Tag Archives: Religion and Spirituality

June 12, 2013

Almost a Year, Huh?

By Angie Bullock

So… yeah. Hi there. It’s certainly been awhile, huh?  

How have you been?

I’m doing well, but I am definitely to the point of being overwhelmed thinking about what to write, because it’s been so long. The longer it got, the more overwhelming it became, and so on and so on…

Anyway, since I don’t want this post to take you the year I’ve been gone to read, I’ll try to do a fairly quick recap/update.

I’m hanging in there weight-wise, about 20 lbs above my lowest weight on SlimGenics, and about 12 lbs about where I was when we moved to Austin two years ago, where I was pretty comfortable. Actually, I’m pretty close to comfortable now, just not quite.

That being said, this spring I started a walking routine, walking about 3 miles a day 4-5 days a week. It’s certainly helped and I’ve been enjoying it, especially since I live in such a gorgeous area with immediate access to extremely extensive wooded walking trails, parks & lakes. It really doesn’t get much better than that and kicks the tar out of getting on exercise equipment and staring at the TV!

The only other weight/diet-related thing I want to touch on is loose/excess skin. Boy, does it suck! I have had it ever since losing all the weight with SlimGenics, and it’s especially pronounced on my abdomen because of having a C-Section. Now, don’t get me wrong, if I had to choose between the fat and the skin, I’ll take the skin EVERY TIME! But, that doesn’t mean I’m a whole lot happier with my body now than when I was really heavy, it’s just a different kind of unhappiness.

Has anyone heard of the It Works! wraps? I’ve been hearing a lot about them lately and I have to admit I’m fairly curious. Generally speaking, I’m not a big believer of things like this and “miracle” fixes for anything, but there are a lot of positive reviews online about these. Of course, there’s a lot of reviews going the other way, as well.

I figure it’s probably worth $20 to give one a try, right? I mean, that’s less than a typical dinner out to eat! Just curious if anyone else has any personal experience with them or knows someone who does.

Other updates over the past year? Let’s see.. I can’t believe my baby boy is going to be starting Kindergarten already this fall, we’re putting down roots here in Austin and are here to stay, as we’re in the final stages of building a house here (so excited!), we’ve truly found home at Northpoint Church and we’re basically just blessed beyond anything we could ever imagine!

Speaking of being blessed, I also have had it on my heart over the last 6 months or so to start using this blog for more than just weight loss topics, since I just don’t really have a lot to say in that area anymore. After all, when I started it, it was never meant to be solely for weight loss, that just happened to be my major focus at the time and it just took over. But living intentionally should be the focus of my life in general, not just when it comes to eating and dieting. I especially believe it’s important when it comes to my marriage, parenting and my walk with Christ. So, I plan to (at least try) to start blogging more about other things, too.

That’s not to say I’m going to abandon weight loss issues, as it’s not like I’m magically going to become one of those people who never needs to worry about what I eat ever again and have a perfect body! Ha!

I hope everyone is having a great week and enjoying summer! I certainly am loving the warm weather and beautiful green that comes with this time of year!

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Dieting, Exercise, Slimgenics, Weight Loss

August 6, 2012

Sad and Powerless

By Angie Bullock

Well, the fact that I haven’t posted a blog post in a really long time has got to clue everyone in at how maintaining my weight loss is going. :-(

It’s truly alarming to me the rate at which I can gain back weight when not paying attention at all. Clothes now don’t fit. Confidence is gone. I give it to God; but I keep taking it back. It is not well with my soul.

How many times have I written that I believe the key for my personal success in this journey is moving? God knows I will give him the diet, but He wants me to stop sitting around and get in shape. I feel like since I haven’t truly been willing to do that yet, I haven’t been able to maintain success with food either.

So, today I started using a new website (Lose It!) and mobile app to track my food. Honestly, it’s not so much about how many calories I eat, exactly, but about being aware of what I’m putting in my mouth. I so have a tendency to take it to either extreme – dieting like a mad woman and losing weight like a fiend, or simply not caring and eating whatever I want in any quantity I want (read: fully succumbing to gluttony).

I am starting slow. I am not diving in to any grand diet plan. I’m taking this first week to just be aware of what I put in my mouth and track it (which, by nature, makes me eat better). I’ve alrady been putting my Zumba DVDs to better use and have been having some friends over for “class” twice a week (which is actually fun!!). I’ve been using the community pool and swimming more and yesterday morning I started exploring some of the beautiful neighborhood trails in our new neighborhood (oh, and did I mention that we started eating out constantly because we were packing/moving/unpacking and just never stopped?). But none of that is doing me any good when it’s not consistent and I’m eating fast food regularly.

But this time, probably the most important component for me, is that I’m not doing this alone this time. I have friends who are sharing this struggle and we’re going to do it together. I bought Lysa TerKeurst’s Made to Crave Ministry Kit awhile back and today I finally opened it. It’s a 12-week DVD study that really unpacks the things, and goes even further, than the book I’ve already read and talked about, Made to Crave.

Included is the Made to Crave Devotional, which I have not yet read. The very intro itself is what prompted this blog post and really all I wanted to share right now, but of course that would have been cryptic on its own. ;-)

I also know what it’s like to feel sad and powerless in this battle to get healthy.

I want to lead Jesus girls on a journey that will help them find a stick-to-itiveness and a lasting want-to that taps into something much more powerful than the surface desires of wanting to weigh less and wear a smaller size. We need to tap into this power because the battle we face isn’t just with sugary, fatty or salty foods. There is a spiritual battle going on. It’s real. And it’s amazing how perfectly the Bible gives us specific ways to find victory with our food struggles.

Even for girls like us who don’t crave carrot sticks.

Can I get an Amen? Can I also get some prayer for this journey? I really want to see it through to the end, for once in my life, and I can’t do it alone.

5 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Dieting, Exercise, Gluttony, Prayer, Weight Loss

April 28, 2012

Needing Some Encouragement…

By Angie Bullock

Well, I’m in the middle of Week 3 of The Metabolism Miracle, and I’m actually feeling very pessimistic. I’ve had a persistent thought running through my mind this week that I’ve really been trying to fight, because I know it’s the evil one putting it there: “I’ll always be fat”.

I feel like no matter what I do, no matter what diet I attempt, I am just stuck right where I am and my body isn’t going to budge. :-(

I did have a moment earlier this week where I felt thinner; my clothes were fitting a bit better and I thought I might be making progress. Unfortunately, that moment is gone and I no longer feel that way…

I am almost done with 3 full weeks. I’ve lost nothing since the end of Week 1. Now, I know I’m not supposed to be getting on the scale, but I just can’t resist. How else am I supposed to gauge how I’m doing, if I’m making any mistakes, if the food choices I’m making are working?

Summer is coming. Well, here in Texas, it’s pretty much already here, with temps holding steady in the 80s and even 90s everyday. I’m still not comfortable enough to wear shorts and I’m still not comfortable enough to wear sleeves that are shorter than down to my elbows.

I’m eating according to plan, I’m more active and I’m exercising.

Will I ever be comfortable in my own body again? Even after hitting my goal weight with Slimgenics, I still wasn’t comfortable enough to do those two things, so I’m really starting to question if it’s even possible for me to ever feel “in shape” again…

Part of me feels like I need to just accept that this is the weight I’m going to be and try to enjoy life anyway. Buy some clothes that comfortably fit me at this weight and move on. Then I think, NO!! That’s not good enough. Other people have succeeded, I can too! Or… can I?

I’m sure my internal struggle is plain for all to see. If I feel like I need to keep pressing on, then I know I won’t be content until I get there. This keeps me from enjoying life on a daily basis. That’s not good. God did not design me to feel this way and I know it.

But on the other hand, I feel like if I accept being content where I am now, I’ll certainly never get where I want to be, because I’m struggling to do it while fighting for it!

I know there’s a biblical answer somewhere… I just haven’t found it yet. I will continue to be in prayer and continue to give this over to God, because that’s all I can do…

5 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Dieting, Exercise, Metabolism Miracle, Prayer, Slimgenics, Weight Loss

April 16, 2012

Ready, Aim, FIRE!

By Angie Bullock

Today, I want to talk about and take aim at one of my absolutely favorite things: SUGAR.

Anyway you choose to say it, I love sugar. I heart sugar. Sugar makes me smile. Sugar lifts my spirit. Sugar tastes good.

But, I’ve been noticing a “war on sugar” brewing lately and I’ve started hearing more and more about just how bad this stuff is for you. And just how much I love it actually seems to back up exactly what I’ve been hearing about it, unfortunately. :-(

I mean, I understand completely how it can make you fat if eaten in excess – I mean, duh, right? But what I’m talking about is more than that. This is stuff about sugar actually being toxic, addicting in a manner similar to drugs and contributing to many diseases.

The weekend before I decided to research, and then purchase, The Metabolism Miracle, I saw a commercial for that weekend’s upcoming 60 Minutes episode and how they were going to talk about sugar. Something stirred and I immediately told the DVR to record it.

It sat on the recording for a good week before I actually watched it, but this weekend, I finally did. Not only did it back up everything I read about sugar in The Metabolism Miracle, it took it even further.

Instead of trying (and probably failing!) to explain the information from the program, I figured I would just share it with you. The video is the entire clip about sugar that ran on 60 Minutes and is about 14 minutes long. If you’re interested in being healthier (and I fully believe we should all be intentional and conscious about how we’re taking care of our bodies that are temples for the Holy Spirit), I suggest taking a short 15 minutes out of your day to watch this. Even if everything isn’t completely true or you don’t agree with everything presented (I actually don’t), we still all know that sugar isn’t GOOD for you and it’s not going to make you healthier or skinnier if you eat it. ;-)

Now, whether or not you believe sugar is nearly as bad for you as these sources (and they’re far from the only two sources that claim massive health issues arising from sugar), and whether you believe I am anywhere near qualified to personally vouch for any of these things, one thing that I do personally know to be true: when I’m not eating sugar, food tastes better.

Another blog that I follow recently said something like this, and I completely agree: “it’s easy to miss the natural sweetness of a strawberry when you’re eating Oreos“.

I remember when I was doing SlimGenics, a diet very low in sugar, I found myself telling my hubby (and others) that I believed my tastes had actually changed, as I was finding foods that were previously only “ok” to be just fabulous and taste much better than I remembered. I was actually enjoying healthy food. Then I went back to eating foods that were high in sugar and all of a sudden, those healthy foods were no longer all that appetizing. Now, only about a week into The Metabolism Miracle diet (almost completely devoid of sugar at all), I am again enjoying food more, in general, and as promised in the book, I am not craving sugar.

Should you remove sugar from your diet completely? Well, that’s up to you. I know that I don’t plan to never eat sugar again, but I can promise you this: in conjunction with trying to maintain a far healthier lifestyle, long-term, combined with my new-found knowledge on sugar (and I plan to continue researching), I will be reserving high-sugar foods for infrequent special occasions. I will also be much more cognizant of the amount of sugars (and hidden sugars) that I put into my body (and feed my son)!

What about you? Do you have any thoughts or experiences directly related to sugar? I’d love to hear about it!

4 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Dieting, Gluttony, Metabolism Miracle, Slimgenics, Weight Loss

April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!

By Angie Bullock

And the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” – Matthew 28:5-6 ESV

Happy Easter everyone! HE IS RISEN!

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