Isn’t it amazing how bad, really bad habits can sneak up on you?

Two years ago, I was doing fine. No, I was doing better than fine, I was doing great.

I had dropped over 60 pounds, was eating healthier than I ever had in my life, and exercising on a very regular basis.

Fast forward 2 years and you can find me sitting on my living room couch eating bowlfuls of popcorn while watching The Biggest Loser.

Oh, and those 60 pounds I lost? I was able to locate a bunch of them.

Many factors contributed to my backsliding, way too numerous (and embarrassing) to go into here. But one of the chief ones was my need for easy.

• “It would just be easier to drive-thru instead of cooking tonight.”
• “I don’t have time to workout.” (but apparently I had time to watch the Real Housewives of New York City)
• “I just bought the frozen pizza – I thought it would be easier.”
• “I worked hard today, I don’t want to go for a walk. Let’s just relax tonight.”

The problem is easier has made me gain weight and left me feeling run down. Oh and chest pains? So not sexy.

So things around our house are going to get a whole lot less easy.

Starting today, with a few exceptions*, Roger and I are not going to be eating out, picking up, driving thru for the next 30 days.

Now for some of you that would be no big deal. For me, this is a major change in lifestyle. I am guessing, between Starbucks runs, lunches out with Roger, hitting the frozen yogurt store, and drive thru Diet Cokes, I probably hit some kind of eating establishment 2-3 times a day.

Wow, it was really embarrassing to write that sentence.

Not only have we taken a hit in the waistline, this is an obvious money drain that we needed to plug up.

We are not doing this to create some new kind of reality show, we are doing thing to put some mindfulness back into our eating and spending. We are not looking for perfection from ourselves, but a change in the speed in our lives. (That being said, if any of you care to keep me accountable, I will be happy to post any of my missteps/victories here.)

*So, here are our rules/exceptions:

• No personal money will be spent on eating out. If it is not a business expense or we don’t have a giftcard, it ain’t happening.
• Previous Engagements Eating engagements already set up (one at Starbucks with my friend Dina,) along with my weekly date with my son, Justen, will be kept – but I will only use gift cards I already have to eat there. (I will be ordering a lot of drip coffee…)
• Business Stuff Roger and I have a weekly lunch meeting to go over ministry stuff. Also, I write with friends at a coffee shop twice a week and need to order something so I don’t get arrested for vagrancy. If Roger or I need to meet someone for business, this is OK – we will just talk with each other first (being mindful and all.)

So one of the ramifications of this is I am going to start cooking again. My freezer meals have been woefully low for a while and it is time to ramp them back up.

So I am looking for two kinds of comments today:

1. Is there something in your life that you are looking to be more mindful about? Eating, spending time with your kids? Exercising? And if so, what are you doing about it?
2. Do you have a great summertime recipe that I should try? I would love some with lots of veggies as we are trying to be healthier.

A commenter will be randomly chosen to win The Frozen Gourmet (just in case your goal is to eat at home – or not to stand in the middle of Safeway every night saying “What am I going to make for dinner.”

One of the biggest challenges I have had as a speaker (besides getting rid of all my “Umms”) has been setting healthy boundaries when it comes to when and where I speak. It is such a total and complete honor to be asked to speak to a group, so I have been really reluctant to say no to anyone. This year, with the book The Husband Project having come out I have spoken over 40 times since January 1^st. (I often don’t know what city I am in – thank God I have a navigational system that just tells me where to go.)

While it’s been the right decision to speak a lot to promote the new book, I probably haven’t made the best choice when it comes to a couple of groups I have said yes to in the past. (“You want me to come speak to your group?! For free?! And pay for my own gas?! And provide a breakfast casserole?! I am so there!”)

So this year I have had to commit to being Boundaries Girl – able to set healthy parameters in a single bound!

The problem with that, I have to say no a lot. I hate saying no. You see, I want you to like me. I am the Sally Fields of Christian speakers. But if the author of The Husband Project wants to continue to have a husband, I knew I needed to make a change.

My marketing guru, Rob Eagar, suggested (really, bullied me into) reading The Power of A Positive No by William Ury. This book can at just the right time – and has given me the tools to set great boundaries without all the guilt.

The whole key to this system is to figure out what your BIG YES is, in order to have your Positive No. In my case, my Big Yes is to having a personal life. So it makes it easier when someone calls and wants me to take a gig that doesn’t work for me or my family, to say a good healthy no.

So you are thinking to yourself – “Who cares? I am not a speaker, I don’t need to turn down speaking at a Moms group.” OK – but what about that committee at your kid’s school that the PTA president is trying to guilt you into taking? Or when your boss asks you to take on an additional project that you know is going to require a LOT of time away from your family? Do you know what your Big Yes is?

This has been a very freeing experience for me – to say yes to the right things and no to those things that aren’t healthy.

And don’t worry – this doesn’t mean that I won’t be speaking to Moms groups – but I probably won’t be bringing the casserole…

This past Saturday was the For Women Only Conference hosted by Girlfriends in Ministry and featuring Shaunti Feldhahn. If you have never heard Shaunti speak, or have never read her book, For Women Only, type really fast (or just click on this handy link: www.shaunti.com) and check out her website. I wish every one of the women I know could have been there – it was like taking a Master’s class in men.

Some of the best things I heard from Shaunti:

• “Many men feel like they are in a boxing ring with the lights shining down on them and everyone watching to see if they will mess up.”
• “Men have mental rolodexes of sexual images. One of the best things you as a wife can do is to fill up the rolodex yourself.”
• “The most powerful thing a woman can say to a man is “I’m proud of you.”"

   

  There were tons more, but you just have to read the book – it is super short, super easy and super eye opening.

   

  Kathi

It has been a wild and wooly week around the Lipp household. Not only was the For Women Only Conference this Saturday, (which besides me speaking at, Roger was producing,) but we have also made multiple trips to the ER for my youngest, Kimber. We have finally got it nailed down (bad, nasty strep) and now we are hunkering down with a bunch of girl movies and Jamba Juice smoothies….

So, to catch up on all of you fab winners, I went over to random.com to figure out the winners for all of the giveaways. But don’t worry, if you didn’t win, I have MORE giveaways this week.

Frozen Gourmet
Sandie Allan

The All About Us Series
ckhuggins

Women of Confidence
Kathryn Bechen

For Women Only and The Husband Project
Karen Q

So Long Status Quo
North

If you did win, send me an e-mail at info at kathilipp.com with your address and we will get it right out to you.

More tomorrow.

Hugs, kisses and lots of penicillin,

Kathi