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All posts in category Commitment

WIAW: Whole Foods Plant Based Diet

I stated on Monday that I was going back to a plant-based diet and I am now on day 4 and going strong. I am already feeling lighter with more energy, and lets just say that last night was a whopper, yet I am not feeling tired at all (we’ll see how I feel come this afternoon!). On a side note, I can’t wait until we get our third room finished for our new daughter. She is the NOISIEST sleeper ever! She grunts and makes all sorts of weird noises and when I get up to check on her she is totally asleep! The first 3 months are the hardest, right?

Anyway, onto my Tuesday eats! Thank you to Jenn at Peas and Crayons for hosting this blogger get together every Wednesday!

Breakfast was eaten before I could snap a picture, but it was Oatmeal with ground flax-seed, vanilla soy milk, and frozen berries. Not anything too exciting.

Lunch was leftovers from the night before and they were delicious:

Homemade veggie burgers dipped in BBQ sauce and a salad with mixed greens, cucumbers, avocado, and spicy hummus. The recipe I used for the veggie burgers came from Oh She Glows and it is her Spicy BBQ Chickpea Burgers

I love the crunch that the sunflower seeds added, although, these would have been better on a bun (I forgot to get some from the store). But I mus say they held together really well and it was a lot better than buying sketchy frozen veggie patties from the store with an ingredient list a mile long!

In the afternoon I saw that I had a banana and a zucchini that was on their last legs so I decided to make Chocolate Zucchini Muffins from Happy Herbivore. I love this recipe because my daughter calls them “cupcakes” and she will polish off 2 before I can blink my eyes. She has no idea that is she is getting some fruits and veggies in each muffin. My second pregnancy caused my first daughter to become a picky eater. Too much eating out will do that to someone, so now I’m trying to get her back on the healthy eating band wagon a little at a time.

I added in some mixed fresh berries and it was a filling snack that held me over til dinner.

Dinner was something unexpected. This week I meal planned and told myself that no matter what, I was going to stick to it. Well, last night I realized that I didn’t have a couple of the ingredients I needed for at least two of the meals I was planning so I went in search of a recipe for something that I had the ingredients on hand for.

After a quick check of my Google Reader I found a recipe that looked easy and delicious: Coconut Ginger Curry Rice Bowl From PB Fingers. Who doesn’t love a one pot meal? The only problem is that I had run out of brown rice and had to sub with white. The great thing was that it was done and on the table in less than 30 minutes.

I wish that I had fresh broccoli instead of frozen, but it works in a pinch. I will be having leftovers of this for lunch.

After getting back on the plant-based bandwagon I am feeling great. My cravings are going away and the scale even gave me some motivation this morning by showing me a lighter number. My only concern is that I feel like my breast milk supply has gone down a bit. I can’t tell if I am just being paranoid or if my little babe is eating more than normal. I’m monitoring it for the next few days and it is probably in my head. Other than that I’m feeling great, and only T-4 days until I can start exercising again (hopefully I will get the clear at my 6 week postpartum appointment next Monday).

Have a happy Wednesday!

Happy Mother’s Day to Me!

After having an absolutely horrendous week of eating whatever I could think of I decided to give myself a Mother’s Day present: I’m going back to eating a plant-based diet.

The life of a mom with a newborn is taxing and I can feel it wearing on me daily. The nights are a little rough and the days can get long and demanding. With 2 kids and a husband I often feel like I get pulled in three directions constantly. What better gift to give myself than the gift of health?

I had a wonderful talk with my husband about a week ago and it involved excuses. I was going on about how when I get to six weeks postpartum it will get easier because I can exercise. He totally called me out on my crap and said “you always say it will be easier when…” fill in the blank. I know that I have thought about these excuses before and light bulbs constantly go off in my head and I have plenty of AHA moments. The problem is keeping myself motivated.

Do or do not, there is no try.

I thought I would take a little advice from Yoda and not put the word TRY into this post. I almost wrote that I was going to TRY and get back to a plant-based lifestyle, but then I got taken back to my retail management days and I would get so annoyed when people said they would TRY to do the thing I was asking them to do. It basically meant that they had an easy out clause with the word TRY.

This week will be all about getting myself back on track with eating (it is 70% of weight loss). I’ve given myself permission to eat as much as I want to this week, but the only stipulations are that it has to have vitamins and nutrients of some sort, not be to grain heavy, and cannot come from an animal. I’ve meal planned and I told the hub’s I don’t care if it doesn’t sound good the night I’m suppose to make it, that’s what we are eating. He is surprisingly on board (I will mention that after this last pregnancy he is the heaviest he has ever been, and is motivated to lose some pounds).

I’m hoping that I will see great results like the last time I practiced this diet. I lost weight, started sleeping better, was in a better mood, and I just felt great! I’ve already had a great first day (which was Sunday, Mother’s Day mind you) and I am excited to get through this first week.

And because a post is always better with a picture, here are my two girls hanging out in our 80 degree house in their diapers (Air conditioner gets serviced on the 16th and it can’t happen soon enough!):

Happy Monday!

2 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on May 13, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Commitment, Daily Struggles, Diet, Goals, Health, Making It Happen, Meal Planning, Mindless Eating, Motivation, New Mind-set, Nutrition, Plant Based Diet, Postpartum

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on May 13, 2013

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2013/05/13/happy-mothers-day-to-me/

My Two Goals for 2013

I totally ditched resolutions this year. Being pregnant, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to make huge strides this year like in the years past. I can’t really “work out harder” or “lose 60 pounds” (although, I would love to be one of those women who says that breast-feeding helped them lose all the baby weight, but if past experience has taught me anything it is likely not in the books). Instead of making a lengthy list of resolutions I decided that I would work on two different goals this year, and they both require only the first 3 months of the year. Who knows maybe I’ll get ambitious in April and make some more hard-core goals, but until then I’m focusing on what is in my control as of now.

1. Stay as close as possible to my current weight while maintaining a healthy pregnancy. When I was pregnant with my first, my midwife (who I have changed since) told me that if I wanted to I could actually lose weight while I was pregnant and still have a healthy baby. When you are 250+ pounds you have all you need to keep that baby growing for 40 weeks. I gained 20 pounds with Hanna and I tipped the scales at 296 pounds. I was miserable.

Currently I weigh 271 pounds which is 19 pounds up from my lowest weight of 152 pounds. I must admit that I am pretty pleased with the fact that I have seemed to keep my weight in check even though I feel like my eating has been out of control at times. It was probably all of that walking I did in the first 4 months I was pregnant. And if I want to get technical (and lets face it, it will make me feel better) I didn’t get pregnant until after the fourth of July and I started my pregnancy at about 260 pounds so I could say I have only gained 11 pounds since I got pregnant (wow, I feel so much better now).

With the temperatures being in the negatives in the mornings and not getting above 25 degrees during the day, I consider it child abuse to take my child out in a stroller for 45 minutes everyday. That, and my entire street is covered in a sheet of ice that would have me practicing ice skating the second I stepped onto its glassy surface.

This takes me to the gym. Normally, (and by normally I mean when I lived 5 minutes away from my gym which had child care) I have no problem going to the gym. Last year at this time I was going with no problems 6 days a week and working out for an hour a day. Since moving, someone has been trying to test my gym going abilities by opening the gym at 8:00 (WTH?), and closing at 9:00. This wouldn’t be a problem if my husband wasn’t out the door at eight and since his job has no set hours (oh wait, 24/7, on call always) I never can plan the times that I can get there. This forces me to stand by the door in my gym clothes so I can pounce at the chance to get in a 30 minute walk or 40 minutes on the elliptical, if I have the energy still.

Excuses, excuses.

I’ll be honest and say the best way possible I can keep this goal is to completely cut out sugar and decrease my carb intake. Here is the carb count for a diabetic:

Breakfast: 30 grams
Lunch/Dinner: 45 grams
Snacks: 15 grams

For fibrous foods with over 3 grams of fiber you can subtract out the amount of fiber from the carbs. Example: An English Muffin that has 27 grams of carbohydrates and 6 grams of fiber would count as a total of 21 grams of carbohydrates.

Even still, that is not a lot of options. Especially for someone who is trying to keep her meat and dairy intake on the low side.

Still this may sound like lot of complaining, but it could be the sugar detox talking and I’m sure by next week I will be okey dokey. To sum up:

Exercise even if it is a pain to find the time, and cut out all processed sugars. Totally doable.

2. Have a healthy labor and a healthy baby. I know I only have so much control over this, but mind over matter, right? With Hanna I ended up having to have a C-section, and this go around I am trying for a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean). This means that I cannot be induced and have to go into labor naturally. I will do what I need to do to get the baby out safely, and keep myself safe so we’ll see how this works out, it may be Caesarean city for this girl, but I gotta try!

Did you make resolutions? How are they coming along?

2 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on January 8, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Commitment, Diet, Gestational Diabetes, Goals, Making It Happen, Pregnancy

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on January 8, 2013

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2013/01/08/my-two-goals-for-2013/

Will I Ever Learn?

Sweat it Out:
50 minute hilly walk burning 500 calories
triceps/biceps/shoulders/lats weights

Every time I say “this is the last time ever”, I mean it. And then a new day comes along and my resolve goes out the window. Motivation is fleeting and so is trusting yourself when you say with matter-of-fact “this really is the last time!”.

The past 3 days I have been on a bit of a detox. From what? Oh, I’m sure if you’ve been reading my blog for some time you will already know that I have an addictive personality, and that caffeine is one of my BIGGEST vices.

Some of you may be thinking “caffeine is not that big of a deal, you could be addicted to something much worse than harmless old caffeine”. I try to tell myself this too. The only thing is that I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach telling me that caffeine is slowly going to killing me. Dramatic much?

The thing is, being the independent person that I was brought up to be, I hate the fact that if I go half a day without a drop of caffeine I get headaches. If I go a full day of having no caffeine I start to get body aches. I don’t think those are signs that caffeine is good for your body.

I went cold turkey like this last year and it worked for quite some time. Then they came up with Dr. Pepper 10. Damn you soda makers! The hub’s and I had a love affair with this drink for quite sometime and after I got up to 3 cans a day (that was nothing compared to how I use to drink Diet Coke back in the day) I knew I was falling back into old patterns.

These 3 cans wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t gone back to an even worse habit of starting my day off with 2 Excedrine every morning.

So now I have been taking Excedrine daily, and then sprinkling in extra Diet DP 10′s throughout the day. I’m a mess. I wish I could say that it was helping me lose weight, but I didn’t see a drop in the scale one bit even though I felt like these things were curbing my appetite.

So what have I done?

Quit Cold Turkey.

This concerns the hub’s. I told him if I don’t do it all at once I will never get off the stuff and I will feel awful forever (once again, so dramatic!). The past 3 days I have had a constant headache, irritability, and I am so tired I fight every time Hanna goes down for a nap to not put myself down for one as well.

The only thing I can think of to help myself stay off the juice is by rewarding myself with something after a period of time with none of the junk that I get myself roped back into every few months.

I’m proposing a 90 day caffeine cleanse, and vow to have no form of caffeine enter into my body. I’m trying to talk my hub’s into letting me get the Jillian Michaels 90-day Body Revolution if I complete the cleanse (get it, 90 days of “soberness”, and then 90 days of body revolution), but he is leery of how much money I will be spending on my prize. Don’t worry guys, I’ll wear him down.

Or I may just buy this shirt for my reward.

7 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on July 11, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Addiction, Caffeine, Challenges, Commitment, Daily Struggles, Diet, Energy

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on July 11, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/07/11/will-i-ever-learn/

Running Day 1

I use the term “running” very loosely considering it was more like a very slow jog. Back in the day (early 20′s), I could run 5 miles a day at 6 mph. My cool down was a brisk walk at 4 mph.

Yesterday I was “running” at 4.2 mph. Oh how the mighty have fallen. I know that seems kind of downer, but trust me, yesterday was pretty monumental for me. I actually STARTED my workout with a runner’s high, and it was a great warm-up for the 25 minutes on the elliptical I did after. It left me a pretty sweaty mess:

And that folks is an award-winning zit right there.

What I Felt Like During the run

To my lungs the run felt effortless. In fact, I was barely breathing when I was done with the 6 minute intervals of walking and running. I was kind of surprised. On the second minute of running I decided to kick it up a notch and upped it to 4.5. My lungs felt fine and I still was not getting my heart rate up very much, but then my left knee started to get a dull pinch in it so I put it back down to a 4. The pain was in my left knee, which is strange because usually there is a small pain in my right leg (the leg I fell on, and injured myself with when I was 21).

The only thing I can say is that I am still very overweight and for right now listening to my body is best. If I have to keep the pace lower so that my aches and pains subside I will do just that. The weight will start to come off, and my lungs and body will sync up perfectly, I have no doubt. I will not quit this running program just because I can’t go as fast as I want to go. It will come with time.

On the Diet Front

For the first time in a week and a half I have seen a loss on the scale. I changed a few things in my diet and I think it has made a difference. I’ve added some more protein and I think it has been the missing puzzle piece. I’ve started eating chicken and eggs again (mostly egg whites). It seems like it’s the only way I can get my protein high enough without going over on my carbs and calories.

I truly believe that there is no one way for people to eat. I think that many people thrive in different kind of diets, and you have to pick the one for you. Even on the weeks that I was eating perfectly I was not seeing losses, and felt like I was depriving myself of foods that could help me in my weight loss, and now I can say that I have honestly done something long enough to see how it affects my body, and adding meat back into my diet has not affected my energy levels at all. Which is great!

So there you have it. My first day running, although a little frustrating, was a success! The thing that keeps me going is knowing that I will improve. I have nowhere to go but up!

6 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on May 15, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Commitment, Diet, Energy, Making It Happen, Running, Workout

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on May 15, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/05/15/running-day-1/

Get to Fifty in Sixty!

I survived!!!!! I can check 24 hour fast OFF of my list! And look at this pretty little (and by little I mean GIANT) salad I broke my fast with:

It totally hit the spot. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t end up eating the rest of the night (like I do when I normally fast), and so I ate this salad 2 Cutie Oranges, some dried cherries, and a Kombucha. Then I did the dishes, turned off the light, and the kitchen was closed for the evening (“kitchen closed” will always remind me of my mom).

Starting Weight

When I stepped on the scale this morning my weight was 257.2. This was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be, so it is a great way to start out this new beginning! I am calling this new challenge Get to Fifty in Sixty! This title may be a little off considering that I have 66 Days to complete my goal of getting to 50 pounds. Originally I was thinking that I wanted to get to 50 pounds total loss, which at the time would have been 20 pounds. After calculating the numbers I would actually need to lose 24.4 pounds. What the heck, I’m going to go for it!

The Official Challenge: Get to 50 pounds lost by July, 4th 2012!

My ending weight should be 232.8! The reward? I’m thinking that I will buy a new workout outfit, and a new casual outfit.

How will I achieve this goal?

I have come up with a few goals for the next couple of months and although there may be a lot, a few of them don’t require that much time. One goal that I have already accomplished this weekend is to join My Fitness Pal (if you want to be friends my username is carrieseals, friend me!). I had actually joined MFP last year and so it won’t let me change my starting weight, and the weight loss chart is off, but oh well, what are gonna do! I was using Livestrong.com’s Daily Plate before and I have found that the calorie goal is totally out of whack. Example: I put the same exact stats into both system requesting for a 2 pound a week loss and Livestrong told me to eat 2176 calories a day (which I have ALWAYS thought was too many calories) and My Fitness Pal told me to eat 1400 which I think is spot on. Here are the complete goals for this challenge:

~~Complete 24 Hour Cleansing Fast~~
~~Re-activate My Fitness Pal Account~~
Drink over 100 oz’s of water EVERYDAY. I’m usually pretty good about this, but on days when I run errands I fall a little short, and my body needs a LOT of water to feel normal.
Do some form of exercise 6 days a week.
Workout at least 3 times a week with the girls from the church
Get to the activity center at least 3 times a week even if that means two-a-day workouts
Find a weight lifting program. I think I have over done The New Rules of Lifting for Women. The workouts have become repetative and boring.
Finish reading How to Disease Proof Your Child, and one fun book.
Get more social with people in my church branch. See if someone would help me out with Hanna so I can go to the gym in the morning instead of having to wait all day for Dustin to get home.
Track daily on My Fitness Pal and do daily stat posts periodically throughout the week.
Meal Plan Weekly
Only go out to dinner once a week. We don’t have a problem with this right now since we don’t have a lot of restaurants near us!
Blog. 99% of the time I enjoy blogging with my whole heart, but when I am not on track it gets to be a constant reminder of how bad I’m doing. It has also been a great tool to keep getting back to basics. One that I need to utilize more often when I’m having a hard time.
Utilize my social networking. The more focused I am on losing the weight, the more it happens, and it happens even more when I am connecting with people who know what I’m going through. Have you liked me on Facebook yet? Are you following me on twitter? I plan on using these tools to my advantage (without letting them cut into family time).

Seems like a pretty good list, right? I am so excited for the next few weeks and I just know that the outcome will be a positive one!

What are you doing to start your week off right?

What is a goal you have for this week?

Ever fasted? Easy, hard? Felt any difference?

11 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on April 30, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Commitment, Get to Fifty in Sixty, Goals, Making It Happen

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on April 30, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/04/30/get-to-fifty-in-sixty/

The Sweet Relief of Routine

Hallelujah! My internet is up and running! And so is my Google reader, apparently, considering I had over 150 items to be read from the last week! I’m slowly working my way through and seeing what all of my blog friends are up to.

I am happy to say (more like ecstatic) that life is starting to settle down and that all-to-familiar motivation is creeping back into my mind. You know the I’ve-been-off-the-wagon-for-so-long-that-I’ve-actually-gotten-sick-of-eating-out-and-I’m-ready-to-kick-ass-on-weight-loss kind of motivation. That’s the one!

The Diet (And when I say diet, I mean the food that I consume and not a diet plan. This is a lifestyle not a diet)

I’ve been concocting a plan of action these last few days, and after getting the thumbs up from the Hub’s we are going to be doing round 2 of the PCRM’s 21-Day Vegan Kickstart! The truth is, I have never felt better in my life than when I was doing round one of the kick-start in January. I cannot deny that this way of life agrees with me. It is simple to follow, and I feel like all aspects of my life improve when eating a plant-based diet.

I will be tracking my calories on Livestrong.com, and I will be keeping daily blog food diaries. The food log posts may be boring, but the whole reason I have this here blog is for accountability and documentation. I will try to keep them interesting with lots of pictures and hopefully, some fun recipes!

The Exercise.

This is where I have to show how dedicated I am. I no longer have a 24 hour gym with child care. In fact, the hours of the activity center (although free) are from 8-9, which is not the most convenient of time for me. I am not the kind of person who likes a lot of change in my workout times. I like to workout at the same time everyday so that my routine is not thrown off. Walking (and then hopefully running at some point) will be a major player in my exercise regime. Keep in mind that I live on the side of a mountain, and I am also pushing 40 pounds worth of baby and stroller up and down hills. Great interval workout right? Right.

Here are some pictures from the first of many walks that we will be embarking on:

These pictures do not do the hill climbs justice. It felt like I was walking uphill both ways! My legs are actually sore today!

We are also planning on checking out the Activity Center tonight so that we can get a better idea of what it offers. We may even walk there considering it is less than 2 miles away from our house, but uphill the entire way.

The Motivation

As if I need any more motivation than my sweet baby girl and amazing husband, but alas, baby talk has been happening. I think this is the one and only time in my life that I will experience my hub’s wanting another baby before me. Don’t get me wrong, I would LOVE to have another baby right this very second, but I REFUSE to go through another pregnancy like my last.

I’m not saying that I need to lose a hundred pounds before I’ll consider having another baby, but we did come to the conclusion that I was going to give it my all until next January. Then we can start trying for another.

This thought has weighed heavy on my mind lately, and I cannot wait any longer. No more dragging my feet and being “off plan” more than I’m “on plan”. I have been on this WLJ since June of 2011 and all I have lost is around 30 pounds. It’s time to get serious and not let life’s obstacles get in the way. It’s time that I show how committed I really am.

4 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on March 29, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in 21-Day Vegan Kickstart, Commitment, Diet, Motivation, Planning, Plant Based Diet, Vegan

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on March 29, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/03/29/the-sweet-relief-of-routine/

A Loss and a Gain

‎”Things don’t go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be.”

Thank you again Livestrong.com for another inspiring Facebook status! I sure needed it after the past week.

In the wee hours of the early morning on Wednesday, Dustin, Hanna, and I set off for Las Vegas after getting news that Dustin’s Grandmother had a stroke. My husband has been truly blessed in his life, and although I do not feel it is my place to give out information about his past, I have to say that his family is amazing. In high school the Larsen/Beighley clan started feeding my husband, and ended up not being able to get rid of him. I call his family Dustin’s “surrogate” family, but to Dustin they are thicker than blood. So when his granny went to the hospital from pneumonia this past week, it was not a hard decision that we needed to be with the family.

After many twists and turns throughout this week Granny decided it was her time to go this morning. She (along with every. single. member of the Larsen/ Beighley Family) was one of the most selfless people I was blessed to know. She gave service to anyone who needed it and always put others before herself. I celebrate the life that she lived, and also the work in the after life that she will be doing. I am so blessed to know that there is a heaven above and a Heavenly Father waiting with open arms. I will miss you Granny, and I can’t wait until the time that we will meet again!

And in regards to the “gain” portion that I mentioned in the title….

In stressful times I eat. You can tell how stressed I am by the amount of food that I eat. This week started out great, and by Tuesday I was down 3 pounds ready to win this weeks weigh in for Monica’s Birthday Challenge, and then the week started to go South quickly. As soon as I knew we were going to be traveling I started to crave food. Spending time in a hospital made me crave food. Being in a place that had thousands of options to choose from made me crave food.

So what did I do? I ate. I ate my feelings. I ate my sadness. I ate my frustrations with eating too much by eating more.

And then I had a little break down, and a pity party for myself.

Then I put on my big girl panties and I weighed myself. If you do the crime, you do the time, and I needed to see the number that was going to show up:

That my friends is a 13 pound gain since the beginning of February. Wait. Wasn’t my goal to lose 5 pounds a month? Hmmm. I seem to be going the opposite direction.

I tried to tell myself it’s because I have only pooped twice in the last 5 days (going out of town in hard on my digestive track), or that I have a lot of water retention and salt hanging around in my system. While all of these things are true, and the weight loss will come quickly with those first few pounds once I get back on a healthy track, it is still a gain. It is still a step backward, and it is still frustrating. My first thought is that I have to come up with a plan of action, but the plan is simple and needs no long thought process. Track food. Exercise. Drink Water. Sleep 7-8 hours. Repeat.

4 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on March 4, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Commitment, Distractions, Dustin, Family, Food Binge, Frustration, Indulgence, Poop, Weigh in

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on March 4, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/03/04/a-loss-and-a-gain/

Interest or Committed?

‎”There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.”

I read the above quote from a Livestrong Facebook update. It was perfect for the road I have ahead. It tells me that I can’t pick and choose the days that I want to be healthy. It’s time to move away from the “interest”, and back into the “committed” category. Today is the perfect day to have a renewed commitment to my healthiness journey.

Last night I had a scary dream. I was in the hospital (for and unknown reason), and when I got the bill it was over $8500!!! I had no way to pay it and so I tried to sneak out of the hospital unnoticed. I woke up scared out of my mind because it reminded me of the fact that I have no Health Insurance. When I quit my job over a year ago, I also quit my group health insurance. I am a religious gal, and after many, many prayers I felt that staying home with my little one was more important than me working to keep out health insurance. I applied for individual health insurance and immediately got denied (but they accepted my hub’s and daughter). My healthiness journey started because my weight was now factually holding me back from the things that I needed.

Today I am getting back my frame of mind. It’s not about fitting into a smaller size and having people call me thin. It’s about me getting healthy so I can take care of myself and my family.

Baby talk has been happening lately. We would be trying for a baby right this second if I had any sort of health insurance to help out the cost. We have been noticing that Hanna is in need of siblings soon, and we would like to start trying in January 2013. This means I need to get serious about dropping some LB’s. Yet another reason why I need to keep my eye on the prize.

After having a sick baby we decided that it would be good for the little one if we stayed home from church and had a low-key home day. I am using this day to prepare myself for a successful week. I have done meal planning, and I am writing down some daily to-do list’s for our moving schedule. We are waiting to hear on a closing date for our new home and I want to be ready to move at the drop of a hat. What is at the top of my to-do list? The Gym. What is second? Eat Healthy. I am definitely working on a more detailed list for the “eat healthy” part, but I think that tracking my food is a good start. I am part of an 8-week challenge after all, and I am out to prove that I can do this not matter what is going on in my life.