Completely Overwhelmed.

Wow. Today was like being stuck inside a blender of emotions on high speed.

Weight.

First I will start with my morning. I woke up and weighed myself. I weigh myself every morning, I have made the decision that this is helpful to me on my journey. I was ecstatic that I broke through to a weight decade I can't ever remember seeing. I don't think I ever believed I would get to this weight range...and I'm there.

Health.

I went for an initial appointment with an acupuncture doctor today. He is going to be focusing on helping get rid of migraines I have experienced for the past few years resulting from some shoulder/back stress I've developed. His first question after his "examination" was: did you get in a car accident or something? The scary thing is: no. I have had no significant event that has caused damage to my shoulders- yet my shoulders have reflected that to several doctors now (including chiropractors). I start acupuncture treatment for this on Friday.

More Health.

A formspring question combined with a talk with the doctor today has convinced me that I will be going off birth control. I don't really feel like divulging to many details except that I still don't plan on purposely getting pregnant anytime soon, but the possible implications from the hormones I am putting in my body just don't seem anywhere worth it. I'm nervous.

School.

On Friday I go visit the campus of the University I am hoping to attend. I can't tell you how excited I am. Questions have been running through my head all week. If I end up going to this University, it is nationally renowned for Naturopathic medicine. Right down my alley and such a compelling topic to me. My major would be nutrition science. I plan to take pictures and post them after my trip to discuss my experience.

Job.

I was informed today that I will no longer have a job as of June 17th. I had previously been told that I would have a job until September- but this has changed. I am stressed out. I can't even begin to explain how the next 6 months of my life will look. Will I be working? Will I make it into school in September? Where will I work? Will Kellen get a raise? (he graduates in December and we hope he will get a significant raise at that time). All I know is that somehow we have to afford a mortgage and our bills. I'm not sure how that's going to happen if I'm not working. It's complicated and messy. But that's life right?

Food.

Today I fully understood stress eating full force for the first time in 6 months. I honestly didn't think it was something I struggled with. I came home and ate 1/4 bag of potato chips, several spoonfuls of chocolate PB, some pot stickers, and way to much rice. Random. I feel like hurling.

Have you ever had a time in your life where you honestly did not know what the next 6 months would bring?

What To Eat

I must ask this question as soon as possible as to not forget: does anyone else find google reader really annoying? Is there any way to comment on people's posts other than having to click on and go into their blog? I feel like it takes up too much time! I have been blog slacking!

Today I started reading a great book:

The intent of my reading going forward is to get a jump start on my career in nutrition. I was recommended this book by a Certified Nutritionist I recently met and am really happy so far. I plan to do a bit of a mini book report on each chapter here on my blog so I can keep track of what I am learning.

Nestle caught me within the first chapter. Her intent in this book is to take the reader through a supermarket and educate them about why and how to select your food. She begins by stating what some may say is the "obvious mantra" to dieting and exercise: eat less, move more, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, go easy on the junk food.

Easy enough right? However, because of sly advertising techniques being used by so many of our food distributors today, we are confused. Food labels splash hundreds of promises- "low fat, omega-3 fats, high in fiber...etc...etc" how can we truly begin to understand what's really important?

One thing that really struck me is the way in which supermarkets and food distributors have gotten consumer persuasion down to a science. Did you know that companies pay for the spot that they are shelved (called Slotting Fees)? Or how about that appearance in the weekly ad- we can be sure that cost a pretty penny. Nestle suggests these tactics take away most of the decision from the customer and places the power in the food distributor and supermarkets hands.

Think about the last time you walked in the grocery store. Did you stick to your list or did you ad those items you just HAD to pass to get to the dairy section? Did you buy that conveniently placed bag of potato chips that was on such a great sale? How often do you grab things from the very top, or very bottom of a shelf--probably not very often?

Did you know that America produces roughly 3,900 calories in food per day for every man? No wonder our obesity rates in America are skyrocketing! Food companies will not risk giving up profit by making less food- so what option does that leave them? They sell it- in every way they can.

Let's take the power of food shopping and place it back in our own hands. Let's educate ourselves on how to select and what to look for at our local supermarket. Grab a cart and join me:

What to Eat: An Aisle by Aisle Guide to Savvy and Good Eating

by Marion Nestle

(let me know if you'd like to read along with me!)

How Do They Feel?

How does your spouse feel about this weight loss/healthy living blog?

I didn't receive this question- I am asking you all. I think one of the hardest struggles is getting my husband to understand why exactly I do this. I really don't know if he will ever really understand the support and encouragement I feel from this online blogger community.

To him, it's just a weird, passing fad that I will eventually give up and am just doing to kill time. Don't get me wrong- it's not that he discourages me from blogging in any way- but he really just doesn't understand. He gets frustrated if I'm blogging when he's around- even if he is busy with something else! It's frustrating to me that he can't see this as a hobby- it's like because he doesn't share in this, it's a waste of time.

I have to admit that I often get jealous of the girl's whose husbands embrace their blog full force: taking pictures of them and their food, writing entries for them, letting them take pictures of them doing "active" and "healthy" things (it may appear this is me- but let me be honest, this is honestly like pulling teeth in our relationship!).

Again, I want to be clear that he is really supportive of this health journey. He compliments me and encourages me and tells me he is proud. But knowing that he doesn't really understand why I "blog" just bugs me sometimes.

What about you? Have you dealt with anything similar for a spouse or someone close to you in your life? What about your health journey in general? How have others responded?

Weigh In Week 24: Dancin' my Dinner Off

Well friends, not sure if you remember that my exact words last week were "Seriously, 2.5lbs- you are going DOWN!" Well guess what? I kicked those 2.5 to the curb- that's right. I am down

34lbs total! Wooohooo!

Unfortunately, I didn't join a new weight decade. I am right on the line! But you know what? That's ok. I know that this week I will enter into territory that I literally NEVER remember seeing. And I am SO excited to do so. I have 6lbs until my first goal- losing a total of 40lbs.

This week I really just re-focused. I tracked my food again and tried to work out as much as possible. Despite the weekend (which is always the hardest two days for me) I think I did pretty great.

Speaking of the weekend, on Saturday my lovely mom and grandma came to visit me! We had plans to have lunch at a teahouse nearby but switched last minute and ended up going to a paella bar that just opened up.

Paella is a Spanish food. At the Paella bar, you order lots of different "appetizer" size plates and split these between the table. It was so yummy! And event though there was a lot of food available, I didn't feel like I stuffed myself (even with dessert!). Here are some pics of the food we ordered:

We started out with drinks. This is the white sangria and on the side you can see the coca bread. The drink was so fruity and delicious, and the bread was super moist and served with oil and balsamic vinegar.

Next up was the goat cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon and beef empanadas. Can you believe I've never had a date before this? This little bacon wrapped thing was heavenly!

We sorta dived into this next one before I got a chance to take a pic....this is the Potato Tortilla with Chorizo and Spinach. Very tasty!

And of course the main attraction: Chicken Paella! So moist and delicious, this dish was worth the wait!

So, after all of that....you'd think we wouldn't have room for dessert huh? Yeah, right!

Chocolate Torte with Gray Salt:

Tirimisu:

I think we had died and gone to food heaven:

Can you tell we liked it??!

So now you are wondering what in fact I may have done to burn off all those calories?!

Well....I danced!

That's right, Saturday night my friends and I got our boogy on at a nightclub in our area. I was sweatin' it up! Let me tell, that was a great aerobic workout! When I looked up how many calories I may have burned online, it says that for 30 minutes of dancing a person my size would burn about 200 calories. I am thinking I did a bit more than that.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. Great food and some fun exercise!

This week I am hoping to lose another two, which would put me at only 4lbs away from goal. That honestly sounds unbelievable to me- 4lbs!!

I can do this!--And so can you! Have a great week guys!

Walking on the Spit

Spending some time today with these ladies:

My mom and grandma! I really love them.

What's on the agenda? Visiting a teahouse and a spring festival. We will see how it goes!

For now, I'd like to share some pics from that 11 mile hike I did a couple of weeks ago.

It was called the "Dungeness Spit" Hike- a spit is defined as "a narrow point of land projecting into the water."

At the end of the spit, there is a lighthouse that you can tour. To get to the lighthouse is 5.5 miles- that means round trip this "hike" is 11 miles long. Woo! It definitely kicked my butt!

A shot of the spit from the top of the lighthouse:

Kellen and his friend Will entertained themselves with skipping rocks:

And I entertained myself by making a rock sculpture, which is now sitting on my porch at home:

Of course I had to bring along a snack- I got really hungry about halfway through:

With so many curves, we finally spotted the lighthouse around mile 4!

A shot of me during one of our many breaks:

Us at the top of the lighthouse:

Check it out! Victoria BC was only 18.4 miles away. Pretty cool!

It was a very hard hike. But so rewarding and so worth it.

Hope you all have a wonderful and active Saturday!

The Gun Show

Remember how a couple of days ago I asked you all if your arms ever felt sore from running? Well the reason I asked is because I have been waking up with sore arms! Very strange considering I have done little arm workouts lately and mostly just running/cardio.

Then last night as I was laying in bed I flexed my arm muscle- and was shocked! I could actually feel a little bit of definition!

Do you know how wonderful it would be not to have flabby, shapeless arms? Ok, you probably do and you probably dream of it as well! Well I decided to take a "before" shot of me this morning and hope that I can compare in a couple of months- when I have some smokin hot guns- right?

All news on the healthy front is swell! I have stuck to my calories and worked out every day this week except yesterday (taking a bit of break). I'm hoping I will drop into that new weight decade by Monday (the same decade as my first goal weight!). So exciting.

boobs, babies, birth control

Hello everyone!

I had a wonderfully active day yesterday and I think I'm going to take a rest day today. I ran two miles in the morning, than played tennis with a friend in the evening and did some free weight lifting while catching up on Biggest Loser! My muscles are sore today but it feels great and I'm hoping I'm getting closer to tackling that 2.5lbs left to the new weight decade!

So I think I am kind of a bad formspringer- if a "good" one exists. I logged into my account last night and realized I had FOUR questions waiting for me! So I will tackle those today!

warning to men: boobs, babies, and birth control will be discussed.

"Do you plan to have a garden and do some canning to help you with eating unprocessed foods? ~Laura @ Life Happens"

Yes! I am starting my own garden. The only thing is, I am REALLY REALLY bad at growing/taking care of plants. If any of you were following me back in February, I did some starters. Well...those died! Haha! So now I just planted all the seeds directly in the ground and hope that nature will just take it's course! As far as canning...I will have to look into this! Never thought about it! Thanks for the great question, Laura!

"Have your boobs shrunk as you've lost weight?"

...hehe. This is a funny one. Yes, they have. In fact, I went to get fitted for a new bra the other day and was actually quite embarrassed because apparently my current bra is way to big! I just didn't want to "downsize" until I got to my goal weight. Plus, I HATE bra shopping. But yes, they've probably gone down a cup size I'd say.

"Considering the risks that come with it, and your admirable endeavors to become healthy in all aspects of your life, I present a girly question: Do you take birth control? If not, was that decision related to your health?"

Yes, I use the NuvaRing for birth control. To be honest with you, I actually haven't even given a second thought to the health risks of BC until I read this question. It's funny how we can take care of ourselves and worry about our bodies in one aspect of our lives, but then completley ignore the others? Yes, it is important to do the research and understand what you are putting into your body. This is what my doctor recommended for me, but putting full faith in that without doing a little research myself is well...ignorant. Anyway, thanks for shining a light on that area and I will be doing some more research into this in the near future. Anyone else have thoughts?

And, kind of ironic, but the next question is:

"When are you going to have babies? :)"

NEVER!! Ok, not really. To be honest, I REALLY REALLY REALLY can't wait to have kids. Kellen and I have been talking about having babies since we started dating (at 16 and 17, scary, I know!). Anyway. It's funny, I really thought I would have kids when I was married for two years. July will be our third anniversary, so I'm a little late! LOL. Really, my ideas of having kids has really changed over the past couple of years. I know that you can never be totally financially "ready"- but this factor is still really impacting my decision. I want to be a stay at home mom for the first couple of years, and we just couldn't afford for me not to work right now with the bills we have. Also, the fact that I am really excited about finishing my degree at this point has helped get rid of that "baby fever" a bit! Honestly, in my opinion, I feel that God will tell us when it's time- either with a happy surprise or a conviction in our hearts to start trying.

Thanks for the questions everyone! If you have any more, shoot them into my formspring box on my sidebar!