Most women believe that in order to lose weight the first thing they need to do is eat less and move more. In a way this is true, but there really is more science behind that. What typically happens is women eat maybe 1 or 2 meals a day, drastically reducing their caloric intake and then adding a walk in for exercise. They may see the scale move but what are they really losing? I bet you’ll be surprised. Read on… Your body’s metabolism is the key to losing unwanted body fat. When working with women, I am not concerned about their weight as much as the level of body fat they are carrying around. A healthy bodyfat level to be at is between 19-25%. Most women who have dieted for years will find themselves at 30% or more. Those are dangerous levels that invite disease into their bodies. Although they may have lost 50 lbs. of body weight, they may still be at 30% body fat and at risk for heart disease, Type II diabetes and other ailments. How can they be at risk when they wear a size 8 dress pant? Because they never lost bodyfat while dieting. They lost body water and precious lean muscle mass. Lean muscle mass is the main manipulator of your metabolism. The more lean muscle mass you have the more calories you burn at rest. When your metabolism is humming along at a strong rate, it does not need to use bodyfat for energy. It’s alive and functioning at optimum levels. Fat that is stored on your body for energy is not needed and your body lets it go. You continue to build strong, lean muscles and your metabolism gets stronger and faster, you indeed get leaner, stronger, toned and full of energy. This is the picture of health and vitality. Now take the woman who is dieting. She is eating 3 meals a day and not focused on the right type of exercises. She’ll go for a walk around the block. It works for about 1 month. She’s dropped 5 pounds. She’s excited! Month 2 rolls around and the scale has stopped moving, she cuts her 3 meals into smaller portions and adds another block to her walk. The scale finally drops again. She’s excited! Month 3 rolls around and the scale has not moved or has gone up. Yikes! She drops to 2 meals a day, adds another block to her walk and an exercise video. Month 4 comes too quickly. She sees the scale move again so she cuts calories even more and increases her walk for a full 2 hours every day. She’s tired, frustrated and wondering why this is not working? I could go on, but I think you get the picture. The only way for her to keep the scale moving is to continue to decrease calories and increase the amount of time spent on low, steady state exercise. Is she really losing fat? No, she is losing water and precious metabolic boosting muscle that is why she has to continue decreasing calories to see change. If she continues on this path, she will lower her metabolic rate to such a level that her body will go into panic mode and begin conserving every morsel of food that enters as bodyfat so it will have the energy just to function. The result is a cranky, tired, moody, flabby, and frustrated woman. I know, I’ve been there. Ladies, I want you to know the truth. The scale is not your friend. You have been lied to for years. There’s even a tv show dedicated to keeping these lies alive (Biggest Loser Challenge) where your worth is determined by a number on the scale! How have we as a society allowed this to happen? Satan has been at work! God made you in His image. You are a beautiful, strong, and vibrant woman. Don’t allow Satan to get a foothold in your mind. Oh how I wish I could give you all hugs right now! Here is the picture of a woman on the right path: She determines why she wants to accomplish this goal of being healthy and full of energy. She enlists the help of her husband and children. She puts together a plan of action including how to deal with obstacles that will be thrown her way. Her plan does include strength and interval training as the core of the program. She also determines her caloric intake and creates meal plans for the week. She cleans out her cupboard of all manmade, adulterated foods and buys food in their original God created package. She gets connected with other women who are doing the same steps (this site of course!) and stays accountable no matter what happens to try and bump her off course. All her workouts are scheduled in for each week just like math and english class. She sticks to her workouts because she is full of determination. Each week she discovers how much better she feels. Her clothes are getting loser, she is getting more flexible and full of energy. She finds herself hungry more often because her metabolism is on fire. She has more lean mass so she can eat more food, quite the opposite of the dieting woman. She does not suffer from mood swings, turbulent hormone levels or bloating due to eating whole foods. Does she know how much she weighs? Does it really matter if she is feeling this strong and vibrant? This is what I want for you. I will elaborate more on how to stop dieting for life in another post. This one ended up way longer than I intended. Hugs~~ Post from: Homeschool Fitness Coach

College at Home? Sounds like a scam or too good to be true. Neither is the case. You can receive nationally recognized college level credit for a fraction of the cost, at your own pace and mostly from the comfort of your home. There are several reasons to consider this option. Three of them are cost, time and flexibility.Pursing college credit or a complete degree using the Credit by Examination method can be a huge money saver. Studying at home eliminates the cost of room, board and commuting to a college campus as it is only necessary to go on a campus for the final exam. Also, many of the materials used are low or no cost. Each 3-6 credit exam can be completed, including the final test, for around $125.This method also saves time. In the case of an adult learner this type of credit can be earned while working, raising children or pursuing ministry. Depending on the student, study time, skill, age and schedule some of these exams can be passed in as little as two weeks, although we usually are ready to pass one a month. Students still in high school may use this as a kind of dual credit by studying their regular high school materials and then spending a few weeks with the CLEP or DSST specific materials, taking practice tests and sitting for the exam. How amazing to earn college credit during high school and at a fraction of the cost. It is like getting a scholarship before you even are ready to apply to a college.One of the best reasons to use the CBE (Credit by Examination) method is flexibility. A student can study subjects of interest, in the order of their choice and on their time schedule. They can transfer these credits to many accredited colleges and universities. They can also live at home, stay connected with family and their local support system, work, raise a family, the options are endless. If the student is interested in a complete degree from home there are at least three regionally accredited colleges that are making this option a reality.Are you interested? Does this sound like something you or your student would like to pursue? Post a comment. Read about the exams we have passed and pray. This may be just what you need.

Over the past year, like you, the Library of Congress has adjusted, recalibrated and learned. We want to continue to learn from you about what more we can do. As a friend of the Library of Congress, your feedback is critical to us as we look to the future. The Library of Congress is your library and we want to build plans based on YOU.Please take a moment to complete the survey and share more about how you’ve engaged with the Library, what we can do better, and what more you want to see from us. No matter where you are in the country (or world!), or how you’ve connected with the Library before – we want your feedback.Take the survey: https://wh.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=162090351735&src=1The survey will close in 10 days, so please take 10 minutes to complete it now. We look forward to sharing the insights we learn and, most importantly, using your feedback to chart the path forward.Thanks for your time!Carla HaydenLibrarian of Congress

The Library of Congress’ Labs team wants to learn more about new segments of users who aren’t yet connected to our digital collections and services.? We are specifically seeking people who use digital resources like history photos, books, documents, newspapers, music, video, maps, data or websites but don't use Library of Congress materials for the following activities.? Formal and informal education -? K-12 teachers, guides or tutors that might use digital resources to build activities, ? lesson plans, or educational games or experiences.? ? Activism and community leadership - People, clergy, organizers or activists who might use digital library-like resources to inform awareness of a community, or cause, its history and relationships.Data journalism, communications or media work -These people might use digital library-like resources and data to produce articles, visualizations, or media for general audience. People who produce data-driven stories are of particular interest.Undergraduate creative / art studies - These people might use digital library-like resources as inspirational material or as content or material that they may re-mix or re-make through their creative work.With the selected participants, we will carry out 1-on-1 interviews (not to exceed an hour). All work will be conducted remotely over video chat. The schedule for the interviews will be based on what works best for the participants.? Can you connect us with anyone in your network who may want to participate? Feel free to forward this message or direct folks to this sign up form: via the online application (https://forms.gle/xiaB8Swp9VR9xL1j8). Any questions can be sent directly to me, Abbey Potter at abpo@loc.gov.? ? Thank you very much for helping us make this connection! We will share the outcomes of this research publicly and it will help shape future directions of our work.?

Over the past year, like you, the Library of Congress has adjusted, recalibrated and learned. We want to continue to learn from you about what more we can do. As a friend of the Library of Congress, your feedback is critical to us as we look to the future. The Library of Congress is your library and we want to build plans based on YOU.Please take a moment to complete the survey and share more about how you’ve engaged with the Library, what we can do better, and what more you want to see from us. No matter where you are in the country (or world!), or how you’ve connected with the Library before – we want your feedback.Take the survey: https://wh.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=162090351735&src=1The survey will close in 10 days, so please take 10 minutes to complete it now. We look forward to sharing the insights we learn and, most importantly, using your feedback to chart the path forward.Thanks for your time!Carla HaydenLibrarian of Congress