Finally stepping up and doing it!

I am so excited.  I’m finally taking control and doing this!

My husband and I embarked on a new lifestyle a week ago and so far we are both super excited about how we feel in control and the results have been amazing!

We we both lost about 5 pounds in the week and we worked out, only had alcoholic drinks on Saturday and overall felt in control for the first time in years!  We cannot wait to see what the next week brings.  We decided this new approach should be for the rest of our lives.  We aren’t getting any younger, after all.  Losing the weight we both desire will be such an awesome feeling.  I think we should be at our goal weights in approximately 4-6 weeks, depending on what we each settle on as our ideal weights.  We are both 5’8″.  I remember when I was in my mid 20’s and hired a trainer and dietician.  I got down to 140 and I was in incredible shape!  I would love to be there again.  Is 140 a good goal for me?  I started last week at 172 and today I was 166.  Hubby started at 190 and was 185 today.  He says his goal is 160.  I’m torn on what mine should be.  I will be so excited just to be 155 that I can’t even fathom 140 right now!

The workouts we’ve been doing along with the food plan has really been good.  We can feel the fat burning off.  I feel like maybe for the first time in years we will both be beach ready in time for summer… The beginning of June.  That will be an amazing feeling… To feel confident in a swimsuit!

Advertisement

Green juice!

Last weekend as I excitedly got my juicer out to start juicing I dropped a piece and broke it!  I was so upset but luckily found the part on the Breville website and ordered the replacement for $32.  It arrived today!  I was so excited I immediately made our first juice.  It is very good!  Here is the recipe:

1-2 large cucumbers peeled, 4 stalks of celery, 2 tomatoes, 2 cups spinach and kale, 1 red bell pepper, 4 mini peppers

It tastes great and gives me energy!

Try it!

Time to be accountable and make it happen!

My high blood pressure was first diagnosed about 20 years ago when I was undergoing a life insurance test and it was slightly elevated.  I tend to get nervous around doctors and over the years have been on blood pressure medicine for most of the time.  However, I have never really tried to do things to help lower it naturally.  I have smoked occasionally, drank too much wine, not exercised enough, have been and am still 20 plus pounds overweight, have not gotten enough rest, and have not controlled my stress with yoga, meditation, etc.  I have let the magic little pill be my answer to the high blood pressure and have not tried to be a healthier me.

I am ready for the change.  I am ready to finally shed these unwanted pounds, and live a healthier lifestyle!  I have been juicing and making smoothies, eating tons of veggies and less meat and fat.  I have been working out and getting to bed at a decent time.  I have cut way back on my wine.

I go to the doctor for blood work on Monday.  Last time I had blood work done, we had just returned from a month on the road (summer vacation) and my cholesterol was in the upper 200’s (about 5 months ago).  It was awful.  The doctor wanted to put me on cholesterol meds and I wanted to try to change it through diet.  I will see Monday if what I have done is enough.  I really have been more focused lately, and intend to make massive changes if the blood work is not amazingly better.  In addition, my blood pressure was and has been a little elevated, even with the meds, so I know it is likely they will try to increase my dose.  I just want to give this a go and attempt to really lose the weight.

My past efforts have been half-assed and have not worked out at all.  I have been looking into the juicing route as a jump off point to get me going.  Has anyone ever done juicing with success either as a juice fast or as a supplement to a clean,  whole food diet plan?  I am wondering what it would be like to be on a juice fast for 10-30 days and if I could actually do it.  I don’t know if I would have the willpower to do it.  I know I sure would like to see what kind of results I could get by doing it.

I have  anew doctor I am seeing Monday.  I am curious what she will think of the idea.  I don’t know why I have been in denial and have not made a better effort in the past.  It is frustrating to see that all these years have gone by and I have not made more of an effort!  It is time to wake up and live my life to the max!

Food, juicing, smoothies… clarity

It has been a very interesting week.  I have been experiencing moments of clarity and in those moments of clarity, I feel like such a failure on so many levels.

I normally would not admit this feeling.  I would just pretend everything is wonderful and to the outside world I would appear to be a happy, healthy, successful teacher, realtor, mom and wife.  But I am not going to do this any longer.  I am writing this blog to deal with my feelings.  To make my life wonderful on all levels… because I CAN and only I CAN.  It is up to me to deal with my shit and fix it!  It is not up to the hubby, the kids, the job, the whatever…. it is up to me, and only me.

I want to write about so many things.   I need to make a list and knock off a topic each night.  There is so much happening right now in life, as always… so many things are coming about in my mind and happening in my life, right in front of my eyes…

I had a great week on the new plan.  I went to bed early, suffered no hangovers, lost no time laying in bed, spent quality time with the kids and hubby, worked out, ate healthy, juiced, did smoothies… and drank WAY less than normal.  WAY less.  This is key.  The reduction in alcohol and increase in juice and smoothies has been incredible.   I have felt better this week than I have in years.

There is so much in my head, so much I want to do and write about.  I will make a plan and will write about:

• Clarity
• trusting God in decisions
• food/meals
• juicing
• smoothies
• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol
• denial
• not being accountable
• workouts
• sauna
• career dilemma:  teaching vs. real estate

These are a few of the things on my mind.  My goal is to write at least 5 times a week.

In the mean time, check out some of the meals I made this week – see photos.

What makes life a life you LOVE?

After much contemplation and testing over the past 2 weeks, as well as some deep conversations with friends and my husband I am contemplating what REALLY makes me say “I love my life”?  I had planned to go 30 days abstaining from alcohol as well as other “big” changes for the month of January, but when it comes down to it, I am so close to LOVING my life… I think I just need to tweak it, not suffer through a month, hoping it will, in some way, change who I am.

The things that make me happy are quite simple:

• Spending time with my family
• spending time alone
• exercising daily
• eating whole, nutritious food
• a glass of wine or 4
• a clean, clutter-free home
• spending time with friends

What has become apparent is that the problem in my life was that I did not have balance.  I was spending too much time with friends and that time often included drinking way more that 1 to 4 wines.  Then, the following day, I would feel hung over and would not work out, would not clean my home, would not spend time with my family, would not eat nutritious foods.  I have realized that my problem is that I was putting too much emphasis on my friends and not enough on me and what I NEED to feel happy and satisfied.

I think life is such a wonderful gift and that we should maximize our time here doing things that truly make us happy.

My new goal for this month is to focus on the things that I listed above.  No more late nights with friends and no more excessive drinking.  More time with my husband, kids and mom…  more time cooking, exercising, and preparing for my life events in an organized way.  NO MORE mornings with a hangover.  PERIOD!!

If I can successfully make this change (and it is a BIG one for me), I think my life will blossom.

What tops your list to make a life you LOVE?

Exhausted super mom

When I decided to allow my son to have 6 boys sleep over for his 11th birthday I must have been out of my mind!   6 plus 2 others that came and were suppose to leave at 10.  5-10 pm is what I thought would work, then the others could watch a movie or play video games. Last night was a long night and I am so tired. .. But I think it will be a night he remembers fondly for many years to come.  We had friends do karaoke for them and they shot bows and arrows.  The trouble cam in when some of the kids didn’t want to do karaoke and wanted to play games.  Then my youngest came to tell me they were wrestling up stairs.  I just could not get them to work together.  They were fighting and fighting.  The sleepover group all knew each other.  The other 2 were new friends in our new neighborhood… I finally had to make the 2 call their parents to come get them early.  It was 9:30 and I couldn’t take it any longer!  I hope our neighbors don’t hate me now!  I think they will understand.  Once they left I was able to get them to calm down and work together!  They went to bed at 2 am and were up by 6:30!  Oh my, they are going to be tired tonight.   Some of them are still here.

I have a love hate relationship with December.  Both boys have birthdays and then there’s Christmas too.  It’s a very expensive month for us.

I remember seeing somewhere once where another family gave up sugar for a year and blogged about it.  Another one was giving up spending money for the month of January.  They only allowed a small budget for food and gas and avoided all other spending.  I am seriously considering adding these to my January along with abstinence from alcohol.

Maybe it’s too much?  Have any of you ever done any of these challenges?  If so, how was your experience?  How did it help you?  Was it worthwhile?  I would love to hear from you if you have any thoughts or experience!

2015 is going to be an awesome year!  Big changes are coming for me and my family!  More on THAT later.

Workout, check! I did it!

I did my workout, whew I feel good!  The juice gave me a burst of energy too!  I wonder how many calories I consume with half a cucumber, 2 apples, 1 carrot, 3 stalks of celery and a chunk of ginger?  Workout was 7 minute walk warm up, leg work out including squats, leg press, leg extensions, abs then sauna for 10 minutes, then 20 minutes on elliptical.  I noticed that the sauna raised my heart rate so I was able to keep my heart rate above 130 for the full 20 minutes on elliptical. This is normally very hard for me to do – it takes at least 10 minutes to get it up there. So sauna before workout and then again before cardio may be a great fat burner.  Does anyone have experience with this?  If so, I would love your help.

Also, do you think you need to starve or feel hungry to drop weight?  Do you think going to bed hungry is good for weight loss or does it stall it?  I feel hungry a lot of the time. I need to make very healthy food choices. I tend to eat really healthy AND really bad!  Junk food and pizza and super healthy all in one day.  It’s such a challenge to get on the right path, but once I’m on it and see results I’m steadfast!

how long did it take you awesome fitness girls out there to start seeing results when u started really working out and eating right?  I remember when I got into excellent shape 20 years ago it seemed like after a few months it just happened overnight; like the weight disappeared and it all came together.  How long did it take you to see results?

Week 1 was a success, sort of!

Week 1 – I did great with no drinking!  I felt so great all week. The down side is I didn’t get my workouts in last week.  I found myself super busy with the kids, Christmas planning and shopping, planning two birthday parties for the boys, and various other things that I found excuses not to work out. I got in 2 very short workouts and did not drop any weight.  In fact, the scale shows my weight up to 175 :(.  Maybe the bagels and cream cheese my husband decided to serve me for breakfast all week caught up with me.  He is very sweet to bring me breakfast  at 6:15 am as I wearily ready myself for work and the drive to school with the boys, but he sure didn’t understand what I wanted!

This is a new week and I am taking charge!  I want to incorporate more veggies and some fruit, less bread and dairy.  I want a smoothie and a juice to be incorporated daily as well as oats. So this morning, I had a smoothie with half banana, 1/2 cup mango, wheat germ, organic milk, and 1/2 cup steel cut oats in the vitamix.  It was yummy and satisfying!  Lunch was veggie soup (home made)  and veggie salad with ginger dressing and a turkey and cheddar sandwich in a 100 calorie multi grain sandwich round with baby kale on it.  So far so good.  Next I am going to juice cucumber, celery, Apple, carrot and ginger. Then I’m hitting the gym.  No one can change this body except me!

I remember being in the best shape of my life in my mid 20’s. I was very motivated – worked out at 6 am daily and followed a very healthy diet. I was a realtor then and didn’t even need to be up at 6 am, but I was motivated to get into the office and make some money AND be in awesome shape, so I fit it all in.  I need to find this motivation again!  Yes, life’s much more complicated now.  I have 2 boys, 2 dogs, a husband and my mother living with me.  I have 2 jobs – I am a teacher of young children with Autism and I am a realtor. I am a very busy person, but I need to make time for me.

I have high blood pressure and my cholesterol could be better. I know if I drop weight I could be a much healthier person.  And a happier person.  I spend too much time thinking about these things and not enough time in action. It’s time to change!

I want to love every aspect of my life. I love my new life!  2015 is my year!  Let’s make this happen!

Day 2 of my “Action Plan!”

I always feel so invigorated when I quit drinking.  I feel so full of life and energy… I don’t know why I have always returned to my old ways of daily drinking and excessive drinking at times.  I have gotten more done today than I  usually do in 5 days!

Now I need to start planning a healthy menu.  We have been eating delicious Thanksgiving and birthday leftovers for over a week now!  I can’t let the food go to waste, but I am ready for some fresh fruits and veggies and lean meats.  I plan to start juicing and blending raw again within the next week or so and to really get focused on the food and workout.

Tonight I started some bone broth using the leftover turkey bones.  It is very simple.  Here is what you do:

Remove the skin and fat from the turkey carcass.  Then place it in a large crock pot with one carrot, celery and onion.  Add some bay leaves and salt and pepper and cover with water.  Cook it on low for 10-20 hours.  When finished, cool and strain it into containers.  This is bone broth… excellent for colds and building a healthy body.  Drink a couple of cups hot daily.  Yummmmm!  Add some salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!  Freeze any extra and use it for soups and other recipes that call for broth.

Looking forward to continuing the journey and getting a workout in tomorrow.  Cheers to loving my new life!  If you are loving your new life, please share your thoughts and experiences!

Plan of Action!!!

I’ve tried to do this many times, but have failed.  My friends hate it when I do this!  What do I mean by this?   I want to change my lifestyle and quit drinking and partying so much!  Damn, I just turned 45!  I have been on the party train for over 24 years!  And I am talking about a big fast party train!  In my 20’s and 30’s we went out to clubs and bars (before kids) several times a week and also drank at home together or with friends.  My husband and I have had many great times, most involving drinking.  After having kids in my mid 30’s, the party switched to more time at home with friends… in this case we didn’t have to worry about driving or the expense, so we drank even more!  Our friends could spend the night if they were too drunk to drive, and they did and still do often.

For me, I have always had this little voice in the back of my head saying, “Hey, what would your life be like if you weren’t drinking all the time?”  I spend many mornings on the weekend nursing hangovers, missing precious hours of time I could be spending with my kids or working out, painting, or writing.  If I counted the hours spent just nursing the hangover in bed (not even counting the many more hours sitting up till the wee hours of the morning drinking with my friends) I have lost approximately 60 days of my life!  Add in the many hours of overdrinking and we are looking at least a good year.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the late nights, silly fun, drunk escapades… but it is time for a change. At least for me.

I often think about how blessed I have been so far.  No major health issues (besides blood pressure, which I am so curious to see if it will go down when I initiate the “plan of action”) and no driving, job or personal problems from all this partying.  I think it is time to grow up a little and create the next phase of my life.

I weighed in this morning at 173.  I am 5’8″ and my best weight is around 140.  I have slowly crept up over the years.  As much as I have had to drink, it should be even higher!  Part of my plan includes weight loss through healthy eating, workouts and yoga.  The hardest part of my plan is the reduction of drinking wine.  My husband is on board with both, so it will be a supportive team effort.  Although, in the past, we have worked together to plan why we did not need to follow the plan and we deserved to drink.  We will not let that happen this time.  I am determined and hoping this blog will help hold me accountable.

This is the plan:

We will drink only 1 night per week, most likely Friday, for the next 3 weeks.  The week of Christmas and New Year’s Eve will be a little different.  I will have to come up with a plan for that time.  Then I want to go total abstinence for the month of January.  At the end of January we can reflect and plan the rest of the year and the rest of our life!

During these two months, we will post on our feelings, accomplishments and diet and exercise, including weight loss. Cheers to a new life!