New Year New Me

Ok, so the holidays were a super bad time to start. I didn't gain weight because I was sick, but the losing also came to a halt. I have restarted as of yesterday and I can feel my body accepting the change and beginning to react with a natural detox. Good things. 

I have also joined a Clean Eating challenge for a little more accountability. It hasn't begun yet. It starts the 19th with something they call Raw Week. Well, that's two weeks out and the bad eating from Christmas time has left me constipated with migraines, so I am being forced to start sooner. But knowing that I am not doing this alone is fantastic news! There are two other ladies on my team and we it's namesake is this blog. 

I am super excited about making REAL changes. It really helps when I am working out too because my body can just keep up so much better. I will post more during Raw Week and I will also post weekly weight updates. Let's start this change for real this time! :) 

Droppin dem pounds!

Monday was the first day that I did not experience any sugar cravings. It helps that I have made a switch to all natural peanut butter that contains literally just peanuts and less than a percentage of salt.

I am DOWN to 191.6. Whoop whoop! 2.6 pounds away to my personal week's goal. And it is only Wednesday. That's the best part about going back to the clean eating. The weight literally starts to melt off because your body is detoxing a whole lot of junk it was holding on to that it realizes it doesn't need anymore. I am sure there is a more science-y way to say it, but I am not a scientist. Haha.

Feeling a ton better and I am noticing a HUGE difference in my stamina with working out. Last night, I was able to keep up a whole lot better (except that I forgot to breathe a couple times and had to retrain my lungs). I was able to do BEAR CRAWLS back and forth through the room with the only difficulty being re-learning how lungs are supposed to work. Not a struggle with pain or my muscles not wanting to go. Just my lungs!

My husband on the other hand had a massively difficult time completing the workout and nearly threw up. He had pizza for lunch. Haha!!!!

Ok, so shameless plug. Eating clean requires supplements. Not that you aren't getting nutrients, but it's very hard to get ALL of your nutrients in one day. So, I am taking doTerra's Lifelong Vitality Pack vitamins. They're pretty nifty. I am vitamin D deficient and have struggled with winter depression over the years, but I notice a nice surge of serotonin when I remember to take these bad boys.

There's also tons of Omegas other minerals and vitamins packed into these little capsules. I take the suggested dose (that I worked myself up to!), but I have heard of people taking half a dose and feeling like it was enough. Which is great for them, but I need ALL the vitamin D I can get!

Check out the product page if you are looking for a new vitamin. You can go to my website and order if you want some!

www.mydoterra.com/epydinino
http://www.doterratools.com/documents/Lifelong%20Vitality%20Pack.pdf

Start of week two!

Last week I weighed in at 195, today I have weighed in at 192.8. BOOM! Even with that slight nighttime cheating, I still managed to shave a couple pounds off.

Tonight, I am working out and I have packed ALL the vegetables. I finally went grocery shopping yesterday and grabbed basic salad fixings and enough food to last a couple weeks at least. Today, I have zucchini, broccoli, yellow pepper, carrot, boiled eggs, a PACKED salad with cucumber, spinach, zucchini, yellow pepper, bacon bits, ham, and a dusting of cheese. I am eating hella good today. Gonna make sure I count these calories. I will also be allowing myself a pre-workout snack of peanut butter and apple slices to get the right amount of sugar needed to burn. And dinner will be stew. Yum!

Minor Goal: I would love to defeat the 190s this week. My goal is to step on the scale next Monday and see 189. It would be positively fantastic and a new driving force to get to the next level for me. So, 189. Minor goal. That's 3.8 pounds, which does seem like a lot for the week, but not impossible. My goal for the month is to get down to 185 by New Years Eve, so if I get close to that, I will be ok. But 189 would still be fantastic to see.

OK! That is my update for today. I am going to go input my points into myviverae.com for my company's Thrive challenge.

Foiled by Pie

Ok, so today was technically day one. And it was going GREAT... until I got home.

I was sooo hangry. I was following my Spark People app to make sure I was getting the right nutrients. And I was 500 calories short. Bad idea to count calories when you are going clean, btw. The calorie counter doesn't seem to care that you have been eating right already. Just that you are 500 calories short and you should eat something.

You wanna know the best way to eat 500 calories? Pumpkin pie. With whipped cream. Sooo delish. And now I want cereal. Which is also what I had last night after a healthy dinner. This is not working out so well.. Night time cravings are becoming the worst.

Today's meals:

Breakfast: Hard boiled egg, half a red bell pepper, and half a green bell pepper.

Lunch (came early because I was starving): Jimmy Johns Pepe Unwich sub mayo with avocado, dill pickle, and green beans.

Snack (post lunch): Half a chicken breast, more green beans.

Snack (ride home): Broccoli.

Pre-Dinner: Slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

Dinner: Half a chicken breast with peppers and onions.

Post Dinner: Slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream and two sips of root beer.

See? Not so bad until AFTER work. Ugh. I hate work sometimes, haha. But at least I worked out last night. Brutal workout with the trainer. And then I realized I wouldn't be able to work out the rest of the week with him, so he told me to the work out we did again. So, I did this morning. And will likely get up tomorrow to do it (or a similar workout) again.

Workout (last night the main set was done three times; 1 min first time, 45 secs second time, and 30 secs final round. This morning it was done 30 secs first round and then 45 secs second round. Ran out of time for the last round.)

Warmup:
2X Jog Buttkicks 123 Lowjacks

Main Set:
Pushups
Puddlehops
Squats
Tricep Dips
Lunges
Shoulder Press
Squat Jacks
Hi/Low Planks
Leg Downs

Tomorrow will be better...

Week one: Technically Day two

Well, technically day two.

My company started a weight loss challenge to motivate people to be healthy. And since I need to eat clean again, I have risen to the challenge. Why not, right?

I started my clean eating challenge a year ago. Not so faithfully, haha. If I were faithful, I believe I would have lost a lot more weight. It really is more than just a fad diet. It's pretty much a way of life. I have not gained weight since I did the clean eating and then stopped, except for that week that I did more drinking than I care to think of when I did gain about 5 pounds...

And then I lost it again. By eating clean for two months. And then the holidays started...

But Thanksgiving is over and these sweets and all the gluten really do make my blood pressure go up and it sucks.

A little background...

I am INSULIN RESISTANT. Doesn't mean I am diabetic. Although some people like to lump it in with Type 2 Diabetes. Not so. However the symptoms are similar. The difference is MY pancreas works. Whereas a DIABETIC has a failed pancreas. Or so I've been told. Don't quote me on that, haha. You can quote my doctor on that. Whom I hate. I told him at my last appointment that I hated him and that is why my blood pressure spikes every time I go in. Because otherwise, my blood pressure is perfect.

I am also having difficulty with my menstrual cycle, my ability to procreate, and new food allergies that my doctor won't test for because he is sure the issue is sugar and not a food allergy.

Soooo. Here goes. Day two, technically. But not really. Because the healthiest thing I have had all day is a handful of green beans.

Breakfast: Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal, Black Coffee (Starbucks Verona Dark Roast...yummmm)
Snack: Green Beans, fresh, straight out of a bag
Lunch: Taco Tuesday! Two tacos...chips, white sauce (is that mayo???), guac, and queso.
Dinner: TBD! Probably Thanksgiving leftovers after my day one back at working out... and pie...

Guess we'll eat clean tomorrow. Gotta pick up some greens and prep some tonight first.