Breaking A Cycle

Have any of you ever heard of breaking a cycle in a family? Well I think I'm beginning to successfully break another cycle in my family. There have been emotional cycles broken, developmental cycles broken, spiritual cycles broken from how I was raised and how I raised my daughter and she is an exceptional young lady because of it. The HealthQuest on the HomeStretch is allowing me to break another. A health cycle. You see I was always the skinny one in my family when I was growing up because I had a super great metabolism and was constantly running here, playing there and constantly active because when we were young we didn't have computers, gameboys, PS360 (or whatever they are), Facebook, and T.V. was something you did at night as a family and talking on the phone....well we did that on a landline and it usually was answered by a parent and they determined the length of the call and IF we'd even be able to talk at that particular moment. Cell phones had not even been thought of until I was in my early 20s. But....you see in my family was obesity... I was determined I was not going to be fat. My sisters were heavy, my mother was heavy, my aunts were heavy. And most of them were depressed for some reason or another. And ate to compensate. In my 20s, as I've shared before, I weighed 119 lbs and thought I was FAT and out of shape, even though the scale told me differently and I worked out 5 times a week and danced or played sports and such all the time.

Okay, so when I matured and life started hitting me full on and I found myself with a daughter to care for....that was my focus and my health was not the focus...being fit was not the focus....making sure she had a roof over her head and food in her tummy was my focus. And that she had a strong foundation in her faith. That was my focus. My daughter and her growth was my focus. As I said before, all of this was not done for naught.....she is a healthy, self secure, happy young girl, who has a relationship with her Lord and stands firm on that foundation when faced with any challenge. So, several cycles have been broken. And this week we are taking the steps to break another. You see while I was busy breaking those cycles I was still fully immersed in the most unhealthy one....the lack of focus on my health. I didn't eat right, I either didn't eat when I was depressed or I ate the wrong things, I didn't devote time to exercise and my weight went up and my health suffered. When my daughter was 6, I weighed 120, when I began this HealthQuest I weighed twice that and then a little. Arrgh! And so this is a cycle that needed to be broken....not only in me, but in my daughter's future. I do not want her to be where I am right now, ever. I don't want her to have to worry about her health. I want her to know how to care for herself and eventually her family. So...as I said....this week we are taking steps to break that cycle....or should I say she is....and I have this journey to credit for that...

She is basically a healthy girl. But she loves her soda and sweets. Typical kid. Well, she came last Friday with me to D1 and then she came again today for Friends and Family Day. She still says I'm crazy to get up at 4:15 a.m. every day to come and work out at D1 but she wants to begin regular INTENTIONAL exercise and today she made a commitment to give up soda for a year. I gave up soda about 5 weeks ago and I feel awesome. I'm so excited that she is doing so as well. The chemicals alone are bad enough, but the sugar just promotes the desire for more sugar (and so does artificial sugar...so lets not go there) and you know where that ends up....on the backside. I told her this morning that I am taking strides now to teach her, so that when she's 46 she won't be having to re-direct her teenage daughter because she will have already shared with her the benefits of good nutrition and exercise. They might actually WANT to get up every morning at 4:15 because it's just that important. You make time to be healthy. And it 5:00 a.m. is all you've got, then you do it then!

At D1 this morning, she once again was challenged, but she did the workout! She did an awesome job and I was very proud of her. She did mountain climbers and burpies and pushups and leg lifts and crunches AND did bear crawls pushing a lightweight cushion first 10 yards and back, then 15 yards and back, and then 20 yards and back and then 25 yards and back. And when I was struggling to do the same......in the midst of other verbal encouragement I heard "Come on Mom, you can do it!" How cool is that!!!! Yep, I'm breaking a cycle! Praise the Lord!

She is one of the most important reasons I signed up for this.....to get her healthy from the inside out (along with myself). Today....the beginnings of the cycle started!

Thanks Carter. Thanks Kara for encouraging Savannah to join us again! It was great to see 4 teenage girls there working out with us today! 4 teenage girls who live in a society where sedentary activity is more popular than getting out and getting exercise. PRAISE the LORD and thank the Lord for Carter Hays, HealthQuest on the HomeStretch, D1 and Carilu Robinson for her nutritional advice.

How blessed am I? My cup overfloweth!

See you roosters in the morning.....although we'll be without the little "chicks" .....let's do this thing!

I'm here because of Magazines.com. Check them out!!!!
Blessings,
Juji

Friends & Family Day at D-1!

Brian and Savannah joined me today. Although you can see I worked much harder than they did! LOL!

It was great to have my daughter and Brian with me there today. It allowed them to see what we do regularly. Savannah was pretty impressed and said "Mom, I'm proud of you. I can't believe you go there and do THAT every DAY!!!" She did a fantastic job! She did say she was sore when I dropped her off at school, but I'm hoping she will join me again before the end of this HealthQuest. I'm getting healthy from the inside out and she is one of the reasons why.

Brian did pretty well. He only suffered in a few of the repetitions, but survived and didn't spill his grape nuts before the end. I was very proud to have him with us as well. He is the one I share much of my journey thoughts and tidbits with and he has been one of the most encouraging of my friends on my time on this HealthQuest. He knew it was a tough workout, but today he found out just how tough! He also gave me much credit today for sticking with this for 9 weeks. What a blessing and fuel to finish the journey.

I was blessed to have both of them with me today. And it was great to meet the family members of some of the other girls! We have all grown into a close knit group and that is another one of the many blessings of this HealthQuest on the HomeStretch.

And if I'm not mistaken.....my backside in that picture looks a little smaller than it did when I started this thing. Go ahead...scroll back up and check for yourselves. :-)

I am fond of the solid instruction we are receiving from Carter. He ROCKS my face off! and his workouts kick my butt ....off! I'm currently squirreling away my acorns to be able to continue this journey after December 5th. I've even put "Carter Bucks" on my Christmas List! Seriously....instead of receiving gift cards to stores I've asked for "gift certificates" to continue my journey with Carter.

Besides having my daughter.....this HealthQuest is the best thing I have ever done in my life! It is hard, but it is FUN! Believe it or not!

Another HealthQuest is starting in January....do you know someone who might be interested in making their lives healthier from the inside out? Check out the website! onthehomestretch.com

Have a great day fellow Roosters and all others reading this.

Blessings,
Juji