Make A Change Monday - Week 7

Happy Monday! I hope you all had an amazing Valentine's Day weekend. We went out to lunch at Applebee's and then rented movies and stayed in Saturday night. Town was CRAZY BUSY and snuggling at home was much better than fighting traffic and crowds. Here is a pic of me with my 3 loves:

Last night the snow started and it hasn't stopped! 

The boys were already off school today, and they have already cancelled for tomorrow. We have gotten about 8 inches so far and the kids are loving it, the puppy not so much! We did make it out to go to my chiropractor appointment. Not much progress to report on my back. I'm scheduled for injections on March 2 and I'm praying for some relief. Tomorrow I see my foot surgeon to see if I need to have an additional surgery on my foot. 

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.

This week's change is titled "Keep the Outside Out" and really focuses on creating a buffer space in your home for family and guests to take off their shoes and outerwear to keep the allergens from being dragged into your home. I try to have my kids and husband do this, but it doesn't always work. My oldest son and I both have allergies so I know this could help! You can go to the link above for more info about this change. 

One thing we do in our home is diffuse essential oils to help purify our air. I truly believe this makes a huge difference. Here are my top 3:

So here is a summary of our weekly changes so far:

Week 1 - Drink half of your body weight in ounces everyday.

Week 2 - Get 7-8 hours of GOOD sleep each night.

Week 3 - Implement regular and routine activity into your lifestyle.

Week 4 - Keep a food journal.

Week 5 - Develop an optimistic outlook.

Week 6 - Take a multi-vitamin.

Week 7 - Keep the outside out. 

By making one small change each week this year, we will be making huge steps towards becoming happier and healthier!

I am still on the search for more stories to share for Transformation Tuesday! 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

Transformation Tuesday

Happy Transformation Tuesday! I sadly have no new transformation stories to share with you today, but I'm quickly going to share a few thoughts. Most of our sharing on Transformation Tuesday comes from pictures showing the physical changes in our bodies while we are on our journey to be happier and healthier. 

Today, I want to talk about a different type of transformation. I have always loved this verse found in Romans 12:2. 

Here is how I sum it up:

The world if full of enticing, pretty, tempting ideas that persuades us to engage in those thoughts and that lifestyle. And I'm not saying there is nothing good in the world and we should isolate ourselves from anyone who has different beliefs, but we also don't have to conform just to feel like we belong. God wants to transform us into a new person by changing the way we think. Helping us to realize that just because the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition shows a beautiful model, that is a worldly perception of beauty. We don't have to fall into the trap that we need to do drugs or get drunk every night just to have fun. God wants to change our minds away from the standards the world has put in place and make us see the standards He wishes for us live by; being loving, giving, compassionate, self-controlled. 

So let's not only celebrate our physical transformations on Tuesdays, but remember that it is okay to not do what everyone else is doing. Let God do a transformation in you by renewing your mind everyday on things that are good and pleasing to Him. 

I am still on the search for more stories to share for Transformation Tuesday! 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

Make a Change Monday - Week 6

Happy Monday!  What a crazy, busy, wonderful weekend I had.  I left Thursday evening to go to the Transformed women's retreat with 24 ladies from my church.  What an amazing time we had!  There is no way to sum up everything from the weekend here, but I promise there will be bits and pieces shared throughout the rest of this year from what I learned.  We got back Saturday evening.  Sunday morning was church and then off for a 2 hour drive to Evansville to celebrate my nephew's fourth birthday.  We got home late last night and today has been spent playing catch up after leaving hubby and the boys home alone all weekend!  If you follow me on Facebook you know that I am benched from the gym or exercise due to a back injury for the next two weeks.  I am really trying to not let that get the best of me!

Now off to our small change for the week!

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.

This week's small change will be SUPER easy for me.  The change for week 6 us ti take a multi-vitamin everyday.  While it would be great to think that eating healthier, we would get all of  our nutrients in our food, but unfortunately that is difficult to do in today's world eating.  The book recommends taking a multi-vitamin that does not exceed the upper limit (UL) of the daily-recommended intakes (DRI) of vitamins and minerals.  The author states that too much of certain nutrients can be detrimental.  There are so many different products on the market, so take time studying to find the right multi-vitamin for you.  Here is the one I take (and this is right for ME, but find what works for YOU):

Now if you already take a multi-vitamin everyday, the extra credit for the week is to start taking a probiotic everyday to help aid in digestion and help with the healthy bacteria in our intestines.  Here is the probiotic I take (and again this is right for ME, but find what works for YOU):

So here is a summary of our weekly changes so far:

Week 1 - Drink half of your body weight in ounces everyday.

Week 2 - Get 7-8 hours of GOOD sleep each night.

Week 3 - Implement regular and routine activity into your lifestyle.

Week 4 - Keep a food journal.

Week 5 - Develop an optimistic outlook.

Week 6 - Take a multi-vitamin.

By making one small change each week this year, we will be making huge steps towards becoming happier and healthier!

I am still on the search for more stories to share for Transformation Tuesday! 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