Starting up

This fall, our birthday presents to each other are Fitbits.  Josh and I had an opportunity to buy them early at a reduced cost, so we leapt at that as we already knew we wanted them.  We also started using MyFitnessPal more consistently and I made some dietary changes.

I find the Fitbit extremely motivating.  We have taken to going for walks in the evening to get the remainder of our daily steps in.  Instead of sending the kids to fetch something I get up and do it myself if I'm able.  I'm moving more and it feels good to know I am.
I'm tracking my caloric intake with MyFitnessPal.  It's so helpful in terms of not overeating.  It also helps me eat better because when I know I have x number of calories left for the day I don't usually choose to fill them with ice cream.  Or if I want to eat more I recognize that I'll have to walk more to keep things in line.  It's been one week and I've lost about one pound.  Not huge, but I feel better about the choices I'm making to care for my physical body.

And like I mentioned earlier, some of those are dietary.  I've limited my dessert to one night a week - Friday is my splurge day.  I didn't know if I could resist dessert but it's been surprisingly easy.  Cutting myself off forever from my favorite treats was too overwhelming.  Knowing I can have them once in a while makes it seem manageable.  I also am limiting my dairy and meat intake more.  Again, on Fridays I don't worry about it so much.  I eat the pizza I want.

Funnily enough, what I want to eat is changing.  Instead of eating 3-4 slices of pizza (cringe), I'm content with one or two.  I don't feel as hungry as I did at the start of this.  Actually I feel really satisfied most of the time.  Last night, I for instance, because of my exercise I found myself with a potential 600 calories I could still eat.  That is a LOT!  I had a smoothie, which was fairly low carb because non-dairy milk has less calories than dairy, and felt super full so I called it good, even though I could have had two in terms of my calorie allowance.  Not hungry.
Working on adding more veggies into my diet.  They are low cal so really there is no reason not to eat them.  Just need to get used to preparing more options at every meal.

Transitioning out of my regular food patterns in terms of what I cook had been difficult for two reasons. One is that I still have quite a bit of dairy that I'd already purchased.  Two is that it takes more thought energy to figure out what to eat and if we will all like what I'm cooking.  Additionally with the move I am trying to use up what is in my pantry and freezer/fridge.  So the diet will probably to fully transform until some of these transitions are over.

Seasons

It's been such a busy summer and shaping up to be an even busier autumn.  But I can't keep letting that be my excuse.  I've been pretty good lately about taking evening walks.  I love being out after dinner so I've decided to stick with that for now.  I listen to podcasts usually and I like that.

My diet is off the hook.  Time to get back on board with that.  I'm having a really hard time cutting out dessert.  Besides the fact that I just love to eat them, there is also the whole psychological aspect behind having a "treat" that I need to change.  And if the truth were known, I could probably stand to be taking in fewer calories, but I'm not going to worry about that yet.  First exercise and cutting out treats.  I need to be better about monitoring that and I need to decide on some alternate options rather than ice cream or something.  Healthy desserts, snacks, and non food rewards.

It's a new week and the beginning of a new month and time of year.  Time to get back to using MyFitnessPal to track my food and exercise.

Consistency

Is not my middle name.  And it shows.

So lately my food has been sort of standard.  Honestly it just feels like a rat race around here.  Getting everyone fed is more about logistics and less about health.

I've been getting more exercise and being more physically busy around the house.  I try to get the kids and I out for fresh air every day.  It's not really exercise for me, per se, since I'm going at Faith's pace sometimes, but it's a start.  I'm getting up at 5:30 to do my gospel study and then a quick walk for 20-30 minutes before its time to make breakfast.  I should alternate walks with fit2be workouts but I want to set that up in the roku instead of my tablet and I just haven't gotten there yet.

Adjusting my plan

Right now I'm working on readjusting my workout routine to incorporate the kids who homeschool.  I plan to still do my fit2b workouts in the mornings, but I need regular walks and so do the kids, so we are making changes.  We have a new walking path in town that's even got the mileage marked on it so we are going to use that for our morning run/walk.  I found out Francisco loves to run - perfect!

I've been much better about avoiding junk food provided I keep it out of the house.  And I've been monitoring my portion sizes.  I found out that I lost 8 lbs over a four month time span with minimal effort.  I'm happy with that.  The most important thing is to be strong and fit, honestly.

I was able to replenish my green smoothie supplies at Costco a couple weeks ago.  That always makes me feel like I'm eating better.  I try to have several a week.

I spent the first several weeks with Francisco just getting used to him being around and having another member of the family.  We've been talking a lot and getting to know each other.  It's taken up a lot of my emotional energy.  But it's been good.

I decided that instead of a summer reading challenge with the kids this year, we will do a 5k challenge and spend our summer getting in better shape as a family.  I'm pretty excited about it!  I want to figure out something really fun and cool like find a color run to finish off with that we could do together.  I think that would be a fun motivator!

If at first you don't succeed

Try again, right?

Confession is that I binged on yummy cookies that I made for my meeting and didn't get much exercise in.

The good news is I followed my dinner plans and made healthy foods for lunches as well. Even had salad!  That's gotta count for something!

I just do so much better if dessert isn't in my house at all. Tomorrow it all goes away and I start fresh.

This week we are trying a new recipe called creamy root vegetable soup. It has some new veggies that I don't often use such as celery root and parsnips. In keeping with my belief that we should eat with the season as much as possible, we are doing more potatoey veggies and lots and lots of oranges for our fruit!!  Best season of the year!

Logan made the Asian salad for or dinner and it was pretty yummy. I used frozen chicken strips instead of marinating chicken breast.   It needed a few more veggies to round it out, but the hoisin dressing was yum.

Going to go see the doctor about my knee if it doesn't feel better here pretty soon. I would like to determine if it's damage that needs fixing or something chronic that I just need to deal with.  I'm only afraid of aggravating an injury and making it worse

Still here

I haven't forgotten about my intentions to eat more healthy and get exercise.  Christmas was a zoo, though.  A good zoo, but still a zoo.  I didn't really watch my diet other than trying to exercise restraint at times.  But for the most part I gave myself a two week diet vacation.  Next year I don't plan to be so lenient (but I doubt I'll have two weeks of crazy family times when I'm not doing my own cooking).  It was fun, but now it's time to get back on track.

I did go for a lot of walks, but I hurt both my back and knee, and my toe bothers me on occasion, so other than walking I didn't exercise.  I did my fit2be workout this morning and my back and knee are still so stiff.  I had to step way back and go easy.  Not sure what's going on there.  I'm hoping that getting back to healthy eating and regular exercise will help them both finish healing.

I'm actually wondering if the toe and knee are arthritis.  They both don't seem related to any specific movement - they just randomly happen for all I can tell.  Sugar can exacerbate arthritis and I did have a LOT more than usual.

Goals for this month...
Workout plans:  3 days of fit2be workouts (MWF) and three days of long walks.
Food: vegetable servings at two meals, dessert only on certain occasions such as social situations and when I feed the missionaries.  I only anticipate three times this month.

I would like to get back to making green smoothies, but need to go shopping for some things.

My meal plan this week:
Monday Oatmeal /  Leftover lasagna /  butternut squash soup/grilled cheese


Tuesday eggs and toast /  pesto pasta, salad, yogurt /  chicken gyros


Wednesday oatmeal /  turkey sand., salad, yogurt /  black beans and rice, slaw


Thursday eggs and toast /  cheese cracker salami, salad, fruit /  beef stroganoff


Friday pancakes    / chicken pesto sandwich  /  asian salad