tone it up girls

Because I am NOT a nutritionist or personal trainer, I would like to introduce you to 2 girls who are SO amazing and they ARE nutritionist and personal trainers.  I follow them on twitter, I watch all their AMAZING FREE workout videos on YouTube, and I am always signing up for their weight loss challenges. 

They are the

TONE IT UP GIRLS!!

On the left is Karena on the right is Katrina.

They are amazing!!

If you would like to be motivated and educated on health and fitness, go check these girls out.

You can follow them on twitter.  Just search for @ToneItUp

You can go check out thier website

http://toneitup.com/blog/

You can find them on Facebook

search for ToneItUP

AND you can watch them on YouTube!!
They have over 100 FREE workout videos on here!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/toneitupcom/

Finding things and people that inspire you is a necessity to getting healthy and losing weight.

I LOVE the Tone It Up community that I have found.

They give amazing FREE workouts AND advice.

They also have a Fat Burning System that I am considering buying.  It is $150.

Check it out as well:

http://toneitupdiet.com/

Ok, here is my contribution to you today!!

Hope everyone is doing good, setting goals, and reaching those goals.

You truly can be who you envision yourself being!!!!

xoxo

Becca



small town = not bored

I grew up in a tiny.... teeny tiny town in south east Arkansas.  The town's population was (and still is) about 3,500 people.  There are high schools bigger than that.  We were 30 minutes from the nearest Wal-Mart, an hour and 1/2 from the nearest "good" mall (there was a super ghetto one in Pine Bluff, doesn't count), 30 minutes from the nearest movie theater or bowling alley.  When I was a kid, we had NO chain restaurants. 

No McDonald's, no Sonic, no nothin! 

We only had a couple of home-owned places to eat-- Troy's Drive In, The Domino Parlor, Burger Master (throw back!), Sahara, Matthews.... My hometown does have a Sonic and a Subway now!  Movin on up!!

When I think back to my childhood and adolescent years, I don't really remember being bored out of my mind though!  Somehow my friends and I always managed to find stuff to do. 

When I was little all the way through Junior High I rode bikes like a manic!  Bekah (my best friend) and I were always on a bike just thinkin we were cool.  Most of the time we were headed to meet up with one of her many boyfriends.... yes I did say HER boyfriends.  I could never get a boy to like me until about the 8th grade.  But Bekah...... she was a different story.  Everybody liked Bekah!  She always had boys after her.  I had issues for the longest time all through college because boys would always befriend me just to get to Bekah.  So even when we lived in different states if a boy started to like me I would secretly think that they probably saw a photo of Bekah and are just trying to get to her.  :)    I mean, I remember when we were in 6th and 7th grade, HIGH SCHOOL boys would be trying to holla at Bekah.  She had it goin ON!

Here is me, Bekah (far right) and sweet Courtney (front and center)

These were some of the bike riding days!

I was in 8th grade and Bek as in 7th.

We were sooooooo cool.......?????

 

    More people during bike riding days. 

     8th grade!!!!

So, we went from bikes to riding around in my Chevrolet Cavalier Z24!!!!!! 

Yeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhh!

That car was off the chain!  It actually wasn't, but I was the first one out of my friends to drive so the mere fact that it was a car made it the bomb!

Here is me and a bunch of my friends in high school.

DeWitt High School!!!!  What What!!!!!

Every last one of these girls rode in my Z24 at some time or another.. and they liked it.

It had muffler issues, so it sounded like it had pipes = cool

The over the head lining was falling on our heads = cool

My rear view mirror fell off = cool

The rims of the car looked like parabolas in math.. you know.. like a grid = coolest



You see, in small towns like ours you did a little something called "go riding".  You had no where to go, you just rode around.  Now, DeWitt did have 1 really awesome feature to it.  Our downtown square was the shiz!! 

We drove around and around the square (we drove in a circle) BUT the awesome part was (and still is) that there are no lanes!!!!   It was like driving Go-carts at the fair!  You just swerved around, drove slow or reeeeeally slow, drove next to people and talked to them out your window AS YOU DROVE!  And then when you saw friends you wanted to hang out with for a little bit, you just yelled at them or motioned for them to pull in.  Then you would park your car and just hang out.  We loitered to our hearts content!!!  It was like a big party on the square every Friday and Saturday night!  It was the time of my life.

When I go back home the kids don't ride around the square like we used to.  They don't EVEN know what they are missing!  I spend half my life in a car or truck just cruising the square!  I loved it!!!

1990's = Time of my life

(imagine a Bon Jovi song playing right about now)

perfection



my little home

I finally got my house almost completed.

Just thought I would share with you my cute little house.

here is our living room.... from many angles

here is my lovely kitchen

here is the guest bedroom

 both of these furniture pieces are antiques.

the wardrobe was my great grandmother's

and here is wade and my bedroom.. it isn't finished yet.

I am so blessed to have this home.

Wade and I are so blessed and we love living here together.

We are learning so much together about life, how to love better, and daily joy spent together.

God truly did give me the man I needed and wanted.

Have an amazing Saturday!!!

Keep focused on JOY and having a VISION for your life!!!

xoxo

Becca

why I believe in Jesus Christ

there are so many people out there who may end up reading my blog.  With that in mind, I can't go one more day without sharing my faith.   There are a lot of  "people of faith"  out there.      But what does that even mean???      I know for a fact that what I believe is not always the same as another who says that they are a Christian or someone of faith.  This blog is NOT to try to start an argument or push my beliefs on someone.... but the truth is, I do want every single person in the world to believe in Jesus Christ.  I believe he is the ONLY way, the ONLY truth, and the ONLY life.  There are many of you out there who want to stop reading my blog right now, please don't.  I ONLY want to share with you what I believe and why I believe it.  I mean hey, give me some credit.  A lot of people out there are so quick to just tell you what they believe but when you ask them why, they have NO good response.  So at least I am giving you an educated answer for why I believe in Jesus.  Just read it with an open mind and realize that I am NOT trying to force anyone to believe just like me.  But if you read this and you say to yourself at the end of it,  "you know what, that actually makes a lot of dang sense"  PLEASE just open your heart and just ask yourself if you might want to believe it too.  After YEARS of study, I HONESTLY with all of my being believe in Jesus Christ and that He is the only way to salvation.  I HONESTLY believe in a Heaven and Hell.  Please just read it and know that I am only sharing this because a part of having faith in Jesus Christ is telling others and giving them the chance to hear what I believe is the truth and the chance to just see if they want to believe in and trust Jesus as their personal savior too.

So here we go.
This is WHY after years and years of my OWN personal study I believe in Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.

FIRST,  in order to believe in Jesus, I have to believe that the Bible is the actual Word of God.  I believe that the Bible was an inspired work, inspired by God, and that all the original writers of it were inspired by God and therefore the Bible is 100% true. 

Why do I believe this?

1.  It's coherence
-It was written in a spans of time of 1,900 years
-It has HUNDREDS of authors!!!
HERE IS THE KICKER.... with HUNDREDS of people writing it over 1,900 years, IT ALL GOES TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With all of those people writing it over that long of a time (and these people didn't get together and discuss together what they were going to write to make sure it all went together and didn't negate each other.  They just HEARD from GOD and wrote what God inspired them to write.......  and NONE of it negates itself.)

The Bible is amazing.

If anyone ever reads it and understands it and STUDIES it, you would be SHOCKED at how MIRACULOUS it is. 
Here is just one example of it's amazingness and why I believe in the Bible.

There are so many times in the Old Testament that people prophesied (basically say what is going to happen before it does) about something that was going to happen... specifically about the birth of Jesus.... and IT ALWAYS HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!
Prophesies in the Bible actually came true!
and the messages and lessons taught in the Bible all go together.
It is truly amazing.

2. Because I truly do believe in the Bible, I believe what it says about the LIFE and DEATH and RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ.

I know that believing in all of this is a HUGE pill to swallow, but when I think about NOT believing in it, that is even harder to swallow.  I mean, there HAS to be a God y'all!!!!  COME ON!!!!  

Just look around you!  Do you REALLY think that ALL of this beauty that you see just HAPPENED??  Do you really think that our amazingly intricuite human bodies just came about by accident????  COME ON!!!  We were created!  

Here is one reason I truly do believe Jesus came to this earth and died and rose again.
The Bible is a history book folks!!!!!!
These events ACTUALLY happened!
There is NOTHING out there that can disprove that these events are actual historical recorded events.
Even in the recent years, historians have found the Dead Sea Scrolls and they have proven EVEN MORE of the legitimacy of the Bible.

So since I believe in the Bible, I believe that Jesus truly did teach when he was on the earth that He is the SON OF GOD.  He actually taught that, and I believe it. 

How do I believe that?

Jesus was the ONLY person in the history of the world to be killed and to be put in a tomb and he actually rose again from the dead!!!!!

I know this is hard to believe y'all because we weren't there, but people saw him!  It is recorded!!!
Countless people saw and TOUCHED him after he rose from the dead.  And then he didn't just die again, people literally saw him leave this earth (alive) and fly up to heaven!!!!! 
I know this sounds like a tall tale, but it is not. 

Becasue I believe all of this about Jesus, I believe EVERY SINGLE THING he said while on this earth.  Most of what Jesus taught is written in the New Testament.

The main things that are important to believe that he taught are.

1.  There is a heaven a a hell.

2.  WE are ALL sinners in need of a savior to save us from hell.

3.  Because we cannot be "good enough" to save ourselves from hell, God MADE A WAY for ALL of us to be saved.... and it is through His son Jesus.  Jesus died for our sins so we would not have to die ETERNALLY in hell.  He made a way for us to be SAVED!

4.  ANYONE can be saved.

5.  All you have to do to be saved is to Confess to God that you believe that Jesus is Lord and that Jesus is the ONLY way to salvation.... you cannot work hard enough or be good enough.  You must confess you need the way made by Jesus' death.  AND you must ask God to forgive you of your sins. 
THEN
you need to start reading the Bible and start living according to what Jesus taught while he was here on the earth.
AND LET ME TELL YOU WHAT.... living according to what Jesus taught is so beautiful!  He was the kindest, most gentle, humble, loving, giving, man EVER!!! I PROMISE you living according to what Jesus taught will ONLY make you a better person.

Some of you reading this may say,
"whatever Becca, I know some Christians and they SUCK.  They are not some of the kindest, gentlest, yata yata people I know.  They are arrogant, mean, stingy, yata yata..."

YOU ARE RIGHT!
Just becasue someone claims they are a Christian does not mean that they are actually living like one.  The Bible actually tells us that there will be a lot of people on the day of judgement that will be SHOCKED that they were never even Christians at all.  They thought they were, but they never gave thier lives over to the Lord and lived the way he instructed.

Ok... so that is it.
The gist on why I believe in Jesus.

If you have questions, I beg of you to just do some research for yourself.  Try to prove it wrong with honest research.   I get so tired of people just saying they don't believe in God or Jesus but have done NOTHING to actually research it for themsevles.  What is crazy is that there is a whole list of people who did CRAZY research trying to disprove Christianity and at the end of it they themselves became believers.  If you want to know about thier research they are people like:
Josh McDowell "The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict"
and
Lee Strobel "The Case for Faith"

I have lived most of my life studying and beleiving in Jesus Christ. 
I truly believe in Him.
He has given me peace through some of the hardest times in my life.
He has provided for me when there was no way of provision.
He has given me wisdom to live a wonderful life.
He is good.
He is my God.

Even if you do not believe all of this, I encourage you to still keep reading my blog. 
We don't have to be exactly the same for you to find encouragement in what I write!!

Have an awesome Friday!!!

xoxo

11 Week Goals

the Bible tells us that without a vision, people perish.  That does not mean that "literally if you don't have a vision for your life, you will literally be killed somehow and perish".  What it means is that when you don't have an active vision for your life, your soul can perish.  You can become depressed.  You can become a person you don't want to be.  Most people who have allowed thier lives to spin out of control, whether that be to drugs, to an unhealthy relationship, to being overweight, to abandoning faith in Jesus Christ, most of those people did NOT have a vision for thier lives.  If they did, dang... their vision was WACK!   I don't think ANYONE plans to get addictied to drugs.  NO ONE plans to become obese.  NO ONE plans to become addicted to pornography.  NO ONE plans to become depressed and not want to get out of bed.  HOWEVER, you do have to plan to have the life you want and deserve. 

So, in laymans terms, to have a vision for your life is to....

HAVE GOALS FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!!

I set goals constantly!

I always have a new set of goals that I am hammering through. 
It is how I live.
It is how I function in this chaotic world and not get LOST and DEPRESSED and FAT!  :)
My goals cover lots of areas of my life.  At times I'm more focused on professional goals.  Other times I become more focused on personal weight loss goals.  At others I focus more on personal goals for self improvement like reading books and such. 

So, I wanted to let you guys in on my latest goals.  I made them this morning.
The reason I made some new goals today was becasue I have kinda "taken a break" from life for about 2 weeks.  I was sick for a week solid, and then had company in my home all this week.  So, I was feeling down and a smidgin depressed this morning because I haven't done very many productive things in the past 2 weeks.  So.... I made some goals!

Here are my goals for the next 11 weeks.
My goal deadling is June 1st.
The reason I chose June 1st was becasue that is when my "summer" starts.  I work through May as a teacher and "summer" starts in June.

1.  Get up early every morning.
     -This is a goal I have had my entire life.  I hate mornings.  I LOVE sleep.
     - When I get up early I will READ THE WORD to start my day! 
    - I truly want to become a Morning Lover!!!!  I'm gonna do it!  I can do it!

2.  Loose 10 pounds by June 1st!
    -that is only 1 pound per week!!
    -I wanna look GOOD in my bikini this summer!!!
    -I want Wade to be like.... DAAAAAAANG! 

3.  Eat correctly every day!
    -In order to loose a pound a week, I have to eat right EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!!!!
    -I am allowing myself 1 cheat meal per week!  ONLY 1 (that may sound drastic, but it's not)

4.  Workout AT LEAST 5 days per week.
     -This may sound like a lot, but if I want to tone up, I have to work out almost every day.

5.  Read at least 1 book!
    -The book I started today is "Act Normal" by Scott Wilson.

I will be updating you on my progress. 

Now I encourage you to make some goals. 
They don't have to be a big huge thing... just have something that you are working for and living for!!

Have an awesome day!

what do you have to give???

I am obviously very passionate about health and fitness.  So much so that anytime I go to blog, something about food or loosing weight or fitness just comes out.  That is totally fine.. there is nothing wrong with that.  Right???

The truth us there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with my excitement and passion for health and fitness.... however, I want to make sure I keep all things in my life in balance.  I was watching a t.v. show tonight while Wade had to go into work for a bit.  It was called Secret Millionaire.  The premise behind the show is that these millionaires go and volunteer with people or live in the "slums" of America and then surprise the people they meet with these huge checks to help them or their charity.  As I watched the show tonight I just bawled like a big baby.  There are some intensely HURTING people out there, intensely NEEDY people out there, intensely LONELY people out there... not just "out there" but maybe even next door to me.  I am so self absorbed.  I am so into my own life. 

So here is the deal....  I have to do my part more as a human being, and as a Christ follower.... especially as a Christ follower.  But the truth is, even people who are not Christians can and should be doing more for our fellow man. But if I want to live as Christ lived and he has given me free forgiveness and eternal life, I have not excuse to not be giving more of myself to others in desperate need.  No, I don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to give to people right now, but I have soooooooooo much to give. 

I have.....
Time.
Love.
Prayers.
Work.
Effort.
Smiles.
Hugs.
Hand shakes.
Phone calls.
Visits.
Meals.
Drinks.
Effort.
Conversations.
and even a little bit of money

The bottom line is, if we would all just give of what we DO have, we can help each other so much.  There are people all around me who need things, and I need to wake up and realize that I am NOT the only person on the planet. 

Help me Jesus to give of what I do have WAY more regularly than I do now.
I am so selfish.
Change me Lord.

so what the heck do I eat????

I'm still pretty sick (I have bronchitis), so this blog will be short and sweet.

If you are trying to eat right but you have NO idea what that would look like here are a few little pointers that I've picked up from books like "Skinny Chicks Don't Eat Salads" by Christine Avanti, "Making the Cut" by Jillian Michaels, and "Total Body Make-over" by Bob Greene.  I've also learned from many personal trainer friends like Trey Mitchell and Robbyn Hensley.

First....
You need to be eating 6 small meals a day versus 3 large ones.
So, eat every 2 to 3 hours.

Second....
Eating is soooooo important.
If you are skipping meals, you are actually hindering weight loss.  When you skip meals and go for a long time without eating, your body goes into starvation mode and when you do finally eat, your body wants to store it instead of burn it.  Start with breakfast as early as you can so you can get your metabolism going!!!

Third....
You MUST drink water!!!!
You should be drinking at LEAST 1/2 your body weight in water each day to prevent dehydration.  You are more than likely dehydrated!!!
Example: I weigh 147.
I have to drink at least 74 ounces of water!
I have a large bottle and it holds about 24 ounces-- so I have to down at least 3 or 4 of those BIG bottles of water.

Other drinks like sodas are terrible!!!!!!!  Even diet ones.  They dehydrate you fool!!!

Fourth....
This one is sooooo important and is actually slightly complicated and I'm only going to give you the "dummy version" today.  It has a lot to do with something called a "glycemic index".  Take a second and just go read what a glycemic index is.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index

Ok... after knowing that here is my advice.
You must eat a GOOD carb (low glycemic index) and a LOW FAT protein in every single meal or snack!!!!!!

Repeat: in order to be eating for weight loss, high energy, and controlled blood sugar throughout your day, try very hard to have a good carb and a low fat protein in EVERY MEAL or SNACK!!!

Here are a few examples I eat pretty regularly.

1.  Cup of PLAIN cheerios (carb) with low fat yogurt (protein)

2.  7 Low fat triscuits (carb) with a low fat string cheese (protein)

3.  Eggs or egg beaters (protein) and whole grain toast (carb)

4.  Fruit (carb) and low fat cottage cheese (protein)

5.  Sliced turkey (protein) on whole grain toast (carb)

6.  I drink tons of protein shakes made with almond milk (Muscle Milk is my fav)

7.  Chicken breast (protein) and veggies (carb)

There are TONS of combinations.  But the key is to keep everything low fat, low sugar, and NOT PROCESSED!!!!  The more organic you can go the better.

AND

Always try to keep the Carb/ Protein combo going in every meal or snack.  This will keep your blood sugar leveled through the day and you will not crash and feel all starved and deprived.

Now, don't let me do all the work for you!  Do a little research of your own.  Find some good recipes with low fat proteins and low glycemic index carbs and eat good!!!  :)

I've missed blogging with you!

Hopefully I'll be better soon!!!
Here's to not throwing my back out coughing!!!

Xoxo

when will we be happy??

This morning on my way to work I had a thought that I have very regularly.  I'm not really proud of it, but I'll be honest and tell ya I think stuff just like this all the time.  I saw a SUPER nice vehicle that I would LOVE to have in front of me.  It was a black GMC Yukon Denali.  It was soooooo pretty.  I found myself trying to look in it and see what lucky soul gets to drive such an amazing car.  I thought "whoever is driving that thing must be so wealthy and HAPPY". I then started thinking to myself "maybe one day I'll have a car of my dreams and other things I've always wanted and when that happens I'll be so happy"....

Right at that very moment I could just hear the small still voice inside of me ( AKA Jesus) and I could hear in my head the words "no you won't.  You will feel exactly like you do today". 

I immediately started talking to the Lord.  I told Him, "Lord, you're right.  A car or house or clothes or Coach purse or anything else is not EVER going to make me happy or give me true joy.... I'm sorry Jesus.  Help me".

Here is the honest truth.... there is nothing... absolutely nothing that this world has to offer me that will truly make me feel joy.  If I did get every single material thing I wanted tomorrow, sure all that "stuff" would make me happy for a while, but then the inevitable would happen.   After a while, it would loose it's newness and it would become normal and ordinary to me and it would not have the same power to make me happy.  I would feel empty again and I would begin looking around to the next big thing I want.  It would be a vicious cycle.

The only things that can bring true joy are things that one cannot actually touch.  They are not material things at all.  When I get my thought process in line with the word of God I realize that these are the things that actually bring me joy.

Laughter-  there is almost nothing I love more than some gut wrenching laughter.  It totally brings this girl joy.

Peace-  when I allow the Holy Spirit to fill me with peace, even in the midst of hard times, there is nothing better.  For me I find peace when I can just let go of all that worries me.  I am a worrier at heart.  I worry about everything and anything... finances, people dying, etc.... But I find peace when I honestly say to the Lord, "not my will, but yours be done.  You know what is best for me.  You know the future and you can take care of me better than I can".  Finding peace can bring joy.

Giving to others/helping others.
When I give to others, whether that be time or material things, it always brings me joy.

Giving and receiving love.
When I show love others love and when others show me love I definitely feel joy.

Doing the right thing.
Anytime I am faced with a tough decision, I always feel joy when I finally choose to do the "right"  thing.... even when the right thing is hard to do.

Giving and receiving encouragement.
My love language is "words of affirmation".  I always feel joy when people encourage me, and I feel a lot of joy when I encourage others as well.

Having a clear conscious.
I REALLY have a sense of joy when my conscious is clear.  When I can lay my head down at night and I know that I have not talked about someone behind their back, I didn't lie to anyone, I had a good work ethic... etc.

Striving to be the best I can be.
Last but not least, it truly does bring me joy to strive to be a better person.... reading the word, eating healthy, working out, and making other healthy choices.

What is so ironic is that every single one of these things are Biblical.  We are to live for things that are eternal, not for things that are material.

I truly hope that you realize that you CAN have joy.  If you are down right now or feeling depressed, make sure you are living for and focusing DAILY on things that can actually bring you joy and peace.  If you are living for things or the next big exciting thing, you will be continually disappointed.  You can have joy, but you have to live for things that are lasting.

Hope you are encouraged today.

Talk to y'all soon!

xoxo

counting calories?? say what??

I know that there are a LOT of people out there who are loosing weight, getting into amazing shape, and building amazing muscles... and you may have never "counted a calorie" in your life. 

Listen, I get it.  I know that for some people counting calories seems so monotonous and lame.  And I know that there are a lot of books, personal trainers, and nutritionists who don't want people counting calories.  But here is my deal.... if I don't count my calories and know what I'm eating every day I WILL over-eat!!!!  GUARANTEED!

Counting my calories gives me a sense of control in this thang.  After a while it does get easier and I have a bunch of stuff memorized and I just "know" what to eat in a day.... but let me tell you what.... when I stop really monitoring what I'm eating it never fails I start tricking myself into eating CRAZY stuff!  It's like I get temporary amnesia and don't realize that an entire bag of chips is like 700 calories! or more!!!!  When I'm not really tracking myself it's as if I subconsciously go into the mindset of "what I don't know can't possibly make me gain weight".  Like, when I'm not tracking my food I will eat Bunny Tracks Ice Cream and purposefully not look at the calories because I don't want to know!!!!!

So, if you can eat healthy and loose weight without counting your calories or points, hats off to ya playa!  I can't.  :)

In the next few days I'm going to explain a little bit about what I've read are the best foods to eat and in what combos.  :) it will be a simple version of it!

Have a great Tuesday!
Don't eat like a fattie today!!  :)
(that was to myself)

xoxo

this is my fine man.  just sayin