Time For Change



Another year has come and gone, and (shockingly) I have yet to start getting any younger. I'm 32 years into the only life I'm going to get, and I've decided that it is (FINALLY!) time to take control of my it. Once and for all.

 

Today I've started on a path to change my body, my eating habits and my entire attitude toward health and fitness. This is all based on a book called Metabolism Miracle by Dianne Kress. I'll spare you the lengthy details about the principles of it; you can read about it yourself if your interested enough.

 

Anyway, this is the end of day 1 of Step 1 of the program, and I did very well today. I exercised this morning, ate the right foods for breakfast and lunch, drank 160 oz of water, and ate a wholely carb-free dinner. (Yes, yes, I know... another carb-free diet, yada yada. But this is different; it's only carb-free for the first 8 weeks, so nyah!)

 

This was tonight's dinner. Not nearly as luscious and decadent as the homemade lasagna I had last night, but after eating it I didn't feel wildly uncomfortable and full of shame. So I guess that in and of itself is a big change.

 

So here's to 2014. A new year, a new chance, a new me.

Progress!!

It's been 8 weeks since I started my Lifestyle Overhaul, and I have nothing but good news to report! I have lost another 5 lbs (from last Sunday), and that brings the total to 28 lbs lost since January 6th. 28 motherf**king pounds!!!
I'm excited - can you tell? Hell, if I was any more excited there would be two of me. :-)

Of my 28 lbs lost, 20 have come off in the last 4 weeks alone, since I started The Juicing. I put that in bold letters because it's been such a remarkable thing for me that I feel, at this point, it deserves to be revered a bit. Unfortunately I'm not able to acheive the effect I would like, which would be for you to hear those words in your mind spoken by James Earl Jones. So be a dear and just imagine it that way, okay?

Anyway... The Juicing.
I did a juice fast (nothing but fresh vegetable/fruit juice and tea) for the first week, and since then I have had juice nearly every day for breakfast and lunch, and small, sensible dinners. I have been drinking coffee, tea, and decaf Nescafe quite freely, along with lots and lots of water. It's all been working out so well that I have actually become enthused by my prospects. Case in point, this morning I woke up at 5:17 and instead of rolling over and going back to sleep (which I easily could have done), I instead chose to get up and weigh myself because I was eager (yes, you read that right - EAGER) to see what the scale would show me.
Of course, it's not just the scale that I am getting hope and excitement from... I have lost enough weight in the right places that I have once again started to feel good about myself. I no longer dress/undress away from any and all reflective surfaces. I look in the mirror now and I can tell, every week, that I have lost weight and gained back a little bit more of my health and fitness. I am fitting into smaller jeans and shirts, and I feel so damn proud of that I could burst. And Steve can tell how well I'm doing, just by looking at me.

So here's to losing weight!
Here's to getting healthy!
Here's to finishing my coffee so I can scrub the vegetables and fruits I'm going to drink for breakfast! The juice may not taste as awesome as the blueberry pancakes Steve promised the girls for breakfast this morning, but I'll drink it anyway because it's worth it.

Juicing Update

A lot of people have been asking me how my juicing fast has been going, and I figure it's time I give y'all an update.

Monday through Thursday I did great. All juice, all day. I didn't drink any coffee, but I did drink a couple cups of green tea each day. Friday we were started running low on certain vegetables, so I started incorporating some solid foods back in. So for the last few days it's been juice for Breakfast and Lunch, and soup or fish for Dinner.

Since last Monday I have lost 8 lbs (that's a total of 16 since Jan 6th), my clothes are noticeably looser, and I have felt AMAZING. Seriously, I can't believe how good I felt having nothing but juice and water for days in a row. I won't say all the juices were delicious, because frankly, some weren't.
I was never hungry either; that honestly shocked me.

So that's the update. I am still drinking the juice, and so is Steve (let's give him a round of applause, shall we). He is also down 8 lbs since last Monday. And he and I both agree that we are going to keep at this a while longer. :-)

I Scream, you scream, we all scream for...

...JUICE?!
A friend of mine recently completed a 10 day, all juice detox. She drank nothing but freshly juiced vegetables and fruits. And water. Plenty of water.
She said the whole time that she felt great and had SO much energy, and after 10 days she lost 11 lbs and 7.5 inches. You can read about her adventure here...
http://juicingforahealthylife.blogspot.com/

After hearing how much she loved the whole experience, I decided to give it a try myself. What's more, Steve has decided to do it with me (though he'll likely do just a week). After multiple trips to various grocery stores this weekend we have bags and boxes and 2 fridge's stuffed to the gills with fruits & veggies. I spent this evening washing all of the vegetables that I will need for breakfast tomorrow. Below is the spread that Steve and I will be drinking.

 

 

I am really excited about trying this. After 4 weeks of lifestyle changing I have lost 8 lbs and am alcohol free. THAT hasn't been my reality since I was growing a human being in my stomache. I have traded beer for tea and bourbon for decaf Nescafe, and I drink over a gallon of water a day now. I have to pee ALL THE TIME, and every trip to the bathroom feels like a life or death emergency, but at least I'm sober.

Progress!

It's Sunday once again, which means it's Weigh-In Day, or WID for short. I was tickled pink when I stepped on the scale and saw that I am down 5 lbs from last week. Add that to the 3 lbs down from the week before, and I have lost 8 lbs in the last two weeks. Pardon me a moment while I do a little happy dance...

*Weeee!!!*

Thank you.
I have not been the working-out champion like I wanted to be. I've only exercised twice in the last two weeks. So those lost pounds are solely due to not stuffing my face uncontrolably. :-)
I'm pretty proud of myself so far, not just because of losing 8 lbs. I've managed to make a 75% overhaul to my eating habits without cravings or problems. I still need to tackle the exercising, but I'm not berating myself for not doing so yet. I'm taking on one problem at a time, and I now have 8 lbs of progress to help keep me motivated. Baby steps.

Off to a good start.

Well it's so far so good for my resolutions to change my lifestyle. I didn't end up exercising Monday morning, but I did yesterday and I will again tomorrow. Assuming I can still walk, that is. My legs are more sore this morning than they were last night. Hell, they're more sore now than they were two hours ago. But at least the exercising has commenced.

My diet has been very good the last two days, having ended both days within my calorie range. And I really haven't been very hungry, so overeating hasn't even been an issue. Thank goodness for that. Now if I can keep my head xdown and make it through this first week with no complications, that will be a big boost to my confidence in my ability to follow through with this.

It's Time

With the arrival of the new year comes the resolutions. Some new, many old, some really big and important, some dinky or frivolous. For the first time in my life I am making a resolution, a great big important one, that I am going to stick to no matter what. I have to.

My resolution in 2013 is to GET HEALTHY. And I'm not just talking about the 'lose weight and get in shape' kind of healthy, I am talking about a COMPLETE LIFESTYLE MAKEOVER. I am talking about a complete overhaul of my eating habits, my food intake, my physical activity - everything. I need to change what and how much I eat. I need to seriously curb my alcohol intake, if not give it up entirely. I need to become active and fit. I need to create a completely new set of (healthy) habits that I do now and tomorrow and every day for the rest of my life. Do I need to 'lose weight and get in shape'? Oh yes, but I need to do it on a massive scale. In short, I need to lose 80 lbs. And that's not "I have to lose 80 lbs in order to be skinny and hot." That's, "I need to lose 80 goddamn lbs before I am at what my doctor considers to be my optimum healthy weight." That is going to take everything I have and more, but I have to do it. I'm 31 years old, I have two small children, a wonderful husband and the whole rest of my life to live. I can't put off changing any longer. I am out of time and out of excuses, and starting January 7th it's do or die time. 2013 is the year I get my shit together and become the wife, mother, and PERSON that I've always wanted to be. For my family, for my future, and for MYSELF. Because I'm worth it, dammit.