Life Changing

I haven't done any menu or clean eating posts in a while and I figured the day after eating a giant blueberry muffin and an entire plate of veal parm would be a great time to talk about why I love eating clean and the changes my body have gone through in a short amount of time. I have now been eating clean for about a month and a half and I feel better than I ever have in my life. Yesterday made me appreciate my new lifestyle and reaffirmed why I initially wanted to change. My day started off with my typical morning breakfast of eggs, turkey bacon, and coffee with coconut milk creamer and agave. I knew it would be difficult to be completely clean this day because we would soon be heading to a play date including coffee and muffins. Mckinley ate most of the muffin and I enjoyed a few bites along with my coffee and vanilla creamer. I fee like If I make good choices 99% of my life then a few bites and sips won't ruin all of my hard work plus like I always say what's life without cake and I will NEVER live without cake! Later that night was when I actually regretted something that I ate. 

My sister graduated from her ultrasound program last night after 15 long months of hard work and usually all big events like this include a special dinner out afterwards. My sister chose one of our family favorites a little Italian restaurant with the best veal parm you have ever eaten. Their gravy is as close to our family gravy as you are going to get plus their ravioli are amazing! I had spent 2 hours chasing my precious child around the graduation ceremonies and by the time we got to the restaurant I was STARVING and this was after eating a peanut butter sandwich (made for my child to eat knowing she probably wouldn't eat it because she would rather have real food than a sandwich and eaten because I was starving) which led to me over eating and eating foods I typically wouldn't have eaten. The dinner comes with 2 pieces of veal parm covered in spaghetti gravy and cheese with 6-8 ravioli. Now I could lie and say I had a few bites of everything, but the honest truth is I ate every single bite on my plate plus close to 1 1/2 pieces of extremely overly saturated buttery garlic bread. Needless to say I was very very very sick last night and woke up feeling quite yucky and completely rededicated to eating clean.

I decided to take a progress picture today because despite feeling yucky about what I had previously consumed I was feeling pretty good about myself today. I have definitely noticed a downward move on the ole scale, but I am having a hard time seeing changes in my body. I know my face is much thinner and my arms are firming up from my usage of heavy weights and push ups, but the mama belly is still an eye sore that  is the hardest to notice any change. I was pleasantly surprised when I did a side by side of my 2 progress pictures how different parts of my body have already changed in such a short time. I don't believe this picture is the best example of the difference because my before picture seems a tad closer making it look exaggeratedly bigger than my second picture so I don't think my results are as drastic as they seem, but regardless there is definitely a change. 

I am going to really kick up my ab routine these next few months because I have a feeling bridesmaids dess trials will be in my somewhat near future and I really don't feel like purchasing or having to squeeze my behind into any spanx, but I am not ruling it out. I am also hoping to ramp up my running schedule these next few months and I am hoping to be up to at least 6 miles by May when sign ups for the St. Jude Marathon and Half Marathon opens up. I am pretty confidant I will be there by then which will give me a pretty good head start to 13.1 by December

So here it is in all of its ungloriousness. The second picture seems much closer to camera making it look like my changes are even more drastic than they truly are, but I think you can still see the areas that have changed the most. 

I am now going to set msyelf some goals from now until March 1 2014. I don't really care about losing any weight, but I am really concentrating on toning my entire body. I not only have a wedding with a lot of pictures coming up in a year, but this summer in only a few short months I am planning on taking Mckinley to swimming lessons. This means I have to get my butt into a bathing suit and I don't want this butt hanging out or scaring any children. That means the lunges, squats, and wall sits are getting kicked into high gear along with my abs and my mileage. I have done it before and I will do it all again with a toddler sitting on my stomach as I crunch and a stroller packed with sippy cups and veggie chips. 

Wish me luck and if you see me sitting around you are allowed to yell at me and throw things.