That nasty "D" word!

Yes, the "D" word.. DIET!!!

A diet doesn't have to be just another bad 4 letter word. It's actually a good word. It's a word that describes how you eat. You can have a good diet or a bad diet. Everyone has one or the other.. I slowly decided to change my bad diet into a good diet. These changes allowed me to recently loose over 25 lbs!

I'm going to go over just a few simple things I did to change my diet so maybe you can get a few ideas on simple things y'all can do to change the way you see and feel about food.

1. I started out doing the Atkins way.. I count carbs on everything! You'd be really amazed at the amount of GOOD food you can eat on Atkins. I have to admit it's challenging at first, but after you get the hang of it, it's actually fun to find new recipes to try and test with your friends. :) I don't stick to it quite as strictly as i probably could though..

If something is high on carbs and that's all that's available (like pizza) now I'll eat 2 pieces instead of 3. I eat a 1/4 plate of spaghetti noodles instead of 1/2 plate (buying the wheat kind as usual). It's not something I eat everyday. It's way high in carbs! My spaghetti sauce I buy has the lowest carb count possible ALWAYS! This is dependent on which store I shop at. It's not always the same.

2. I try to never shop hungry!!!

3. I watch my portion sizes on EVERYTHING except water.. I just drink as much as I can. I carry water with me everywhere I go! We often mistake thinking we're hungry and it's really thirst. Not only that, but if we're not drinking enough, our bodies are living in a survival mode and wanting to hold on to all of water it can hold to sustain us cause it thinks that water is scarce... This causes us to hold a lot of excess water weight. I was shocked how much water weight I lost by just drinking more water. It seems like the opposite would be the case doesn't it? lol

4. I eat "no sugar added" sweets. I eat omelets almost every morning. I never ate them EVER before starting to diet. I can have so many good foods that I am really missing NOTHING! The sugar free alternative are really good!!!

5. Stop eating when you're FULL and not STUFFED, If you do this you'll fell so much more satisfied. I am convinced that overeating leads to a stretching out stomach and it actually takes more to fill it. I've never been told that, but that's my own personal theory. Now I eat less and I'm fuller longer.

6. Have plenty of low carb/sugar free snack foods on hand. You don't want to feel like you're punishing yourself by being on a "diet." Also if you don't prepare, you can get off  track and have to grab something that is probably not the best choice.

7. Find a buddy! It is a great help to have someone that wants to loose a few pounds a long with you! I didn't have anyone start when I did, but I had two close friends that had committed to doing Atkins and they paved the path for me to start. Seeing how great they looked inspired me to start.

I really hope these tips will help you and make you feel encouraged on your weight loss journey. That's what it is.. It's a one day at a time plan. It's a decision that you make that will change the way you think about food. I know I see it differently. YOU are the one that has to make the decision. No one can make it for you! I finally reached my 25 lb weight loss goal, and I've actually passed that without trying. lol I feel better than ever!

I went for a long walk with the children down a small portion of the Natchez Trail in Mississippi today and didn't get wore out! What a great feeling! :) I'll have to dig up a "before" picture and take and "after" picture soon and add her for y'all to see. Last time I checked, I had lost over 25 lbs, 7 1/2 inches, and 2-3 pant sizes. Some size 8 are to big for me now! You know how long it's been since I've seen size 8??? 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I wish you all success on any journey you find yourself on. God bless!











Right: This is Before and After I lost 30 lbs! You can't really tell in my arms because of the shirt, but you can tell in my face, neck, and thighs!

Rain, Rain, and more Rain!

I can honestly say that it has rained the whole time we’ve been here! I can’t complain to much because back home, it seemed like we were in a constant drought. By being on the West side of home, maybe this rain is finding it’s way to our home to water the grass for the cows? LOL J

I was really hoping to be able to get out and about this weekend, ride around, exploring, and taking pictures… Can you believe we haven’t even seen the Mississippi River since being over here? We moved our RV yet AGAIN. Not to another RV park, rather to a spot that doesn’t have an entrance that sits in water with all of this rain. All of the water made it impossible to clean up with 5 of us and a dog! Hubby also ended up having to work all weekend. They wanted all of the guys that started last Monday badged and ready for the outage on Monday, so they had to work on testing, classes, and getting their badges on yesterday and today. I’m kind of glad because we need the money! With regular bills, all the traveling expenses, and hubby’s last pay check from his last job being mailed to our home with no access to it, the checking account is rather slim.. That’s the down side of traveling.

Hubby said his schedule is suppose to be Monday-Saturday from 5-5:30. So that’s 72 hours a week! Yikes! We’re still waiting to find out if that’s am or pm. I’m praying so hard that he will end up working days. Lord, please let it be days!!! We are so out of wack when he works nights. School schedules, sleeping schedules, keeping the children quiet in a 28’ RV and everything else is out of place when he goes on nights.

The ONLY good thing about him going on nights is going to the creek out back all day while hubby sleeps. LoL Am I bad or what? I’m really looking forward to going back there when it warms up some. There’s a sand bar for us to use and everything! I can either take their school work to do while we’re back there or just wait until hubby goes in to work and do it with them then. I’d still rather him work days though. The creek is no substitute to having school done at a decent hour and having my hubby sleeping beside me at night. Oh how I  have missed having him by me each night. I didn’t realize how much till this past week of having him by my side. J

Well I really don’t have much to talk about aside from hubby’s work.. Just working on school work, cleaning, and waiting on cell phone service and wifi. They finally have the wifi up and running, but I need to get the access code from them to log online. We’re still waiting on the cell phone boosters to be installed. It’s all a work in progress. J

I’m about to head out now to go find the Mississippi River. After being stuck in the RV all day yesterday with the rain, I HAD to get out today! Hopefully I’ll have pictures and internet SOON! ♥

Settling down in Mississippi

<<< She's even bigger than what this picture shows!

This morning I found a quicker way to McDonalds free wifi and Walmart! It's only about a 30 minute drive instead of an hour! Woohoo! Hopefully they'll get the internet and cell phone boosters up and running at the RV park we're staying at SOON! I miss everyone!!!

It's so nice over here, but VERY wet! I think it's rained about every day since we've been here and more is on the way.. I hope all of this rain made it back home. Our grass needed it! lol I think hubby'll be off from classes on Saturday and we can go do some exploring.. We have the Natchez Parkway and trails running down the back yard.. It's pretty cool! If you're unfamiliar, y'all will have to google it to find out what I'm talking about.

On another note, we have one spoiled dog! She thinks she's human. Even now, she's balled up in one of the Yukon seats trying to go to sleep. RUINED!!! lol The children have some other home schooled children in the park to play with and a creek to romp and tromp through..

I love traveling!!! :) Hopefully I can get some pictures taken this weekend.. If it'll ever stop raining! lol

On the road again!

Well folks it looks like we're leaving town again. We're getting the farm taken care of and getting everything packed up to head out.

It looks like our trip this time will take us close to Jackson MS. :) If anyone is interested in hearing about our adventures while on the road, follow me on this blog. PLEASE do it public so I know you're around! :)

I plan on updating y'all on what's going on with the Reed clan.. I REALLY need to get some internet service for a case such as this! I can't go without internet service!!!

I wish I had this blog back when we spent a year and a half close to Dothan, AL.. We did quite a bit over there! Maybe I'll post some blogs about that time in our lives.. God bless y'all!

Where's your armor at? Right here!

         Where's your armor?

To the left you will see a picture describing each of the pieces that are in our armor as Christians.

If you've read or heard anything about the bible, I'm sure you have heard about the "Armor of God." Have you ever really looked past what was obvious in each piece and looked to what is actually missing?

What was missing, you ask?

Lets look for a second.. We have something for our head. Something to protect our chest, legs, feet.. Even something to hold in our hand which I feel is the most important one. It is the "Sword of the Spirit," the Word of God. What's missing?

Armor/protection for our backs! Have you ever thought about that before? Think of that for a second and see what you can come up with.

I thought I'd share a few reasons that was brought up in a discussion with some friends to find out what some reasons may be. It was a very cool discussion. Here are a few that were brought up..

1. We are always with someone that has our back, like allies (Body of Christ) When the soldiers fought, they'd fight in pairs or numbers. Even fighting to with their backs to one another so that they were both protected.

2. We are on the offense against the devil, so we are always facing him head on.

3. The armor was for things we could see coming at us, so we have those to use, but the things we couldn't see (meaning behind us) were the things we couldn't see that the Lord was taking care of without us knowing about it.

It was brought up about David and Bathsheba, and how he got off track with his walk with the Lord and got wounded in the back...

It was concluded that ultimately Jesus has our backs and that the only time the enemy can attack us from the back is when we turn off path, thus revealing our vulnerable spot to him.

The word of God tells us not to turn to the left or to the right. To press onward to the mark of the high calling of God. He also tells us to stand firm! Stand still and know that He is God! I find great comfort in knowing that no matter what the reason is, we have the Lord on our sides and He has the final say. I just need to abide with Him and never let go!

I would love to hear other ideas on why you would think we do not have armor on our backs.  PLEASE feel free to post here.. Thanks for reading... ♥

For fun (because of my title to this blog), I thought I'd post this video.. This is one of my daughter's favorite songs!

Current Superpoint Invites Only!

                Current Superpoint Invites!!!

Have you joined Superpoints yet? What are you waiting on? It is a super super easy way to win gift cards and cash online!
 
I have been doing Superpoints a very short time, but have already cashed in $10 in PayPal CASH just this week! Very cool!

I will be adding a blog soon about the different ways to make superpoints, but I wanted to give you a chance to sign up and start pushing the button and watch a few videos to be on your way to earning cash! You will get 30 spins once you sign up and verify your e-mail and you can start spinning today! It's that easy!

I will be updating this blog from time to time to update my own personal invites, but feel free to scan through others that may choose to post theirs as well.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! I'm always willing to help out if I'm able! :)

My personal SuperPoints invite link!