How’s your “One Word” going? Are you still trucking along or do you hardly remember your “one word”? Keep going, sweet friends! Today is a fresh start!

My “one word” is HEALTH, and today I am SICK. Not good. I have found that eating good foods is really quite easy for me. Sometimes I fall off the wagon and eat junk, but overall I think that part is doing pretty well. I am trying to rest more and stay conscious of my stress level. I feel really good about those baby steps, so that’s progress, right?

However…..

Can I be honest? Exercise is just not going well.

Not.

At.

All.

In my mind, I am a runner. In reality, I hate the treadmill, and I just watch the timer the whole time until I can jump off. I would rather read a book than lift weights. I don’t run outside because I’m scared of dogs. Yoga makes me go a little nutty because I am just thinking about my to do list. It’s even been difficult to do a fitness DVD without breaking an ankle on a little matchbox car left behind on the floor by my boys.

Anyone?

I know this sounds like a million excuses. It is. I am very disciplined in every area of my life except exercise. I just completely lack self-discipline there. I also get frustrated because I want to see results faster — like couch potato to marathon runner in 2 weeks. It’s just not realistic, but this is honestly my “all or nothing” approach.

So, this month I am setting ONE goal — to do 10 minutes of *something, anything* every day that is active. Walking, stretching, lifting, running, etc.

10 minutes for 30 days.

I know for some of you, this may seem like a joke, but honestly this will be a stretch for me. Baby steps… baby steps…

I’m just being honest.

How’s your one word going? What’s your biggest struggle? Could we gather around you to pray for you, encourage you, or help you find baby steps to make progress in the coming month?

Please link up and share with us!

If you would also grab the button above, save it off to your computer, and use it in the post you are linking up, I would be most grateful.

Please be sure to link back to this post so that other friends who may feel all alone with their “one little word” might see the button and decide to hop over here and link up.

Are you still hanging in there with your “One Word”? Don’t give up! You can make baby steps or just call today a “start over” day!

This month I am taking more “baby steps”…. and I think they are adding up!

I have started using the My FitnessPal (FREE) app on my phone, and it has been great! My Fitness Pal is food diary and exercise journal. It allows you to set a goal (like lose 5 pounds this month) and then will tell you the number of calories you should eat each day to meet your goal. This has been very eye-opening for me, because I never realized how quickly calories add up!

… and that a small bag of chips has more calories than my normal breakfast — and just isn’t worth it to me!

So, it helps you make decisions on your calorie budget each day and what you deem worthy to spend it on.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t always make great decisions… Like this day when I was going to eat fruit, but decided on this instead:

See? Baby steps….. I was just pacing myself

I’ve also started using “FitBit” which is a cool little techy-geeky-fitness-gadget that keeps track of the number of steps you walk each day, the number of stairs you climb, and also your sleep efficiency. You just wear the little gadget in your pocket and then sync it to your computer with a wireless dongle. Then, you can see all of your charts online — how cool is that?!

Remember, baby steps! Not perfection….

How has your month been so far with your “one word”? What do you have planned for the rest of the month?

Please link up and share with us!

If you would also grab the button above, save it off to your computer, and use it in the post you are linking up, I would be most grateful.

Please be sure to link back to this post so that other friends who may feel all alone with their “one little word” might see the button and decide to hop over here and link up.

I’m a day early but I wanted to give you a little notice in case you haven’t written a post this month yet. (Also, I have a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE giveaway tomorrow so I wanted to share that hint early so you could come back to enter).

We’re just keeping it simple and real this month. Here are the top 10 things I’ve learned from my “One Word” this month:

Top 10 Things I’ve Learned This Month ~ “Health”

1. Eating breakfast is very important. I feel better during the day and my blood sugar is much more stable when I eat breakfast. Some of my favorites are old-fashioned oats, omelet with red peppers and mushrooms, and scrambled eggs with salsa.

2. Water is my best friend. I can tell a huge difference in how I feel when I’m drinking water — and it’s so easy!

3. When I eat junk (Fruity Pebbles cereal, I’m lookin’ at you…), I feel terrible! My head hurts, my blood sugar is all crazy, and I have no energy. I need to remember this.

4. My kids are not traumatized when I take 30 minutes to walk on my treadmill or do a workout video. Most of the time, they don’t realize I was not in the room! (So, I need to stop feeling guilty about exercising!)

5. Brussels Sprouts are the best thing since Nutella. I kid you not, and I realize I may have lost some of you on this one but trust me. SO good if you fix them according to this recipe. If you still don’t like brussels sprouts after that recipe…. well, I’ll just pray for you.

6. I am not at all motivated by *some* unnamed celebrity fitness trainers. Working out to someone yelling or cussing at me on the DVD does not in any way make me want to exercise. It makes me want to give up and eat oreos and chips on the couch. Denise Austin is the only person I have found that I actually enjoy watching and exercising with! She is absolutely wonderful, and her encouraging comments and smiles make the workout fun. I’m sticking with her…

7. Learning about ingredients is one of the best ways I have found to not eat junk food. If I can’t pronounce the words, or if they are all chemicals…. it really takes away my desire to eat it.

8. Health and fitness… eating right… it’s not about perfection. I tend to be all or nothing, and this journey is teaching me to be patient with myself, extend grace, and celebrate progress even small steps.

9. Cutting down on sugar and white bread, flour, potatoes, etc has really improved the stability of my blood sugar. Love that!

10. Stress can really affect my health. All of these years, I thought that was a myth…. turns out it’s true! I’m working on managing stress and making hard decisions about protecting my stress levels.

How has your month been so far with your “one word”? What do you have planned for the rest of the month?

Please link up and share with us!

If you would also grab the button above, save it off to your computer, and use it in the post you are linking up, I would be most grateful.

Please be sure to link back to this post so that other friends who may feel all alone with their “one little word” might see the button and decide to hop over here and link up.

Who’s with me? Let’s link up, sweet friends! Please “Share” this post too so more people can join us! I can’t wait to read all about what is going on with your “one word” choices!

I like to put things in little boxes.

I actually love to organize … my closets, my schedule, my life.

Just last month, when I chose “health” to be my one word for 2013, I immediately recognized the need for a new little box in my life. I was missing the “health” box, so I excitedly got a shiny new box, wrapped it in pink paper, launched a new blog (“Real Food Experiment“), and announced to the world that 2013 would be the year that I would start to get healthy!

Woo hoo!

However, this past month has taught me that not everything in life can be put into it’s own box.

I started the Real Food Experiment blog because “Only a Breath” (my baby) is my “faith” blog. It seemed strange to mix food and faith, because I reasoned, that they are completely different things. Being healthy and eating well has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus Christ and the hope we have in Him.

…. or does it?

Your comments first made me think about this question. Many of you said that not only are health and faith related, but many insisted that the two are in fact inseparable.

As I journeyed through the chaos of this past month (has anyone noticed I’ve been missing in action? I’ll tell you the story if you’re interested….), I realized that I have to stop treating my health like it’s some “separate” little part of my life that I can just take out once a week and pet, then put it back into its little box for the week.

Every day…. every breath… every bite… every step….

It’s actually all an offering to Him, isn’t it?

So this is the crossroads I face. I must figure out how to live at the intersection of health and faith… and how to share it with you. My thought today is to close “Real Food Experiment” and incorporate all of the food/health information I am learning periodically into this blog, not to turn away readers or make anyone feel guilty if they are reading my blog while eating Oreo’s (and you certainly should go for that every once in a while!)… but just to share my journey with you.

I welcome your thoughts, sweet friends… and I’ve missed you this week!

How has your month been so far with your “one word”? What do you have planned for the rest of the month? Please link up and share with us!

If you would also grab the button above, save it off to your computer, and use it in the post you are linking up, I would be most grateful.

Please be sure to link back to this post so that other friends who may feel all alone with their “one little word” might see the button and decide to hop over here and link up.

Who’s with me? Let’s link up, sweet friends! Please “Share” this post too so more people can join us! I can’t wait to read all about what is going on with your “one word” choices!

“Give”.

A simple word that I felt God was placing on my heart at the beginning of 2012. I honestly can’t express to you how much that one word has changed my whole life, and I am overwhelmingly blessed by the lessons God taught me through it. If I could sum up what I learned it would be this: “Giving to others is obeying God’s call to love, worship Him, and to see Jesus in each person….”

….goodbye 2012, thank you for the lessons. hello, 2013…

This year, I really expected God to lay some big word on my heart because I always pray that God would show me my biggest struggle. For instance, I am NOT a “giving” person. I am a “saving” person… for rainy days, hard economical times, dangerous situations, etc. God changed my heart through “give”, and I want him to do the same in 2013.

However, I just felt God’s finger pointing my heart to how I compare myself to others, especially with physical appearance. Then, I got very, very sick (in bed for days) right after Thanksgiving. I spent much of that time praying and just seeking God. It was like God was giving me this “time out” to understand how terribly I neglect my health. Because of that, I continually get very run down and sick. Also, the reason I compare myself to others is because I don’t feel good about my own health/body.

Comparing my “outside” self to the “outsides” of others is never the answer.

I felt God calling me to take some time to get healthy.

“But God”, I reasoned, “this isn’t really spiritual enough! I need something really DEEP — like trust, faith, sacrifice, offering, praise — I love these words, and these are the ones I think we should go with!”

However, after really praying about it, I realized that I cannot be God’s servant if I am not physically taking care of myself. If my body is God’s temple, and I am tearing down the temple, what does that say?

In order for me to be a better mom, wife, friend, employee, blogger, person, …. I have to be healthy.

So, this year, my one word … surprising to me… is HEALTH.

…. and my surprise announcement……

I’m starting a new blog to help me on this journey from swapping junk foods for real foods!!!!!

My new blog is called “Real Food Experiment” and will record my “experiments” throughout the year with taking better care of my health through BABY steps (because I am officially a baby). If you are like me and eat junk food, fast food, chips, oreos (aren’ts oreo’s a food group?), coffee, and basically trash….. join me! I promise that we can do this together!

Why a new blog? Well, honestly, I need the accountability. I have tried those food diaries and apps, but they just don’t work for me. I understand that if I eat 12 twinkies and don’t exercise, that I have too many calories. That’s not exactly rocket science. However, I never really factored in how I feel (moods, skin/hair, weight, etc) and the effects that food has on my daily life.

Click here to read more about “Real Food Experiment” and how each experiment will work! I would love for you to join me!

p.s. I’m still making FREE One Word blog buttons! PLEASE read this post for details on the information I need from you in order to make you one — thank you! PLEASE don’t be shy! I WANT to make them for you!!!  … AND remember to link up here on the 15th of each month as we “check in” with our “One Word” progress!!! On January 15, we can each link up our introductory post! I can’t wait for you to see the gallery of buttons and word choices!!!