The Change in me

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you". - Deuteronomy 31:6

Hello Everyone! I do apologize for being away for soooo long!!! I have not blogged in so long..I hope I can remember how!

I wanted to start blogging again because I would like to go in a different direction with my blog. I am not going to change the title of the blog but I would like to start something new.

In February of this year I went to the doctor for my yearly check up and she got pretty straight with me. Either change my eating habits and start taking care of myself or die young. Well, you would think that I would be upset with her..how dare she say such a thing! But I was not upset at all, I was grateful. She had told me out loud what I have known for a long time. I had not been taking care of myself and because of that I was on a couple of medications that I really wanted to get off of. So after I left the doctors office that day, I had a whole new outlook on life. I was going to do just what she said...change. Everything started out great, I was eating totally different and I was exercising every day for at least an hour. In March, Jason and I went on vacation to Florida ,and I stuck to my lifestyle change pretty good even there! Then March 19, 2010 happened.
I was involved in a pretty bad car accident. I T-boned a 16 year old girl that decided that Stop signs were NOT meant for her. Our car was totally destroyed and so was my neck. There were a couple of "firsts" for me that night: my first ride in an ambulance, my first experience in full immobility traction, my first time being on a hard plastic backboard for 31/2 hours while they ran tests to make sure i did not have a break in my back or neck or brain damage, and my first time being so scared and not being in control of a situation that I was in. In the end I came out ok, but I had severe whip lash that caused soft tissue damage in my neck and my back was really sprained from impact. I thank God, everytime I think about it, that He was there with me the whole time. The reason i know this is I am able to use the lower half of my body. He is a faithful God!!!!
After the car accident my getting-healthy plan went completely out the window. The doctor put me in a neck brace for a week, and i was in constant pain all over the top half of my body for two weeks straight. Daily activities were not easy for me at all, as I could barely hold my neck up and just being on my feet for any amount of time was so tiring. So there was no way I was cooking the right foods or exercising at all. So everything I worked so hard for the past month I blew in two weeks. Since February up to the time of the accident I had lost 5-7 lbs which is a healthy amount to lose in that time frame, but since the accident I have gained it all back. I hate excuses and I really hate that I am using the car accident as an excuse for myself , but when you don't even feel like walking around or even sitting up, things like exercising, grocery shopping, or cooking are not an option.

Recently things have been getting much better.
I was in physical therapy for the damage in my neck, but have been released due to my healing quicker than they had imagined. Thank you again God!
I am no longer in constant pain, and am back to normal daily activities. SO.... since I have no excuse not to get back to my previously-established habits, why haven't I?

I do not have the best self-discipline in the world. Once I am out of a habit, it takes all my strength to get back into it. Usually I try one day and then give up. It is a major flaw! But if I don't make these changes now, the alternative is to be on medication or end up in the hospital with a heart attack at age 40.

SO.......
Here here is my new direction that I was talking about in the beginning of this blog. I have made the decision today, April 29, 2010, to make a change...a change in me, for me. I am going to use this blog as my daily accountability partner, and all of you that read this daily(which I think there are only 7 of you) will be coming along on this journey with me! There will be up's and down's, I expect that, but if I get on here each day and tell you what is going on, I think it will make it easier on decisions that I make daily.

The car accident showed me several things; Live each moment, Praise God for everything and for being in even the smallest things, and Don't take life for granted. I have been doing that last one for a while now.

I titled my blog "Living in a Skinny Womens World" and that is not going to change. I do that everyday and I am ok with it, and with the way that I look. This journey is not about looks, it is about health. The women on my mom's side of the family have very strong life genes, and they live long, healthy lives. Most of them have lived into their late 90's with their mind fully intact. I want to carry on that tradition, and the only way I can is by starting now- today. I know what I have to do and I have all the tools, along with the support of a wonderful loving husband (which makes all the difference in the world). It is up to me to start making the change,

So let the journey begin......

~Andi

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal". (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)