Lord,

Grant me the Serenity

To accept the things I cannot change

Courage to change the things I can

And wisdom to know the difference.

I have been having a very hard time with my weight loss lately.  I started out so well at the beginning of Curves Complete but once I started to lose some weight I got lazy.  I’m doing great with exercising at Curves and have been going 4-5 times a week.  The eating I’m not doing so well with.

Now that I have been been on the program for almost 12 weeks I really understand how it works and how you are able to maintain your weight once the diet is over.  I’m glad that I have not put on all of the weight that I had lost at the beginning of this program but I need to lose more.  I am frustrated with myself for not sticking with it as it is such a great plan.  Now that I understand how the whole thing works I am starting over and am back on Phase 1.

This time I know that I can do it.  I understand that I need to just take one day at a time and focus on that day.  I understand how to maintain my weight once I am at my desired weight.  I understand that I just really need to make it through the 90 days on this plan.  This time I know that I can do it!  I am no longer desperate, I am determined.  I see and fully understand how this program works and I know that it’s the best thing for me to do.  I want to be healthy, not only for myself, but for my family.

One thing that my coach at Curves told me about was the Serenity Prayer.  To turn to it in times of weakness.  I remember as a little girl my Grandmother having that prayer hanging in her kitchen.  She had cross-stitched and framed it.  I still have that cross-stitching that she had done and I plan on hanging it up in my home now.

I also received a copy of that prayer in a MOMS Ministry group that I had participated in at Church.  The leaders of the group gave the Moms a copy of the Serenity Prayer which was printed on cardstock along with a butterfly on it.  We also received a pretty little feather type of a butterfly on a wire.  I have kept both of these for the past 3 years.  I decided to frame the prayer from the Moms Ministry so that I would notice it more and draw inspiration from it.

I used a frame, some scrapbook paper, a little lace, adhesive velcro and glue dots and I turned this:

Into this:

(I’m sorry about these pictures.  My camera is still lost and when I download the pictures from my phone onto my computer they always end up being too narrow and the sides cut off!)

I made this by cutting the scrapbook paper to fit into the frame, trimmed up my Serenity Prayer, attached the two papers to each other by using glue dots and then added some lace to the top and the bottom of the prayer which I also attached with glue dots.  For the butterfly I just used a piece of adhesive Velcro that I had in my stash.  I would think that a glue gone would be just fine but I just didn’t feel like working with the glue gone today. 

Now, whenever I get the urge to break my diet, I recite that prayer.  I need serenity to help me accept the fact that I’m getting older and do not have the body that I once did.  I need courage to face my stress eating and break that habit.  I need wisdom to tell the difference between stress eating and just accepting the body that I now have and that it’s changing.

I’m now off to go and eat a carrot!