Day 389, God, Help Me to Overcome
Friday Afternoon
Thursday, my weight went up again. Today it dropped again. Yay! I have started a new pattern of eating: fasting 15 hours until 8:30 AM, then eating ¼ of my calories for breakfast, ¼ of my calories at 11:30 AM, ¼ at 2:30 PM and ¼ at supper at 5:30 PM.
That way I only have to wait less than three hours between meals, except at night when I do an intermittent fast for 15 hours. Fasting 15 hours is quite a stretch, but I am getting close to being able to do it. The number of daily calories I will be consuming is less than what I burn but not much, so my weight loss will be gradual or I should say up and down. This pattern, which includes a full meal at 2:30 PM, helps me get through the 3 PM and 4 PM munchies, which have plagued me ever since I started dieting as a teenager.
Yesterday, my food log looked like this:
Notice, I had a small serving of Silk almond milk at 9:23 PM. Other than that, I conformed to my diet very well. I did okay today too, but tomorrow I will show you that if all goes well tonight. I pray to God that he will help me overcome the behaviors that have kept me from succeeding at losing 15 pounds so far. Today, I created a couple of recipes. However, I did not snap pictures. I plan to do that more regularly and develop my creativity and photography skills.
Are you excited about what is coming? I am.
Aspirations
Today, I mind-mapped my day in my Aspirations notebook. I also used a Mind Meister mind map that reflects my JV Life Tracker master activity list, which I have been using for my meditation link, for instance. Today was a relaxing day. I read Unshakeable Trust by Joyce Meyer, which is about trusting God all the time. We did not have any medical appointments today, which made the day more relaxing. My husband’s birthday is on Sunday. We plan to go out for lunch at the Corner Bakery Cafe, which is down on the corner.
Health at Home
My husband, my baby, is faring a bit better. I pray things will continue to go smoothly. I do not want to visit him in Denver Springs hospital any time soon. I think he has been losing weight lately because he has cut out Ruffles potato chips, etc. That is a good thing.
Friday Evening
Dinner
I am currently baking dinner, starting to feel my appetite. I had two salads today, which were great. I am looking forward to a hot meal. At the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, I learned about raw food diets. Eating raw helps prevent acrylamide formation on baked food, which can cause nerve damage, muscle weakness, and impaired muscle coordination. Right now, I am not ready to commit to all raw foods, but having as many as the digestive system will allow is not a bad idea.
Communication with God
I am glad I am learning from Joyce Meyer who is a Bible teacher. She says forcing communication with God can give you messages from the devil. God trusts us to make our own decisions and go for periods of time without his input. It is not necessary to get every detailed instruction from God. Big decisions though are best made prayerfully. That is her view of God, and it may work for me also. I relied for years on my inner voice, but I realized this May, Day 240 and 242, that what I thought was God is not. Instead, I can rely more on the Holy Bible for communication from God.
Reading
Of course, Joyce does not believe there is any limit on what we say to God in prayer. I finished Unshakeable Trust tonight.
So far in 2019, I have read the following titles, sharing thoughts about most of them in my blog. I hope you will search my blog for these titles and authors and review the thoughts I had about them.
Unlimited Memory, Kevin Horsely
Psycho-Cybernetics, Maxwell Maltz, M.D.
The Dental Diet, Steven Lin, D.D.S.
Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment with Lithium, Dan Hild
Damn You, Weight Loss Plateaus!: 7 Easy Steps to Move Beyond Frustration & Finally See Movement On Scale, Heather Tucker The Honeymoon Effect, Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.
Human By Design, Gregg Braden
Recovering Sanity, Edward Podvoll, Ph.D.
Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression & Bipolar, Natasha Tracy
Got Bipolar?, Alfredo Zotti
Fat Chance, Robert H. Lustig, M.D.
Feeling Good, David D. Burns, M.D.
The Time Paradox, Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D., John Boyd, Ph.D.
Focus, Daniel Goleman, Ph.D.
Linchpin, Seth Godin
Nothing Changes Until You Do, Mike Robbins
The Future of Happiness, Amy Blankson
The Power of Positive Self-Talk, Kim Fredrickson
Our Bible: How We Got It, Charles Leach
Unshakeable Trust, Joyce Meyer
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The book that had the greatest positive influence on me was probably Feeling Good by Dr. David Burns. I have been able to root out cognitive distortions from my thinking, as described in Day 270, 276, and 278, which has spared me depression and anxiety. The only time since I had a serious problem with anxiety was when I made a poor choice in getting movers to move my things from Utah to Colorado in July. I still do not know how many things got broken, but at least one thing did. However, I managed to get through that experience with Dr. David Burns’ help.
Each of these books was great in its own way. I look forward to selecting many more titles to peruse. I greatly enjoy reading and the learning that goes along with it or can if I apply myself.
Preparing For a Night of Good Sleep
5-10 things I am grateful for:
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morning comments, feelings, ideas, moods, and empowering questions:
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mood and energy:
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0-100
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comments
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mood:
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70
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slightly hungry and tired but not bad considering how late it is
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energy:
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60
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ready to go to bed, but not too tired to get ready
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accomplishments:
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accomplishment
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the reason it is important
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next action(s)
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1
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I am still able to recite my 10 positive affirmations.
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Positive mental attitude
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Recite them whenever you feel they are needed.
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2
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I am staying mentally focused throughout the day. My concentration is good.
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I am using the prefrontal cortex in the brain.
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Continue.
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3
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I memorized the functions of the prefrontal cortex today:
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PFC is needed for success
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Use these functions. Keep taking lithium to protect the prefrontal cortex from the damage bipolar disorder does to it.
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4
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I showed great progress on my neck x-ray. I have only two of the five subluxations I originally had.
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Health
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See the chiropractor once per week.
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5
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I lost some weight and think my plans are in place to lose more. (The red dress picture is from 2016 when I was leaner. It is my inspiration.)
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Weight Loss
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Continue with plans. Pray to God for help.
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Saturday Morning
I fasted last night from after supper on. Now I just need to fast until 8:30 AM. It is 5:52 AM now. I plan to drink water though, in case you are wondering whether I am fasting from water also. [It is 7:42 AM now. I am still fasting but very hungry.]
I just spent some time planning the upcoming week and mind mapping it into my Aspirations notebook. The sun has not risen, but I am excited about the new day. I scored JV Life Tracker this morning and got 90 points for yesterday.
Prayer
Morning Prayer
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If you would like to join me on this journey from the beginning, please start with Day One.