Mapping Out the Journey

Hello again! I have quickly realized I am nowhere close to being prepared to really launch a blog, new workout regimen, nutrition plan and devotional series THIS WEEK. Therefore, the next four days are dedicated to planning and defining my goals around my values.

So what does “LIVE” mean to me? It is life. It is all that makes up who I am, how I spend my time, and the purpose I am called to fulfill. At the core is my Christian faith and being led by the Spirit of God to walk out His will. Secondary are my relationships with my husband and children, meeting them where they are, spending time with them, edifying them, helping them grow – and just having FUN. Third are my relationships with others – parents, siblings, friends and the community around me.

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I hope to honor and serve them the best I know how. Fourth is being a positive influence in my career and giving 110%. Fifth, is honoring my desire to create imagery, photography, and write. All these things are living to me. While I prioritize them here, I recognize at any given time one may require more of my
focus than another, but the key is to balance and trust God to enable me to be who I need to be in each area. For me, this is LIVING.

What does the term “EAT” look like to me? Am I Paleo? Ketogenic? High Carb? Low Carb? Low fat? I prefer to not place myself in any specific dietary camp. I am pretty sure I have tried them all, and in turn
found downsides to each. I do prefer to eat real, whole foods, which means most of my food pics will consist of fresh veggies, fruit, complex carbs and healthy meats and fats. However, I am human and I do like to celebrate, so I may have a fun pic with an awesome dessert or fun meal from time to time. Starting out, I will be eating to support the building of muscle. As I understand it, this requires a little higher carb ratio, compared to protein and fat on workout days. On non-workout days, the macros will shift to higher fat, protein and lower carb macros. This provides the glucose my muscles need when I am working out and during recovery, but also provides the carb cycling effect which may allow my body to access stored fat or fuel. Once I move into leaning down, all this will change. Which is how I define EATING – consuming nutrient dense foods to support my current health and physique goals.

How am I going to “SWEAT”? Lifting, lifting and MORE lifting. Again, building muscle requires I lift to begin building muscle and adding definition to my physique. Four days a week I will alternate between  upper and lower body, and rest a day between each lift day. Since I am fairly sedentary in my career, I will be walking in the morning and taking frequent walks throughout the day, in order to keep the blood and oxygen circulating sufficiently. Again, this will change as my body changes and adapts, but for now, this is where I will be starting, and this is how I will be SWEATING.

I have contemplated compartmentalizing each of these three areas and sub-areas, into different spaces on this site and blog. But that is not how life functions. Life is a dance between all the aspects that make us, us. Sure, I will tag certain things and may even focus on one area more than another on any given day, but the point of this blog is to capture the EXPERIENCE and JOURNEY – which does not fit into any
specific set of buckets or order of buckets. It just is and that is exactly what I will blog about. Expect to see insights from my devotions and relationships, pics and posts of what I am eating that day, how I hit it in the gym, and certainly some inspirational photos and funny, perhaps even serious, stories about what just “IS” in my life at the moment. Getting closer...