Holidays

I just returned from 5 days away on a Mama vacation!
While away I did not eat clean but did manage to eat in control. Woohoo!
Today I am back to clean eating and going for a massage.

One Meal at a Time

Yesterday was a struggle!
I felt stressed and worked hard to get through it without over eating...after about 5 hours I caved!

Today is a new day and I have been back to clean eating all day!

Breakfast~ Trim Healthy Mama Pancakes with raspberries, Greek yogurt and a drizzle of Maple Syrup.

Lunch~ Sunflower seed bread with natural peanut butter and 1/2 banana.

Afternoon Snack~ Orange and Larabar.

Supper~ Taco Salad

Tomorrow I leave for my first Mama vacation alone in a very long time...woohoo!
Excited, yes! To be going to have some quiet time.
Scared, yes! That I will not eat in control.
Sad, yes! That I will be weaning my son as a result of this time away. He is 28 months old though so it is time.

I Need Simplicity

I am a busy woman! I do not have time to make special meals for myself or make fancy recipes for the family.

That is why I love clean eating; no special ingredients, no separate meals.

I feel in love with clean eating 5 years ago and I am not exactly sure how or why I left this comfortable place but it does feel good to be back at it!

How is this for easy...

Monday Meals

Breakfast~ Overnight Oats with Raspberries

Lunch~ Havarti Cheese, grapes, walnuts, apricots and cucumber

Supper~ Turkey Barley soup, homemade biscuit and Apple Crisp topped with Greek yogurt and Maple syrup

Evening Snack~ More of the Apple Crisp

Tuesday Meals

Breakfast~ Steel cut oats with pecans and almond milk and half an apple.

Lunch~ Tea Biscuits

Supper~ Turkey breast, cooked carrots and stuffing. Some more apple crisp.

Snack~ Popcorn

Today's meals were not perfect but it was progress and it was sugar free and in control.

Thanksgiving Day 2014

Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving with a turkey dinner and I will be honest that I did not eat clean...actually I did not even try. I knew that my plan was to enjoy whatever I wanted and not feel guilty about it. This entire month has been some clean eating days and some not.

Today is the day that I begin to eat clean COMPLETELY!
Up to this point I see my walk over the last 6 months as baby stepping.
Kind of like many attempts at walking but just as many stumblings.
I know I can do it because I have before.

I am making Turkey Barley Soup with lots of veggies and biscuits for supper tonight. I will also make a clean Apple Crisp and top it with Greek yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup. YUM!

Thanksgiving

I love fall! 

It is my most favorite season of the year!

The changing colour of the trees, cool breeze and the crunch of the leaves under foot.

Just Beautiful!!!

It is time of change!

It is my time to change!

I have about 60lbs to lose and it starts now, October 2014.

Reasons Why!

Today I had some time to reflect on the many reason why I need to lose weight and live a healthier life!

• A few weeks ago someone mistaken me for being pregnant.
• I can no longer wear my wedding rings.
• My jeans that were falling off of me just 3 months ago are now so tight that I can no longer wear them comfortably.
• I have spare tire that is bigger than it has ever been.
• Moody!
• Cravings are out of control!
• I want to be run and play with my children.
• I need to be that great role model for my family and friends.

This Is My Battle

For years I have lost and gained weight but not until yesterday did I realize that this is MY battle and if I do not choose to actively stay in the fight then obesity related disease will take MY LIFE away from me.

Great revelation? No! but it is necessary for me to tackle this now and to beat the odds.

So my starting weight as of this morning is 192lbs.

The plan is simple...
1) Eat Clean as described in Tosca Reno's books.
2) Exercise more than I am now.
3) Stay committed.

What time...?

of the day do you tend to overeat or have the desire to overeat?

For me lately I have been eating so well all day but once I get the children tucked into bed I go mad with my eating.
This habit is not going to lead me to further weight loss.
I am not even hungry usually it is just a WANT!!! UGHHHHHH...

Low calorie, clean snack ideas are welcome.

Shopping in the City

For those that have read my blog for a while you will know that I live on a small island in the middle of Lake Huron which means the variety of groceries is limited to little more than the basics. 

So today I made a trip to the nearest major city, 2 hours away.

On my agenda was some fun shopping for a new bedroom comforter set, bathroom towels, shower curtain and rugs. Also my purpose was to buy some food items that I can not get here on the island.

My trip was successful! 

Here is a peak at just some of the items I bought that I can't get near home.

I also bought a variety of vegetables that I can't get at my local grocer.

I am a happy Mama!

Today's Meals

Strawberries and Skinny Chocolate

Ezekiel Bread with Turkey Breast and mustard

Pear and Almonds

Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax cereal with Banana, Peanut Butter and Almond Milk

and as every other Canadian I had 2 Tim Horton's coffee while travelling.

Clean Eating Day One

I am so surprised at how much of a brain switch it is to go back to Clean Eating!
I need to reread my book 'The Eat Clean Diet Recharged!' book to get things all straight again.

Today's Meals were;
Meal #1 (9:30am)
Overnight Oats and Strawberries
Meal #2 (12 noon)
Ezekiel Bread with Natural Selections Turkey Breast, onions, lettuce and mustard & 2 pickles
Meal #3 (3pm)
Cashew Larabar and apple
Meal #4 (6 pm)
Baked Sweet Potatoe topped with cinnamon & coconut oil plus a smoothie made with ice, almond milk, cottage cheese and whey protein powder

Normally I would have a minimum of 5 meals and some days 6 meals with Clean Eating but I had a later start to the day so 4 meals today it is.

As far as weighing in goes I am going to stick to only weighing and posting on the 26th of each month. I want to rely more on my clothes and trusting the process than on a number on the scale that can be influenced by so many different things. I have been enslaved to the scale for so many years that sticking to this may be tough at times but I am going to try to make this goal.

Picking a Plan

A wise friend shared with me the other day that picking a plan is not as important as sticking with the plan that you choose is.
I TOTALLY agree!

We all choose a diet lifestyle for different reasons. We also change our mind on what diet lifestyle we will follow for many different reasons. Some may change the way they eat many times in their life depending on circumstances, health or any number of reasons.

This is where I am at right now...I have been following the Trim Healthy Mama program for the last number of months and have made progress in my weight loss. I am not completely happy with the program though so I have decided to switch back to clean eating. There are things about the program that I love also but right now I  must follow my heart with this decision.

I have always loved clean eating! 
This weekend I plan on catching up on some blogs that I use to enjoy reading and  making a menu for this coming week for the family and I to follow.

I hope to get back to blogging more consistently also...but no promises there!

Frustrated...where will it lead?

Today is kind of the peak of my frustration!

I feel so gross, fat, ugly and disgusting!

This past year I have lost and kept off a little over 20 pounds...the frustrating part is I have lost and gained another 8 pounds about 6 times!

That up and down is purely because I have not been committed to eating a proper diet.

I know I can lose the rest of this weight and get really fit again.

With it being 2 days away from Christmas I am trying to give myself permission to just enjoy life and then get serious on Boxing Day...this has been hard because I am so down in my thoughts about myself......

My plan over the next 2 days is too give this blog a face lift, make some goals for 2014 and get ready to start eating clean on Boxing Day! 

I plan to rock 2014!!!

Two Weeks of Consistancy

The past two weeks have been busy but great!
My focus has been mostly on track with a few days of eating off plan.
As a result, my weigh in today was 172.4lbs.
That is 3.8lbs in the last two weeks and a grand total of 29.4lbs.

I feel like I am on a roll for weight loss and can see my goal of 150 by my birthday in March.

Day 6 & Weigh In Day

Down 2 pounds this week! Yeah! 176.2lbs

So today was a crazy day in the city. My second oldest daughter had a follow up appointment with the surgeon for her foot. This appointment was a 2 hour drive from home and before we even got to the appointment it started to snow...bad situation! 

As soon as we got out of the appointment we hurried through some necessary shopping and headed home. Just in time too, there was 3 accidents between the city and our home and the highway was closed in 2 spots but fortunately we did not have to stop. I had left the baby at home who is still nursing so if we had not made it through that would have been a stressful situation from all of us. God knew and made it possible for us...my friends who were there also are just getting home 6 hours later because they got caught at both closures. Very thankful tonight to be home safe and sound!

Eating was as follows;

Breakfast before leaving was a coffee with honey and cream and a Smoothie with spinach, raspberries, water, flax and whey protein powder .

Snack at the hospital was an apple.

Lunch after appointment was a Turkey Breast sub sandwich with lots of veggies and honey mustard.

Snack on the drive home was a banana.

Supper, I had one piece of fried chicken, about 15 fries and lots of raw vegetables.

Evening snack was 2 pieces of Clean Fudge.

I call today a successful eating day! I am proud of myself today, in a good kind of way!

Day 2, 3, 4 & 5

Wow, this week is flying by!

Here is a summary of my week;
Monday, Day 2~ we woke up to no power in the house and it was not restored until 10 that night. So it was an interesting day to say the least! I did well with my eating but did not track my calories so I am not sure what they ended up at. I would not have been over that is for sure!

Tuesday, Day 3~ Catch up day on all the things I could not do because of the power outage on Monday. I had a terrible eating day, did not track calories and felt awful!!! Enough said about that day.

Wednesday, Day 4~ Back on track! I eat awesome, tracked calories (stayed under daily allowance) and went to a 45 minutes Zumba class.

Thursday, Day 5~ Another wonderful day! I am on a roll...here is my meals for the day,
Breakfast
Overnight Oats with mixed berries
2 Coffee with honey and cream

Lunch
Trim Healthy Mama Pancake with peanut butter and 1/2 tbsp. maple syrup
Coffee with honey and cream

Supper
Cheeseburger Pie
Salad with Catalina dressing

Snack
Cashew Larabar
Mint Tea

Total Calories= 1,334

Tomorrow I am on the road to take my second oldest daughter to the nearest Acute Care Center where she will hopefully get her cast off of her foot. My plan is to pack a bunch of clean, healthy foods and water in a cooler for breakfast and snacks. Lunch will be a sub sandwich. Supper is suppose to be KFC as a special treat for the family, in which I will eat in moderation and not feel guilty about.

Day One of Clean Eating

I have been fighting a bladder infection the last 2 days so I have been chugging water, 

averaging 125 oz. daily.

Sunday, this was an awesome eating day!

Breakfast

Overnight Oats with Raspberries

2 Mugs of Coffee with cream and honey

Morning Snack

Banana with natural peanut butter

Lunch

1/2 cup of Vegetable soup

Smoothie made with blueberries, strawberries, almond milk and whey protein

Piece of Clean Mint Fudge

Supper

Spaghetti Squash topped with meat sauce

Apple

Evening Snack

4 squares of 85% dark chocolate and mint tea

Total Calories= 1,401 my goal is 1,910 so a bit low for a nursing mama and I will work on upping my food intake. Sunday is a busy day at the arena, that is my excuse!

Goals

This past year I have only managed to lose just over 20 pounds and need to lose at least 35 more to be in a healthy weight range. I have 'played' around with different eating styles this year but nothing has felt right which has been part of my battle with finding a groove...not making any excuses though!

I am recommitting to eating clean and tracking my calories on MyFitnessPal. Since I am still nursing a little one so I am allowing myself  1900 calories daily.

The reason I have only lost what I have is because of lack of commitment and determination on my part and this can not continue...

It is time to get it DONE!

I would like to see the scale drop 2lbs per week putting me 12-14 lbs lighter by the New Year. 

That will put me at 165 or less. I could handle that # going into 2014!

In March 2014 will be my 41st birthday so it would be awesome to be at my goal weight then which is totally doable. 

Getting healthy at 40!!! Oh, yes!!!

I will also be journaling my food here daily for accountability or at least posting a link to my journal on MyFitnessPal. 

Digging My Heals In

The title says it all!
I am not 'feeling' like I want to change but I know I need to so this weekend that is what I have been doing. Not perfectly but making progress!

I know the scale will reflect the little choices and changes I am making!

Things like eating whole, unprocessed foods over fast food while in the city on Saturday.
 Choosing to not gorge myself on donuts and chocolate because I could.
Deciding to speak positive to myself about making little changes instead of looking for mastery.

No More Playing Around

Tomorrow I will do an official re-commitment weigh in because I just can't continue to play with my own life. It is time to get serious!

I will also be doing my food/exercise journal daily here on my blog for accountability.
I find it is encouraging to write about my day and have a person or two 'talk' to me about it.

Life has changed for the good so much here in the last few months and now it is time to get my health lined up with the rest of my life!

I keep hearing the line form a song run through my head today..."It's the first day of the rest of your life!"
So true...

What Will it Take?

I often ask myself this question! 

What will it take for me to get serious about living healthy and sticking with it for more than a few days in a row?!?

I weighed myself this morning...it has been a while since I did and I have NOT been eating healthy for the majority of the time. 

SCARY, 179.6lbs!!! 

That is a gain of 7.6lbs. YUCK!

So I could tell you all the reasons why I have not stuck with living healthy but the truth is none of them are any good. 

There are SO many reason why I need to get healthy and continue living a healthy lifestyle...now to move on from the wanting to make it click and to DOING it!!!