Deanna Doss Shrodes

"Have you ever noticed that when many women get divorced,  they suddenly decide to become skinny and tan?"   This was something my friend Pastor Andrea Fruscella said to me one day and she has written about it in some articles.  I believe her point  in writing about this or her question was why women would suddenly think to make doing this a priority if they never did when they were married. I have noticed this same phenomenon.  I've taken note as well that many seem to color their hair to go with this transformation -- usually blonde.  Important Disclaimer:   I know this is NOT the case with all separated/divorced women.  So before all the number of my dear friends in this category rise up and comment, "NOT ME!  ARE YOU KIDDING??" and rake me over the coals,  let me say I realize that millions are not doing this.  However, scores of others are.  I've noticed some interesting patterns on facebook.  Some new status up...

"How weary we grow of our present bodies.  That is why we look forward eagerly to the day when we shall have heavenly bodies which we shall put on like new clothes."  ~ II Corinthians 5:2 TLB I've gotten in the habit of doing something each day to invest in my body.  Why spend time on our physical bodies?  Let's look at God's Word.  I Timothy 4:8 says, "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."  Some people have taken this one scripture in an unbalanced way and assumed that physical fitness really  has no real value in our lives.  Instead of focusing on the fact that it is actually of "some value" they assume because it is compared to godliness is has no value.  While godliness certainly has greater value, physical training isn't a non-essential.  I Corinthians 6:19 says, "Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Ho...

If there's one thing I've learned about weight loss it's that there are so many variables as to why the scale might be up or down on any given day. For instance, I might not have eaten as many calories on one day but if I've had too much salt, the scale can be up a pound or two.  This happened a few weeks ago when I stayed totally on program but also had a few pieces of bacon that day and the scale reflected it for a short time.  "That time of the month" can also reflect on the scale.  And sometimes it's not anything particular that I could ever figure out or narrow down, it just is what it is, at least for a day or two.  But here's something I know to be truth and have come to believe and now DO..and that is, if you keep doing what's right, it will catch up with you!   This is true in weight loss or anything else in life. Last week could have been a very frustrating week for me.  Although I was biking 1 hour a day every single day, and weed...

I got so busy with my new writing project (my book) that I almost forgot to blog today.  Now you KNOW that's taking some serious focus!  I never forget to blog.  Someone recently asked me, "how do you find time to blog everyday?  You're so faithful."   I told them, "The question is not how do I find time to blog but how do I tear myself away from writing to get anything else done?"  Writing is my greatest passion and I never tire of it, nor have to work myself up to do it, or really have to "discipline" myself.  If I could only do one thing in life, it would be to write. And write I am!  I'm not giving up the blog nor my other normal writing pursuits but I am carving out time every day for this book, no matter what. While I don't have to discipline myself to write I do have to train myself to make the right decisions for my health day after day.  It doesn't come easily to me and is a never ending journey of right choice making over...

Weight, that is.   Last night at my Weight Watcher meeting I reached my 5% goal ~ that means losing 5% of my original body weight.  It feels great by the way! I am seeing changes in my health which was the catalyst the brought me back to a WW meeting.  Two weeks ago my leader shared some of the great things that can happen with your health just by losing 5% and it really fueled me up to push to get to this goal and move beyond.  I love my new WW leader and my new WW class.  There's a married couple there that I just adore ~ their names are Hector and Sandy and together they have lost over 100 pounds!  They have fabulous ideas for success and last week Hector shared with me about 3 point mini cheesecakes which have become my new treat.   Sandy told me about bagel thins which have now also become a favorite.  I have a sweet tooth -- I don't need to "over indulge" but I really crave a little something sweet everyday, either with a cup of tea i...

Yesterday I shared about  my long time struggle with weight management and wellness and the fact that it really never gets easier, but that it's not an excuse to give up. Even though it doesn't get easier I've found that some things are helpful to me on the journey.  I've found it's key to share with others about this because those who struggle learn so much from each other.  (That's one of the reasons I'm committed to Weight Watcher meetings -- as they say, "the meetings are the magic.") I thought I'd share a few things that are helpful to me since this is a topic that seems to resonate with so many, and quite frankly I've learned that wellness has so much to do with how I'm doing as a woman, wife, mother, minister, employee, friend, etc.  It affects EVERYTHING. Here we go... Accountability WW meetings, plus a few friends I'm accountable to who ask me the hard questions. With a full house of others who are not all on the sam...

I have been back on the journey to wellness for a while now. This is not a new year's resolution.  I knew way before the new year that I needed to make some big changes to not only get back to where I need to be, but beyond where I used to be.  One reason I committed to this before the holidays ever came was because I knew Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year would pack at least another 10 lbs onto me and take me even further down a spiral I didn't need to be going on.  I needed to get a grip on things before then.  So, I did. How's it going?  Very slow, but steady.  I'm learning that once you hit 40, it's harder than it was before.  It's like the weight goes off of you kicking and screaming, pulling to stay on you like a toddler in the candy aisle.  It's so frustrating at times but I'm just determined to not let it keep it's monstrous hold on me.   I don't really talk about it a lot (and really haven't blogged about it at all) even ...

So here on my blog I write about life at the intersection of marriage, family, ministry and career.  Part of my life admist all that is that I struggle with treating my body really poorly at times.  In trying to navigate all my roles, I have lived on Hershey bars and lattes, skipped exercise and tried to keep it all going. My weight has yo-yo'd.   Anyone who has known me for very long knows I don't act like I have it all together here or anywhere else, and readily admit that yes, I do get a whole lot accomplished in my life but it's not without stress .  Ways I have dealt with that stress have not always been positive.   People who live or work with me up close and personal can tell when things aren't going well by what's on my desk.  Lately things like bananas and water have been on it.  Well, I'm happy to report that I've been "losing it"...weight that is!!!  Yay for me. I've lost 10 pounds in the last few weeks....

Whoa!  My body is in shock, for sure...wondering what in the world is going on.  Some friends are wondering what I'm doing too and have asked me.  Wonder no more.   Not only did I start the 30 day Shred on Saturday (and I'm still walking/breathing despite it) on Monday I began a new eating plan that I got from my friend,  Pastor Tammy Young .  Tammy  has lost 25 pounds in a very short time by restarting her "glycemic index".   What this basically amounts to is de-toxing your body of sugar ,which I've just been informed is extremely addicting and watching your carbs - not eliminating them altogether, just not overdosing on them as most of us do.  Ultimately you follow what's in the photo above in the balance of the foods you eat.  The first three days is a "detox".  I will tell you, it's not easy.   Honestly I could not do this without support.  Two other friends in ministry, LaDonna Jones and Joy ...

(sniff...sniff) They leave today. I can't believe it. It's gone by so fast, it's been unreal. We still have so much yet to do. So many things we had plans for. We never made it to Tarpon Springs. They'll just have to come back, soon, soon, soon...and that's all there is to it. Last night we utilized our movie pass privilege as we do so often (our son works at Cobb Theatres) and the guys went to see Pink Panther and the girls went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. It was great! We are having lunch with Dustin and them, and then we will head to the airport and back to the church for "life as usual"...well, as usual as it can be in our household. While here my mother in law has gotten me hooked on acai, pomegranate, and blueberry juices. She drinks 8 oz of the "Fusion V-8 stuff everyday and swears she has lost over 30 pounds because of it. Geez, if that was all there was to it, why didn't somebody tell me?! Anyway, I have started drinking it but ac...

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee." Proverbs 23:7 Before I talk about food choices and exercise in this little blog series about things I've learned in my weight loss journey, I want to talk about the most important thing of all which is about how you THINK . I talked to you yesterday about the fact that an intimate "secret place" relationship with God is your most important thing. But the second most important thing are your THOUGHTS . The Weight Watchers program realizes this well. It's why the whole program is based upon what they call their "tools for living." These are great behavior modification strategies -- a different way of thinking - than you had when you were overeating.  The tools are: Winning Outcomes Storyboarding Empowering Beliefs Mental Rehearsing Motivating Strategy Positive Self Talking Reframing Anchoring I will talk more about these too...

I love Fridays. I love my job/ministry, but Fridays are what fuels me to do that even better. Because it's my day with the one I love (besides Jesus). One reason I've grown so protective of it and hate when something interferes with it is because I need it so desperately to energize. Usually each day I get Savanna up for school, feed her and do anything needed to get her ready, then Larry drives her to the bus stop. Today I did it all and let him sleep. Every once in a while he does that for me and it's a God-send. I thought he'd sleep til at least noon. I was pleasantly surprised. I was up eating oatmeal ("the right thing to do" as the commercial says...) and putzing around doing a few things and he calls to me from the bedroom and says..."Sassy...(his name for me)....please come back..." Thus begins romp-tastic Friday. Always a good time had by all. (Don't get any ideas, it's just me and him. We're all that's needed.) So af...

Today in My Utmost for His Highest (Oswald Chambers): " . . . unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven —Matthew 18:3 "These words of our Lord refer to our initial conversion, but we should continue to turn to God as children , being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities, instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual, obeying the orders of the Spirit of God. Just because we have responded properly in the past is no guarantee that we will do so again. The response of the natural to the spiritual should be continuous conversion, but this is where we so often refuse to be obedient. No matter what our situation is, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered. But we must ...

H. Jackson Brown Jr. said, "People who accomplish big things did small things well." I have a passion for doing all things well. Today I had to do a lot of mundane catching up from being away on my trip. Lots of computer work, just every week stuff - from orders of service to calendar planning for 2007, to preparing teachings, to doing laundry, unpacking my bags, doing dishes, and getting ready to have Trinity and Misty over tonight. Although I am tired, I am committed to doing whatever I do well, and to the glory of God. It's incredible but in a week, Pastor Trinity has lost 20 pounds, sticking to the points system exactly. (He's not undereating, he is doing everything according to what he is supposed to) Meanwhile Larry has lost 9 pounds in a week. They are both doing great.  I got loads of candy to pass out to all the trick or treaters and Pastor T made invitations for Jam Kids Church that I will put in all of the bags with the candy. I personally feel tha...

Ecclesiastes 4:9,10 "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" Well I started the weight watcher journey two years ago and have kept the weight off but not without incredible struggle many days. So today was Larry's officially start date on the program, and I'm answering a million questions about point values and everything else. Anything is easier when you are doing it with people you love. So now I won't be the lone voice saying, "uuuhhhhh...do we HAVE to go to Golden Corral?" (I hate that place now that I'm weight conscious...) Yeah! Lunch is about to get a whole lot better. Today we ate at Subway. 7 points baby! 7 points! I think I'm going to be able to get my bikini out again in a few weeks now that I have some help to stay on track.

Wowwee! I tried something new tonight. It's called Zumba, and it's sooooooooo way fun. It's a dance/exercise class that combines salsa, merengue, hip hop, belly dancing, reggae and more. It's an hour and 15 min. of incredibly high intensity exercise. It's so cool, such an incredible work out, and so fun. There were like 10 people there that I knew, and it was a blast. To check out Zumba, and see what it's all about go to www.zumbaflava.com . One thing I did discover. The next time I go to Zumba I will have a new sports bra. Carmen Torres warned me 2 seconds before we started..."Uh, honey, I hope you have a very good bra on because if not, GET READY." She was right. :-) I have lost so much weight since the last one that I bought, it wasn't worth wearing it so I just wore a regular one...oh well, gives me an excuse to go shopping this weekend. Tonight I'm going to sit in the hot tub for a long time before I go to sleep because I'm thinking i...