Healthy Living Update #1 and BFF's..

Operation Lifestyle Change = SUCCESS!  It's been 2 weeks since I posted that I was going to try to make some healthier lifestyle choices and changes for myself and for our family and I can honestly say I feel better than I've felt in 5 plus years and more like myself than I have in AAAAAAAAAGES! I didn't follow the exact plan I had set out, but I'm not beating myself up about it and I'm taking it all in stride. One day at a time.

No more Candy:  The most important thing to note is that it has now been over 3 weeks since I've ingested my "drug" of choice, CANDY, and it has been so much easier than I had anticipated.  Week 1 was the worst, week 2 was not nearly as hard as I expected and week 3 was dare I say, "A breeze."  The majority of the time I don't even think about it or miss it, but when I'm super stressed or upset I instantly head for my "fix" and head  to the "treat cupboard".   Despite having some crazy stress and upset in my life this past couple weeks, and feeling like I needed a "fix" or possibly even "overdose", I can PROUDLY say I have still not eaten any candy! Go Me! If I don't change one other thing from this point forward, kicking this "addiction" is success enough in my books! I feel like a new person. I feel like the poison has officially left my body and I have SO much more energy! I also started regularly taking vitamins (which I've always hated to do) and fish oil capsules every day which I totally believe has helped with any cravings I could have had.
Note to self: Is it weird that I am brimming with pride that I have managed this? Perhaps that is a true tale sign of just what an addiction it really is was.

More whole foods, less processed foods: I have managed to be a lot more conscious of what is going into my body and have stuck to my plan of eating  more (not all) whole foods than ever before, which FYI tastes so much better than what I anticipated.  The more healthy I eat, the more healthy I crave.  Veggies, brown rice cakes, wheat free bread, hummus, veggie meat,  almond butter and honey are my new best friends.  That being said, so is the huge mega beef burger and "healthier" potato salad my BFF made us on mothers day.  In general, I think twice and sometimes three times before putting anything in my mouth and I always opt for the healthier version.  If I crave something crap, I have something to drink or I grab something small and healthy and I almost always realize it wasn't the crap I wanted after all...it was low blood sugar.  Our body works in mysterious ways and things are not always as they appear....

Yoga twice a week:  Mission aborted. Mission aborted.  I completely didn't do yoga and I don't even care that I didn't.  When it feels right, I'll do it but I'm no longer forcing myself into strict plans and obligations to other people or because it worked for other people.  My fitness is for me and nobody else and I'm going to do what feels right for me when it feels right for me.

Exercise 20 - 30 minutes a day 5 days a week: Which actually meant in my mind, "go downstairs and go on the treadmill 30 minutes/5 days a week".   Mission aborted. Mission aborted. I ended up not doing this because I was out of town for the week, but what I ended up replacing my treadmill plan with is getting outside every day and doing something with my beautiful daughter.   We've been doing daily walks and walking to our play date and even taking longer routes.  We live on a hill and are surrounded by hills, so needless to say it's good exercise.  I'm not sure whether it's the walking itself OR the feeling of the sun on my skin while breathing in fresh air  that is more enjoyable.  Either way, I am MUCH happier and much more motivated to get out and do things every single day AND the hills are getting easier! Yay!

What I didn't realize when entering into this change was just how much it would actually start to change me back into who I really am.  I truly feel like a haze of fog (that I didn't even know was there) has been lifted off of me and I can see myself and my life through clear eyes again.  I stopped turning the tv on the minute I wake up and have actually almost finished the book I've been trying to complete for 4 months now.  I cleaned out my entire walk-in closet AND my bedroom drawers. I've baked three times in one week, and tried to find alternative ways to make our traditional favorites a little healthier....which FYI, there is absolutely no way that the home-made chocolate brownies with home-made chocolate butter cream frosting I make is ever going to be healthy despite A LOT of thinking on my part on how I could do it.  Some things you just don't mess with in life, and chocolate brownies is one of them.  My days are no longer spent feeling "blah" and "tired" and "lazy" on my sofa!  But I also accept that I will have those days too, and I'm okay with it.

Several people in the past week have told me that they have noticed something is very "different" about me  and that I look like I'm losing weight (BONUS!). I have to say they are right, there is something very different about me.  All of this has brought on something I didn't plan on and all of this has made me realize what matters most to me in life and even more important, that some of what I thought mattered, really doesn't in the slightest.  My true friends, my real friends, my amazing friends; some lifelong, some brand new and all equally as important to me,  have been nothing short of a true blessing in disguise.  They have reminded me who I "really" am, loved me for it (and in some cases despite it) and encouraged me to embrace it all with a smile.  They each, in their own way, have given me the courage and the strength to stand tall and ignore and walk away from the unimportant, negative and unsupporting around me.  I have soooo much to be grateful for and to all these special women in my life, THANK YOU.

xo