A Full Plate

Wednesdays are busy days around here. I get up, put my AirPods in, and start getting ready for the day. I listen to the BLE accountability call while getting ready to head out the door. As soon as I’m ready, I drive to our local farmer’s market.

There, I buy all the vegetables.

I drive across the street to the grocery store to get a few odds and ends that I can’t get at the farmer’s market–avocados, milk, and some fruit.

I get home right at 9:00. That’s breakfast time for me. I eat my bright breakfast that is already prepared. All I have to do is warm up my barley, and it’s ready to eat.

I usually have a few Marco Polos to listen to, work on my Bible study, and then maybe a chore or two before my Mastermind Group meets. I meet with three other women in other parts of the country that are on the same journey and suffer from the same affliction that I do.

By now it’s lunch time. Again, my meal is prepped ahead of time, and it’s ready within a few minutes. Jimmy (our dog) has learned to like his vegetables. I will often give him a little nibble of a carrot or a piece of broccoli, always saying its name out loud before I give it to him in hopes that he will learn the names. I’ll check to see if the BLE weekly vlog has been released yet and listen if it has.

Now it’s back to the kitchen where I’ll prep the vegetables I bought this morning. Today I used my spiralizer on the zucchini and yellow squash I bought and put it in a bowl for later. Then I used it on cucumbers and onions and cut up some tomatoes to make a salad. I added some vinegar and let it marinade until tomorrow.

This evening I’ll go on a run with my running group. Josh, the restaurant owner, will make my salad to my specifications as he does each week. I’ll ask him to fix me “my regular salad” with every vegetable he has in the kitchen, reminding him to leave off the onion. I’ll have a delicious, bright salad ready for me after my run.

I’ll stay and have dinner with my running friends. I’ll be told time and again how yummy my food looks. Running is our one common denominator. Just like in BLE, I’ve grown to love these people. Just like BLE, we’ve been through thick and thin together–literally. Just like BLE, we love and support each other and huddle around anyone that needs extra support–like when one of our members was diagnosed with cancer.

When I go to leave, Josh will ask me how my run was and what my plans are for the weekend. I will have to pause and think, “What are we doing this weekend?”

By the time I get home, I’ll be tired and ready for bed as I should be. After three bright meals and some exercise, I’ll sleep well. I will be replenished and ready for another day thanks to all the nutritious food I ate the day before. It matters. It really does.

Better is a dish of vegetables where love is Than a fattened ox served with hatred. Proverbs 15:17

Landing the Plane

I have had so many nsv’s recently. I know we call these non-scale victories, but they could not have happened without the weight loss and the nutrition I receive by following the fabulous plan.

I went Thursday and was fitted for new running shoes. I haven’t actually been fitted since before I started BLE.

*I no longer need a wide shoe!

*I no longer need to wear the shoe that has the most support you can find.

*I’m trying my new shoes without orthotics to see if I still need them.

I am now training for a half marathon–one more thing I could not have done without following the plan, finding my bright-size body, and reaping the benefits of the nutritious food that I eat every day. Now that I’m landing the plane, I’ve learned to switch my focus to the NSV’s instead of the weight loss, and they just keep coming!

Bright Ticket Week Ends Today!

This is just a reminder that Bright Ticket Week ends Monday, November 22 at 11:59 pm Pacific Time. If you need a bright ticket code, my code is ghnfk8.

Membership is Here! | Bright Ticket Concierge

A Fresh, New Start to 2022

I am part of the Bright Line Eating movement.  It is not a diet, but a lifestyle which I have now adopted.  I tried the 14-day Challenge in November 2018 and then spent two years proving to myself that I could not do it alone.  In October 2020, I went all-in by joining bootcamp and then Bright Lifers to get the support I needed.  I am now a few pounds from my goal range and am the healthiest I’ve ever been!

The mission of Bright Line Eating is to have one million Bright Body Transformations by 2025 and to have global obesity trending downward by 2030.  I will be one of those million Bright Body Transformations.  I would love for you to join me.  2022 is going to pass us by no matter what.  Why not start your Bright Transformation now and enter 2022 with a fresh, new start?

On November 16, Bright Line Eating will be changing to a membership plan.  From November 16 to 23, you can lock in the All-In membership at a cost of $40 a month or $400 a year (vs. $50 a month and $500 a year) using my Bright Ticket code ghnfk8 at this link:  https://ble.life/BrightTicket .

Starting November 23, Bright Line Eating will offer a Core membership at $20 a month or $200 a year.  There is no code needed to get this price on the Core membership.

The 14 day challenge is free until November 16 at this url:  http://ble.life/free14 .

Bright Line Eating has changed my life.  There is no other program like it available.  My goal is to share my Bright Body Transformation so that others can also experience a life of being happy, healthy, and free.

Please contact me with your questions.

The New Bright Line Eating

This week’s vlog is about the new membership structure for Bright Line Eating. Bright Line Eating will soon be affordable for everyone! November 16 is when the new membership structure goes into effect.

As I understand it, there will be two levels of membership: Core and All-In.

Core: $20 per month or $200 per year. This includes Boot Camp, Bright Line Holiday, and what we now know as Bright Lifers. Once Boot Camp is completed, you will get an invite to All-Access.

All-Access: $50 per month or $500 per year. This gives you all-access to Boot Camp, most former Bright Line Eating courses, and all future Bright Line Eating courses. This includes Bright Line Holiday which will begin on November 23, Reboot/Rezoom which starts January 1, and Maintenance 1, Maintenance 2, and Maintenance 3 which will run consecutively after Reboot/Rezoom. That’s a year of courses for $500.

You may have heard about Bright Tickets floating around. With a Bright Ticket, you can get a discounted price on All-Access from November 16-22–$40 per month, $400 per year, or $1750 for five years. Those that choose the five year option will get the opportunity to beta test the new app Bright Line Eating is creating. This price will be “locked in” and you can renew your membership continually at this rate.

To use a Bright Ticket go here between November 16 and 22: http://ble.life/brightticket . You are welcome to use my Bright Ticket number: ghnfk8 .

Susan does a great job in this week’s vlog explaining the membership and the new courses coming up.

Want to Give Bright Line Eating a Try?

The 14-day Challenge is now free through November 16. This is a great way to dip your toe in the water. And, you are doing just that. This is only a glimpse of the support and information you get during bootcamp or any of the other courses offered by Bright Line Eating.

The 14-day Challenge is FREE through November 16 using the link below. Use this link for yourself and/or pass it on to your friends who might want to give Bright Line Eating a try.

After all, what do you have to lose?

https://ble.life/free14

Reflection: What I’ve Gained this Past Year

I started boot camp one year ago today. Not just any boot camp, but Bright Line Eating (BLE) boot camp. I actually started sticking to the plan the week before, so this is week 53 of following the plan.

Prior to that, I spent two years proving to myself that I could not do BLE alone. I was doing Almost BLE which basically put me on maintenance. I maintained my weight for those two years, which I’m thankful for. The scale was starting to go up and I decided that I had to do something about it now!

Joining boot camp was the best thing I ever did. I was put in a Facebook group of about 500 people going down the same path that I was. We learned the intricacies of BLE together and encouraged one another. Our House is still going strong–people are still posting and encouraging each other every day.

I’ve met some incredible people that I would’ve never met otherwise. Some of my closest BLE friends are several time zones away, some are right here in my city. Some I’ve gotten to meet in person, many I hope to meet one day. We have literally been through thick and thin together.

I’ve lost 56 pounds in the last year. But what I’ve gained is enormous:

• A morning routine that smoothly starts every day.
• A night time routine that finishes the day and prepares me for tomorrow.
• I’ve learned to love myself so that I can love others.
• I’ve learned to care for myself first so that I can care for others.
• I’m learning what my triggers are and how to keep from pulling the trigger and causing an explosion.
• I’m learning to feel the feelings instead of running to the kitchen.
• I have peace with my food.
• The food chatter is gone!
• I know that I have the support of a community of Bright Line Eaters.

Bright Line Eating is a lifestyle. I finally jumped all in–came all the way in and sat all the way down so to speak. Getting rid of the food chatter and gaining peace with my food has freed up my mind for so many other things. I have lots of energy now because I am not wasting it on food chatter.

It’s been a long journey that isn’t over yet, but I believe God has brought me to each place and brought certain people into my life at the perfect time. I am so thankful to be happy, healthy, and free.

O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Psalm 34:8

Then and now.

Dwelling on Excellence

Good day, friends. My, it has been a while. Not only that, we are living in a very different world than the last time I wrote. Life certainly has changed for me, and I’m sure it has for you too.

It seemed like the decade was getting off to a great start when we got punched in the gut. First there were recommended precautions, then there were declarations made by the governor and local authorities. Many people started working from home before businesses were required to shut their doors. Finally, businesses were required to shut their doors regardless of the preparations they had made. Only “essential” businesses were allowed to stay open. That begs the question,

What is an “essential” business, anyway?

If I’m a business owner and I rely on the income from my business to buy groceries and pay the rent, then in my eyes, my business is essential. If I work for an employer and my income is essential for me to be able to put gas in my car and pay the electric bill, then that business is essential. If I rely on a business for life-sustaining goods such as food and water, then that business is essential. In my eyes, there are very few businesses that are not essential.

Does that mean that I have to frequent any of those businesses? Absolutely not. I can choose to take the precautions I believe necessary in order to avoid contact with others. In these days of DoorDash and instacart, you can stay holed up in your home for weeks on end if you really found it necessary.

That said, what have I been doing with myself?

At first, I was spending hours online trying to find the things we needed. I tried to order as many groceries as I could online so that all we had to do was pick them up. As you’ve probably heard, reserving a pick up time was easier said than done. I’d wait for my order to see what I did and didn’t get, and then go to another store to try to get the things we didn’t get. It’s been interesting.

Then there was the whole thing of ordering the non-grocery items that we needed. The disadvantage of ordering some things online is the fact that there are too many choices! Trying to find what you need at the best cost (with or without shipping) can suck time and life right out of you. So far, we’ve been able to make it work.

What is the one good thing that’s come out of this? I’ve been able to concentrate on my running. Not only has the weather been great, but I now have absolutely no conflicts! No 4-H meetings, no church meetings, not even a family get together!

• 

  First signs of spring

• 

  An old friend . . . The Flyover

• 

  Lovely and excellent

• 

  Worthy of praise

• 

  Physical distance running

These are a few of my favorite things!

I’m going to stop here before this post gets too lengthy. I will do a more in-depth update in a future post. I do hope that you find yourself healthy and doing well. I know these are trying times for all of us.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Philippians 4:8

Happy New Decade!

Happy New Year! Can you believe it is here? The start of a new year . . . the start of a new decade! Have you thought about it? Where were you (physically, spiritually, emotionally) in 2010? How has your life changed?

Physically, I weighed more than 100 pounds than I do today. I truly did not realize how big I was. I could not walk from the front door of my house to the street/mailbox without huffing and puffing. My oldest graduated from high school in the summer and moved to Florida in the fall. My dad passed away in June. My husband had his third joint replacement surgery in less than a year. It was definitely a year of ups and downs. It felt like the downs outweighed the ups in 2010.

Sometime after that, I decided that it was time for me to pay attention to myself and what I needed instead of devoting all of my time and energy to others. My two older children were out of high school, married, and on their own. My youngest was not school age yet, so I had the time and energy to focus on what I needed.

I started by walking. I didn’t really focus on my diet. I tried to eat “healthier,” but my focus was getting exercise. After all, we hear all of the time that to lose weight you need to eat less and move more. Eventually I tried some group exercise classes at my local community center. The best thing I got from that was a personal trainer that convinced me that I could do anything I wanted.

A friend at church introduced me to juicing. This was a big influence in changing the way I ate. Not only did juicing itself help stop the cravings, it also acted as a stepping stone to adopting healthier food choices. I decided to cut out as much highly processed food as possible. This put an end to most junk food and foods containing flour and sugar. Adopting the Bright Line Eating lifestyle was just another step from where I already was.

Most people over estimate what can be achieved in a year and under estimate what can be done in a decade.

Neil Martin

Convinced that I could accomplish anything, I signed up for a Couch to 5K program. After watching me run my first 5K, my oldest daughter started running with me and came up with the crazy idea for us to run a 5K a month. This has kept me running all year long and has led to meeting new people and some wonderful friendships.

Now, as we go into a new year and a new decade, I’m thinking about not only how my life might be different in a year, but also how my life might be different in a decade. Ten years ago if you told me I’d be starting off 2020 with a run with my running buddies, I’d tell you that you were crazy–and so were they! Today, I can’t wait to get out there!

That said, I’m excited to see what the next year and the next decade have in store! In the next decade, my youngest will be an adult. I have grandchildren that will be teenagers. Perhaps there will be more grandchildren! Will I still be running? Will I still be writing this blog? I can’t imagine how technology will change between now and then. What are your expectations for the next decade?

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

Problem Solved

It certainly has been an interesting Fall. It seemed like we started by going straight from Summer to Winter. We had measurable snow on October 30th! It is very unusual for us to have snow in them on the month of October.

As I mentioned in last week’s post, I was looking into fitness center memberships. The weather had caused us to cancel three of our running sessions already. It looked as if it was going to be a long, cold winter; and I didn’t have a Plan B when I was not able to go outside. Of course, weather is not always the reason for not going out.

I was having a difficult time jumping into the gym membership for one simple reason: it requires a year-long commitment. I really only need one during the winter months, so paying for something year-round was not what I needed and seemed like a waste of money. Our community center does have a 20-swipe pass that you can buy, and that is what I was leaning toward. Then came an unexpected surprise. I got a treadmill!

The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind until a “neighbor” on Nextdoor was offering one up. I was not able to get to it right away, so I thought for sure that it would be gone before I got there. However, to my surprise, I was able to snatch this one up.

I find this ironic since I gave my last treadmill away since I wasn’t using it. Once I started running and had a gym membership, I didn’t see the reason to keep it. Also, it was not made for running, so all I could do was walk on it.

This treadmill was made for running and even has pre-programmed workouts built into it. I decided to give the first workout a try yesterday. I was expecting it to be a “walk in the park” so to speak since it was the first one on the list. It was quite a bit more than I was expecting, but it was ok. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a treadmill, so it’s going to take some getting used to.

I really was torn on how to resolve this problem. I’m so excited that it has been taken care of. Not only that, Fabienne seems to be enjoying it as well.

In other news, I went to a planning meeting this last week for my 35th high school class reunion. I can’t believe it’s been that long! About 10 people attended the meeting. It was nice to see people that I hadn’t seen for quite a while. I did attend our last reunion, but it was hard to talk to everyone. Afterwards, I talked with The Boy Nextdoor and he mentioned that the “clicks” have finally gone away.

Photo by George Huffman on Unsplash

And, how are we planning to start our reunion day? With a 5K! I swear it was not my idea! The lady heading up the planning committee came to the meeting with that idea already in her head. Naturally, that’s something I’m interested in and want to help with, so I’ve jumped on that wagon. I’m designing t-shirts and finisher’s medals as we speak!

The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him. Lamentations 3:25