Cardio Kickboxing

Last night we went for our second Cardio Kickboxing class at the YMCA.  We spend an hour kicking, punching, sweating, and attempting to follow along.  It gets confusing at time!  It was a little more enjoyable than the week before.  I don't love it, but I'm glad I went.  Not sure I'm excited for next week, either. But, I'll be glad when I've done it, I'm sure.  There is a lot of mind/body interaction and, that part, I definitely like.  Our instructor is really great, so I end up looking forward to seeing her as well.

After, we went out for burritos at Dos Amigos.  We had a coupon. ;)  I couldn't finish the whole burrito. They are huge.  Did eat the chips and salsa, though.

Was expecting to see the scale up this morning due to salty foods.  I usually see a gain if we go out to eat. 

I was down by .2 pounds.  Not a big loss, but a loss, nevertheless.  I'm happy with that. 

Busy day out today.  A rush in the morning to get schooling done.  Drop off big kids for lessons and then a visit with friends with the younger children. I'm excited!  I have this sweet friend that knows our food preferences and she's always so sweet to oblige us. She's planning to make a plant strong lunch for us!

Our friends and family don't need to be so accommodating, but I sure do recognize the blessing when they love on us in this way. 

Work It Off

So, last night we headed to the YMCA for Family Fun Night.

I admit, it takes everything in me to join in on group exercise.  Okay, full truth is it takes everything in me to join in on ANY exercise.  I'm just wired that way.  Lots of overcoming happens in my head if I want to be part of the Family Fun.

We did have fun.  We played some flag football and dodge ball.  Of course, it wasn't a major workout, but it was really great to hear my little girls giggle and squeal with delight as Mommy and Daddy chased and cheered for them.  The boys especially liked having a fast and furious Daddy on their tail. 

Everyone was famished, though, when they got home.  Dinner *was* pretty light, as I was trying to get us out the door quickly.  I made a vegetable stir fry that was apparently short on vegetables.  I served it over crunchy chow mein noodles for the children.  I intended to have brown rice, too, so they wouldn't have so many of the processed noodles, but I didn't make the time for the rice to cook. 

All of that led to hungry bellies after the gym.  I made up three blenderfuls of kale and fruit smoothies while someone else cooked up some peanut butter toast.  We munched away while David read our advent reading for the night.  Really, it was very sweet.

This morning the scale was up on first step.  I decided that since I had had that late night snack, which isn't my norm, I would get in a light Wii workout.  The fact that the house was quiet and I was alone helped in a big way.

Twenty minutes later and I'm down .4 pounds.  I'll take it.

Wondering where I've been lately?

Lost in Grainland.  Sigh.

We had an incredibly busy last two weeks. This past week, extremely so.  The children had three performances of The Scarlet Pimpernel this weekend as well as a day for full dress rehearsal.  It was intense, hurried, wonderful, and topsy-turvy, to say the least.

Because we were on the run and out of the house so often, I just didn't have the time to prep salads for my meals.  I did well with breakfast, but I succumbed to the easy grain foods that I had prepared for the children to eat while out.  Loading up on bread has kept the scale at a definite stand-still. Blah.

Add to that our celebrations this weekend with salty chips and salsa and a LOVELY lunch out with some new friends from the new church we've been visiting.  They invited us to Ruby Tuesdays, which has a great salad bar!  I loved it, but splurged on the biscuits they leave on the table.  I'm a bread-junkie, no joke!  I'm scared again to step on that scale. Grrr.

But, I need to know where I'm at. I guess I do, at least. 

Upside, I headed out with David to try out a Cardio Kickboxing class last week. It was...um...interesting. ;)  I was glad I went and it was good to have something active like that to do together.  I'm hoping I'll learn to like it a lot so it turns into something I look forward to each week.  Who knows, maybe I'll even want to join him for the Boot Camp class he likes to do on Tuesday mornings.  Brrrrr! That's all I can think of when I think of leaving the house for an early morning workout.  It's SO COLD these days!!

Speaking of that, I'm praying to find a new winter coat for myself.  Mine was just way too big.  I passed it along to a friend.  I found one in my oldest daughter's size (small) and have taken the coat she used last year. Only thing, it's really not a winter coat. And, the zipper is busted.  So, it's getting frigid out there and if I'm aim to stay warm, I have to layer up on my fall coats and my clothing.  I have a few dollars tucked away and am praying the Lord will help me find the perfect winter jacket in my thrift store hunts.  Your prayers are very welcome. :)

Do-Si-Do!

Tonight we headed out for an interesting date.

First stop: A local health fair. We had them check our cholesterol and blood sugars. I think we did pretty well. :)

 

 

We also spent some time sharing with others about our adventure moving to a plant-based diet. It's so great to have such a thriving testimony to share. There's just no denying how much our lives have changed for the better by simply changing what we put in our mouths! Just LOOK at us.  There's no denying life is SO much better!!

 

Then we headed over for dinner at Dos Amigos.  Vegan Chili burrito in a whole wheat tortilla. Yum.  The chips were not so smart with the salt and oil. I'll have to make sure they skip those next time.

 

After our sidewalk dinner on a gorgeous fall evening, we headed over for our first square dancing lesson. Oh my, what fun!! The people there were amazingly friendly and fun to be with. We worked hard trying to learn the calls, but spent even more time laughing at ourselves!  By the middle of the evening, we were sweating.  I couldn't believe that we could work that hard learning some basic steps.  I think we're going to really enjoy having such a great way to get out and have fun this winter.

 

We've been getting in our walks in the morning, which is fantastic!  Still going strong with the 6 week plan.  I chopped up some broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots in the food processor the other day. Those are going great on my head of romaine for lunch every day.  I found a great creamy Italian dressing from theprotectivediet.com website. It uses chia seeds to thicken it and make it creamy. Really great flavor, too!

 

All in all, life is great and I'm plugging along. Down a pound so far this week. :)  REALLY close to that 30 pounds down mark. Maybe tomorrow?? Maybe not. Those chips I had at dinner may hold me back a little yet. 

Sunday check-in

So, for the week, I'm down 2.4 pounds. I'm really happy with that considering how much I strayed from the plan.  It just shows how well this works for me!

I also figured out that I'm only 10 pounds away from getting out of the Obese category with my weight. That is really exciting!! I think it's a far reach, but I would love to meet that goal by our next weigh in on October.  10 pounds gone in 11 days? Yeah, that's a little crazy. But, you never know. ;)

I'm newly motivated to hit the exercise hard with regularity.  If I can see the pounds come off being my normal lazy self, then I should see some great improvement by adding in some exercise. The weeks ahead look to be less busy so that leaves me time and room to put my health at the front page for a bit.

I'm also seeing that despite the pounds coming off, I'm not losing inches like I want.  Up top, I'm getting smaller, for sure. My hips and belly are still in the way, though, and I'm not going down in sizes like it seems I should with the weight loss. Focusing on T-Tapp will be a big help to see the inches come off. I want to see myself comfortably in the next size down by weigh-in next month. I'm going to work hard toward that goal. What's the use of losing 30-ish pounds if you're still able to wear the same (even if baggy) clothes you wore 30 pounds earlier??

We had a great hike with the family today.  I wore the baby and we hiked for a total of 2.5 hours. Gorgeous day for it, too!

I'm resting today due to several of the little girls having colds. I'm finally feeling like I've recovered from our busy weeks earlier this month, gotten over the head-cold pressure I was feeling earlier in the week, and I'm ready to take on life again.  Really ready. :)

Still Going

I'm not sure why I haven't gotten much blogging done. Life has been insanely busy, leaving me scrambling to keep up with food prep and basic life.  I haven't had a whole lot of time to think, never mind write without interruption.

Stepped on the scale today and I was a little surprised to see the scale down.  The last two weeks it hasn't moved hardly at all. Now, I haven't been completely faithful to the 6 week plan, but I have been more strict with myself. I thought I would have seen a bigger loss. Yet, any loss is welcome here. Last week was O week, and I think I had some issues seeing the scale move that week last month. It will be interesting to watch for that trend.

A few new things in the last couple of weeks:

1. We've found some new recipes for salad dressings that we're trying. The Southwestern Ranch is growing on me.  Without a decent dressing, it's really hard to look forward to a salad for a meal.

2.  I tried a really yummy vegetarian chili that we brought to dinner with friends. It was a hit with everyone.

3.  I watched a very thought provoking talk, The Starch Solution, on youtube from Dr. McDougall on the benefits and importance of starch.  So intriguing to learn and think on the science and history of how starch has sustained civilization and even fueled the strongest gladiators of all time.

I'm sure there are more new things I should and could be sharing.  However, life has begun here and I am determined to get into my bible before any fires begin that need putting out.

I have NOT been exercising.  Wonder what it's going to take to get me going again. I feel like I am crashed out after two weeks of solid running.  Likely, it's an excuse, but I'm giving myself some time to rest and recover from a really stressful past couple of weeks.

No Exercise = Big Loss

That's some crazy news!

I haven't exercised formally in the last five days, possibly even 7.  My broken toes and how busy we've been with life have given me great excuse to put off the workouts.

However, I was so restless yesterday, I knew I had to get in some exercise.  And a weigh-in. Gulp.

I was thrilled to see that even with an afternoon weigh-in, my weight was down a little.  After eating grain-heavy for David's bday, I was a little scared to see the scale. 

Then we went out for dinner last night.  Fried mushrooms and restaurant bread. Yeah. Double doom.

The scale was down AGAIN this morning!! In fact, since my last weigh-in, I'm down almost TWO pounds!! Now, that's an impressive loss without exercise. :D

Bonus:  I got in a BWP this morning.  Whew! My heart works a lot harder with that one than the wii fit yoga stuff. I've got an accountability friend now for T-Tapp, so I'm hoping that will motivate me to work hard at getting in a daily workout with Ms. Tapp. :) I did notice that, even while the T-Tapp Twist still brought that same cringe to my brain when I started, I didn't feel quite as *un-able* during it as usual. In fact, part way through, I felt a bit energized.  That's progress!

We're on break this week from school. I've got some sitting projects to do, some visiting, too. But, we do have some active stuff we can work on, like yard clean up and cleaning and setting up the attic space. 

So ambitious.  I honestly would love to just take a nap at some point as well.

Here's the link to our family blog where I posted pics of our Birthday Brunch Feast that we made for David.  There are links for recipes there. :)

Proving Myself Wrong

You know, the last many years I've been lying to myself.

So many nights I've said:

I don't have it in me to cook.

I am WAY too tired to pull a meal together.

It will be SO late by the time we get home, I'll never get a decent dinner on the table before we all starve.  

To death, no less.

All lies.

Tonight, we got home at 5:30.  Of course, the whole way home I was lamenting over the "good ol' days" when I would have just had my husband get a take out pizza or run through the drive-thru for cheap burgers and fries.  But, NOOOOOOOO.  I have to eat HEALTHY.  I have to eat Plant-Based foods.  We can't do easy things and just move on.  Isn't there room for exceptions and a tired mom to just have a break?

That's how I talk to myself.

I even bantered with my husband on the phone over all this. When the conversation ended, I realized just how much EASIER it was going to be to go home and throw something together rather than eat out at Who Knows Where because nothing out there leaves us feeling good anymore.

Tonight's dinner: 
Pintos seasoned with crushed tomatoes, spices, garlic and onion; corn on the cob; fresh green beans sautéed with garlic, onion powder, and mushrooms using the corn water; applesauce for dessert

On the table in less than 30 minutes. Faster than any take out, delivery, frozen dinner, or probably most drive-thrus given the size of our order when we would go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scale was down today, lower than it's been. I have less than 3 pounds to go before I hit the next decade. You know I'm feeling really happy about that. :)

Broke a couple little toes last night, though.  I've been hobbling around today and trying to put my feet up when I can to keep the swelling down.  Really stinks. I was just setting some exercise goals with my T-Tapp workouts.

Tomorrow I'm going to try getting done my BWP and see how I do.  Hopefully I can get in a decent workout without irritating those little appendages. 

I'm here...I didn't disappear!

Okay, I know you've been worried. Normally, an absence of a few days from my blog means I've been hitting the chocolate chips pretty hard.

Not this time!! :D

I have been staying up too late, though, leaving me spacey and tired and not able to put too many coherent sentences together.

Friday night I was spent. I just did NOT want to spend another minute in my kitchen making food. I was craving a nice dinner at a nice place with nice people around me.  No food to prep or cook and no dishes to oversee. 

Thing is, going out to eat while staying plant strong is nearly impossible! Even a salad at most of our local places is loaded with stuff I'd pick out.  I don't want to pay $10 for a plate of lettuce-hold-the-dressing, iykwim. ;)

We decided on a new Mexican restaurant near us. I looked over their menu before we left and chose one of the vegetarian options they had. I ordered it without the dairy. It was devine!! Tortilla stuffed with a medley of vegetables, topped with tomatillo sauce.  A side of lettuce, tomatoes, black beans, and rice.  I left the rice, since it was white.  I only ate one enchilada and left some beans on the plate as well. I was stuffed with yummy food!  We did splurge and have the chips and salsa and I ignored the fact that the tortilla was white flour. I enjoyed my meal with an abundance of gratitude!

Saturday was busy with household tasks, meals, picking up and dropping off my daughter for work, and grocery shopping. We actually only needed one cart this week. Shocking.

Today we grazed a bit. I think I'm just going to not fuss about snacking on Sundays as long as the snacks are nutritious.  I did overdo the grains this weekend. The tortilla on Friday, brown rice on Saturday, and I had TWO pieces of Ezekiel bread toast tonight for my dinner.  It was lovely.

My weight still is going down, but not in very high increments. Still, down is what I want to see.

Very little exercise this weekend.  I took a walk with some kiddos around town on Saturday, but that's been all. I need to get to bed at a decent hour tonight so I can get back to my habit-building goals.

So, that's my weekend report. I don't like being away from here for long periods of time. I know it drags my motivation down a bit. Thankfully, I still had good things to report this time.

Better Day

Today I pushed myself out of that bed and got my morning 20 done, after I helped David get his juices ready. My weight was down a bit, thankfully.

We loaded up after an early lunch (soup for me) and went to an audition for my boys.  We were there several hours, so I had them bring the double stroller.  I took a couple girlies and lapped the building we were at so I could get in a bit of exercise while I was there. I also spent a good deal of time standing and talking with friends. Better than sitting, right?

This evening was "meat night" and we came home to a crock pot full of Chicken Taco Chili.  It was a major success. I nutri-tized it when we got home, adding some greens, mushrooms, and onions.  I put in one chicken breast (instead of three that the recipe called for) and put in a few cups of white northern beans to bulk it up.  It will serve us for two meals. So, we did have our meat, but it was sparing. I've always been frugal with our meats, but this was a stellar performance in my book. :)

After dinner we walked up to the tennis courts. We got in some doubles, singles, and mostly chased balls. For a bit, I did some power walking lapping the courts so I could know I got in some decent movement for the evening.  It was a gorgeous night. 

We came home to bible time and now it's that glorious quiet as everyone that isn't in bed yet is reading or clicking away at the keys.

David joined us for dinner tonight.  It's been almost 2 weeks since he did that.  It was *really* nice to have him join us for a meal.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

I started the day feeling sluggish and unmotivated. 

Ate fine. 

I got in a mild workout this morning. Then I tried the TTapp Step Away the Inches dvd this afternoon. It was a great workout! I felt energized when I finished it. 

Then I was HUNGRY about 4pm.  I was craving something heavy and chewy and related to BREAD in a big way.  I got the children's dinner going and munched on the crusts from Kindy's Ezekiel Bread sandwich and I was instantly satisfied. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but my stomach was definitely happy. 

I'm not sure if I was hungry like that due to a craving or if it had to do with getting in a harder workout, smaller lunch, and that I'm nursing again. 

Dinner tonight was simple.  We heated up leftovers and kept life easy.  I had on the menu to make a new batch of soup, but we had a lot in the fridge that needed eating, so I didn't want to make more.

Simple fare: Vegetable soup, walnuts and a peach for me

 

For date night, we went to Staples and shopped.  We were there a long time. Now I'm hanging out watching David work out on the wii wondering if I'm going to get a turn. It's almost my bed time. ;) 

Wednesday, July 7, 2013

Today felt hard.

I woke up late because I stayed up too late.  I felt tired and dealing with a lack of motivation most of the day.

I still got our schooling done, got in 3 session of exercise. Though, my pre-lunch didn't happen until well after lunch.  I still got in three bits of activity with my three meals.

I'm feeling a little uninspired with food.  Maybe just bored.  We made veggie wraps today. Big bowl of lettuce and all manner of vegetables, fruit, beans, and nuts to fill it.  I was actually REALLY wanting to make a wrap for myself. It was HARD to build a salad and not enjoy that chew tortilla wrapped around it. I took a LONG time to eat my salad.  But, I was glad at the end that I didn't have the bread/grains. 

When dinner came around, I was equally down.  None of the leftovers seemed good to me.  I ended up with a small bowl of beans and a green apple with a few little pieces of walnut. I was feeling bad that I didn't have more greens or vegetables. That apple is a lot of sugar.  But, I was just plain worn out and didn't want to work so hard at feeding myself. At least I stayed on course, right? It wasn't quite the level of nutrition it should be, but it wasn't anti-nutrient either.

I need to find a good balance between prepping foods and getting school done. This is getting hard to do both.

I didn't weigh in this morning. I'm a little scared to see that the number that I was at yesterday go up because it was in error or something. 

I did got with David tonight to try some tennis. First time we've played alone. I need to change the name of that game to Chase-Balls cause that's pretty much all I did. 

Habit Building

I joined some online friends in a 60 day challenge to build some new great habits, replacing some old ones that Need To Go!

So, here's my list:

New Habits I Desire
Love the Lord
Daily bible/journal/prayer before morning chores/computer time

Weekly letter sharing God's word with someone.

Love my husband
Daily pray a psalm for/over him

Greet him with a smile each time he comes home from being away

Love my children
Daily Prayer Hands

No social media during lessons, choring, or project/group time

Daily 15-30 minutes One/Two-on-One time (school days) with each child

Speak to the Heart Challenge: add a piece of scripture to our day visually, auditorally, or another creative way. At least one *new* thing each week.

Tend my temple (body)
10-30 minutes of exercise before each meal

Bed by 10pm
So, my list has categories. That's how my brain works. Everything neatly on it's own shelf.  However, that's not how life really works.  None of these shelves is separate. They all work together to bring me into balance and strength.  In fact, while I was making my list, I struggled a bit on which shelf to put some goals on (and, yes, I did trim this list down from it's original. I was trying to keep it short and simple.)

I am thrilled to report that, today, my first day, I accomplished all my goals!  I am ending the day exhausted, mentally, but completely overjoyed that the Lord enabled me to push myself to Do Good Things. :)

The scale dropped 1.5 this morning! I gotta think that was a hiccup with the wii board, but I left it be.  We'll see tomorrow what it says. I ate very little today, so I'll see how that affects it. I just wasn't feeling hungry for much of what I made.  I did build a huge pot of vegetable soup this morning for lunch and then had it again at dinner.  I didn't want to eat the pasta the children were eating. 

I'm sort of in the weird place where nothing sounds very good to me and I'd rather just not eat.  I'm thinking that's not a great place to be, but with keeping up with school and building a new routine, I think I'm letting the food go and this is better than eating what I shouldn't eat, maybe.

I got in at least 10 minutes of activity before each meal. That was one of my hardest goals to meet today. I was really excited I did it, but, wow, is that hard to get in to the routine.

We had a lovely time at the park tonight enjoying some live big band music.  I hung out at the playground with the girls and tossed the football around a bit with them too. I worked at doing some squatting, bending, and just overall using my body in ways that I could tell I'm getting stronger.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow and another day of building good habits to replace old ones.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Today's Good Things:
Ate well, under on calories
Got out twice for a walk
Tried a couple of new recipes

Today's Not So Good Things:
Missed my afternoon workout

I was tired again today.  I ended up going to lie down after lunch instead of working out. I didn't sleep, but having some quiet and closing my eyes was good.

I made some vegetable broth today. I used it to water sautee' our yellow and green beans tonight at dinner. Very tasty.

I also made Mushroom Stroganoff and it was great. I enjoyed mine over steamed broccoli.  Didn't miss the pasta at all and felt VERY full when my meal was done. I even skipped the pineapple everyone had for dessert.

I worked on my menu and recipe binder today. That was fun.  I have a big grocery list for next week.  Trying some new things like bok choy and artichokes. :)

Reboot Juice Fast - Day 4 - Done.

Today is the last day of my juice fast.  Why? Because my body said so.  It would not accept another sweet juice no matter what color I served it.

I enjoyed a lovely salad of fresh greens from the garden, broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini topped with a few kidney beans and salsa.  A side of corn on the cob and 2 little pieces of celery topped with peanut butter and my tummy is way more than full.

Now I know what I can do with juicing.  I'm glad for the results, but I don't think they are so impressive that it warrants a complete fast from all eating. 

I'm going to go spend some more time organizing my Eat to Live recipe book and give my menu plan a look over for which recipes I want to play with the rest of this week. 

David is still deciding what he wants to do with his fast.  I know his day 15 is coming up this weekend. He's talked a little about taking a week break by allowing some kind of foods and then picking it up again when his friend starts his fast the next week. 

However it works out, I want to be armed and ready with delicious, nutritious foods that will satisfy my guy after a long, hard fast. :)

Got in a 30+ minute workout on Wii Fit with my weights.  I'm getting better at those yoga poses and strength exercises. 

Wednesday, June 17, 2013

Today's Good Things:
Under on calories for the day
Morning yard work and after lunch workout on the wii (lunges!!)
Tired and ready for sleep and it's not 10pm yet.

Today's Not So Good Things:
No evening exercise - shopping for this weekend's party
scale was up today - though I'm not fussing about it

Today was good.  I enjoyed my apple, peanut butter, flax seed, and raw oats for breakfast. Love that Breakfast Bowl!  Simmered up some delicious Indian Spiced Lentils for lunch and whipped up a smoothie for dinner.  I did not want to be eating food while out on our date tonight.

I'm still thinking a lot about how to get in more greens.  I'm not eating them at breakfast and I wasn't confident enough in my blender to add them to my smoothie tonight. I need to get more brave on that.

For lunch, I added kale to the lentils and then we filled romaine lettuce leaves with the lentils and ate them like burritos. That was good!

I was TIRED after lunch, though. I still got in my workout, but I had to push myself. Where did my energy go?

Hey! My wonder, amazing, hard working husband is down 10 pounds!!! That's incredible! He's been working outside in the awful heat all week and juicing the whole time.  He's tired, but has such a great attitude and keeps working hard at this.  Love that man!

I just added my recipe for Indian Spiced Lentils to my Recipes page here on the blog.  I revamped the original recipe to exclude the chicken and chicken broth. I switched that out for mushrooms and added kale. So good!  The mushrooms give the texture of the chicken with way more of the nutrition our bodies need. :)

Monday, July 8, 2013

Good Things:
Logged, blogged and ended the day under on calories
Over an hour of yard work after breakfast, 15 minute walk after lunch, and a walk with the girlies down to the library before dinner.  Activity x3
Met my protein goal for the day (been trying to watch that to be sure I'm not slacking or missing anything)
All my water is in
School completed
Poison ivy is clearing
Very good bible reading and journaling today

Not So Good Things:
Did NOT deal with the Monday stress well at all
short-tempered
feeling yuk physically


My first pp cycle started over the weekend.  Today was the first day I really felt icky with it. Interestingly, I haven't had any cramping at all. I was severely hurting a few weeks ago while detoxing on the Daniel fast, but this week I'm just feeling worn out, tired, and, you know, icky.  No cramping, headache, or pain of any kind, though. Pretty amazing for a first pp cycle if I do say so myself. ;)

I am emotionally wound up, though. Yikes.  Today was rough, trying to get people on track and doing what they should be doing. I lost my cool way more than I want to even recall. :(  I'm really hoping tomorrow is a better day in that regard.

I'm starting to wonder how I'm going to swing this eating style with our budget.  I feel like I'm overspending every week.  Not sure that completely true, but it's hard to figure right now. 

I can also tell that my husband is getting a little bored or tired of the various beans being served at each meal.  Tomorrow I plan to make a meal to bring friends filled with meat and potatoes. I'll double it for the fam and just enjoy some leftover lentil soup myself at dinner time. I think that will go a long way for my guy.

I'm feeling proud of myself for getting in three spurts of exercise today as well as schooling getting done.  I still need to work on budgeting my time so I can keep that up, but I have hope I can make it happen, at least.

So grateful this dreaded poison ivy is clearing. I didn't even need to do the scalding hot shower today to deal with the itch.  That's huge when I think of how I was taking 3 a day for a while there.

Ready to hit the sack!  Just finished a cup of red raspberry leaf tea and I'm ready to enjoy some cool quiet in my own little space. :)

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Good Things:
Great choices while eating out after church
Snacked on the way home, but healthier choices than old habits
30 minutes on the wii, added hand weights to my advanced step
Scale is going down again

Not So Good Things:
Too much salt with my snack
Sugar today

I was so glad to be exercising again. The last two days have left me with no activity and I was feeling so sluggish.  I got in a good 30 minutes that left me sweating.  I was down 1.5 since my last weigh-in.  Whew!

David got some greek yogurt bars at the store today. I have such a hard time saying no to him when he gets me a treat. Thing is, I didn't WANT to eat it, it was high in sugar. And, even though I did, it didn't even taste good, so it felt like a waste of a treat. I need to figure out a kind way to decline or at least redirect his efforts. I did the same thing with Josh this week when he saved part of his sub sandwich for me.  

I know I shouldn't rejoice so much over the scale going down. But, well, I am.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Good Things:
Got out for a brisk walk first thing this morning with my husband
Started the day smiling, showered, and even fussed with my new haircut a bit. ;)
Enjoyed a lovely cup of lemon ginger tea this morning.
Did a ton of shopping with a couple teamers.  Got in all the groceries under budget. I was a little nervous. 
Went out for lunch with my husband, sat in on an important meeting with him.
Saw my dear, precious friend who is also The Best Midwife Ever today. :)
Ended the day under on calories and very tired.
Made some new recipes for dinner and everyone had great attitudes and even LOVED one of them.

Not So Good Things:
I have the poison ivy now and it's spreading. Blah.
Fumbled a bit with lunch and ended up eating some chicken that I hadn't planned to eat along with white flour flatbread at Subway. 
Lost all energy by dinner time. Probably the lunch hangover kicking in.
No Wii workout tonight. Too physically worn out.

The Simple Bean Burgers were a HUGE hit!! Everyone was asking for seconds.

The three oldest children and I worked together to make them. We served them on pitas with burger fixins and it was a huge success.  The Great Greens (steamed kale, chard, spinach with a vinegar dressing), not so much. Pretty sure that fail was on our end because they were just way too salty.  But, my Benjy boy really liked them and even had seconds when the rest of us didn't want to eat them. I'm impressed with that boy trying hard to like his mom's weird food. ;)

I was feeling discouraged that I didn't make a better choice for lunch.  It was a last-minute decision that I was even going with my husband to this meeting, so lunch had to be on the run.  I walked in the restaurant and just completely blanked out on what to order. It's like my brain isn't sure how to think about food just yet without the boundaries of the fast. I didn't want to choose an animal protein because I knew I was planning for that later in the week.  But, I couldn't think beyond that. What I did choose, I worked with wisely, I think.  No cheese, no sauce, add some cucumbers with the lettuce and spinach...it should hide okay in there...and it did.  The sandwich was delicious and I purposed to eat it with joy, giving thanks in all things. :)  Now that I've entered it in to mfp, I'm not feeling so bad. Even though it wasn't the most nutritious choice I could have made, I still made good choices overall and enjoyed a lovely lunch with my husband.

I do think I'm feeling the effects of it now, though. Worn out and lethargic a few hours later. I read that this happens after the fast when you start adding in foods. 

Overall, my first day off the fast went very well. I was busy and active all day.  I made wise choices, overall.  I got in all my water and some exercise.  I'm working my plan and doing it joyfully with the people I love.  The poison ivy that is overtaking me isn't so great. I could do without that.  But, I'll be thankful that I can better empathize with my husband and sons who are battling it as well.

My verse for the day:

Psalm 34:1    I will bless the LORD at all times ; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Praying that my mouth will be so filled with His praise that none of the ugly words or foods fit! :D

Daniel Fast - Day Twenty One

June 30, 2013

A couple final notes from the fast.

Today we celebrated with friends.  We enjoyed a simple lunch, and I was able to tell myself no to a second helping of beans at lunch.  I heard that reasoning voice in my head telling me it was Sunday and we were with friends and they were healthy, after all, so it was okay.  Then I told that self of mine that I actually was fine with what I had and I still had a yummy piece of watermelon to enjoy so I didn't need that extra scoop of beans.  Smart self I am slooooowly learning to be. :)

Came home after evening church, so it was late and everyone was really worn out.  Nursed the baby for bed. Put new sheets on our bed (since our bedding needed washing from the poison ivy breakout).  Then I headed downstairs and got in a 15 minute workout on the Wii.  It felt great to get in some sweat-able time.  And....I'm down another .9 pounds!!!  Craziness!! I have Never Ever been able to lose weight...even one little pound took every ounce of me to fight off. It is coming off so quickly right now. I'm in shock!

My total loss for this week is 3.7 pounds.  I'm already under the next 10 pound mark! My, how motivating is that?! 

I'm looking forward to the coming week.  I don't have any plans to jump too far from the Daniel Fast way of eating. I don't want to put my body in shock, and well, frankly, this is working for me!  We've got a huge list of new recipes to try. I'll be putting them all together in a binder tomorrow as well as getting some groceries for the week's experiments.  Elizabeth and I are both looking forward to trying Bean Burgers.  I don't feel a bit jealous of David's plans to head to Five Guys and Fries with a friend tomorrow evening.  Okay, well...maybe a little jealous.