Week 6 is Officially OVER!

Week 6 is officially over and am I'm wondering if I'm the only one that is sad that we only have 6 more left. I am loving this. This week has been the "week" for me. The week when I can actually see I'm going places with this HealthQuest on the Homestretch. Don't get me wrong, I have loved it all the time...well most of the time. But this week when we had "Form Wednesday", I actually felt like I was missing something all day long because we didn't actually have a workout. CRAZY! I know.
I loved Form Wednesday and getting some informative answers to some questions and I was excited that we would have some "lecture time" with Carter. That man KNOWS things. :-) But I did miss our workout. This week I can do many of the things I COULD NOT do even a week ago. Is that amazing or WHAT??? I am personally seeing changes in my skin, in my face, in my arms (yeah...the giggle in my arms is not so much....just ask several people at youth group and they will tell you how I was showing off on Wednesday night...LOL!.....leave it to Ms. Juji....always being goofy!!)

Anyway, I'm in a bit of a need to buy a few pairs of pants because I KID YOU NOT....mine are so loose I if I walk for a bit I start to feel a little bit "gangsta" with the baggy britches! So a new wardrobe is in order at the end of this journey.

My accomplishments of significant mention this week.....

...I did 3 burpees PER LINE for 50 yards, coupled with pulling a 50 lb sand bag 5 yards each time and then something else all the way back, but seriously cannot put a finger on what I did on the way back because I was so happy about the burpees (squat thrusts)....until this week I've managed to do probably a total of 10 in good form of the I'm sure hundreds Carter has given us in the previous 5 weeks. It was a challenge and this week I made progress.

...I am mastering the Bear Crawl by way of pushing a 125 lb Hummer tire 20 yards and back.....several times.

....I can do 10 push ups nearly perfectly now without totally falling flat on my face afterwards.

....I stayed in the plank position the ENTIRE last 30 seconds.

....I am learning that I am stronger than I think I am. Mentally. And as Carter says...although not in these exact words....your mind can be your worst enemy when it comes to doing things....if you think you can't do it...you won't be able to do it...even if you are the strongest most fit person ALIVE.

...I was reminded that I am just a few weeks away from wearing those jeans that hang in my closet still with the tags. Hard work, pushing through is paying off. Thanks Carter....that meant a lot and were the words I needed to hear that day!

....I gave up sodas of any kind FOR GOOD this week. And here is why......I found out several things, but the one that was relevant to me is for years my legs have hurt and I just thought it was because an increase in weight. Well along with the HealthQuest I am on, I decided to finally listen to someone and go off soda completely...I did that for two weeks....I didn't notice that my legs had STOPPED hurting. Well on Saturday I went to a Band/Color guard competition with my daughter Savannah and "allowed" myself two fountain cokes throughout the day. I also walked about 1/2 mile (NOTHING for me these days since I usually RUN at least that during our workouts each day). At any rate, when I got home that night my legs were THROBBING...not muscularly, but in the tissue. Anyway, after some thought and some Motrin...I realized the only change I had made during the day was soda. I consulted with Carter on Form Wednesday and told him my self diagnosis...he told me that I was probably right to some extent..given the fact that soda dehydrates you...(you need to drink 12 cups of water to replenish what one soda basically zaps from your body)....and you have veins that provide circulation in your body....arteries that go down your legs and little tiny veins off of those that take blood back to your heart after the larger veins brought it down to circulate in your legs....when you are dehydrated not only are those little tiny veins constricted and so are the larger ones to some extent. The heart has to work harder, etc. etc. to circulate blood throughout your body. The fact that blood is trying to rush through those veins and return to your heart is causing the pain...the throbbing. I have always been a person who said "yeah, yeah, yeah, I need to give up the soda because of the sugar, or the chemicals or whatever....but never really did. And I can tell you that pain was real enough and strong enough that I don't want to have another soda EVER!

I had recently read a study about fibromyalga and MS and how some patients that admitted drinking diet soda regularly and had been told to completely remove it from their diets. They did and several had been misdiagnosed and the cause of the pains throughout their body was due to the excess of chemicals and sugars in their bodies from the Diet Coke.

Since I hadn't been diagnosed with either of those illnesses. I just read it for info....until Saturday happened...and I remembered my years of pains in my legs at various times.

Anyway, that's not all we learned, but I have learned enough over the last six weeks of this HealthQuest to completely take myself and my daughter off of soda. I won't drink another one. And it took an incident like Saturday to make me realize the seriousness and the accuracy of what I've been told for years. For myself. But also for Savannah. I'm working on getting it totally out of selections of drinks.

Wouldn't it be great if all of us just listened to the experts and saved ourselves a lot of grief to begin with.....Getting Healthy from the Inside Out took on new meaning for me this week. Marked events that will change not only my life, but my daughter's and her children and so on and so on. Breaking cycles in families is another benefit and blessing of this program. My family cycles have been changed on many levels throughout the years from a spiritual, emotional standpoint. My daughter's life is very different than mine because of it. Positive cycle changes. And NOW this cycle will be added. What a blessing all my new friends are to me. What a gift from my God who promises to bring me through anything He takes me to. He has changed my life in so many ways....and He's not done yet. I'm a work in progress and Week 7 of this part of the journey begins in a few days! Thanks God.....you spoil me.

If ever you feel that I am bragging about myself at all...remember this... I KNOW I can do all things through He who strengthens me....and my life is what it is today because of that one thing alone...that one comfort and promise. I boast to His glory and not my own.

Have an awesome weekend everyone!
Juji