Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

My Fitness Pal Helps Me Lose Weight

Yesterday morning I enjoyed a pleasant surprise when I stepped on the bathroom scale. For the first time in many years the first digit was a "1"! So far this year I've dropped 30 pounds. Much of that loss came with the aid of a calorie counting and exercise tracking app called My Fitness Pal.

My Fitness Pal boasts nutritional information on over a million foods, and I believe it. I have yet to find a food that's not already included in theIr database. The genius of this tool is that several times throughout the day I enter the foods I've eaten into the MFP diary. Using the free mobile app available for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows devices, recording the foods I've eaten is fast and easy.

There are no restricted foods or particular diets to follow. Simply being aware of the nutrition I've consumed combined with my exercise is enough to keep me on track for weight loss. Keeping a daily journal is the key for me and many others. Studies have shown that those who maintain a daily diary of their eating lose twice as much as those who don't keep a journal. I know that one of my biggest challenges has been eating junk late at night. Now, with my food journal as close as my phone, I have learned to just say no.

One of the other things that's been really helpful to me is the community aspect of MFP. I am reminded regularly by the app that those involved in like-minded community lose more weight. I have about a dozen friends who also use MFP. They have given me permission to follow their progress and I have given them the same permission to hold me accountable. The MFP app provides a page for my friend's comments. There are lots of encouraging words that flow back and forth as a result. This friendly accountability really came through for me in a big way when I quit for about a week. I received texts, emails and phone calls encouraging me to get back on track. For those who want it, MFP also offers a group feature.

One does not need to have a smart phone app to use MFP. The MFP website provides the same food and exercise database along with access to one's network of friends. However, the MFP mobile app is the secret sauce for weight loss as far as I'm concerned. My sister-in-law told me last week that she thought recording her foods all the time was a tedious chore. (Yet, she is sticking with it!) I wondered about that for a while until I remembered that she does not own a smart phone with data access. Therefore she has to turn on her computer every time she wants to make a diary entry. Yes, that would require a bit more dedication.

One of the best things about the MFP mobile app is the barcode reader. More than half of the time I don't type anything in to the app. Rather I focus my iPhone camera on the barcode on the food package and the MFP app automatically brings up all the nutrition info for me. One more click adds the food to my diary. Simple. Easy. Convenient.

Finally I love all the help and advice that is offered on the website. There is a full featured and active forum where anyone can ask a question and receive answers quickly. There is something really cool about a community of helpful people supporting one another as they experience the trials of weight loss together. I would highly recommend these posts for anyone just getting started.

If you are wanting to lose weight and get yourself into better physical shape, I can't recommend My Fitness Pal highly enough. I don't know how they keep it free. I've never experienced any solicitations or ads on the mobile app. Honestly, when you consider the alternative costs that result from poor health, this app alone is worth the cost of your phone and data plan!

Posted with Blogsy

Church Requel Luau-Potluck This Sunday Evening

This Sunday evening's Luau party should be a fun time for Church Requel attendees.  Plan to show up early this weekend, so you can enjoy some good eats and some good fellowship.  We're asking everyone to bring in their food between 4:45 and 5:00, so we can start serving meals at 5PM.  That would give us one hour to enjoy a great meal together before our evening service begins.  If you're coming as a family, bring two dishes of any kind.  If you're coming by yourself, bring one dish.  (If you can't bring anything, come anyway.  The amount of food we have at these events is always pretty incredible!)  Plates, eating utensils, napkins, and drinks are provided.  Our Luau-themed evening will take place at the Mid-Ohio Conference Center, 790 4th Street, Mansfield, Ohio 44903.

Our evening worship service will begin at its usual 6PM start time, so anyone who can't make the Luau can still come to our church service.  We will be concluding our LOST series with our sixth and final sermon in the series entitled, "The Others."  The teaching will be focused on Luke 15:25-32, where Jesus tells the story of the older brother in the Prodigal Son parable. 

We have some cool worship elements planned as well.  Nate Williams will lead our worship time, assisted ably by Dave, Stephen, and Ryan.  Our worship songs include:

• Glory to God Forever by Steve Fee
• Cannons by Phil Wickham, and
• Everlasting God by Chris Tomlin.

We also have some highly impacting worship videos, including this new worship opener from Centerline New Media.  We're also very excited about this powerful love letter video to wrap up our LOST series these past 6 weeks and will take us into communion.

So, enjoy your weekend.  Bask in the sunshine.  Get outside and make the most of the beautiful weather.  Sleep in on Sunday morning!  Rest.  Then come to Church Requel Sunday evening.  Looking forward to seeing you!  Pastor Mark

Church Requel Luau Planned for March 7th

Church Requel has been having so much fun with this LOST series, that we’ve decided to extend it by a couple weeks through March 7th.  And we thought it would be a great idea to celebrate the conclusion of our Hawaiian themed series with a Luau on Sunday evening, March 7th.  We learned on December 7th that Church Requel loves their potlucks!  More details will be coming, but put this on your calendar for 5PM on the first Sunday in March.  Hint:  keep looking for anything tropical that we can use to decorate our space at Mid-Ohio.  And plan to wear your island best!

Church Potluck this Sunday at 5PM

This weekend Church Requel will enjoy the first ever potluck dinner at our new digs at the Mid-Ohio Conference Center, 890 Park Avenue West.  Eating meals together was a fairly common occurrence when Church Requel was a home church.  But since our public launch on October 11th, we haven't yet risked the sin of gluttony together.

All that will change this coming Sunday evening.  We plan to meet one hour earlier than our normal service time, at 5PM.  In fact it would probably be a good idea for everyone to come a little earlier than that to get all the food set up.  We hope to pray for our meal and begin serving right at five o'clock.  

We are asking families to bring two dishes, one main dish and one side dish - either a dessert, vegetable or a salad.  If you are coming as a single, bring just one dish of any variety.  Our experience in these potlucks is that the amount of food is never a problem... unless you consider TOO MUCH FOOD a problem.  So if you can't bring a dish, don't let that stop you from coming.  The church will provide plates, cups, eating utensils, and the drink.

We have reset our room at Mid-Ohio to include all the round tables and chairs in one half of our meeting space.  Once everyone is served and seated, we even have a game that we will all play together.  Over the last three weeks we have been gathering the hobbies and pictures of 45 of our parishioners.  Together we will play the Hobby Who Game.  We have answer sheets ready to go.  Those who get the most correct answers will be eligible to win a prize!  You don't have to have a hobby in the game to be able to play the game!

After eating the food and playing the game, we plan to conduct our regular service at 6PM.  So if you can't make the potluck, plan on coming for the service.  This weekend we will complete the You Defined series with the sermon topic "Masterpiece."  Nate and the acoustic band will be leading our worship time.  Our Scripture for the evening will focus entirely on Ephesians 2:10.  And last, but surely not least, Bethany Pierce will wrap up our night with a special song: Anyway. 

It sounds like a good time to me!  I hope it does to you as well.  I look forward to seeing you at Church Requel Sunday night!  Mark