Do you log your food?

Do you log your food?

A friend of mine has been nagging me (okay maybe not nagging, but she has brought it up a couple times) to start logging my food. "It will help you see where you are going wrong with what you are eating" she said. "You will start to lose weight again" she said. Well, she was right.

I started logging my food last week when I fell and couldn't workout. I have kept up with it since last Monday and I have to say I am very proud of myself. Logging my food not only has helped me realize where I was going wrong on my eating clean lifestyle change, but it also helped me get through this past weekend without cheating once. It was sort of a game to me, in the morning I plug in everything I expected I will eat for the day and knowing it is already logged helps keep me on track.

Here are a few things I am really trying to focus on:

1. Keeping my calories between 1200-1400

2. Making sure I get 110-140 grams of protein in a day

3. Keeping my sodium under 1000 grams a day

4. Keeping my sugars below 50 grams a day - most of my sugars are coming from fruits

5. Drinking at least 1/2 my body weight in water.

6. Keeping my carbs below 100 grams a day.

7. Eating every 3 hours

I have to admit, my sweet friend was right... logging has really opened my eyes to what I need to change in my diet. I also have to admit that since I started logging I have even lost some weight... well 8.2 pounds to be exact (and I haven't really been able to workout). I haven't lost that much weight in a while and I am so close to my goal of being back below my "EEK #" (the number on the scale that I promised myself I would never go over again, but I ended up doing anyways. Once I get below it again, I will try my hardest to never break that promise again).

So back to my question from earlier... do you log your food?

MIA

I have been MIA the past couple weeks, I get in moods where I just do not feel like blogging and then one day it hits me and I am drawn back in... today is that day.

A lot has happened since I have last blogged, good and bad. Lets start with the bad... this past Monday, I was carrying my 40+ pound sleeping child out to the garage and I stepped down off the 6 inch step that goes out in our garage and lost it. My ankle twisted, my knee twisted, and I dropped Caleb. This isn't the 1st time I have dropped him, Mom of the year right here! I have replayed it in my head a few 100 times to figure out what happened and I just really have no clue. My knee turned out to be okay, it is swollen and sore but it is okay. My ankle is sprained and my hand (from where I caught myself) is bruise really bad. Caleb is okay too, he was actually really funny during it all. I laid there crying and scared to move my knee, I reached for my phone and started to call Casey... Caleb started to cheer because he thought I was calling the fire department to come and save me (haha). Then I decided to slither (yes, like a snake) down the hall to the living room. Caleb slithered the whole way with me and cheered me on... I just love that kid. Since I sprained my ankle and my knee is swollen, I am out of Insanity for a while (ugh) and staying out of the gym for the rest of this week. I plan on going back next week to the gym and doing upper body and core work and if I feel up to it, I might do the bike or elliptical. I am hoping to start Insanity back again the following week.

I mentioned that good things happened also... the 1st good thing that happened was that after much discussion between Casey and myself, I am going back to my trainer Lo!!!! I couldn't be more thrilled about this. We now live closer to her, we have merged our money so our budget isn't as tight as it was, and I am in need of being around someone who believes in me and wont let me give up (Lo)! I have spoke to Lo and we are going to focus on getting my head back in the game because lets face it, if your head isn't in the right place, you can lose all the weight you want but you will play a game of yo-yo going back and forth with losing it and gaining it... trust me I know! I start back with Lo the week of May 15, yippie!!!

2nd good thing that happened to me... I bought a wedding dress!!!! Well, my parents surprised me and bought it for me (Thanks Mom & Randy) but none the less, it is MINE!!! It is hanging up in my guest room closet as we speak. It is the most beautiful dress I have ever seen and the back of it is just STUNNING! I wanted to buy a size 12 wedding dress so badly, when I went dress shopping I quickly learned that dresses run 2 sizes smaller, stupid right?! So in order for me to leave with a "real" size 12, I would have to buy a wedding dress size 16 (hope I haven't lost you). I use to be a size 26 so I would have had to have a gown custom made to fit me but now that I am a 12/14, I could walk in and buy something off the rack. It was mind blowing and I loved it. I actually tried on 2 dresses that were TOO big... Awesome feeling. Anyways back to my story, the dress I fell in love with ended up being a size 14, which is a real size 10! I left the store buying a real size 10 wedding dress. Now here is the kicker... it needed to be a 14 because the 10 didn't zip all the way up. They said that if I do not lose the weight they can add in a lace up back HOWEVER, I will lose the weight and make that sucker zip! I am probably the most determined person you will ever meet in your entire life. When I want something, I will fight tooth and nail to get it done and well I have about 4-6 months to lose a size in clothes and guess what... I will do it!

I hope you have all had a great past couple of days! I will try better to not go so long between blogs...

5 dinners 1 hour

I have to share a great site with you all. A friend I had a while back was a member of this site and introduced me to it. I stopped using it because most of the meals were not as healthy and clean as I wanted them to be. The other night when I was going through recipes while I was making our grocery list, I found one of these menus and figured I would check out the site again... I am so happy I did because they now have a clean eating meal plan (and a gluten free meal plan too)!!!

I just signed up for my 3 month membership, which is $15! With the membership, you get 4 weeks worth of 5 meals with a list of ingredients and how to make them. The idea is to buy everything on Saturday or Sunday and then take an hour out of your day and prepare all of your meals and put them in the fridge so that throughout the week, you can just take the meal out and cook it.

As a single mom of an infant, this came in handy because I hated spending time cooking every night... I felt like I was taking that time away from Caleb as a baby. I would do it all on Sunday while he napped or was at his Dad's and then during the week I would pop our meals into the oven and played with him while it cooked.

Now as a soon to be wife and mother of a 3 1/2 year old active boy, this will come in handy every day! I will be able to enjoy the park by our house while our food cooks. I will be able to workout with my fiance while dinner is in the oven... or even those days I am at a work function or just feel like "clocking out" and giving Casey all the house chores, he will be able to pop the meal into the oven instead of running out to get fast food.

Okay you have read all about why I love this site so I guess I better give you the site so you can fall in love with it like I have!

http://5dinners1hour.com/

Check it out and let me know how you like it, why you like it or even why you don't like it.

Tip - we eat a lot of left overs so I don't always make all 5 meals. I will usually pick my top 2 or 3 off the list and just make those... this helps the menu last longer too! Oh and they have a sample menu on the page so you can see what all the hype is about before you buy it.

Bible Study

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I started a new bible study called "Love to Eat, Hate to Eat". We just finished week 3 and tonight I will start reading chapter 4. I have to say, the past 3 weeks of my life have been totally different but in a good way. Here is how and why...

Before I started the bible study I was obsessed with how I look, what the number is on the scale and how I compare to other women. You have to admit (if you are a woman) that you have been guilty of at least one of these if not all. It is hard to come out and admit but I know that admitting it is one of the 1st steps. I always thought that if I looked a certain way, weighed a certain number or was the prettiest girl in the room that life would be GRAND. No matter how hard I strive for perfection, my hardest was never enough.

When my friend BB told me about this bible study, I was hesitant. I mean seriously, why would God want to hear me whine more about my obsession. I have prayed to him so many times to make me thin, make me pretty, make me 135 pounds and it has never happened... so why should I start a bible study? God has more important things to deal with then my relationship with food and the scale. However, BB caught me during the time of the month when I am very sensitive and so I agreed to go. What did I have  to lose beside and hour of my time. I went into the bible study thinking, okay I am going to sit here and then leave and then just tell BB that I have "stuff" to do the next week. God on the other hand had a VERY different plan...

The past couple weeks, God has tugged on my heart more then I have ever noticed him tugging before. He has opened my eyes up to see that my obsession is important to him and that he wants to hold my hand through it all. I have learned that no matter if I gain 30 pounds or lose 30 pounds, God still loves me... he always has and always will. I have learned that if I pray every morning before I leave my house for God to help remind me to give him Glory before I eat and for him to take the "I am hungry and want a cake" thoughts away from me when I have them, that he will help me. I have learned that when you hand a problem over to God, the weight on your shoulders is lifted and you don't feel like you are drowning anymore. It sounds so easy but it has been so hard for me to realize all of this. We all bare our own burdens, something that come easy to me may be something very hard for you...

I want you to remember something, something I am going to try and repeat to myself every single day... Nowhere in the bible does it talk about being thin! Nowhere! The bible talks about taking care of your temple (your body) so my journey of working out and eating clean/healthy will continue so that I can make sure I am as healthy as I can be, but the obsession to be thin and the obsession to be a certain number on the scale is slowly starting to fade from the picture for me. Thanks be to God.

One more shout out, thank you to a dear friend of mine (Ali G) for sending me this photo... Its something that EVERY woman should read and remember!!

Strong is the new skinny

I always thought my dream was to be skinny, but I have realized the past couple years that I rather be fit then skinny! I have a few skinny friends who I could run circles around (with a bum knee), who I can lift way more then, and stay active a whole heck of a lot longer... Being skinny is great and all but being fit is so much better in my book.

Doing Insanity this past month has helped me achieve my goal even more, I have never felt stronger in my entire life... even when I was 30 pounds smaller! This next month of Insanity is only going to put me that much more closer to my overall goal. Last night Casey and I had to redo our fit test AND do our 1st Max workout... wow! We both gave the fit test our hearts and souls and then had to dig deep and give what we had left to our 1st Max workout. It was brutal to say the least but I know it was so worth it.

Below are mine and Casey's results from the fit test. We both feel so much stronger then we did on day 1. We both can see a change in our bodies and we are both able to see more and more muscles starting to become defined. LOVE IT!!!

***I have to modify a few things to do my knee so instead of Power Jumps, I squat it out. And instead of Push-Up Jacks, I just do Push-Ups. ****

1/2 way done with Insanity

Casey and I have finished month 1 of Insanity... actually we have finished 5 weeks and tonight we will start month 2 (Max). I am very excited and nervous all at the same time to start month 2 but I know it will be very beneficial. Casey and I decided to hold off on posting photos until after we have completed all 63 days so instead, I am going to list out a few things we have noticed about ourselves this past month.

1. Casey has lost almost 15 pounds and I have lost about 3... (ugh, boys!)
2. Casey and I both have lost 1 size in our jeans!!!
3. My knee has never been stronger
4. Casey's stomach is MUCH flatter
5. My back is shrinking
6. My thighs are also smaller
7. I have been able to start running again thanks to #3
8. Casey has realized that eating Taco Casa is not a good thing to do after a month of eating clean and doing insanity... talk about a upset tummy
9. We both have become so much closer being able to workout together everyday
10. Insanity is well bananas and SO worth it.

We both are looking forward to month 2! Here is to losing another size in my jeans because I can hear summer calling and my shorts are so close to fitting...

Vows to my son

The other day while playing with my 3 year old, he said "Man, I need to workout I am FAT!" As he was saying this, he had lifted up his shirt, stuck out his belly and was pinching his skin. My jaw hit the ground and instantly started to tell him he is not fat and that he doesn't need to even worry about that right now. I asked him where he even heard that from and his reply knocked the breath out of me... "You always say you are fat Momma"... He heard that from me! How heart breaking is it to know that because of something I have said about myself, now has worn off onto my innocent 3 year old.

I really sat down that night and began to think about all he sees and hears while he is with me, he hears me talk about about myself (I am fat, I am ugly, I wish I was skinnier, I wish these clothes fit, and etc) and he starts to believe those things about himself. I have never once called Caleb fat so why would he believe that about himself unless of course he just assumed that if I think I am fat, then he needs to think he is fat too. I started to look at blogs and website talking about other Mom's who have had this problem. I realized I wasn't alone... Our children strive to be like us and if we are constantly putting ourselves down, that is a habit that they start to pick up on. I remember from as far back I can, my Mom and Dad talking about how big or small they were. How they had nothing to wear because of their size. I remember how much they were obsessed with their weight... I am not saying my obsession is all because of them, but I believe that is where it started. Now here I am doing the same thing to Caleb, I am starting the obsession all over again.

Well, its time to stop that cycle right now! Instead, I am going to replace that obsession with the right tools on how to stay healthy (eating clean and getting the right amount of activity in). I am going to replace the obsession with putting myself down with the obsession of giving myself compliments, and make sure I give them to Caleb too. I want him to know that there is more to his life then his weight. I want him to know that his smile is contagious. I want him to know that his beautiful blue eyes are captivating. I want him to know that he gives one of the best hugs I have ever have. I want him to know that he is one of the most loving little boys I have ever met. I do not want him to dwell on what the media says you are suppose to look like and how you are suppose to act, instead I want him to dwell so deep in the heart of God that none of that matters.

I vow that for here on out, I will no longer put myself down in front of Caleb (if I feel like I just HAVE to put myself down, I will walk away and do it in private and hopefully by the time I walk away God will have gotten a hold of me and the feeling will disappear).

I vow that from here on out, I will not only pay myself 4 compliments (2 physical and 2 about personality) but I will also pay Caleb 4 compliments each and every morning before we start our day. (Mine today for myself were I love my little nose, I have the same nose as my Gaga. And, I love my neck... its not to long or to short./ I love my laugh and I love that I am willing to help anyone I can)

I vow that I will continue to teach Caleb how to cook clean and eat clean.

I vow that I will continue to workout in front of Caleb because I want him to know how important activity in your life is.

What do you vow to do for your children?! If you don't have children yet, what about your nieces or nephews or even your children you will have one day...

I want to challenge you...

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter, I know I did! I stuck to the plan of getting rid of all the sugar in the house, Sunday night I packed up all the leftovers and sent them to work with Casey. His co-workers really enjoyed all the sugary treats and I am enjoying that they are no longer a temptation to me.

Today marks our 2nd week of weigh in for The Biggest Loser competition and I was proud to send in my weight this morning (even though I did enjoy 2 cookies on Easter and didn't stick 110% to my meals), it was a loss of 2.2 pounds, that is 1.11% of my body weight! I was not the biggest loser of the week but that just gives me motivation to try even harder this next week.

Another good thing that happened today was that I was able to get my mile down yet again... today I ran/walked a mile in 14 minutes and 18 seconds! When I 1st started running again, my mile was up past 19 minutes. That means in the past 3 weeks, I have taken 5 minutes off my mile!!! That right there is something to be proud of!

Casey and I are running our 1st 5K together this Saturday morning (Race for the Cure) and I am hoping that we are able to cross the finish line under 45 minutes! I will keep you posted.

I want to leave you with this thought and challenge... when you feel like you can't handle your obsession with losing weight or with the number on the scale, give it to God and let him handle it for you! I challenge you to wake up each morning and pray to God to help give you strength in dealing with food and not being wrapped up about your weight. Then look in the mirror and tell yourself 2 things about your physical body that you LOVE and 2 things about your personality that you LOVE! Here are mine for today:

Physical

1.       My legs – I have good legs!

2.       My eye – I love my BIG brown eyes with my long lashes

Personality

1.       I love to laugh

2.       I will give anyone the shirt off my back

If you ever over heard one of your children put themselves down because of their weight or how they looked, wouldn't you be broken hearted?! Every time we put ourselves down, God our Father is listening and I am sure it breaks his heart a little each time... he created each of us perfect in his image and we need to start to seeing that instead of putting ourselves (and others) down!

My shirt my sister got me for our Engagement Party

BRIDE

I'm the boss, any questions?