New, new all things new.

My ONE word for the year: New.

(Instead of making tons of resolutions I focus on one word as a theme)

Isaiah 43:18-19 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness, streams in the wasteland."

Little did I know, these "new" lessons were going to be some of the toughest ones I have ever had to face.  

For those of you curious how I am holding up since my competition:

The Physical(mostly)

>> Reverse diet is in full swing (probably would be going better if I had been more compliant to begin with) Want to know about reverse dieting? Check  here

I went from If It Fits Your Macros... to this post comp:

The dirty truth: Doing this competition a. killed my metabolism b. screwed up my hormones c. caused me to fight some mental battles with food for a few months as I got a handle on the "post contest non-restriction" mindset.  There were a handful of times I ate myself into oblivion and felt quite miserable... that "binging" mentality is what counting macros and reverse dieting is supposed to help counter.  I am super grateful for my coach who has been constantly encouraging and ALWAYS truthful with me as I chose to do this to my body(sound crazy?! It is). Trying to get my head in a healthy place to a good few months, but I am back to macro compliance and slowly working my way back up as my metabolism is kicking back into gear! As far as my hormones, those are a disaster but also slowly regulating.  I won't go into crazy details there... 

Here are two current pictures weighing in at 141:

>>I have just finished six week of physical therapy for an inflamed SI joint and hamstring tendonosis, and I am recovering well!!

Yea, I said the same thing Jennifer.  I had been training on some intense glute/hamstring pain for about three months when I FINALLY decided to go to an orthopedic doctor.  My physical therapist said she thinks as I was training heavy, while dieting down, I was not giving my body enough nutrients to rebuild the muscle so the chronic breakdown caused the "osis." This breakdown and not doing alot of single leg isolation caused allllll kinds of muscular imbalances which led to the inflamed SI.  

The Spiritual(and lots of emotional)

Back to those tough lessons: I was convinced teaching Zumba 3 days a week, training non-stop, all while building relationships with the women I was teaching/at the gym was the path God was carving out for me.  I always want to be involved in ministry in some way and when I had to STOP completely, I was at a loss.  I couldn't teach Zumba, I couldn't do cardio, I couldn't train legs.  I went from working out 6-7 days a week to training upper body 3 days and having LOTS of free time.  All I could do was rest and focus on teaching.  

I spent a lot of time confused, alone, and down.  Not only was a down because I could not be as active as I was used to being, and could not get that endorphin release; I had no clue what God was trying to do with me.  All the things that had been so right and good last year had been taken right out from under me.  I have had to learn that it is OKAY to rest, that my body is not going to FREAK OUT if I do not work out every day, and most importantly, I have learned how to surrender control.  Through my first Beth Moore study I have learned how to get in the "secret place" and let everything go and sit back and watch as God works in me and those around me.  

...I am going to try and do a better job of posting and updating on the things I am learning as I get my PERSONAL TRAINER CERTIFICATION!!! HECK YYEAAAAA.  It's about time I get paid to do what I love (besides teach precious young minds Spanish).  

How I Got Here.

Jesus. Sleep. Eat. Train. Teach. Repeat.

These are my priorities... pretty much in that order.  

              The past 15 weeks I have been on the journey of a lifetime - transforming my mind and body - challenging myself in ways I would have never thought possible.

Backstory: After leading Young Life in Central VA for 6 years, teaching high school Spanish for 2 years and becoming increasingly involved in the fitness realm, I felt a change stirring in my soul.  I knew my time as a Young Life leader was coming to an end and after winning a boot camp challenge at my gym, I was looking for a more challenging physical goal as well.  I decided to spend my summer in Lynchburg, away from the partying beach life of Wilmington, so I could focus on what God was doing in my soul.  

I spent every morning in the Word, fasted once a week and spent many friday evenings at worship services seeking after God's presence and surrendering this next part of my life to him. 

You cannot expect to hear from God if you do not spend time with Him. He does not want to keep His presence and His plans a secret from you, but YOU have to choose to make time to be with your Creator and the Lover of your soul. 

I had been praying about moving out of Lynchburg after this year, either to Nashville or Philly with my best girlfriends from Wilmington. I had told God after college that I would not stay in the burg after three years unless He brought a man into my life to keep me here... 

Ha.

It became increasingly clear that Lynchburg was where God wants me to stay, and even though I was man-less, I still felt completely at peace with this decision.

The thing is... when you are walking in the life Christ has mapped out for you, there is no greater peace found in the world... even if it was not what you had originally planned, it is most often way better :-) 

So why all the working out and eating healthy already!?!

I decided I have always wanted to do a figure competition and chase my "dream body" goals, so why not now? I prayed if it was something God wanted me to be involved in he would provide the means and open the doors... and boy has He! This is not a cheap hobby, but never once have I wondered if I would have enough money to buy healthy foods, pay my bills, pay my coach etc.  So my physical goals were set, but spiritually I still needed to be involved somewhere.  

I decided to start serving in the Welcome Center at my church, which has been great, but my true ministry is with the Zumba class that God just handed over to me.  I was looking for part time work and one of the instructors at my gym was moving and asked if I wanted to take over her class in Rustburg.  It works out perfectly and is a great source of extra money.  These women who come to class have really become my focus and who I want to build relationships and show Christ's love to.  <3 

Now that we are up-to-date: This blog is going to be for me to survive the next 17 days till my first figure competition.  I will journal the good, the bad and the ugly? No, none of that.  

Here are my before pictures from July....

Here are my current: excuse my face - it was 5:45 this a.m. 

Here we goooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!