requires us to make sacrifices at times.  And when unhealthier moments occur, remember that tomorrow is a new day and those unhealthy moments are just moments.  Make them as temporary as possible and approach each day with new motivation and a new outlook." 

And finally:

"Make this a choice. Your quest for health and happiness is a choice.  Something inside you caused you to want it.  Erase phrases such as 'I have to,' 'I should,' and 'I'm supposed to' from your mind, and instead focus on 'I want to,'

I think every word the author wrote speaks directly to where I am in my journey.  I am not going to elaborate and reflect as I feel the quotes speak for themselves.

And just a heads-up, this weeks small change is WATER!  I will talk more about this tomorrow!

But if this sounds interesting, go check out the challenge and the book!

Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari

Saturday, working from the inside out

I woke up to a cold, rainy morning here in Indiana. I really didn't want to get up, but coffee was sounding pretty good. Walked the dog and froze, feeling congested, and just slightly grouchy.

Poured myself a nice hot, strong cup of coffee and snuggled on the couch with Cash (the dog) and my new Bible (extra large print and I LOVE it) for my quiet time. Before I even started reading, I already felt better. Just getting warm with the dog and coffee and knowing that God's words would warm up my slightly grouchy heart. 

Today's reading (I am doing the SheReads Truth study of the book of John) was John chapter 3. I have read through the Bibke several times and studied a lot, but today I really took something from my quiet time. 

In this chapter of John, we meet Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee, a member of the Jewish council. Do we know he was a smart, educated man. Nicodemus comes to Jesus, under the cover of night, gathering information on Jesus. Jesus tells him that he must be born again to see the kingdom of God and honestly Nicodemus just doesn't get it. 

So you can read the story for yourself, but here is what I took from if:

Nicodemus was a smart, intelligent man. He was on the ruling council of the religious leaders of the time. The Pharisees were religious people. They followed the religious law to a T! However those things were an outward showing, an outward appearance. What Jesus was trying to teach Nicodemus was an internal, heart approach. When you love Christ, it starts on the inside where no one can see and the outward behavior stem from that. 

Man I could go on and on, but here is how I relate this to my journey to become happier and healthier. I think sometimes for me (especially since I blog, tweet, post, and Instagram my entire journey) I get very wrapped up in my image, how I look on the outside to my readers. I worry do much about your perction of me, that I forget the real reason behind what I am trying to accomplish. Just like the Pharisees were more worried about doing everything right so others would see them following the law. It is time for me to step back and remember that true change starts on the inside. 

Okay, one more quick thing from my quiet time. Take at look at verse 30. Now John the Baptist is talking and being questioned about Jesus sort of usurping his role in baptizing others. I LOVE what he says in this verse. 

"He must become greater; I must become less."

This is going to become a mantra for me this year. This blog is not just about me getting more numbers, it is not for me to become popular, but I want it to be a place where I can share my journey while proclaiming the One who made my journey possible. 

I hope you all have an amazing Saturday. 

Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari