Realizations & A Light Bulb Moment

Lately I have been doing a ton of self-reflection. With renewing my vows in July of 2013 and running a 5k in October, I wanted to get healthy. So, I took about a week and really thought about my life and the choices I have been making in regards to my health.

These are my conclusions:

I had to decide if I was an abstainer or a moderator (thanks Shanon!). I have always been thin. That is, until I hit my 20's. Why? Because when I was younger, I was more conscious about what I ate. I was an abstainer. I never ate bagels, donuts or things that were high in calories. The problem is though, when I moved out and could make those choices myself, I ate everything! Thus, why I have gained weight each year and even when I have lost it, have not kept it off.

So instead of going on a quick fix diet or an eating plan where you have to eat certain things to lose weight, I decided to take control and make changes that were practical and would enable me to keep the weight off.

I decided to educate myself about food and how it acts as a fuel in my body and what soda, sugar and processed food does in comparison. Now every time I am hungry, I eat. I do not keep track of calories and I don't stress out about how much I eat or how frequent.

Every time I crave something, I eat it. If I want to go out to dinner, I do. So what is different?

When I go out to eat, I look at the menu and choose something that is healthy.
I pick restaurants that have more healthy choices.
When I want to snack, I choose something healthy.
When I am hungry, I ask myself if I am really hungry or just thirsty.
Every time I put something in my mouth I ask myself if it is a fuel or am I just eating emotionally.
When I want chocolate, I eat it. A small amount that is. Just enough to derive pleasure.

I have taught myself over the last few weeks to be a moderator, not an abstainer. This has been profound. If I abstain from everything, then I will have "cheat" moments followed by guilt. If I moderate, I will teach myself that pleasure is okay in regards to food as long as you know when to stop. This equals a sense of accomplishment :).

What are the results?
I have lost 20lbs in less than a month just from being conscious of my eating.
I also make sure every snack and meal is a source of protein.
My body is thriving off this new lifestyle.
I can live with this new eating plan and enjoy life.
I am not using food as an emotional comfort anymore.
I can go to a birthday party and eat half a cupcake and not feel bad! But know that is all I need to be content.

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  ~S

How Do You Get Ready For The First Day Of School?

Decorate and hang up a picture of Ashlin's teachers. :)

Celebration dessert!  (Soy that is. Hehe) 

Dinner @ Laughing Planet

Decorations to welcome kids home on their first day.

Ashlin at her preschool open house.

All my kids were super tired today :). Notice the backpack?

She loved the little toilet and sink.

She was shy at first, but digged all the art projects.

Maddie heading off to school. Notice J?

Jaiden's first day of 6th grade.

New magnets to hang school art.









 

Friday

Here we are going into the last weekend before school starts for the kids. I cannot believe it is almost Fall!

We are getting used to Maddie's new diet (no egg, milk or wheat) and finding new places to eat. Downtown Portland has some great restaurants that serve healthy food. We tried one tonight called the Laughing Planet Cafe. Check it out here: http://laughingplanetcafe.com/

It was soooo good.

I will be a busy bee on the 4th. I am teaching two classes, start the dissertation editing for a PhD student and my editing job.

Tomorrow we are having our back-to-school party and then I am going to get crazy with my house in terms of organization and cleaning. Not a very fun weekend, but it has to be done before school starts and things get crazy with work.

Ashlin's birthday is in 13 days too. My baby will be 5!

I am going to watch a little Lost, eat a Clif Crunch bar, drink some Sobe and then head off to sleep land early tonight :). ~S

Exhausted!

The last two days have been very busy!

I can finally say I am done school shopping!

All three kids now have hoodies, jackets, underwear, socks, coats, shoes, shirts, pants and school supplies. Whew!

I was thinking of picking up another job at a university the last couple of days as editing has slowed down, but then today I got asked to do 2 starting on the 4th (I have one ending on the 7th)!!!! Yeah!!!

Today, we went to a birthday party at Chucky Cheese and yesterday we went skating. Tomorrow, my two older kids get tested for food allergies. We will be at the allergist from 9-2. Oh joy!

Excited for a relaxing weekend with not so much running around! Our back to school party is on Saturday :). I will post pics. Here is a cute pic of Maddie. She was very excited to get new shoes. Her boots are my favorite.

Also pictured is some of my favorite snacks right now :). I am down almost 15lbs!  I love to snack on: string cheese, hard boiled eggs, Spanish olives, kalamata olives, and all fruits and veggies. It has been so hard finding things that are made without nuts and apple. Almost all of the health bars contain some sort of nuts or apple.~S

Fresh berries. Potato, peas, tomato and edamame salad. Yum!

LOVE these!

One in my purse at all times :).

Late night snack!

 

 

 

Pain

Yesterday I got a mirror and looked at my woman parts. I had to see why I was in so much pain. I was a little surprised, but also not shocked. I have two huge splits at the top that are burning, stinging and itch and a gash looking thing with red, raw skin further down about the size of my pinkie nail. Ouch. All three of these make doing anything unpleasant, especially using the bathroom.  As a result, I did not sleep well last night.

I really wanted to just stay in bed all day with an icepack and some ibuprofen, but I had to go to work early to be back in time to take the kids skating and I promised a coffee date with the hubby before work. Hopefully, I can relax later on tonight once the kids are in bed.

I really wanted to workout on the treadmill today, but even the idea of sweat makes me cringe. Even taking a shower and soaping, washing and rinsing down there is excruciating.

I hope you are having a better day :/. ~S