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I am the DETERMINED Chef!

 So, as many of you know I moved to Chicago a few weeks ago to take a job at the Live-in Relief Parent for SOS Children's Village Illinois, where I provide relief for foster parents in the villages. It is exciting, tiring, frustrating at times, but completely worth it. I get to make a difference in the lives of kids going through trauma and I get to witness their resilience. I'm excited to be living in Chicago, which was a dream of mine since the time I was 15 and visited the city for the first time. 

Spring is coming and with that some pretty good moments to be had, which leads me to my post for today. I am the DETERMINED Chef. Two years ago I started blogging about my desire to lose 100 lbs and create 100 healthy recipes in one year; then it became two years. And now here I am at the end of year two and I actually weigh ten pounds more than I did two years ago. I have reached 320 pounds and it breaks my heart a bit. In 8 years I've managed to put on the weight of an entire human being. I am about double the weight I should be and that scares me and it also makes me feel a bit indignant. I am disgusted to the point that I said enough is enough. No more binges on sweets. No more second and third helpings of really good food. It's time to end my ban on doing any more exercise other than walking. I live in the city now so I can join a gym!

Well, that's exactly what I did. I joined LA Fitness a couple weeks ago and it has been such a great decision. I am working with a personal trainer once a week and I decided this week that I'm going to go to yoga once a week and then do my strength training twice a week. Today, I worked on the bottom half of my body, which needs lots of help, that and my stomach, which I am going to lose. I pushed myself and added more weight to the reps I did than last week and it felt good. Now I am going to push myself to try yoga because it helps with toning the body and I need that. I am determined to lost the weight and eat right and become the person that I know I can be...fully healthy.

I will continue to post about my progress and I will post recipes as I create them. I am doing the Daniel Fast for Lent (Feb 17 - April 1), using the recipes I created in 2012 for Celebrate Recovery's Daniel Fast. I encourage you to join me on this journey. I will also be going through my book in those 40 days as well. I will set it up on Zoom, so anyone who wants to join in can, just email me at confessionsandbeyond@gmail.com and I will add you to the list. I hope that my transparency encourages you to face feelings you may be having about your own weight. I know that this is my year to lose 75 pounds, not 100. I am trying to be a bit more realistic. I will work on losing about 50 pounds in 2022, to get me down to a more reasonable weight for my body type. After Lent, I will be starting the Green Smoothie Cleanse and once I get the hang of what I can and cannot eat, I will get back to creating more recipes.

Thank you for being on this journey with me. I am determined to do it and with a smile on my face, knowing that this is my time to shine and to be healthy doing it! 

Sincerely,

The Determined Chef



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