My Net Diary aka $4 of Awesomeness

Ok, so, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I really like passing along great products, tips, new music, a good book and all so sort of fun stuff. Also, if you haven’t figured it out, I hate working out and exercising. I hate the feeling of blindingly eating junk food and then feeling terrible about consuming so many calories. Actually, I don’t even look at how many calories I’ve eaten. I’ve tricked myself into thinking that if I ate a bunch of sweets then I would just eat a small dinner… and that didn’t work either because I would still feel hungry after my small dinner and then eat some more. We all been there and done that and we all know that sweets don’t constitute a meal… bummer.

I have in NO way made a New Year’s resolution to loose weight or go on some yo-yo diet, but I did make a decision to watch what I eat and educate myself about what I’m putting into my body. I’m not on some crazy diet. I’m simply attempting to eat the way I’m supposed to eat. Crazy, right? I know.

My Net Diary is amazing. It’s a $3.99 app for your smart phone. It has everything you could need to effectively track your diet. It not only helps you keep track of your calories, but it helps you keep track of what kinds of food you’re eating. It tracks nutrition, trans fats, water intake, weight, exercise, body measurements and more. My Net Diary has a food data bank that has thousands of grocery store and restaurants foods with all of the nutritional and caloric information. All you have to do is type in what you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks everyday and the app does all the counting for you.

This app will also personalize a goal for you when you plug in your current weight, measurements and goal weight. It will tell you how many calories a day you need to eat as well as water intake to reach your goal at your desired date. Pretty cool, eh?

This app does the same for exercise. Type in the name of the exercise, how long you did that activity and the app calculates the number of calories you burned. My Net Diary not only tracks your information, but teaches you how to use that information in order to help you understand how your food affects your health.

I love this new tool. I’ve used it for almost a week and I’ve already lost a pound. I’m learning which foods are lower in calories and others that are not so low… like Turkish Delight and York Peppermint Patties. I’ve learned that I CAN have sweets, but in moderation. I’ve not only learned about the caloric intake of my beloved sweets, but the nutritional value of them… or the lack of nutritional value. Too bad emotional value doesn’t count.

There is also a free version of this app. So, if you don’t want to drop $4 on a really helpful, useful and amazing tool then try the free app first. Click HERE for more information about My Net Diary mobile apps.

I’ll try to remember to do a follow up post in a few months to tell you how successful I’ve been by using this app. Let me know if you try My Net Diary and how it’s working for you.

Weekend Tunes #15 – Misty Edwards

Misty Edwards is a worship leader at IHOP in Kansas City, MO. Typically I try to stay away from writing about IHOP artists because there are so many awesome musicians at the House of Prayer.  You can simply go to IHOP’s webstream to tune in to listen to some really wonderful worship music.

Misty’s style is different from any other worship leader out there. She has a very powerful voice and is a very skilled and anointed worship leader. A majority of her music is written while she’s sitting before the Lord in the prayer room or while she’s leading a worship set. She sings the revelation that the Lord is giving her and sings a lot of scripture.

Misty does have a personal website.  It not only has her music, but also has recordings of her sermons at IHOP. You can read a little more about her at the forerunner music website. You can purchase her music there as well.

Happy Thanksgiving Year!

It’s official. I’ve gained four pounds over the holiday season. I feel like a busted can of biscuits doing everything in my power to smooth out a potential muffin top. This will result in me joining the bandwagon of millions making a new year’s resolution to loose weight. I will then make a completely unrealistic goal to loose 200 pounds and despite the fact that I don’t even weight 200 pounds, I will somehow trick myself into thinking it’s totally doable. I’ll go to the gym and I will do so amazing the first month. I’ll run, I’ll sweat, I will be a beast, and then sometime in February the number of trips to the gym will begin to diminish. Then I will find myself eating a rather large piece of cake and saluting my fork to another new year’s resolution down the drain. Such is life.

This is the very reason why I’m only making one resolution this year. This resolution was inspired from a snippet of a sermon by my pastor. The resolution itself inspired me to start a second blog to help keep myself accountable.

“Be happy in your faith and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually (always); Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly]; Thank God in everything no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks, for this is the will of God for you who are in Christ Jesus[the Revealer and Mediator of that will.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (amplified)

My New Year resolution is to be thankful for one thing every single day. After experiencing the hardships of 2011, I fully understand that there will be days that are easy to thank God, but I also know that are days where the spirit of thanksgiving will be difficult. BUT I have found that even in the hardest and darkest of times… there’s always something that will cause me to be thankful. It may be small, but so is a silver lining.

So, this is my new resolution/project for the year.  My goal is to post at least once a week and have at seven things that I’m thankful for in a week’s time.  I encourage you to join me in my resolution.  Leave a comment or a link to your post about what you’re thankful for today.

Today, I’m thankful for my family. I’m thankful for the family that I was born into and the family that I’ve accumulated through out the years. I’m thankful for their love, encouragement and friendship. I’m thankful for the life that my dad lived. He always told me how proud he was of me, how much he loved me, as well as encouraged me to do my best. I continue to hear his words every day and they are a continuous source of encouragement. I’m thankful for the wonderful memories of him that I hold close to my heart.

What are you thankful for today?

To join me in my resolution, follow my second blog www.thanksgivingyear.wordpress.com

Weekend Tunes #14 – Sarah McMillian

Sarah McMillan is a worship leader from Morning Star Church.  She’s married to John Mark McMillan who is another worship leader at that church.  Her music is very worship oriented making it easy to focus on God when listening to her music.  Her lyrics are intimate, beautifully written and relatable.

Her music focuses on the intimacy that God has for us.   Her CD “Under Your Bright Wings”, uses mostly acoustic instruments to create a folk sound. Her folk style is much different than her musician husband’s rock style, but is unique, creative and honest.

She has one CD as of right now. “Under Your Bright Wings”

Go check her out… you won’t be disappointed.

Here’s a link for you Spotify users:  Sarah McMillan

Sweet Memories of Christmas

When my sister, Laura, and I were younger, we would get up before the sun was up on Christmas morning. We would tip toe into our parent’s bedroom and politely loudly wake them up. Our wake up call was usually followed by stern instructions to go back to bed for another hour.

I hopped into bed with Laura. She would set her alarm clock for 6:30am, we’d pull the sheets up to our chins, and we would snuggle as we made attempts to guess what wonderful things Santa might have brought us.

Many years have passed since the days of waking up early and running into the living room to celebrate Christmas. I grew up learning the true meaning of Christmas and over the years I’ve learned the value of Christmas and to hold it close to my heart.

So, yes, opening Christmas presents is exciting, but it’s more exciting to think about how Jesus came as a little baby in the middle of the night. He was denied a comfortable place before He was even born. He grew up as a common boy with common parents with humble surroundings.   Israel did not recognize Jesus as being the king that they had desire because He did not come in such a triumphant way… but He did triumphantly save the world.

Sweet memories and sweet reminders.

It’s wonderful to know that after the food is gone, the gifts have been opened, and the lights are taken down… that the people in your life and the love that you share with them still remains strong. I hope you all have a happy Christmas and enjoy your loved ones EVERY day of the year.

Happy Christmas.