Re-committing to Healthy!

Last fall I finally got fed up with my post-baby body and my lack of commitment to changing it.  I continued to feel down about how I looked but also continued to make less than healthy choices with my eating.  So, I committed to making better choices.  I gave up soda.  I learned how to stop myself from going into the pantry for a couple of goldfish, or a dried mango, or having two cookies with the kids after lunch.  I made "friends" with more vegetables and started adding spinach and kale into my smoothies.  It was also the first time ever that I had eaten eggs but limited the amount of yolks (I would make a scramble with 1 whole egg and three additional egg whites)...

I also committed to changing my workout routine.  I did more cross-training and less straight running.  The running that I did do, I tried to do high intensity intervals - focusing less on distance and more on effective fat burning.

and ... it worked!  I got back down to my pre-baby weight (pre-baby as in pre-Karen!).  I was back into clothes that I hadn't been in for several years.  I still did not have quite the same shape (my middle still has quite a bit of stubborn "stuff" hanging on) but I was finally feeling comfortable in my own skin!

Working on my nutrition

On Tuesday I alluded to the fact that I've made some changes to my eating that have been really positive.  The first... I gave up soda.  I wasn't a "big-gulp-a-day" drinker, but I had at least a (12oz.) can most days.  For lots of reasons, I kept wanting to drink less or give it up completely, but there was always an excuse:  I still had some left in the house, we were at a party where it would taste good, we were eating tacos... pizza... nachos, etc. there was always a reason.  The reality was that drinking soda was a habit (as well as a caffeine addiction).

Truth be told... while I "enjoyed" a little soda with certain foods, I didn't really like it that much.  I had no desire to just drink a Pepsi... I always wanted it in combination with something (usually just as unhealthy).  I also realized that I did enjoy a cup of coffee or tea to just sip on and that provided the necessary boost of caffeine when I needed it.  So, about six weeks ago, I made the decision and just simply stopped drinking soda... ok, so it was not just "simply" ... since this is something I've obviously wanted to do for a while... but this time I decided there were no exceptions.  It was sort of hard for the first couple of weeks - there were times where my brain was trying to tell me that I really "needed" a Pepsi... but I found that answering that thought with "no, you want a pepsi" helped.

Anyway, I'm making this way too long.  Are you still with me?  The long and short of it is, that once the cycle of drinking Pepsi was broken, making other, better food choice was easier.  I quit looking for those foods that I liked paired with soda and started making healthier choices.

Some of the other changes I've made:

• I try and eat my breads earlier in the day and none at dinner.  In fact, I've started to really cut back on the amount of grains I eat.  I will NEVER be gluten free ... I love bread to much and I'm married to a wheat farmer!!  But I am seeing the benefits of less is more!
• Besides my morning coffee and my breakfast smoothie, I've been trying to only drink water for the rest of my day.  No juice, milk, soda, etc.  Most days I've been getting at least 64 oz. of water, if not more.
• Veggies, veggies, and more veggies!!  I love fruit, but eating veggies takes a little more work for me... so I've been throwing handfuls of spinach and kale into my morning protein smoothie.  Roasted green bean fries anyone?!  They are so yummy!  Baked sweet potato with goat cheese and crushed pistachios has replaced my normal dousing in butter and cinnamon-sugar!

• Portion control... I'm still nursing, so I realize that my portions should be a little larger than normal... but mine had gotten way out of control.  I've never had the problem when I'm pregnant of not being able to eat, even when the stomach is squished... it just seems my appetite grows.  I realized I had gotten to the point where I was never really feeling full.  I would just usually stop eating (after way too much) because I knew that I needed to stop.  Since really working on my portion sizes, this is starting to come back under control and my full-trigger is coming back online.
• Reducing sugars.  This has been the hardest.  I didn't realize how bad I had gotten at snacking... with the pantry being something I walk by a bajillion times a day, getting little snacks for the girls, and having it stocked with "treats" since my husband has a lunch packed nearly every day... Again, this took changing my mindset from seeing it as depriving myself of something to "I don't do that" ... and going to the fridge to grab a couple of carrot sticks instead.  I still have bad moments, but by and large am doing so much better and am finding that I actually feel pretty crummy when I indulge in too much sugar.
• Reducing dessert... okay, this kind of goes with the point above but for me is a separate issue - you see, my family LOVES dessert!  A post dinner bowl of ice cream was pretty much a staple in our house growing up.  So it's never seemed indulgent to me to have a little after dinner sweet.  The truth is as I've gotten older, this again is habit and a cycle that leads to bad choices and bad eating... most of the time my bowl of ice cream is not a small, single scoop but a cereal bowl with three or four scoops (hey, my Dad likes ice cream, that's the portion that "looks right" to me!).  I've decided that I am going to limit my desserts to Sundays, Feast days, and special outings (gatherings with friends or family).   I don't feel I'm at a point with my weight or health that this needs to be eliminated all together, just indulged in a little more sparingly!

So.. there you have it.  My approach to working on my nutrition.  I'm amazed at how much better I feel and how much happier I am with my body.  I've lost 8 pounds of baby weight and only have a couple to go to get to my pre-baby weight... but more importantly than the weight, the healthy eating choices are just helping me be happier with me which is my ultimate goal... to be happy and comfortable in my own skin again, whatever the scale says!

Goals...

ok - so I've never been a big one for new year's resolutions.  I always figure if you need to make a change just start making it!  As I've gotten older, I'm starting to see the attraction of a new calendar year giving incentive to make some changes...  I would also say that this year, having Lauren just before the first of the year adds even more incentive for me.  In the interest of holding myself accountable for some of the changes I want to make, I want share some of my goals for the upcoming months/year.

I've broken them into categories:

Faith

This is one that I need so much work on!!  Two books I've read recently that have given me significant food for thought are "The Story of a Soul" by St. Therese of Lisieux and "The Family that Overtook Christ" about the family of St. Bernard... I see how much room I have to improve on the love for Christ - and it seems from reading their stories that cultivating a deeper love of Christ so much follows from it.  But try and be succinct in my goals:

1. Through prayer, reading, meditation, recieving the Eucharist, etc. cultivate and grow my relationship and love of Christ
2. Make morning prayer with my girls a standard of our day
3. Set aside some time to pray with Carl (besides just at meal times and bedtime with the girls!!)
4. Continue to read books that nourish my mind and soul and don't provide just entertainment!

Family

1. More patience with my girls... this has taken a nose-dive since I had Lauren but at some point I need to quit using that as an excuse!
2. More patience with Carl... ok, not that he really does much that requires patience but being that he is the only other adult in the house he tends to get the brunt of my frustration, impatience, etc. at the end of a day... I'm sure many can relate, but I still need to work on it!!
3. I've been working really hard on structure in my life, my house, etc. and want to continue to make that a goal.  The girls seem to be thriving more on knowing what our days look like.  This has been a little (ok, a lot) more haywire since Lauren was born but it's slowly coming back to a regular routine.
4. Eradicating the idea that I am EVER "caught up on laundry"... it just doesn't happen and as soon as I think this, I take a few days "off" ... and have over-flowing hampers again.  I need to pound the idea "staying on top of" laundry into my head... this implies a continuous process and is so much more conducive!
   

Nutrition

1. Eat better!!  I love all the foods that just aren't good for me and not helpful in getting rid of this baby weight!  I want to get better at eating good, introducing more vegetables to our diets, and maybe getting the pantry cleaned out of all the "snacks" that sabotage good eating. :)
2. Make a meal plan.  This relates to the first item, but I find when I take the time to make a meal plan we eat better, I'm more prepared, and so much less "frustrated" at meal times!
3. I've been considering trying a paleo "diet" for a while to break my dependence on breads and other carbs/grains... I LOVE bread but eat way to much of it.  My sister has been trying this and feels so much better (but she has rheumatoid arthritis and so is doing it for different reasons).

Fitness

1. My over-arching goal is just to be comfortable in my own skin again - which hasn't been the case since I had Karen. 
2. Working on being able to do 100 pushups (and hopefully a pull-up or two)!!
3. There are several runs I would like to do:

• St. John Hog Jog - 5 mile run in late April
• Bloomsday - 7.46 mile run the first weekend of May
• Windermere Half Marathon - the middle of May
• Race the River - Sprint Triathlon (oh my!!) - late July
• Dirty Dash - sometime this summer
• Another run or two into the fall to keep my running moving forward!

Pregnancy eating

My challenge right now is my eating... all of my pregnancies have been the same - once I hit the 2nd trimester, I crave nothing good for me.  Pizza, bread, nachos, all things bound to make my stomach (and all other areas) bigger than I want them to be by the time this baby comes!

So far, I've done a better job this pregnancy of controlling it by really trying to manage quantities.  But portion management can only go so far.  At the end of the day this is just not the kind of food that is going to do the most for me (or the baby, or my long term eating habits), you know?!  One of my biggest challenges in turning this pattern around is that I have a really hard time making myself eat what my body is not wanting.  I make myself good, yummy salads - and don't have an appetite after about 5 bites.

Any advice on what worked for you in your pregnancy?