Beginning a journey

I have decided to start a journey. A weight loss journey.

I know, I know, everyone seems to be doing that lately. Well, this isn't about anyone but me. :) It isn't a competition. I don't feel the need to do better than anyone else. I just need to get healthy.

This started a few months ago. I was scared by how high my blood pressure was getting. I don't have any insurance and can't afford medication right now. So I knew I had to lose some weight and start eating better.

Me (on the right) July 2013

I weighed about 90 or 95 pounds more than I should when I made up my mind to do something about it. It has been almost ten weeks now, and I have only lost about ten pounds. That is fine though! I lost the first five pretty quickly, then the second five a little slower. I lost all ten in the first six weeks and have been gaining and losing the same three for the last four weeks. It's all good though. Today the scale said I might have lost another pound! YAY me!

My weight fluctuates throughout the day, and throughout the week, so it is hard to tell when I have actually lost weight sometimes. I figure that as long as my highest number keeps getting a little lower, and my lowest number gets lower as well each week, then I am making progress. As I said, it is all good. I know I am getting healthier and the weight loss will follow.

I was so excited that I could fit back into these shorts again!
 May 3, 2014

I also know I have lost some size. I had to buy some new clothes in a smaller size last week. I was so excited! I've went down a full size, and in some brands two sizes! That is so much better than just looking at a number on a scale. I used to hate looking into a mirror. Now I just tell myself that Hey, I look better today than I did yesterday and every time I look in the mirror I will look even better. It really helps!

Here I am, super excited because I bought new clothes in smaller sizes!
May 9, 2014

I am eating healthier every day and exercising six times a week. Over the course of my journey, I will share with you some of the products I am utilizing during my transformation from an unhealthy fluffy momma to fit healthy momma! I have several products to review in upcoming posts that I use daily and feel that have made my journey easier. You will find my weight loss posts under the Journey tab always, and some will also be under either Garden/Kitchen or Reviews.

I will also share with you some of my favorite recipes that I have come across on other blogs or on pinterest, along with links, or that I have made up myself. I have found a few sites really helpful and will link to them in upcoming posts. Eating healthy isn't always the easiest thing to do, but if you are mindful of what you are consuming, then you can reap the benefits of a healthier diet.

Back to my blood pressure for a minute. I have been very lucky in that it only took a few weeks for my blood pressure to get back to 'normal for me' levels. When I was most worried about it, the numbers usually read around 183/108. Nowadays, even if I stop in the middle of a workout to check it, the numbers stay close to 120/80. I love it! My headaches are getting milder and I don't always feel like my head is going to explode every time I get upset or exert myself at all.

My blood pressure looking awesome during a mini stepper workout on May 5, 2014

Exercise and healthier eating are such wonderful things. I don't know why I always felt like it was too hard or too expensive. I'll admit that our grocery bill has increased a bit since I started buying fresh fruits and veggies more often and less pasta and sauces. I was only spending around two hundred a month to feed my family of four and it was hard to afford enough fruits and veggies to fill us all up. Now I am spending more, but it is so worth it!

My husband has generously started working quite a bit of overtime so that we could double our grocery budget (as well as start saving money towards a trip back home this winter to see my grandmother and other family I moved away from two years ago when we moved from Indiana to Texas). Now that I have the extra money each week, I make sure that the majority of our meals are meat, veggies, and fruits with less grains. The kids still enjoy their pizza and spaghetti, toaster pastries and pancakes, stuff like that. I haven't set a rule that they have to eat a set diet or anything! They still get their sugary cereal for breakfast and cookies for dessert when they want them. Actually more often now that the budget is bigger! All I mean is that instead of me loading up each meal with what I always called 'filler' ,which was pasta or rice, I try to use about half or less of the grains and now use more veggies. The kids still enjoy the dishes I make, while I enjoy the lower calories and higher nutritional value.

I also started adding more fish to our diet and less ground beef. It was cheaper to just make a lot of ground beef and pasta dishes, or chicken and pasta dishes before, so that was on the menu often. Not only is that stuff higher in calories than I want, but also we are kind of burned out on anything that makes us feel like we are eating something out of the box that says just add beef or chicken! I have been trying to find new recipes that use more veggies or that uses pasta or rice but in a more low cal sorta way. I have been lucky to find several that involve tilapia or salmon, which three out of the four of us really like.

I buy foods that are easy for the kids to grab in case they aren't loving what I am cooking some nights. I keep lean meats for sandwiches and some frozen foods that are easily microwaved. Luckily for them, pizza rolls and hot pockets aren't going to hurt them if they eat them occasionally! Also I try to keep salad fixings around because, happily and sort of surprisingly, the kids love salads.  I keep fruit on the counter and that really helps round out a meal. It isn't surprising to see the kids with a turkey and cheese sandwich, apple slices with either hazelnut spread or peanut butter, and a salad in front of them for a meal. The surprise for me was how much they enjoy having a meal like that available to them.

I love that while the kids don't mind the healthier meals (they actually enjoy most of them), they don't hesitate to grab something that they do enjoy on the nights when they just are not feeling the meals like Tilapia Puttenesca or the Stuffed Cabbage Casserole. They don't feel like they 'can't eat that in front of Mom!' just because I am trying to lose weight. It is a common occurrence for them to be eating some chocolate chip cookies and drinking kool aid for an after school snack while I am eating a banana and drinking water. It doesn't bother me a bit. If I ever get a craving for a cookie, then I have one and just figure it into my calories for the day.

Here are two of my main reasons for getting healthy enjoying kool aid milkshake-like smoothies. 

I feel that moderation is the key rather than trying to fight any cravings I might have. If I don't let myself have a treat when I want one, then later on I am going to end up eating it anyway, but might find myself binging instead. I definitely don't want that! I'll admit that not every day is perfect. Sometimes I go over the calories that I set for myself.  At other times I don't reach my calorie goal. It all evens out throughout the week, so I don't sweat the small things. My eyes are on the long term goals of healthy eating habits, weight loss, and getting fit, not on the day to day, counting every calorie and feeling guilty that I ate that whole Snickers ice cream bar, types of things.

So I hope that you all won't get too bored of my posts over the next months, or years, however long it takes. I won't be posting daily or anything like that. If you want updates more often, feel free to friend me on facebook or instagram. I hope that I can help motivate you if you need it, inspire you if you are feeling like you can't do it, or just be your friend when you are feeling down during your weight loss journey, or any journey for that matter.

If I can get started on this journey and make this much progress (yes I know it isn't huge leaps and bounds but it is steady, healthy progress) then anyone can do it. You just have to take that first step. Then take the next. Next thing you know, it starts to get easier. There will be days when you won't want to do anything, I know there are plenty of those for me. You have to just tell yourself that it is only however many minutes out of your day. You will feel better afterwards. I know I do. I do let myself have at least one day of rest each week and occasionally one easy day where I don't work out as full force as I do other days. I know myself. If I push too hard, then I am going to start not doing anything. I would rather lose slowly then not at all. And when I see a slight gain, which I do at least once a week (hopefully due to fluctuations), then I just remind myself that just a few weeks ago I was wishing I weighed what I do now.

So does anyone want to join me on my journey? I could use all the friends and motivators that I can get. If you don't feel that you can do it, then just look at me. I am doing it and I am a pretty lazy woman! I procrastinate about everything and am great at coming up with excuses. Yet here I am, ten pounds lighter, at least a size smaller, and with lower blood pressure. My family is getting healthier while I am. What more could I ask for?

It's not all just boring workouts. My family helps make getting some exercise fun. Here is my husband and daughter taking a three mile plus walk with me. Yes, we get sidetracked occasionally, but it is a fun and healthy way to spend time together.

If you start later, won't you look back and wish you had started earlier? If you lose two pounds that first week, won't you wonder how much you would have lost if you had started two weeks ago, four weeks ago, two months ago? Say you lose one pound a week. You will have lost eight pounds in two months. If you start two months from now then you could have already been eight pounds lighter and already on your way. I'm just saying that because I wish I had started earlier.

When I moved to Texas I had just lost a good bit of weight. I stopped working out and stopped watching what I ate after the move. I blamed the move and the bad financial situation we were in for everything. While, yes, I couldn't afford the food like I can now, I could have still made better choices. I still could have been walking daily, or doing workouts that you can find free online. Instead I gave up on my goals and let myself fall back into depression and bad eating.

Almost two years and thirty or forty pounds later I realized what I was doing to myself. I am just glad I snapped out of it. My husband was worried, my children were worried, and a nice nurse at the food pantry was really worried about my health and my blood pressure. She suggested I drop at least twenty some odd pounds, which was ten percent of my weight. She said it would make a world of difference and that way maybe I wouldn't end up in the hospital with heart problems or worse. I am glad she helped open my eyes to what the consequences could be. I don't want to leave my family or this world before I have to!

My daughter is my biggest supporter. She is my cheerleader. She always tells me how I am doing a great job and how proud she is of me. I hope she grows up without the body image issues that so many girls have.

So I will end this long post now. I could keep talking about how I gained weight and was ashamed to go out anywhere because of my weight. Or that I would sometimes sit alone in the middle of the night, stuffing my face with sugary cereal or donuts or other stuff I knew wasn't good for me, because it temporarily made me feel better, before making me feel worse. I could go on and on about all the bad things I felt and said about myself. But I won't. I know that many of you have been through similar experiences. If not, I hope you never do. If you have, then know that I understand. And it is okay. As long as you finally realize that you don't have to do it alone, that there is someone there for you, whether it be a friend, spouse, child, friendly nurse or doctor, a friend in a fitness group, or me, a overweight woman that writes on her blog occasionally and posts on instagram fanatically who is steadily moving towards her goal. There will always be someone that either understands and/or loves you enough to support you while you reach for your goals, whether they are short term or life long goals.

So until next time my beloved readers....

Happy Healthy Living?

Happy Getting Fit?

How about Happy Living Life as You Want To since I am not trying to preach at you and convince you that you need to chance. I am just trying to let everyone know about what I am going through and that I will be there for anyone that wants me to be.

Thank you all so much for your support and for continuing to read my blog, through all the changes and inconsistencies that have occurred over the last year or so.