Overeating Woes

Ello Loves,

I have been avoiding this blog to no end since I left on my all girl road trip last week. Let's just say Kate and I reveled in the fact that we had both lost 30lbs and could fully embrace the freedom of eating with no regrets. Of course I knew it would be a struggle to get back into the healthy eating routine after almost an entire week of junk, but I hate to admit that it's been even harder than I expected. All I can say is I am fully hearing the healthy eating fairy in my head yelling "I TOLD YOU SO!" so please spare me if you have the urge to leave me that comment.

I hope to reign in with scale results on Sunday, August 1st, for my first official weigh in post in quite a while. After that, I'm taking some other bloggers advice and hiding that evil piece of junk from myself for a whole month. That's right- it's a pretty scary concept to go from weighing every day to once a month. But I'm hoping it's going to help me focus on a more long term goal.

I was mostly encouraged to make this choice after talking to THREE girlfriends who've lost a significant amount of weight over the last couple of years. One thing that really stuck out to me was that their weight loss was such a long term thing- like it took them on average about 1-2 years to lose 40lbs. The realistic thought of losing 2-3lbs a month makes me so much more excited to look at weight loss as a "long haul" thing.

So hopefully I will back by Sunday with an update. Maybe I will even go a little crazy and update my sidebar. We will see!

Fun in the Sun

Oh my dear little blog readers, can I just say I apologize so sincerely for my disappearance lately! But I am sure you will understand when I say that the sun brings little motivation to sit inside on a computer? Surely all our blogs have been a bit more sparse than we would have liked lately, for good reason!

SUMMER!

Summer is by far my favorite season- who does not love driving with the windows down, splashing around on the beach (or lake, depending on your location) and soaking up some much needed rays! And summer in the Pacific Northwest is absolutely perfect- a cool and breezy 70-80 degrees that makes the sun all the more bearable.

I am going to attempt to catch you up on my life in the last three weeks in no particular order, but through some pictures I've captured on my phone over the last couple of weeks.

To start, I would have to say my creative juices have been flowing. Maybe it's because I'm currently working for an artist? PS- Check her out! Rachel @ SymbioticLife --she makes AMAZING jewelry!

So here's a little sample of some projects I've been working on:

Ever heard of upcycling? It's taking something that is no longer of value to you and turning it into something that is. I like the idea of recycling things into something you will use. Kellen and I took an old dresser drawer and turned it into a birdhouse:

And the finished product:

Have I mentioned how much I love cherry blossoms? They's got to be my favorite trees. So beautiful.

And of course being a nanny comes with extreme perks. Check out the art project the boys and I did yesterday:

SO fun! I love my job.

And I'm sure some of you are wondering how my race went on 4th of July?

My friend Hollie and I totally rocked it! We almost ran the whole thing, but walked a part of an extremely large hill. We finished with a time of 36:45--quite impressive considering the amount of hills in this bad boy! I was so proud of myself! And guess what? Even hubby ran it too! We will leave about the part of him feeling pretty cruddy afterwards...he hadn't ran for a while!

Guess what other joyous occasions summer brings? BBQ'S!!! Honestly if I could BBQ my food every day of my life, I think I would. We have been experimenting with lots of different veggies:

Broccoli is delicous grilled! Who knew?

So I pretty much had abandoned hope over my veggie garden after my dog dug it up. But guess what? I visited yesterday and it seems that something has survived! Hallelujah! Yes, I realize there seems to be some bite marks from slugs on the leaves, but that can be easily fixed!

Other than that, I've just been running around with two little guys with tiny feet and going on "the messiest, dirtiest adventures" ever! (words from a four year old!)

Hope you are having a fantastic summer so far!

The Line of Shame

I was a bad girl today. I got myself into a very sticky situation where I had a two and four year old in the back seat of my car (I'm a nanny) and snacks for both of them-but nothing for me. We were running around and doing our thing but I just got to a point where I was SO hungry. Now, if you are a mom (or a nanny for that matter) you know my pain- you can't just "drop" into the grocery store and grab a quick, healthy snack. No, the grocery store is like a whole big journey in and of itself. And I just didn't have the time- let alone the patience to put up with it and make a smart choice about my consumption of food. Call it an excuse if you will, but I decided on the dreaded drive through (que horror music now).

I could have made a reasonably better choice than a kids meal (cheeseburger and fries). I could have. And of course I'm kicking my butt for it now. But I'm just being honest here- who ACTUALLY goes to a drive thru (us "healthy eaters" know this kind of feels like "getting away with something bad") and orders a freakin' salad!?!? I mean, maybe if it wasn't for the fact that all their salads have the same amount of calories as a burger itself, I would consider it. But once you get in that line of shame, and the fry smell wafts through your open window, there is almost no chance of denying it. Is this why they say an alcoholic shouldn't step into a bar?

I'm going to blame the fact that we have no healthy drive thru option in this city. No fancy chic-a-fil (because I see your delicious looking grilled chicken breast sandwiches!), no drive through sandwich shop (do these exist??). Burger King. Mcdonalds. Taco Bell. Take your pick. Bleh.

I'm determined to burn off at least some of those french fries today with an evening run.

Crossroads

Well there is just not much to say these days about my healthy living journey. It just seems like I have really GOOD days and really BAD days just as often. I've pretty much been hovering at the same weight for around two months, which means I've been about 5 pounds away from losing a total of 40lbs and 10 pounds away from being a "healthy" BMI.

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I no longer feel "overweight" and sometimes even consider if maybe this is just the weight that my body should be. I've heard it said that the lowest weight in your adult life is probably the lowest you will ever be...well I'm less than that! I think I weigh the same as I did when I was about 17 at the moment.

But in all reality- is a 12/14 pants size, and 10lbs higher than a healthy BMI ideal? You can see my confusion at this point: am I settling or being unrealistic?

One thing I know is that I'm proud of myself for the way I've changed my thinking. No longer do I slip into days, weeks, months, or even years of carelessly eating without honestly evaluating what it is that I'm consuming. I'm constantly thinking of ways to incorporate good for me foods into my diet. But not only that, I also tend to try to "balance" my days as well- like making sure to eat less carbs in the evening if I had a particularly carb heavy start to my day.

I no longer fear exercise, and in fact, embrace the chance to ENJOY being active whenever possible. I've definitely taking a step back from being a "regular"- which frustrates me-but at the same time, I really do think that breaking through that fear to start was the biggest hurtle to conquer.

So- I'm asking- what do you think? I know this is a dangerous question- and I'm prepared for a brutal answer. I just want to hear it straight up (ps, don't leave an anonymous comment, those I WON'T take into consideration).

I'm at a "crossroads"of sorts- continue to live "healthfully" and potentially choose to settle at this weight- or continue to attempt to "kick my butt" into more action- which could have excellent, effective results, or it could just frustrate me more!

Half Marathon Follow Up

Hello my lovely followers!

Well it's been two days since my tragic race day on Saturday. I say tragic because it didn't end as well as I, or my cousin, had hoped. In fact, it didn't really "end" at all! It was cut quite short.

We started out pretty strong, although Jenny (cousin) did say that her knee had already started bothering her just walking to the start line (probably not a good sign)!! We started out jogging, and she quickly decided that this was not a good idea. I jogged very slowly along with her for the first three miles, and then slowed down because she was hurting more. We walked the next three, and then made the decision to take the medical van to the finish line once we hit mile 6. She felt really bad for cutting my race short, but honestly, I felt like I had signed up with her and I was going to stick with her! Not to mention that we only had one cell phone between the two of us.

So all in all, it was a bit disappointing- but I'm glad she decided to stop when she did, and didn't injure her knee even more.

However, I don't regret doing it. I was reminded of how much I love the energy and atmosphere of races. I am totally hooked. And so...

I signed up for another one! This time just a 5k, but it's soon- as in 4th of July! I'm going to show my American Pride by busting my booty on Sunday. I am so excited!

What was I thinking?!

I'm doing a half marathon this morning! Oh what in the world was I thinking signing up for this three months ago?!? Of course I won't be walking the whole thing. I'm doing the race with my cousin, whose knee has been bothering her, so we plan to take it easy and walk most of it. Only problem is a time "cut off" of 4 hours- that means we HAVE to keep a 17 min mike pace to finish. Hopefully we can do that- I would hate to not finish the race!! One things for sure--I am eating GUILT FREE tonight!! Pictures to come!!


Update: we stopped at mile 6. My cousin is in to much pain, and I want to stay with her. :(

The Workout From Hell

Hey You!

I figured since it's been a couple days I owed you all an update. I've been massively slacking on my weekly weigh in posts, but don't worry, it's really nothing too exciting. Just as of Monday was I back down to my lowest weight so far (-35.5). So from here

forward is only going to get better, right? Right! You know why I'm so confident of this? Well, for one thing, I think my body has finally "regulated" itself out hormone wise. If you didn't know, I went off of hormonal BC about 2 months ago. My body whacked out at first and I really think that's why I gained about 5lbs back so quickly. Also, I am so determined to see that first goal of 40lbs lost! I really think I can bust it out and at least get there sometime this summer!

I have been working out a bit more regularly the last couple of weeks, thanks to my new gym membership. I decided to try out some classes this week and see what I liked. On Monday I went to "Total Body Conditioning"- and I thought- hey! This will be fun! And a great workout! Well, one of those thoughts was right...and let me tell you, it wasn't the fun part. This class was a little bit of pure torture I think. I tried a step class back in December and really disliked it- I just couldn't keep up. Well this was step--except onto a freakin yoga ball! Ok, not the "whole" ball, but it was one of those half ball things. It looked like this:

And we had to do "step" and coordinated movements on this thing! Let me tell you something.....

I am NOT coordinated. I can not dance "properly" for the life of me- let alone keep up with a class of super fit middle age women who seem to read the instructors mind! GAH!

Needless to say, I will not be attempting this one again....

Eating wise, things have been pretty good. I just started a new job (I'm a nanny) and I swear this family is like the healthiest eaters on the planet, and I am NOTexaggerating. Their mom buys only organic products, but not only that, she literally knows tons of ways of getting the best nutritional value out of the food you are eating (soaking beans, adding herbs, cooking slowly, etc). I have learned amazing stuff so far from her!

She has also welcomed me to eat anything in their house. Score! I am having fun trying new and healthy recipes and snacks she comes up with.

Well, I am going to "sign off" for now, but before I go I thought I'd leave you with an update pic of me since I haven't had one in a while!

I wore this dress three years ago for my rehearsal dinner for my wedding. It hasn't fit me for a while, and now it's almost too big! Gotta love shopping in your own closet.