Kara

Identity Crisis…

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One of the things I always try to be when possible is transparent.

If you’ve followed this blog for long you may remember my series on #losingthemasks and how I long to create a place where we can all be exactly who we are without any guilt or pressure to conform to a certain set of behaviors or constraints.

So tonight, let me remove the mask and be transparent with you…

I’m having a bit of an identity crisis as a blogger.

I launched Wellness Witness and the Wellness Witness Facebook page as a place to talk about wellness and how to honor God through our pursuit of physical, mental, spiritual and emotional health. But truthfully, I’m having a hard time with that.

Yes, wellness is my passion. Yes, I feel called to share with others about what has worked for me and I definitely feel called to encourage others own towards their own health goals.

But I have many other things going on in life that are just as important in the witness that I have each day. I’m a Mama, and a wife. A school counselor and I help lead worship. I love talking about all sorts of things, not just health and fitness,  and by trying to keep this site specifically geared towards those two topics, I’m struggling a bit to always have something that I feel I need to share with you. I feel like I’m not always being true to who I am because I’m only showing you this one side of things.

In case you’re still reading by this point, here’s the bottom line:

 I’m re-branding.

 Starting now.

Every blog how-to guide says to pick your concept (topic) and then to focus all posts on that. Well, here’s mine:

REAL LIFE from someone who is just trying to do the best that she can with what she’s been given and wants to cheer you on to do the same. 

There are many blogs that I love reading that just share glimpses of real life: BooMama, PB Fingers, and SkinnyMeg to name a few. 

So be prepared that there may be other types of posts here. Day to day activities, helpful ideas, family pictures…who knows.

And I may lose some of you because of it. I’ll be sad to see you go, but I have got to honor the person that God made me to be.

I’m grateful for you, friends, and look forward to seeing how this little space of mine may grow and change.

Love you and hope that you’ll stick around!

59 hours…

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This morning after dropping off my kids at school, I turned the radio station to listen to my favorite morning talk show. They were discussing dieting and shared a recent statistic: The average person who starts a diet will last for an AVERAGE OF 59 HOURS.

That means if you start off on Monday morning with the intention of “BEING ON A DIET”, by Wednesday supper, most of you will have quit.

59 hours.

At first I was surprised, then I stopped and thought about it and remembered all the times I had tried to DIET. I used to constantly start a DIET on Monday morning and have fallen way off the wagon by mid-week. This in turn led to me splurging on way more junk that I would have normally until the next Monday when the cycle would start again.

Friends, I can’t TELL you how many times this happened to me.

Until eventually, I realized that a DIET was not the answer.

I started making small changes- changes that were sustainable over the course of a lifetime. Things like dropping my sweet tea and adding water, swapping out bad carbs like  pastas and rice and adding in good carbs from fruits and veggies, and making sure that I was doing LESS cardio and MORE weight lifting.

The bottom line was that I made a choice to change my LIFESTYLE to something that I could sustain. I decided to focus on the GOOD things that I COULD have, and stop thinking about the ones that I CHOSE not to have.

And it’s not always easy. Some days I don’t feel like it. Some days I still make the wrong choices. But since it’s not a diet, I get RIGHT BACK ON TRACK with the very next time I eat instead of binging and eating everything in sight until the next MONDAY DIET begins. 

Maybe that’s where you are right now. Maybe you’re desperately trying to lose weight but you’re tired, you’re frustrated and you are DONE with starting over every Monday.

I invite you to start a new journey.

Stop thinking about your pursuit of the perfect body, of a smaller pant size or of rock hard abs.

Start determining to HONOR THE BODY you have and to HONOR GOD through the way that you are going to steward your health. 

You CAN do it, but it will be: through His strength and in His time.

Commit today to ONE healthy change that you know is needed and then pursue it. Get good at it. Maintain it for several weeks. Once it has become easier, and you are consistently doing it, then add in your next habit.

ONE STEP AT A TIME.

Not sure where to start? You know what I’m going to suggest, right?

WATER.

I know, I KNOW! You don’t like the way it tastes.

It gets easier. Eventually you will not only like it, you’ll crave it. I once was where you are. I can speak with certainty because I’ve been walked this road, too.

I’ll try to post again by Monday and give you some good ideas for getting in more water.

For now, give yourself some grace. Start preparing yourself mentally that you are QUITTING DIETS forever and that you’re ready to do this thing in a way that can be maintained.

Praying for you and cheering you on!

It Works (for me) Wednesday Week #2

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Today’s “It Works (for me) Wednesday item: KIND bars!

Not all KIND bars are super fat-loss friendly, but these DO meet my criteria for packaged food and they are delicious!

If you remember from yesterday’s post, I use the Metabolic Effect for determining the overall effect of the product on fat loss by taking the TOTAL CARBS minus the FIBER minus the PROTEIN. For these KIND Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt bars, the hormonal carb number would be a 3, which makes them a great snack for me.

Other ideas submitted this week were:

Danielle submitted this as a snack that she enjoys (I’ve never tried them, but she says they are delicious and she says they are high in protein)

Hannah submitted this picture of her favorite protein powder and said: “Mixed
with Almond milk! Saves me when I don’t have a lunch planned out, 25
grams Protein, no sugar, and no aspartame (which my body doesn’t
tolerate). Tastes delicious and is a life saver!” I’ve heard great things about Jay Robb protein powder. 

Another reader, Erin, said that her favorite go-to snack is Peanut Butter Chocolate chip Larabars as well as Chocolate and Vanilla hemp protein powder from Trader Joes. 

Kristi shared her favorite snack: single serve guacamole and single serve hummus. 

THANK YOU so much to all who shared and participated with us over at the Wellness Witness facebook page.

I love learning from you and getting new ideas and insight. Happy Wednesday!

** On-the-go Protein Bites REVISITED! **

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One of my most popular posts to date is this one.

This recipe is a standard in our home and we prepare a big batch of these protein bites every week. However, because of all I’ve learned through Metabolic Effect about the impact of our foods on our metabolism, I’m constantly tweaking recipes and trying to make them more “fat-loss friendly”.

(Please note: fat loss friendly does NOT mean low-calorie, but that fat-loss friendly foods send a message to our bodies and hormones to begin burning fat instead of storing it. This is opposite of most everything you’ve ever learned about dieting and reducing calories. Want to know more? Go to my recommendations page and look at the Metabolic Effect book I post links to. Two words= life changing).

Foods that are high in sugar (whether in natural form like honey or maple syrup or high in processed white sugar) are not good for fat burning/fat loss. To determine the effect a food will have on your metabolism, Metabolic Effect uses a simple formula. I’ve posted this before, but in case you missed it, here it is:

Total Carbohydrates minus Fiber minus protein. (We call this the hormonal carb number).

The number left needs to be under 5 (10 at the most), but negative numbers are best.

When prepared the way my original recipe suggests, the hormonal carb number is high (I’m not sure exactly how high).

Last night, I used the original recipe but made some tweaks and then calculated the hormonal carb per bite.

First, here’s how I prepared them last night:
1 and 3/4 cup dry oats (I used old fashioned rolled oats)
1/2 cup coconut flakes (UNSWEETENED- this part is important).
1 cup natural peanut butter (our favorite is Smuckers Natural Chunky)
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/3 cup honey
1 full scoop chocolate protein powder
1 TB Cocoa powder (unsweetened kind)
1 tsp Cinnamon

Mix it all together. Some people recommend that you let this chill in the fridge before you attempt to make your balls of dough. We don’t do this step and they work fine, but if you have trouble, you may want to chill them first.

With these new ingredient amounts, I calculated the hormonal carb numbers for you.

For the entire batch there were 265.14g carbs, 52.32g fiber, and 112.16g protein. I was able to make 32 balls, so I divided these numbers by 32. TOTAL HORMONAL CARB with new recipe= 3.155  per bite (depending on the size of the bite you’re eating).

SCORE!!!

I am guessing that before these tweaks each bite was around a 10.

My only word of warning: even though the hormonal carb number is now lower, DO NOT EAT MORE THAN 1 or 2 AT A TIME!!!

There are many foods that I can’t keep in my house because I can’t resist them or to just eat a small portion (hello, Snickers bars!). If you know that you can’t resist eating the whole bowl of these, DON’T MAKE THEM!!

But if you can, these are a great option. I pack them in my kids lunches, eat one before my workout each morning and sometimes have one after supper. For me, they have been a great option and they are a small indulgence that keeps me on track the rest of the time.

Hope y’all enjoy!!

~*8 tips for Getting Lean for Summer*~

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I subscribe to a lot of fitness/health related newsletters and email lists. One of my favorites is Jill Jacobs. Jill is the founder of this company, is certified in Metabolic Effect Nutrition principles (my favorite!) and she gives away amazing free content! She also has an online coaching club that I’m sure is wonderful. She has a facebook page also that gives great motivation and tips daily.

I got an email from her last week that was full of really good information. I emailed and asked her for permission to share it with each of you and she graciously agreed. These tips are GOOD and they are ones that I follow in my daily life (other than the sleep one- I don’t quite have that one mastered yet!)

I hope that it helps you be reminded of some important habits that will help you on your health journey and serves as motivation to keep going. Be sure to stop by her website and facebook page and get signed up for her mailing list. You’ll be inspired and motivated!

(You can find her original post here)

~EIGHT Tips for Getting LEAN for Summer~

1. Make protein a priority at every meal.
 This will help keep your hunger, energy, and cravings in check.
Protein also helps to build muscle and has a fat burning effect.

2. Sneak in your veggies wherever you can.
 I like to put spinach in my smoothies (you can’t taste it, I
promise!), eat salads, roast veggies, steam them, eat them in my
scrambled eggs and omelets, and of
course eat them raw.

3. Get your carbs from fruits, veggies, and complex carbs.
 Fruits and veggies are always great! Also, eating oats, brown rice,
and sweet potatoes will help you reach your goals unlike breads, pastas,
and sweets.

4. Drink your water!
 I shoot for a gallon a day, but even making 2
liters your goal will help you with fat loss. Many times, the brain
confuses dehydration with hunger and will send the wrong signal to the
body. Drinking water will therefore decrease hunger. Water helps to
naturally detoxify your body, and it helps flush retained water from
your system. It’s good stuff!

5. Be proactive by planning ahead.
 It’s a good idea to sit down each week and plan your menu.
This is a great tool to keep you on track. If you fail to plan, you plan
to fail! Along the same lines, prep food for the week so that you
always have a healthy choice ready. Making eating for fat loss the EASY
choice is KEY.

6. Sleep like it’s your job.
 Sleeping 8 or more hours each night has been shown to reset your
hormones. This is great for fat loss as sleep lowers fat storing
hormones and
raises fat burning hormones. It helps you detox, it helps you recover
from your workouts and build muscle, it enhances your mood, it gives you
energy, and it slows the aging process. Are you convinced to try to get
in your 8 hours of sleep yet??

7. Find ways to de-stress.
Sleep is the #1 way to de-stress, but other ways are to relax by taking
leisure walks, doing restorative yoga, taking a bubble bath,
getting a pedicure, and reading. De-stressing lowers cortisol which aids
fat loss.

8. MOST IMPORTANT: Get your mind right!
 Try not to think of fat loss as an all or nothing venture. There are
ebbs and flows with it like anything else, AND it takes practice. You
must be willing to stick with any plan longer than a few days or a
couple of weeks before deciding it doesn’t “work.” Create good habits,
be
consistent with them, and be patient. This is the formula for success.
With this mindset of controlling only what you can (which is your own
behavior and choices), you’re able to let go of the uncontrollable (the
outcome). Once you control your own choices and practice making good
ones, results will soon follow.

New Series: “Works (for me) Wednesdays”

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I’ve started a new weekly series over on the Wellness Witness Facebook page.  Basically each Wednesday morning I will post a product/food/exercise/etc that has helped me on my health and fitness journey. I also ask readers to post their favorite health/fitness items.

Today was the first day and I shared a picture of my favorite water bottle:

I got this bottle for less than $5.00 at the local Wal-Mart. It’s BPA free and hold 2.2 Liters. It helps me meet my daily water needs and keeps me from having to run to the office to get fresh water every 30 minutes like I do when I use smaller bottles. Water is a CRITICAL piece in overall body functioning and in my energy and hunger levels.

So then I asked others to post. Here are the ones that were shared today:

Kristina from www.facebook.com/mamaloves2run shared her food processor for the “What Works for Me Wednesday” series. She said she uses it to make Cauli rice. Brilliant!

Kim from https://www.facebook.com/FitFamilyFaith shared one of her favorite items:
“Here’s
an item I use a lot…I have one jar for the kitchen for cooking and
one jar in the bathroom to use to remove make-up, moisturize, and in my
bath!” Thanks for sharing, Kim!!

This is from Jamie www.facebook.com/healthyliving8
. She said ” I love my SPIbelt. It’s like a fanny pack
for runners, but better looking. I put my phone in it. During long
races, I put little snacks in it. It’s stretchy, so you can fit a lot
more than you’d think.” LOVE this idea, Jamie! Thanks for sharing!

Trina from https://www.facebook.com/RunCrazyFitForLife
shared this item: Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar. She said “I drink 1T
Bragg ACV daily (add it in warm water with fresh ginger & cinnamon –
one of many options) Many energizing, cleansing & healing
benefits!!” Awesome, Trina!!! Thanks for sharing!

Carrie shared
a veggie spiralizer! She said “What works for me Weds is this Brieftons
veggie spiralizer. I learned of it from Emily Saunders (www.momsanitysisterhood.com) . I seriously use
it 3 to 4 times a week to make zucchini noodles. Bought off Amazon.” So
cool! Thanks for posting!!

Rachelle posted on Instagram with one of her tips: She plans ahead and makes sure to take work-out clothes to her job. That way, if meetings run late, she has no excuse and can still get in a work-out. You can read more from Rachelle on her amazing blog www.forblognesssake.com .

I LOVED hearing new ideas from friends and learning more about what all is out there. Be thinking ahead and plan to join us next week for “Works (for me) Wednesday”.