Progress

Well, this last week I ate more whole grains and watched my portions more.  I ate until I was no longer hungry instead of slightly full.  My results?  3.2 POUNDS LOST!!!  And it feels GREAT!!!

It's amazing how just simply changing how much you eat can affect your health. Not in a bad way, but a GOOD way.  Not only does changing how much you eat affect it, but changing WHAT you eat affects it. The generation of "You better finish everything on your plate or else." is OVER! I was told that when I was younger and I've been telling my children that.  Since changing our ways, I am starting to fall out of the habit of telling them to finish everything on their plate.  Instead, I tell them to take a small portion first and if they are still legitimately hungry, then they can take another small helping. It feels good to break the cycle!

I am .4 (yes, POINT 4) pounds away from being 1/3 of the way through my journey! I'm feeling great, and I can actually look myself in the mirror now.  I used to not be able to look at myself.  I went to great lengths to avoid the mirror.  And every time I would catch a glimpse of myself, I would get that "pain" of loathing down deep inside my gut. Not anymore. For the first time in my life, I am starting to like what I see in the mirror!  I'm excited to see where the rest of my journey takes me.

P.S. It occurred to me that I never posted my daughters birthday cake. If I have, then I can't find it and here it is again. 

This was a pumpkin cake made with whole wheat flour instead of all purpose, walnut oil instead of canola, and sucanat instead of sugar.  I used VERY little cream cheese icing to make it stick together, I would say about 1/2 cup total for all 3 layers used, and then I "drizzled" melted semi-sweet chocolate chips over the top.  It was pretty good.  I didn't have much because with the icing and semi-sweet chocolate it was a little on the "too sweet" side, but she LOVED it!  And that is all that matters. 

Changes

So, it was another small loss week, but at least I am losing!  As a follow up from my last post, I exercised everyday last week and yes, I have been flossing every night.  ;)

Today I wanted to "boost my spirits" by listing all the changes I have been noticing in myself, and changes that other people have mentioned.

These are some things that other people have mentioned to me:

• My face looks slimmer
• I have a "glow" about me
• My legs are slimmer
• I'm happier
• My tummy is flatter

These are things that I have noticed in myself:

• My pants are looser, in the waist and legs
• The bottoms of my feet are softer, they aren't peeling, cracked, or rough
• My shirts are getting too big
• I can wear size large shirts, an they are comfortable
• The shoes I wore when I started to exercise at the beginning of this and gave me blisters, aren't as tight and they don't give me blisters anymore.
• My bras fit better
• I can fasten my bra with ease, ESPECIALLY my exercise bra
• My hair is shinier and softer
• My fake wedding ring is getting a little big on my finger
• I can ALMOST wear my wedding ring (I haven't been able to wear it for at least 5 years)
• I can tie my shoes without struggling to breathe
• I can curl up in a ball in the chair in our family room
• It's easier to get off the couch or out of the chair
• Reed can sit on my lap
• I HAVE a lap!
• When I bend over I don't feel the "shift" in my "spare tire"
• My knees don't hurt when I go up the stairs or squat and stand again
• I can bend easily without my "spare tire" getting in the way
• I can kneel and say my prayers without it hurting my knees when I get back up
• I don't need to hold onto the railing when I go up the stairs
• I can carry Reed up the stairs easily without it hurting my back or knees
• I can carry Reed easily on my hip
• My back doesn't hurt like it used to
• I sleep more sound
• My pajama bottoms that were getting a little tight aren't tight.  In fact they are a comfy loose now.
• The floor in our house doesn't shake as bad when I walk
• I can "sneak" up the stairs
• When I walk in the kitchen, I don't hear my hanging pots and pans "clink"
• I have to tie my exercise pants, or they start to slide off
• I AM happier
• I feel like I can keep up with Reed better
• I DON'T CRAVE SWEETS ie: ice cream, candy, cake, cookies, chocolate
• I don't have to worry about weight limits anymore
• When I look down at my feet, all I see are my feet.  I don't see my stomach.

These are just what I can think of for right now.  Each and every one of these "changes" is a huge milestone for me. And the fact that I can carry my almost 40 pound son up and down the stairs without it hurting any part of my body, well, it just makes this journey even MORE worth while. 

Hypocrisy

I hate hypocrisy. HATE it! It is essentially telling people, or yourself, that you are too good to follow rules and standards. And yet, I am guilty of it. We ALL are. I tell my kids that they need to floss their teeth everyday because it is good for their teeth. If they don't then their teeth will fall out.  But yet, I don't floss my teeth on a regular basis. I tell my girls that they need to exercise everyday to stay healthy and be strong. And yet, I haven't been exercising everyday like I used too.

Yesterday was my weigh in day.  I did lose, but for the last couple weeks I have lost under a pound each, totaling 1 pound in 2 weeks.  For some reason I was kinda down in the dumps yesterday about it. I asked my husband if he still thought I was "successful" in my weight loss. He of course replied with a firm, "YES."

So, here is my dilemma, why have I slowed down in my weight loss and WHY am I so bummed??? I KNEW I would eventually hit a plateau, but I didn't think it would be this soon. I figured it would be closer to my goal weight seeing how I am almost 100 pounds over weight. I figured I would plateau around the loss of 50 or so. I was prepared for that. My "dilemma" isn't so much a dilemma as it is an awakening. An awakening in how LAZY I have become on this journey! I haven't been eating whole grains like I used too. I can't remember the last time I made something with quinoa or wheat berries. I have actually been eating more meat. I still have kept my meat eating to once a day, but I eat it more often. As before when I started this journey, we were only eating meat once a WEEK at the very most! I haven't been paying TOO close attention to my body signals. I haven't been eating till I was stuffed, but I haven't stopped when I was no longer hungry. And, I haven't been exercising. I'm thinking the reason why I was so bummed yesterday was because I came to the realization that I was the kind of person I hate, a hypocrite. (Shameful bow of the head. Hand to forehead)

This is my plan, I'm going to exercise EVERY DAY this week.  I'm going to start listening harder to my body signals and stop when I am NO LONGER HUNGRY.  I'm going to eat more whole grains and less meat. And, I'm going to floss my teeth. ;)

After my husband replied a firm, "YES" to my question last night, he then suggested that I read my "Setbacks" post. This man is brilliant. Oh how I love him. So, I read my "Setbacks" post this morning and I had forgotten just about everything in that post. I admit that I get a little sad and hurt when I hear that people haven't read my blog. But, how can I expect them to read my blog when I don't read my blog. Sure, I write it, but do I actually take the time and energy to read it and remember the things that I wrote???  I read a scripture for our Family Home Evening last night in Joshua 1:8,  

"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therin day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therin: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."

The purpose was to help my girls understand that just "reading" the scriptures isn't OK, that we need to ponder on what we read and remember what we read through out the day.  As the night went on, I needed to take this lesson a different route. I need to read and ponder on the things that I write on this blog. I am not helping myself by not doing this. After all, this IS my journey and I need to take the lessons I learn on this journey and apply it to my everyday life instead of brushing them off to the side because I already "blogged" about them. If I do this, I will have "good success". No more hypocrisy. What is the point of learning lessons when we don't REMEMBER the lessons we learned? 

Spiced Mango Muffins

Pinterest is a wonderfully bad thing.  I get a TON of recipes from it.  Last year, I found a recipe for Spiced Mango Muffins that we ALL fell in LOVE with. Primarily because they have cardamom in them. (We LOVE cardamom!) Just this past Sunday, I thought I would try making these muffins again with some alterations to make them more healthy.  They turned out pretty awesome so, I thought I would spread the love.

Spiced Mango Muffins

1 1/2 cup diced fresh mango, about 1 large mango
2 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour (instead of all-purpose)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (instead of regular table, it has more minerals and less processing)
2 heaping teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 - 1 heaping teaspoon ground cardamom (we like it stronger)
1/2 leveled teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup sucanat (instead of sugar)
1/2 cup mashed overripe banana (instead of sugar)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup coconut milk or regular milk (I used regular, but as I was typing this out I had the idea of using coconut milk.)
1/4 cup walnut oil (instead of canola)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. (375 if you have a dark or non-stick pan)
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, sucanat, and spices.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg with fork or whisk, and then stir in the milk, vanilla and oil.
4. Make a “well” in the flour mixture and then pour all of the liquid mixture in.
5. Mix the dry and liquid ingredients until just moistened. (batter will be somewhat lumpy).
6. Fold in the fresh mango.
7. Divide the batter into prepared (with spray) muffin cups or a muffin tin.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Enjoy!! We sure did.  :)

Exercise

When I started this journey I was going out every morning and doing some form of exercise: walking or riding my bike.  But lately I have REALLY slacked on my exercise! When I went to Salt Lake a couple weeks ago for a doTERRA convention, I walked ALL OVER downtown. I walked to eat, shop, sleep, pee. I swear I walked about 10+ miles in the course of 5 days. When I came home, I had a wedding cake to do so, I was home bound for a week doing that and catching up on sleep. Although I did in fact lose weight this last week, it was another one of "those" weeks where I wasn't "feeling good" and we ate out at least 3 times. Don't get me wrong, I am THRILLED with the fact that I DID lose weight, especially since we did eat out so much.  I just know that I could have done better. And knowing that leads me to start analyzing what I could have done better, besides not eating out. ;)

It has been a long time since I went for a morning walk. Today, I woke up refreshed and ready and went for a walk. And it felt good! I took the dog and, therefore, had to cut the walk short because she started to limp on her surgery leg, but we did manage to go about a mile. I know that exercise is SUPER important. I know that it is something I need to do.  It has always been that one habit that I can't seem to stick with!

Now that the weather is changing, I am left with debilitating thoughts.  Debilitating in the way that my thoughts speak louder than they should and typically, in the past, have won! "It's too cold outside to go for a walk." "It's still too dark." "I would rather stay in my bed all warm and snug."  The thing that I need to remember is perfectly stated in this quote:

How true this is.  There will always be an opportunity for me to exercise, just like there will ALWAYS be an excuse to not. I just need to get my lazy butt out of bed and get it done. Maybe this should be my new mantra for the mornings?

I need to start being that example to my kids again. Now that the craziness is done, with convention and wedding cakes, and birthdays, I can start getting myself back on track making the healthy decisions that I pray I make everyday. And exercising is one of those healthy decisions I need to make, along with continuing to eat healthy and natural. 
 

Mediterranean Potato Salad

It has been a while since I posted a recipe. I thought today would be a great day to do that. This was a potato salad I made about a month or so ago. We found this Mediterranean Olive and Roasted Tomato Tapenade at Costco that we really quite love. I have put it with fresh Alaskan Halibut baked in the oven, on bruschetta with baba gannouj and feta cheese, this stuff is AMAZING! I have to drain quite a bit of the oil off, but it is still super yummy.

Mediterranean Potato Salad

About 4 red potatoes, diced in bite sized pieces
1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained AND rinsed
1/4 C feta cheese
1/4+ C Mediterranean Olive and Roasted Tomato Tapenade, with some oil drained off

(If you can't find the mix at Costco, you can make your own: These measurements are approximate and I would encourage you to go by your own tastes.

6-8 Roma tomatoes, seeded
2 red bell peppers, cleaned and seeded
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped coarse
1 small can diced black olives
1 small bottle capers, drained and rinsed
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 T fresh basil, shred
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
salt, to taste
juice of 1/2 lemon
olive oil, quite a bit (I would say about 1/2 C)

Toss tomatoes, bell peppers, and garlic in a little olive oil and roast in 400 degree oven until tomatoes and peppers are soft, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Chop coarse. Add to a bowl with remaining ingredients.  Add olive oil and stir together. If it looks dry, add more olive oil. Season to taste. Refrigerate up to a week.)

Boil the diced potatoes until tender when stuck with a fork. Drain. Add remaining ingredients and stir together. Can be served warm or cold. Enjoy!

I actually served this with grilled Naan (also at Costco) and grilled zucchini and summer squash.

It was GOOOOOOOD!!!!