Weigh In

This week was a bit of a challenge to try and figure out the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating but after stepping on the scale this morning it was all worth it!!!

Today's weight 181.4lbs. 

For a loss of 2.8lbs this week and oh, so close to the 170's!

Grand total weight loss so far is 20.4lbs! 

Eating the THM way!

So I decided to give the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating a try!

It is a bit complicated to get started but I think I am getting a bit of a handle on it and it has only been 3 days.
The big thing with it is if you are fueling your body with a fat source then stay away from carbs and if your meal fuel source is from a carb than stay away from the fat but always pair either the fat or carb WITH protein.
Fat source meals are called an Satisfying meal or for short just S.
Carbohydrate fuel source meal is called an Energizing meal or E for short.
There are other meal combos but for now I am sticking with these two until I get a better understanding.

Here is what my meals looked like;
Tuesday
Breakfast~ Quinoa with a few strawberries and Greek yogurt (E)
Snack~ Almonds (S)
Lunch~ Salmon fillet and salad with ranch dressing (S)
Snack~ Roasted chick peas (E)
Supper~ Scrambled eggs with onions, peppers, mushrooms, cheese and ham. (S)

Wednesday
Breakfast~ Quinoa with a few strawberries and Greek yogurt (E)
Snack~ Apple with peanut butter (E)
Lunch~ Mushroom soup base with ground beef, peppers and onions served over steamed cauliflower and salad with dressing (S)
Supper~ Taco Salad (S)

Monday Musings

The weekend came and went but it was a wonderful weekend for me!
On Friday, I was given a large desk and now this Mama after homeschooling for nine years finally has a work area all to herself!
This may not sound to wonderful to most but for me it means I can sit and plan/research for school and I don't have to pack it all up each time I need to use the kitchen counter which has been my work place since the beginning of my homeschooling journey.

Here is my spot...













I LOVE it!!!

Today's Food
Breakfast~ Steel Cut Oats with blueberries and Greek yogurt
Lunch~ Trim Healthy Mama Pancake, strawberries and Greek yogurt
Snack~ Almonds
Supper~ Ground beef, onions and red pepper with mushroom soup sauce served with steamed broccoli and a side salad with ranch dressing
Snack~ Muffin in a Mug

No exercise today.

Weigh In Disappointment

Sometimes things in life just can't be explained!

This is one of them, a 0.2lb loss in 2 weeks...yuck!

I exercised like crazy doing a variety of different activities and eat a healthy, clean diet with the exception of a couple of days during ovulation where I ate some homemade 'skinny chocolate'.

I will not be discouraged though, I know what I am doing is what I need to do and sooner or later my body will catch up to the new way of living and then lookout scale!

My body feels different even if the scale says it is not weighing less and that is what I will focus on.

Crazy Busy

Life can get so crazy busy!
Those two words pretty much sum up my life right now.
I am working on writing up a teacher manual for a Canadian history curriculum that we are currently using and it is taking every spare minute I have available. Enjoyable though!

Eating has been on track, eating clean whole foods in moderation.
I feel great about this! It is nice to know that I am doing good for my body.

I have also been exercising. Here is what I have done this week,
Sunday~ 3.2km walk outside
Monday~ 30 minute Circuit Training
Tuesday~ Leslie Sansone 2 Mile Walk
Wednesday~ Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred Level 2

Looking forward to my weigh in on Friday because my tummy and legs are feeling so tight and strong which 'should' be a good sign for the scale.

Sick

Well, I did not get to go away for the week because on Sunday I was hit with a terrible cold. I could not bring myself to driving for 8 hours each way and trying to sleep in the same room as my baby for 3 nights and not come home more sick or at the very least in need of a break from my 'break'.
So at home I spent the March Break! which I do not want to be over...

I did go away for 1 night to the city 2 hours away and spent the night in a hotel with my baby and then did some shopping...it was a nice break just not what I had been planning on.

Steven, my little man!

In my time of being sick I did not make the wisest of choices when it came to eating which is not what I want my life to be like but I did choose to eat healthy more often than not...a small victory! I will be skipping the scale tomorrow morning because it is that time in the month when I am always up (ovulation time) and I know that and do not want to have to deal with discouragement from what ever it says.

Something I have been struggling/working through is the need to follow a plan PERFECTLY!!! The all or nothing issue that I do NOT want my life to be about anymore...I am tired of always looking for the newest and greatest weight loss 'technique'! Really is there a right or perfect way? or does it come down to what works and it manageable for each individual?

I have been reading the Trim Healthy Mama book and this is the reason I have been thinking on this issue again. I do admire the 2 women that wrote the book, they are both Christian homeschooling mama's of large families, and while their program works for them and many others I feel for me it is to much thinking that has to go into how you 'combine' foods for each meal in order to have your body burning only one fuel source at a time and I can't wrap my mind around right now.

So for me I am going to go back to basics and what comes naturally to me (when I want it to) and that is eating clean, unprocessed whole foods! YEAH!!!, simplicity is what I work well with.
Eating clean  really is what I have been doing for the last 2.5 months but I was 'trying' to get on board with the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating also but I can't do both right now.

Today's Food

• Quinoa with fresh strawberries and almond milk
• Apple and peanut butter
• Raw vegetables, hummus and Mary crackers
• Smoothie (banana, almond milk and peanut butter
• Taco Salad (lettuce, spinach, peppers, onion, lean ground beef, cheese, greek yogurt, salsa, guacamole and 8 nacho chips) and 'skinny chocolate' 
• Popcorn made in coconut oil

I went for a 3.2km walk/run in the beautiful sunshine and cold air this morning. I think I have mentioned before but I LOVE going outside to exercise!

With all the excitement...

Of my birthday yesterday I forgot to post my weigh in!!
I was down .6lbs bringing my weight to 184.4lbs.
I was hoping for more but with a loss of 5.4lbs last week that is still a total of 6lbs in 2 weeks and that is nothing to snuff at while still breastfeeding an eight month old baby.

Getting close to my first reward @ 180.

This coming week I will be spending sometime in southern Ontario with a dear friend and her family and while there I plan on buying myself some new running shoes with my birthday money.
I also was given a juicer for my birthday and look forward to using that soon.
I have never use one before so if anyone has experience with one I would love to hear from you.
I will be gone from blogland until my Friday weigh in next week have a great week everyone!

The Big 4-0!

Today was my birthday!
One that has been really bothering me, I think because my father died young and it has been a fear of mine that I would die young also so entering the forties is one step closer to fifty and that was when he died.
I know I have started to make the changes that I need to in order to help reduce my chances of heart disease of which he died so I know I am on the right path and should be around to see my children grow old and sit with my husband and enjoy a hot cup of coffee each morning while we talk about the 'good old days'!

Now that it has come and gone I feel fine with it! After all it is just a number!

Food For Today

• Scrambled eggs and vegetables
• Almonds
• Handful of chips
• Trim Healthy Mama Pancake with peanut butter and maple syrup
• Lasagna & Salad and dessert was a big bowl of fruit and cool whip
• 3 Peanut Butter Balls

I felt like I needed something that was a heavy carbohydrate all morning so for lunch I tried the THM pancake and I loved it! Next time I would not eat it with peanut butter and syrup but rather with fruit and yogurt like it recommended. 

I did go for a run of 3.2km this afternoon with only 3 small walks in there...it felt really good to run that distance.  When I ran back in 2010 I did it and  never really liked it, I prefer cross training but running is such a quick and intense workout that I will probably continue to do them a couple of times a week.

Day 9 & 10

Yesterday confirmed for me something I have known but not wanted to deal with for a long time.
I must be wheat intolerant!

Back in 2010/11 when I was working on losing weight I went off of wheat products to try and drop weight and it worked but it also showed me so much more. All of a sudden after stopping eating wheat my cravings for sugar and desserts were gone with the exception of during certain hormonal times. My waist shrunk and I felt light.

Fast forward 2 years and here we are at March 2013. On the first day of 'Challenge Me' I decided I would give up wheat or at least limit it until my birthday on Friday. Yesterday, 9 days without any wheat, I was planning spaghetti for the family dinner and went to the store to buy a spaghetti squash for my 'pasta' but there was not any. So I made the choice to eat regular pasta with the rest of the family. I limited myself to 1 cup, enjoyed it and carried on with the night. Something happen though, I kept saying to my husband all evening, without even noticing at the time,  that I was hungry, starving in fact and felt like I could eat and eat.
I didn't give into the desire but it was tough. This morning  had me  running to the bathroom because my bowels were rebelling.

I don't think both of those things are coincidence but rather directly related to eating wheat.

 Now it is time for me to face the reality and learn to live with and function without wheat in my diet. I will be doing some research and talking with my health care provider about this. My first proactive step in learning to live without wheat was telling my mom to not make my favorite birthday cake but that I would like to have berries and cool whip for my birthday dessert this year.

I when for a walk/run today...nothing real fancy with keeping time or pace, just ran to a certain landmark and then walked until I felt my breathing starting to recover and then ran to the next landmark. I did this for a total of 3.2km. Tonight I play hockey again for an hour and this time it is against my daughters team of 11 & 12 year old boys and girls. So I will be getting a good cardio workout there too! I can say I am starting to enjoy the workouts again and look forward to a little me time.

Day 7 & 8

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday, I spent the entire day at the arena again. I took some snacks but ate lunch out at a restaurant. I ordered a garden salad with a grilled chicken breast and ranch dressing, no croutons or cheese. It was yummy and satisfying. I did splurge and have a hot chocolate in the afternoon.

Last night I decided to do my measurements since I have not done them since December 31/12.
I was amazed at the changes, overall I was down 11.75 inches!

              December 31st      March 3rd
Neck~          15                        14.5        -.5
Upper Arm~ 14.5                     14           -.5
Bust~            47                        45           -2
Rib Cage~     39.25                   38.75      -.5
Waist~          41.5                     37           -4.5
Hips~            44.5                     42           -2.5
Upper Leg~   23.5                    22.25       -1.25

Today I struggled a bit with finding enough food to eat because my supplies are down and I will not be able to get some for a few days but I made it through.

My Food for Today

• Quiona with coconut, almond milk, flax/chia seed combo and blueberries
• Whole can of chick peas roasted with coconut oil and spices
• Apple with peanut butter
• Raw vegetables with hummus
• Mary Crackers with peanut butter and banana

Exercise was a 40 minute walk outside, I loved the cold sunny weather. So refreshing!!

Being Prepared

Today was all about living prepared!
I spent a large number of hours between arenas on our Island.

Before leaving in the morning I was a bit anxious and my tummy would not let me eat a full breakfast but I forced my self to eat an apple with peanut butter which held me until lunchish time.

I knew I would not be home for long periods of time so I packed myself a cooler of food.

What was included you wonder...Mary Crackers,hummus, grapes, cantaloupe, almonds and lots of water!

I did not give in to the temptation of eating any of the quick, easy and high calorie food that was at the rink. There were tables of baked goods, canteens of junk food and I did not feel pulled towards any of it! VICTORY!!!

Once home tonight I made a Taco Salad and enjoyed it knowing I had controlled my food intake today.

Day 5

I love Fridays!
We work hard all week and now we get to wind down and enjoy the weekend. This weekend is a busy one for our family though. My eldest sons hockey playoffs are this weekend along with my 7 year old daughters ice skating carnival. So this Mama has to be in two different arenas in two different communities almost at the same time. It will be fun though, I love watching them do their thing on ice.

Exciting news, I got in the mail a book I have been wanting to get. An early birthday gift from my hubby. It is a copy of Trim Healthy Mama by Serene Allison & Pearl Barrett. I bought the book for Kindle about a month ago but I really wanted a real copy of it to dig into. I will let you know how I like it once I get a chance to start reading.

Weigh in this morning.......................185 lbs! That is a loss of 5.6 lbs since last Friday and a total loss of 13.4 lbs in 2 months. Yahoo!!!

Today's Food

• Oatmeal with blueberries
• Almonds
• Apple with peanut butter
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• Smoothie (almond milk and a banana)
• Maple baked chicken breast, brown rice, roasted broccoli and garden salad with catalina dressing.

I went for a 40 minute walk this afternoon. I did not want to go because I just wanted to sit and read my new book instead but I knew it would lead me to going 4 days without exercise because tomorrow is to busy to get in anything and Sunday is always so unpredictable. I was glad I did it and really enjoyed the time outside too.