Blessed beyond our circumstances

Sorry for the late update, but I haven't gained or lost anymore weight this week. I am at a plateau and it can be due to either the fact that I've skipped my workout 3 days in a row or the fact that I have not been doing very well with the diet again. Which I have to admit I'm happy that I haven't gained anything since I did skip 3 days in a row of my workout. We accidently did an extra week of phase 2 and we are now onto the ab and recovery week. We haven't started on our "recovery" yet so hopefully I will get my booty in gear tonight and get back on track with my workout.

On another note, we're still fully relying on God to show us what the next move is as far as Pat having a job. He's gone on several interviews but nothing promising. It's either a lot of work for VERY little pay (as in less than I make at Sams) or it is conflicting with our school schedule. I know a lot of people think he should just take whatever comes along, but at the same time, I believe that we serve a mighty God and he's not going to put Pat into another job that he absolutely hates. His last job turned him into a completely different person. He has always been the kind of person that could go to work, deal with crap all day long, but at the end of the day he left it at work, he never brought it home (as in a bad mood, negative attitude, whatever). His last job was not like that at all. It caused him to be sick all the time, he always seemed like he was grumpy and he just wasn't himself. Since he has been out of work (the beginning of February) his attitudes is MUCH better, and I believe that God gave us this time to reconnect as a family, to focus on our Creator and to just spend some time together with God. Yes financially it has been hard but God has provided for us in every way we've needed and I know that He will continue to provide as long as we have faith in him. I truly believe in Luke 17:6 "He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you." God wants us to have faith that he will take care of us, and as scary as it may seem that we don't know what our future holds, my trust and my strength is in Jesus and what he has promised. Jeremiah 29:11 says, " For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." God sees the big picture, even if we can't see it we have to trust that He is leading us in the right direction. I will admit that there are times that I freak out about not having enough money for our bills, but then I remember this verse: Phillippians 4:19 "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." God will supply our NEEDS, not wants, according to HIS riches. Everything is in God's timing and I have to remind myself to be patient and calmly wait for God to lead us! Once I realize these truths, I feel much more at peace and much more calm and secure in our situation.

On a completely different note, one of my best friends is in labor right now and I am so anxious to find out if she's having a boy or a girl!!!!

Since Last Week

Since last week, I have lost 2 pounds and 1/2 inch in my waist. I am perplexed as to how this happened because I managed to skip my workout 2 days in a row and I haven't been eating all that great considering we went to a wedding on Saturday and then had a barbeque with Pat's family on Sunday. I have been eating quite a bit of cake, cupcakes, and other unhealthy snacks, but so far it hasn't come back to haunt me. I guess that's the beauty of working out! I did make up for one of my workouts on my day off (yesterday) but my back has been hurting lately.

Today we stopped by my parent's house since they were nice enough to let us borrow their car over the weekend, we went over to their house to return it. While we were there, my dad decided to show me his new "toy" which is a "table" for lack of a better word where you strap your feet in and then it tilts you upside down and it is supposed to stretch out your back and alleviate any discomfort. It DEFINITELY helped! It was kind of scary considering it doesn't slowly flip you upside down, it goes pretty fast once you lift your arms up. Needless to say I was able to do my workout today without any lower back problems, so all is good in the land of the Mahoney's!

Weekly Update

Well I haven't lost much more weight or inches. I feel like I have plateaued but that could be due to the fact that I haven't been doing as well on the diet part of my routine as the exercise part. I have lost 0.6 pounds in 2 weeks (since I wasn't feeling well last week I didn't weigh or measure myself). Due to the fact that I haven't been feeling well, I don't feel like I've been pushing my workouts quite as hard as I was before. My goal by the 60 day mark is to really push it and to lose at least 2 more pounds. We shall see how it goes!

On another note, we took the kids to six flags today and we had a TON of fun. It was pretty hot out today but the lines were short so we got to ride lots of rides. Declan got to ride Tony Hawks Big Spin (3 times), Highland Fling, and all the kiddy rides. Alaina had a blast riding all the little kid rides. We all rode the scooby doo ride, the shazzam (alaina's first time on that one), and the log flume together. The kids had a blast playing in the water. Overall it was a very successful family fun day!

Sunday's neglected update

Well I didn't update on Sunday because I was not feeling good and I spent the day with my family and then napping and hanging out with some 18-29 year olds at our church. Anyway, I haven't lost any more weight, but I do have an updated picture for you all! These pictures are almost exactly a month apart. The first one is about a week after I started doing the P90x and the other picture is from today which is week #6 or day #44.

Declan and Alaina...

Well, since we've moved into our new place at the beginning of March, the kids have experienced a lot more "nature" than they were used to. We have seen snakes, bugs, racoons, possums, and on top of it, with all the wooded area behind us, we have heard a woodpecker. Every time Alaina heard the woodpecker, she'd place her hand by her ear and say "hear that...petture". It's SOO funny to hear her say it, so now I always ask her if she hears a woodpecker and she'll just say "petture" it sounds a lot like she's just saying pecker, so you can imagine what other people are thinking when they hear her say it. She still calls Declan Gugga, but she now will say her name if you ask her what her name is. I frequently ask her what her name is and she replies, "Laina".

Today, we were all hanging out in the living room after we got out of bed this morning and Pat was telling me how he applied to waste management for an auditing position. Declan asked him what waste management was, so he was explaining that they're the people that come and pick up all of our trash and Declan was fascinated. Pat mentioned that if he was auditing he'd ask if he could ride on the back of the truck just for the fun of it because he's always wanted to do that and Declan nonchalantly said, "well you can't ride on the back of the garbage truck naked...your feet will get cold!" Kids are priceless and always good for a laugh! Something else we have been doing with Declan is teaching him to write his letters and how to write his name. I bribed him the other day with a cupcake if he would sit still and let me teach him how to write his name and he did a GREAT job!

In just 4 weeks

Just so you all know, these pictures are GROSS and "graphic" I know many of you don't want to see these, but I wanted to share my progress...I don't see much of a progress in the pictures but the tape measure and scale tell me otherwise. Anyway, here is what has happened in the first phase (30 days) of our workout/dieting.
Total losses so far:
Weight: 7.6 pounds
Waist: 4 inches
chest: 2 inches (I think I measured myself wrong a couple of weeks ago)
hips: 2.5 inches
thighs: 1.5 inches
arms: 0.25 inches
ankle: 0.5 inches

Overall I'm pretty happy with what I've lost so far. After talking to a few people that have been through the P90x thing, they say that the first phase is just building muscle mass, so you typically don't lose a whole lot, where the second and third phase you usually are just burning tons of calories, so it really increases the weight loss. I can't wait to get started on the second phase. This weekend was Mother's day weekend and since we knew we were going to be out visiting our mom's today (Sunday) Pat and the kids pampered me last night which included a chinese food dinner with a rootbeer float for dessert, and a day off from working out. Today we had a quick lunch at taco bell, followed by some pork steaks, with garlic bread and chocolate covered strawberries and double chocolate cupcakes....needless to say I REALLY need to get back on track with the diet and workout program tomorrow and I'm anxious to dive into phase 2!

Week 3 Measurements

Total I've lost since last week:

weight: 1.6 pounds
waist: 0.25"
chest: 0.75"
hips: 0"
thighs: 0.5"
body fat: 0.5%

Next week I will post my total loss from phase 1 and also post some pictures, too. I know it doesn't seem like a lot but we decided to shed our weight instead of just drop it. If you just drop your weight it's going to come right back as soon as you stop doing what it is that has caused you to drop it. By shedding weight you're changing your lifestyle, therefore you should have a hard time gaining it back as long as you keep working out and eating more healthy. I probably could be losing more than I have but I have caved on the diet part a few times and yet I still seem to be losing the weight and inches so I'm pretty happy!