Monday, November 25, 2013

Prepping for T-Day!

Last year I had a CU-RAZY successful Thanksgiving and overall holiday season! In the month of November, I lost 9.8lbs and in December, I lost 10.4 lbs. That's 20 lbs in a time where statistically most people gain weight.
Happy T- day! Get your HEALTHY on!
Recently, I've been having some challenges. So far this month, my weigh in's have gone as so.... up, down, up, down. I've lost 1 freakin lb! 1 POUND! Needless to say, I'm not happy with this result. It's time to revisit my blog from last year and refresh my thinking.

Here are my modified changes!

1. Don't eat the items I can eat any other day. I.E. why eat corn when I can have that any day of the week? LOVE this one. It worked last year and will work this year.

2. Smoothies all week. Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri. In addition on Thursday, have a smoothie for breakfast, a smoothie for lunch and take a walk before dinner.

3. WORK OUT! Tue, Wed, Thu am- log 45-50 minutes on the Elliptical or Zumba. I already missed this morning.... Last year I wasn't active like I am this year. I can gain 30 points to eat more!

4. Indulge in pie, but 1 tiny slice of each. (I completely skipped desserts last year)

5. Skip the skin and go for all white meat. Honestly I don't even like the fatty taste of skin anymore....

6. WEIGH IN on Saturday. No matter what. Make it to a meeting!

Luckily this year, I only have to attend 1 celebration where last year I had 2. My hope is to see the scale stay the same or maybe even go down. Now next week I have to tackle my 2 weeks of Christmas holidays this year.




Friday, November 15, 2013

Failure WAS an option.

family picture
I still see the little muffin top. Ugh!
When I started my journey 17 months ago there was doubt. I never let on there was doubt, but there was! I looked at this 100 lbs to lose and said "I can do it!" all while in my head saying, "Are you crazy! That's 100 lbs?" I wish I would have taken more pictures. Documenting this journey seemed as if it would doom me to failure. What if I took the pictures and I didn't like what I saw?

Duh! Of course I didn't like what I saw. I was 100 lbs overweight. On the outside I pretended that it didn't bother me. I pretended I was fine being a "big" girl. In fact, I NEVER saw myself that way, so I just convinced myself I was happy. The excuses I used were, I'm going to get pregnant again anyway, so why lose the weight. Muscle weighs more than fat (too bad I hadn't worked out in 8 years). Food is just so good! I don't have willpower. Working out takes too much time. I'm too busy. I just smiled and showed everyone I loved myself and I was HAPPY! Unfortunately, I was not happy. I had a wonderful husband, 2 beautiful boys, and a fulfilling job. On the surface my life seemed pretty great. I was not great.

serene setting dable family
The background doesn't feel real- but it is!
Every day I witness people who are not great, but they plaster a smile on their face anyway. I KNOW you're not happy. I've been there, I've faked it too. It hurts my heart when people think they cannot make a lifestyle change. I am no different than anyone else. I PROMISE you! I love to eat. I love to watch TV. I am exhausted every morning too. All of these factors are exactly the reason I needed a change. With executing one small change at a time, I found they compounded into what has become my new lifestyle.

As a reminder, here are the changes I made:

1. No more FAST FOOD. - Other than Burgerville in Oregon, I have not had fast food since 7/13/12. This includes McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, and Wendys. NADA! It's been so long now I can only imagine how awful I'd feel.


2. Do not eat PAST 8 pm.   I RARELY eat past 8 pm. If I do, it's 1 point weight watcher candy. If I ever feel starving, which happened to me at 3 am the other morning, I ate a hard boiled egg, grapes, and carrots. You'll be amazed how much of an impact this will have on your diet! If you have to eat, make it fruits/veggies. Something that will power your system and burn easily. NO CARBS!!

3. Work out 3 x per week.   Since April 2013, I have consistenly averaged at LEAST 3 times per week. Most of the time I shoot for 5 times per week. My schedule is ALL done at home. Zumba/Dancing on Tue/Thu/Sat and Eliptical 1 time per week.
4. Eat Fish/Seafood 2 x per week  Ok, I am NOT good at this at all. I have tried to incorporate 1 meatless meal per week. This is a reminder to me I still have changes to make.


michelle smiling boys playing
This is a REAL smile!

It may be time for me to initiate some new policies and procedures in my life. I'm not great just yet, but I have more TRUE, REAL great days than I ever did before. So with my beautiful boys in tow, and my husband by my side, I continue my journey. I'm not done yet.

I'm 157 lbs, size 8 dress/pants, size Small sweaters- I am looking good, not I just need my interiors to match. Also I've included some pictures of my family! My photographer and friend, Alia is incredible!
Her website is here: http://www.aliamorganphotography.com/

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Losing my first fur baby.

Last week was a rough one....After 15 years of companionship, I made the difficult choice to have my cat, Cleopatra put to rest. She had been degrading for some time and I was in denial to the extent of her quality of life. The week before her passing, there were too many signs to ignore. I made the call to the vet and scheduled what I feared would be her final visit.

Though hard for me, explaining this to my 4 year old was a challenge. So, off to Facebook I went to my incredible mommy group. I posted asking for advice and an angel from Louisiana responded. She is a grief counselor at a hospice center. Even though this was not a human family member, it was a member of our family nonetheless. This is what she told me I should tell him, "Jesus took kitty home today n kitty is no longer sick. Mommy is sad because I loved her w all my heart and wished she could have stayed but God made her well in heaven. Keep it real. Keep it honest". That is almost verbatim what I told him, adding in that we still have 2 other wonderful kitties who need our love. He got this gigantic smile on his face! He just understood she was in a better place.

The next morning, Myles made the point to explain to our other cat, Voodoo that Cleo had gone to heaven. That he would join her there some day, we all would. But for now, she can eat anything she wants without being sick, sleep on any bed without having to move, and talk to Jesus whenever she wants. He further explained, "you still have me, Mommy, Daddy, Joel and Moose (other cat). We love you." Tears flooded my eyes and I looked at my amazing little boy whose faith was so strong that he never doubted for a second. I am so blessed!

Needless to say, my eating was a little rough for a couple days. I am still feeling sad and a little lost without her. A little fur baby who fit into the palm of my hand is November 1998 is now gone. I'll miss her snuggles and meow. Thankful to have had her for the 15 years I did.

Promise next week's blog will be more uplifting, but my blog is real. Reality is, we lose our loved ones. Even our fur babies....

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Progress, not perfection

per·fec·tion
pərˈfekSHən/
noun
  1. 1.
    the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects.


There was a point in my life where I thought I had to be perfect. Heck, I still feel like I have to be perfect. It's just not realistic, but it is very frustrating. Lately, my wise husband has been repeating the following phrase to me, "Honey- strive for progress, not perfection."

My idea of perfection was always to complete the list below:

1. Making sure I complete all tasks at home.
Tasks = Cleaning, cooking, laundry, playing with my kids (A task? I've been treating it like one- not cool)
2. Making sure all my tasks at work are completed
Tasks = Staying on top of all needs/requests, responding to e-mails, making sure my team and I are putting up the sales numbers we need to be considered successful.
3. Losing the weight that I need to feel like it's enough.
How much weight? When will I feel like it's enough? Not sure. As long as I feel good, exercise regularly, eat moderately and still continue to lose weight than I guess I'll keep losing.

I think about it now and I think- Did I seriously think handling those above items were the reason I could consider myself to be perfect? Would these truly equate perfection? Seriously who is perfect?

God knows, I am not. I need to be fine with this. How can I change my thinking?

I've been working on me lately. Reading books, taking time outs, just TRYING to become a better person. I think I'm making progress. I think....I came across this picture and it reminds me, reminds US- we are real. We are flawed. We cannot be perfect. Just strive for progress.

Born to be real, not to be perfect
Progress....