The Journey

In my very first blog post, I mentioned how I would eventually share my weight loss journey with y'all. Well here ya go....

Growing up I never knew I was a fat kid. No one ever told me I was fat, nor did people make comments about how I looked or how much I weighed. Not that I knew about anyway. And maybe my parents were just really good at keeping me sheltered from that, who knows. But regardless, I spent most of my childhood blissfully unaware that I had a HUGE problem. 

All that came to an end the summer of 2002. My parents had recently divorced and, as part of what I thought was a custody agreement, I spent the night with my dad. Little did I know, the next morning I was going to fly to California, by myself, to spend the next 7 weeks at fat camp. I was 16 years old and had never flown alone before in my life, let alone to place I had no clue I was going. I was forcefully shoved into independence. 

Upon arriving at fitness camp (that's the nice way of saying it), I was wighed measured and had my first ever "before" pics taken. 

I weighed in at 235lbs that day, but according to my mom, I probably had really reached 250lbs at some point. All before I was 16 years old! Needless to say, that summer was rough. I had never done much physical activity in my life (other than swim team) and I didn't even own a pair of tennis shoes or workout clothes! Imagine doing workouts in denim shorts and sandals! 

At camp we worked out on average 8-10 hours per day, walked and average of 5-8 miles everyday (on top of the workouts), and had 4-star chefs making all our food. Everything was portioned and counted for us. Looking back, I had no idea how amazing that was. And in the end, I made new friends (a lot of which I still have today), I learned more than I could ever imagine about weight loss, nutrition, and behaviors (we also had to take nutrition and behavior modification classes at night), I got to experience a life that most people won't get to (trips to Disneyland, meeting Hallie Berry, etc), oh and I also lost 30lbs. 

 By the time in returned to Texas, seven short weeks later, I was a completely different person. Not only was I smaller (still not small, but smaller) but I was tan, confident, and a little more outspoken. California will do that to you ;) 

I kept with the new habits I created at camp and was able to maintain my weight loss throughout the year. By the time summer 2003 rolled around, I was BEGGING my dad to send me back! That summer was amazing as well and I lost 8 more pounds. And I earned a scholarship to go back in 2004 as a mentor (I still have my mentor t-shirt). 

The journey didn't end when camp was over in 2004 though. Since camp, it seems as though my journey has been throught the mountains. Ups, downs, highs, lows, you name it I've been through it! Or so it seems. I continued to keep my weight off, but during the fall of 2005, I went to Bible college and gained about 15 pounds. It took some time, but I was able to lose that weight again by getting back to the basics I had learned at camp. 

I became interested in exercise in 2007 with turbo jam videos that a close friend of mine was doing at home. We then starting going to a turbo kickboxing class together once a week. We fell in love with our instructor and followed her to a local gym. I then started doing a variety of classes that the gym offered. The weight continued to slowly come off. During this time I was also doing Weight Watchers. 

In 2010, I decided to kick up my routines, and start running. My New Years resolution for 2010 was to become a runner. I wanted to be one of those people who woke up every morning and ran 3 miles before the rest of the world woke up. To me that's what a runner was. So I started  the Couch to 5k program with my workout buddy and in February 2010 we ran our first 5k together. 

I ran a 5k every month until my back went out in June 2010. Once my back went out (turns out I have a bulging disk in my back) I too it easy on the workouts but kept doing Weight Watchers and continued to slowly lose weight. By the time I got married in October 2010 I had lost 65 pounds since that first weigh-in at fat camp. 

After the wedding, I quit Weight Watchers (life was rough living on one income while I was student teaching). I maintained my weight loss but by the time 2011 rolled around I was redy to see the scale go down again. And during a time of desperation, David and I did HcG. We took hormone drops and only ate 500 calories a day for 6 weeks! We hated each other during that time and had no social life whatsoever. But I managed to lose 20 pounds and David lost 40 pounds. And at the end we were happy with our results. 

I was at the lowest weight I've ever been at in my adult life (85 pounds less than that first fat camp weigh-in) and I felt fan-freaking-tastic! And really hungry. So what did we do? We started eating again. And we started gianing our weight back. I gained back 15 of the 20 pounds I'd lost. Devasted, I started working out again, and rejoined Weight Watchers. I maintained... And maintained... And maintained. 

In 2011, my running buddy convinced me to step up my workouts and change my focus from weight loss to fitness and we started training for my first half-marathon. We ran and ran and ran. And in February 2012 I ran my first half-marathon (it just so happened to be at the same event in which I rn my first 5k).

Since then, despite trying, I haven't given up running, even though I SUCK at it (seriously, I'm an awful runner). I've run 4 half-marathons total and this past February I ran my first full marathon. One day I'll write a blog about my love/hate relationship with running. I've also expanded my fitness interests to bike riding, obstacle courses, and sprint triathlons. 

So... LONG story short, my journey is far from over. I'm no where near where I want to be weight wise, but I have accomplished quite a bit since my fat camp days and I am thankful for the journey.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." 

 

Appreciated

So here is my long overdue "I have the best church ever" blog.....

Last night during Life Group, one of our discussion questions was, "when did your relationship with Christ begin?"  I thought to myself oh that's easy, and I began to share my testimony which went something like this (feel free to scroll down if you've already heard it) 😉

When I was 14 my parents decided to put me and my brother in private school.  The school we went to was a ministry of a little church close to our house. The church's youth pastor was also my science teacher (and this is no secret) I thought he was cute. Very cute. Anyway, one day in class he invited me to youth group service on Wednesday night. I of course agreed cause, duh, he was cute. A few weeks into the school year, the youth group had their first Friday night lock-in.  (If you're not familiar with a lock-in, it's basically a night when the youth group would stay up all night having fun, playing games, and of course we had a church service too.) I remember being a little bit nervous about the lock-in cause I am a very shy person by nature. Regardless, I went with the flow of the night and it was fun! We played games (I watched other people play games), we watched a skit, and then it was time for the sermon. A man by the name of Clark Boshier brought the message that night. He told a story about a football player who had everything and then got in a car accident and died. Then he asked, "where would you go if you left this building tonight and got in a car accident and died?" Very impactful. It was then and there that I asked Jesus into my heart and became a believer. The very next Sunday I started serving in the church's bus ministry and toddlers ministry, which lead to me being the toddler ministry leader for 11 years. 

I've shared that story so many times, it's almost like it's not even my story anymore. It's like I'm telling the story of the Three Little Pigs or something. I know every detail of the story but I don't really know who wrote it. So familiar! Then one of my friends in Life Group asked, "but when did your relationship with Christ begin?" HUH?! What?! Did she not just hear the story I told? Seeing the confusion on my face, she clarified "I know when you asked Jesus into your heart, but when did your RELATIONSHIP with Christ begin?" Hmmmm...... That got me thinking.

All that brings me to my original intention for this (long) blog post. Like I said before, I went to that church for 11 years. 11 YEARS! From the day after I got saved, I started serving in that church, 3 services a week, for 11 years! That's a long time! I did take 4 months off to go to Bible college, but other than that, I was serving with the toddlers, with Awanas or with the bus ministry. Kids. My passion, my God-given gift is working with kids. So I did that, wholeheartedly for 11 years. Sounds great right? Well it was great, or so I thought, because after all I was doing what God had set up for me to do. It wasn't until October of 2011 that my husband and I came to realize something HUGE. Neither of us had actually been to a church service in YEARS! For me it was pretty close to 11 YEARS. I had been going to church 3 times a week for 11 years but hadn't actually gone to more than a handful of services. That's like being born, and then only getting fed or spoken to or loved a few times. I had been given this amazing gift of salvation, but I didn't know what to do with it.

Once our eyes were opened, we began looking for a differnt church. We didn't know what we were looking for. We didn't know what was "good preaching" or "bad preaching," after all we'd only heard a handful of sermons (other than Bible college-but that's whole other story).  In fact, while we were "church shopping" I based almost everything on whether the church auditorium had the lights on or dimmed during service! I had no clue! And then we found Fellowship of the Parks in Keller.

It felt right (even though the lights were dimmed during service). David didn't fall asleep. You could walk through the foyer and not feel cliques or people staring you up and down looking at what you were wearing or how your hair was fixed wondering where you'd been the night before. Because in all honesty, none of that stuff matters to them. It didn't then, and it doesn't now. Shortly after visiting we joined the church; however, we didn't make the same mistake twice of jumping into ministry right away. We waited a year before we committed our time (and talents) to serving, and we didn't feel any pressure from anyone in that year. It was so refreshing to go to church and get fed, and grow in The Lord. After 11 years of giving giving giving, my very empty cup, was starting to get filled up, for the first time ever. 

Fast forward to the present. Recently David and I served on Easter morning, a time we both used to DREAD at our old church (because we would leave church angry and frustrated and spent- having given everything we had and getting nothing back). We taught 2 classes that morning. And while it was CRAZY busy, we then got to GO TO CHURCH. And not only that, but there was an appreciation lunch for all the volunteers that day. Now I know not every church can afford to do that for all their volunteers, but the fact that it is put into a budget somewhere, means A LOT! And it's not always about the food. In the 4 years that we've been at FOTP, I can't begin to tell you the number of times our pastor has written us thank you cards. A handwritten note is FREE. 

After Easter services, I was telling David how amazing our church is (like he didn't already know). It was so nice to be able to go to church on the most important day (to a believer) and rejoice and celebrate with other believers. We went 11 years without being able to go to an Easter service. We've felt more appreciated in the past 4 years at FOTP, than we ever did in the 11 years we served at our old church. We gave them everything we had and got nothing in return. So when did my relationship with Christ begin? When I started going to FOTP and was taught what it meant to have a relationship with Christ. It's not all about what you can do for God through your service. A relationship means both parties ACTIVELY working to build one another up. 

The goal of FOTP was and is, to reached the unchurched and those who have been burned by the church. We fit in that category and that's why FOTP is the perfect fit for us! If you haven't found a church home that fits, keep looking, it's out there.