So I completely forgot that March 12 is what I consider my "Anniversary" in getting healthy. March 12th, 2018 I started what I thought was "another diet" for probably the 100th time...but this time it actually worked!! This time I stopped rewarding myself with cheat days, this time I learned to manage my emotions without food, this time I discovered the foods that nourished me and made me feel amazing! This year March 12th officially marked 5 years since I stopped giving up on myself!!
My biggest takeaway in the last 5 years, don't worry about the "rules"...focus on choices that move you one step closer to a long-term healthy life. Learn to avoid the foods/situations that will cause you to get off track. Stop waiting for someone to give you the exact way to be successful...only you can understand that for yourself! Just start and figure it out as you go!
Some years have been better than others but I can honestly say that right now I am in the best place I have ever been...that doesn't mean I am the skinniest or the most perfect but I am the most CONSISTENT with a lifestyle that maintains my health long term.
*These Before/After pictures were both taken at the Wildlife World Zoo. The top one taken 6 years ago when Chris and I were at the absolute rock bottom of our health. The bottom picture was taken yesterday, exactly 5 years after we made the commitment to change the future of our health. There is no turning back now that we know what healthy feels like!!
Your life can completely change in the next year. Don't wait for another year, or another 1st of the month, or even another Monday! Today could be the day you look back on and remember when your life changed! Trust me if I can do it, with how broken I was, you can do it! ♥️♥️♥️
Yesterday we surprised the kids and brought home a puppy!! They have been begging for one for years and we felt like the time was right to bring one home.
Meet Angus 🐕 He's a Golden Retriever/King Charles Cavalier Spaniel mix. He's 11 weeks old and currently weighs about 8 pounds, he should be around 35 pounds fully grown. I know it will be an adjustment for a while as he gets potty trained etc but we are so excited. 😂 Wish us luck! 🤪
Cheese is good! I ate a block of chipotle oven baked cheese with lunch yesterday and it was divine. I love it, but know that it halts any progress I'm making, and will even trigger eating in excess to where I'll gain weight. It's sad but I have accepted it. If I eat it in small quantities with a meal, it's ok, but I really have to work to keep it in check.
What's your favorite cheese? How do you incorporate it? Do you see negative results when eating it?
Happy Sunday! Sharing a video today from our week, one of the highlights. This was Wednesday evening church, normally they have a more casual prayer meeting where someone plays the guitar, but they were doing some construction in the fellowship hall so they had their prayer meeting in the sanctuary. No one was there to play the piano so my my Grandma did it, she's been playing the piano in church for probably 80 years.
For context, she's 88, she had a really bad fall 5 years ago now and hit her head and ended up with a lot setbacks, similar to having a stroke. She has a lot of dementia like symptoms also (I am sure related to her Type 2 diabetes), she really can't read music anymore, and she has trouble seeing well, and she needs to wear hearing aids to hear but hates wearing them, so on this night she didn't want to wear them. My 93 (almost 94) year old grandpa takes care of both of them on their farm. Anyway, on this night she sat down on the piano and led worship as people called ...
Happy Tuesday! Thanks to those that hung out on the Livestream last night. One of the topics we talked about is breaking a stall. And unfortunately the best advice I have for breaking a stall is "keep it boring" and just stay consistent. Honestly that's been my motto this year. I love variety of course, but the more simple/boring I keep things with my food the better results I get. Usually when we add "variety" we add a lot of diary, or carbs, or those replacement recipes that increase cravings or contain hidden dairy/carbs/calories.
It might be hard to get into a routine at first but I do find that just eating the same things most days is actually a lot easier. And if you really enjoy that food (and know how to cook it), you'll still look forward to it each day.
If you're feeling stuck, just focus on consistency and keeping that food simple, and I PROMISE it will work...you just have to be patient.
Boring =Results! Have you found this to be true for you?
Happy Tuesday evening!
We spent the day at the farm show w/out 5 yo who didn't feel well. Which was probably good as it was windy, cold, rainy. We figured we walked 3+ miles. So lots of fresh air and exercise.
We ate breakfast on the way (location is an hour away from our house.) They had a Chicken Club Protein Bowl, so I had that. The "cheese" was plastic american cheese and it had tomatoes on it; but otherwise it was just eggs, bacon and chicken breast. I also had about 1/2 of my normal protein coffee on the drive.
We skipped lunch.
After some farm errands in that city, we came home to chore and go through all the swag we got. Caps, tee-shirts, flashlights, rain gauges, fly swatters, chip clips, pens and I seriously will never have to buy another note pad or sticky notepad, ever! And of course the nice grocery bags and 5 gallon buckets.
Then we took the grandkids swag in to them. Stickers, caps, corn hats, coloring pages, rubber bracelets, pencils.
Then we went to our Mexican ...
Good Evening Y'all!! I haven't been feeling well since Saturday. Got a cough and some head congestion along with headaches. Today my energy has been really zapped. I napped today for about 2 hours. I haven't done that in months. It was a real struggle today to not eat the crap that I use to eat. I made it though. I shared my breakfast earlier. So for dinner I had pulled pork and smoked pulled chicken. For the Life Relaunch event that I was a part of my husband smoked a pork butt and a couple whole chickens. So we're eating leftover pork butt and chicken. Y'all my husband does an excellent job of smoking some meat.
So here's pictures of my food today. I had some more chicken after I what he put on my plate the first time. The second helping of chicken I didn't finish. I have had 80 ounces of water. I raw lmnt in one of the 40 ounce cups. Plus I drank a coke zero and diet mountain dew today. I gotta work on those. But for now I'm working on consistency. Which for me is mostly meat with ...
