A Little Less Of Me

After a week of Paleo  I am down 4 pounds and I am feeling great!!! What What!!!! I would say 5 because when I weighed myself this morning I was down to 122.3 from 127, but I am afraid it was a fluke or water weight. I wish I had taken some before and after pictures, but for a frame of reference here is a picture from May when I restarted working out and running and i can already tell a difference from then to now. My upper stomach, arms, and legs are the areas I can currently notice a difference and of course the lower mama belly is the #1 area I need to work on, but give me some time and we will get there.

So 7 days of Paleo and I am feeling great! I will admit the the first few days I was pretty hungry and ate all day long, but everything I was eating was protein or fruits and veggies so I was still sticking to my clean diet and I still lost weight! I have learned to carry almonds and and apple pretty much everywhere I go just in case I get hungry and nothing is available that I want or can eat. Basically I look at my new eating habits this way. I will eat healthy and naturally as much as I possibly can, but I will not beat myself up for a Treat Meal (I don't want to call it a Cheat Meal because that sounds so negative) and if nothing 'Paleo" is offered I will make the healthiest choices out of what is available. I actually had two treat meals this past weekend with some of my favorite Alternative Pizza (Olive Oil, Mozzarella, Crushed Basil, Garlic, Fresh Tomato) Friday night and then Sunday morning whilst celebrating my girl's half birthday I enjoyed a New Orleans doughnut from our favorite Donut Shop. I felt fine after the pizza, but the after affects of Sunday's doughnut showed me why I have chose to eat clean. 

It is funny to me that I have created a Paleo Pinterest Board because I could honestly just pin everything to my regular boards because everything I am pinning is just normal food. There isn't anything "Diet" about it because it is foods we would eat every day and since we never have   bread with our meals except spaghetti I am not really changing how I eat I am just making a conscious effort to eat healthier. And now that Brent has been diagnosed with Acid Reflux I guess I need to start planning out all of his meals also.

I haven't really started my meal calendars again, but I plan to definitely make one for February. This week we are keeping things pretty simple with some ground turkey, fish, and chicken. Last night we started with Turkey Tacos or Taco Salad for myself. Tonight Brent grilled some of our TeamD special Italian Dressing Chicken. basically you marinate some chicken in italian dressing and grill it. He had a baked potato as his side dish while I made some home made sweet potato fries. i cut up 2 medium sized sweet potatoes, poured a little vegetable oil on them (We were out of olive oil), sprinkled a little salt, a touch of sugar, and some paprika and baked on 450 until crispyish. I would probably cook them low and slow next time because they got a little burnt, but I honestly like my food a little overdone (fish and chicken need to be dry. Strange I know).

Like I said before these changes haven't been difficult because these are 2 normal meals for us to eat. We don't usually have any bread with our meals except for some garlic bread on spaghetti night (I will save all of that for a Treat Meal). I have only had to review my snack and breakfast choices and I am enjoying the choices I have been making. Instead of freezer waffles I have eggs and a grapefruit or turkey bacon for breakfast and for my snacks I have been eating fresh fruits and nuts. I just made an AMAZING fruit salad last night by dumping all of the berries (black, raspberry, and blueberry), grapes, and apples into a bowl and mixed together some honey and lemon juice. It is AMAZING! Next time I want to try lime juice for a little change. I am also giving this Jillian Michael's Bloat Drink to see if it gives me and even bigger kick start. I am actually enjoying some right now and it is pretty tasty and is a nice substitute to my sugar free juice packets.

So here's to another week eating clean and getting healthy.
Wish us luck and pray we stay safe during tonight's big storms. 

Patience Is A Virtue

My dad used to tell me this all of the time and still does and let me tell you I am still not a patient person and neither is my child. She is also very stubborn (wonder where she gets that from??)

We spent most of the afternoon doing this and I know she isn't feeling good with 1 front tooth and a molar coming in at the same time, but I am absolutely exhausted and was ready for her to go to bed and I never say that!

Now if we could get past the potty training hurdle of saying she pooped when she has peed in her diaper and then freaking out because she is wet! So go on the potty kid! We are going through more diapers now than before potty training because she hates being wet. Oh well potty training problems right? 

Now I am just praying she sleeps through these storms that are about to roll through.

Oh Happy Day

Today I payed off my credit card. Sadly nothing fun was ever purchased with this card except school stuff and large purchases that were inevitable and had to be payed. Now we can start paying even more on Brent's card (more school) and school loans and our tax return will go towards Brent's card. That means there will be no vacays for us this year, but that's life and part of being a grown up and the closer we can get to being debt free besides the eventual new cars we will have to purchase and our mortgage the less stress there will be on our little family. 

Pay-le-o

I have been reading up on how I could start eating even healthier than I already do. I kept thinking how can I not be losing weight? I eat so healthy (except at school where there are ALWAYS cakes, cookies, candy!) First off I know that my lack of exercise these past few months has really been hurting me and I can always eat better. A few posts back I think I mentioned starting Weight Watchers again, but I wanted to try something a little different. 

You see I am all about eating good healthy foods and I naturally eat this way most of the time. I don't crave sweets (except certain days of the month), I don't drink sodas, and I eat a lot of fruits and veggies so I wondered what else I could do to make my body even healthier. I don't like to "Diet" and that is why I love WW, but I just couldn't get myself started translating my points and each time I tried I always seemed to go way over, but This sounded interesting to me and kind of made sense and I pretty much already ate like this except for the occasional sweet or cracker so I thought what the heck.

Wednesday I actually gave it a whirl and I ate pretty good except for 1 thick and fluffy Eggo waffle. I was definitely not awake yet and after eating it I smacked my head like Homer Simpson saying "Doh" The rest of the day I ate Vegetable soup, salad, an apple, mixed nuts (they had peanuts, but for my first day I let it slide because I was all out of raw almonds which is what I usually eat ), carrots and hummus (not paleo), a few slices of Boar's Head lunch meat which is some of the best meat you can get and I will be eating on lettuce wraps, tilapia, corn on the cob, quonia, and lima beans (some sources say no legumes, but I would rather have legumes than any sugar!) That is a typical day for me anyways and the only thing I need to change is my breakfast choices and I need to find a substitute for my morning coffee like agave nectar or unprocessed Stevia so we will work on that.

Now life would be boring without ANY treats so occasionally like any well balanced lifestyle I will definitely have treats every now and then because life would suck and who wants to live a life without any pizza or cheesecake, but if I can choose to eat healthier on a more daily basis then I am happy. There may be a few times something slips in this week like a little more dairy or white potato because I forget and until I get a sugar substitute I will be having sugar in my coffee because like I said before we only live once and if you can't enjoy anything than life would just suck. I don't think coffee is an awful vice to have especially since I would rather have plain ole coffee over anything with whip cream and caramel (bleh!).

Basically I am getting rid of white potatoes and eating more sweet potatoes (I like those better anyways), Substituting Quonia for rice (Yummy!!), getting rid of sugars (Better for my awful teeth anyways), and cutting out carbohydrates which I don't eat much of anyways. I am really excited to get some almond flour and trying This recipe.

Yesterday was my real official first Paleo day and I believe I did pretty good/well whatever. Eating healthy is so easy if you just make a conscious effort and keep healthy foods in your house and in your giant Rachel Ray lunchbox. Besides the Splenda in my coffee (I refuse to buy expensive agave nectar until i finish this big ass bag of Splenda so for now my body can handle a little sugar substitute) and my hummus (I am finishing it off because no one else in my house will eat it and it will go to waste) I had nothing processed.

 Yesterday I ate
Breakfast- eggs for breakfast followed by my usual morning banana and strawberry smoothie (made with ice, honey, and water. I usually add a handful of fresh spinach, but I was out that day)
Snack- almonds, carrots, and hummus, grapes, apple
Lunch- tilapia, corn, lima beans (not officially paleo, but I am keeping legumes)
Dinner- chicken stir fry with broccoli and squash

Today I ate
Breakfast-Scrambled eggs with a grapefruit half followed by a fruit and spinach smoothie
Snack- Almonds, carrots and hummus, grapes, apple
Dinner- Taco soup (not officially paleo, but I am keeping legumes)
Dessert- Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

Since starting my workouts again and even healthier eating this week I have already lost 1 pound and I have a ton of extra energy. I like eating Paleo and I look forward to being a better healthier me in this new year.

Looking Back At 2012

Now that we are well into 2013 I though it would be fun to take a look back at each month. This past year has been like walking through a dream and now that life seems to be returning back to normal it is almost like we have forgotten everything that happened. Everyone is on their way to recovery, but we still have a ways to go with a few added sprinkles on top. I pray that 2013 brings clarity and strength to many situations and I  know everything will work itself out.

2013 will be a bigger and better year I just know it and I welcome it!

January 

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December