Motivation Monday. It's about whatever motivates  you. Everyone has a picture that motivates them whether it be of you or someone else that you want to look like. I have such a picture. It just happens to be of me shortly after my husband I were married. My body isn't even perfect but I like how I look here. Also, I know that the goal of looking like that again is attainable for me. Doesn't hurt that it happens to be one of my husbands' favorite pictures of me. Anywho, this is my picture that motivates me. 

Fitness Friday - I Joined A Gym

To Gym or not to Gym?  That was the question.  Here's the deal: it is very difficult for me to workout at home. Between my children and their distractions and my own desire to procrastinate it's nearly impossible.  So I joined a gym.This gym to be exact.

The best thing about it for me is that I can take my kids in there and while I workout they get to play and have their own kid friendly fitness classes on some of the days that we attend.  They LOVE it.  Even my baby is well behaved while we are there and has yet to be so fussy that they have to come get me. The other thing I really love about it is that we go right after we drop off my oldest at school and by the time I'm done I'm in the best mood.  I'm NOT a morning person.  In fact I'm kind of a beast in the morning, but a workout always puts me a much better mood.  Starting next week I will be meeting with a trainer every Wednesday.  Her name is Tiffany and she is not put-off by the amount of weight that I need to lose. She doesn't say it's unrealistic. She says I can do it.  I'm very excited for this accountability.

Tomorrow is another day and I will wake up and start again.

Weight Check Wednesday - A Day Late

Every Wednesday will be my/our official weigh-in day. However, yesterday we both forgot so we weighed ourselves this morning and yippee! We both lost weight!!!

Husband: -3.2 lbs.
Wife - -3.2 lbs.

This is a fantastic start even if most of it is water weight.  You have to start somewhere right!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Breakfast: 1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal with blueberries
Scant handful of pecans

Snack: banana

Lunch: leftover chicken soup

Snack: 1/2 bowl of roasted squash soup
Slice of Ezekiel bread

Dinner: 2 chicken wraps with salsa handful of grapes and pecans

8 pieces of chocolate dang it! 8 ounces skim milk

Oatmeal & Marriage

I did something momentous this morning.  I ate oatmeal.  And I didn't even puke it up.  This may seem as small fate to some but it really is a big deal for me.  I have never liked oatmeal.  In fact, I love to tell this story about when I was 11 and my Grandma forced me to eat oatmeal and I told her I would throw it up and she made me eat it anyway.  A little while later on a car ride to Yellowstone with our minivan full that oatmeal made an appearance and I had to throw up in a wipee container.  After that no one ever forced me to eat oatmeal again.     This morning I forced myself.  Furthermore, I made if for my children and they ate it also.  I even got up and made it for my husband and packed his lunch cooler with clean things he could eat.  I enjoyed my oatmeal with blueberries as did the children and I also let them have little honey on theirs.  This is a major success for me!  If this isn't commitment I don't know what is?

I mentioned how I packed a cooler of clean foods for my husband. He is joining me on this journey.  So now he also has a handy little ticker up top for monitoring his weight loss.  I love my husband so much and I know this will be easier with his support.  Also, it will be good accountability as we do it together.

Sacred Sunday

I want this blog to chronicle my transformation. However I believe in balancing the spiritual with the temporal. That's why unless it is of a spiritual matter I will not be blogging on Sunday. Sunday is the sabbath, a sacred day. I would prefer to spend it with my family and remembering the Savior.
Exodus 20:8 - Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Clean Eating/My Epiphany

I have been contemplating this lifestyle change for quite a while.  I asked for these books for my Christmas present from my mother.  They came in the mail this past week.  I should clarify that I didn't ask for them until in January. I think she paid around $30 for all three on Amazon. I'm very excited about this. I haven't finished reading the actual diet book but I think I understand enough about the basic principles to begin.  I just cleaned out my refrigerator, freezer, and pantry.  I'll be honest because I didn't purge everything. Mostly I left a few  snacks that just my children eat.  Although I am implementing this lifestyle upon my whole family, I'm letting them kind of ease into it by allowing them some of these snacks just to finish them off while we begin.  I highly recommend these books to anyone who is interested in sustainable lifestyle change that will affect your weight loss. 

When I think about weight loss I think about only myself and what I need.  In actuality as the homemaker/housewife/domestic engineer or whatever you want to call it I am responsible for feeding my family.  I don't let everyone eat unhealthy food all the time.  In fact, if I ate how I make my children eat then I wouldn't have so much weight to lose.  However, I'm not the only one in my house who needs to lose weight. My husband could lose a few pounds and be healthier. As part of my aforementioned role I am responsible for what everyone eats, including my husband when he is away from home.  My goal is to be more proactive in what my family eats and make sure that they aren't just fed, but being fed healthy, nutritious food that gives them the energy to accomplish the things that they need to. This was my epiphany lately is that the health of myself is intertwined with the health of my husband and children and that it really all depends on me!  If we're all fat (not that my children are they are all within healthy weight ranges) and unhealthy then that's my fault because it's my responsibility to provide them with good healthful food.  If I am providing them with this and they choose to leave the house and eat "anti-foods" then that's on them.  My  husband works hard to allow me the opportunity to stay home with our children so I should work just as hard to provide all of them healthy foods.  I'm the one that shops for groceries, plans the meals and cooks the food so it's on me if we are unhealthy.  Today I'm planning my meals and later today I am going to the grocery store and tomorrow it begins.  

Back At It/Thyroid Thursday

So I pretty much sucked up the last of January.  I ate whatever I wanted and didn't do any fitness. So rather than give a lot of excuses I'm moving on to February.  Time to start again.  You only get over the hill if you keep trying to climb it right.  Here are my goals for the next month.

February Goals:

Lose 15 lbs. by the end of February

Follow clean eating diet once I get the books.

Do not any eat deserts/sweets/cakes/cookies.

Do not drink any soda.

Exercise 45 minutes each day.

Drink 6 bottles of water daily.

Eat at least one salad daily.

I have a chart where I'm marking the thing off that I'm supposed to "Do" daily. Side note: my water bottle that I drink from daily holds 24 ounces, or three cups.  This means I'll be drinking 18 cups or 144 ounces daily.  That alone should help me lose some weight.  I'm listing my goals at the beginning of the month so that I have something to grade myself on.  The chances of accomplishing something are much greater if you write it down.

Moving on to Thyroid Thursday.

When I was 19 I came home from my freshman year at college and slept all the time.  I had gained weight (but doesn't everyone gain that "Freshman 15") and my skin was extremely dry.  My mother took me to our family physician and I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism. Four years later I was also diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.  I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know very much about theses auto-immune diseases. How ignorant is that?  I know they affect my weight and I guess subconsciously I've used that as some sort of excuse for my laziness.  I also know that Oprah (not that I'm a crazy O fan) also has Hypothyroidism and her doctor told her that if she wanted to stay thin she better learn how to tolerate always being hungry.  How sad?  I am going to learn more about my diseases and share what I learn here on   "Thyroid Thursday."

Here is an interesting article that I read today regarding dietary consumption for those with Hypothyroidism.http://www.herbcompanion.com/cooking/Smart-foods-for-hypothyroidism.aspx.  I particularly benefited from the portion regarding iodized salt consumption.  Sometimes I CRAVE salt.  I do not eat a very salt heavy diet and there are times when I just really want it.  Now I understand a little of why.  I'm going to utilize these helpful hints in my diet from the article.

Dietary tips to avoid hypothyroidism

1. Use iodized salt.

2. Cook goitrogenic foods: Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, cassava root, horseradish, kale, millet, mustard, mustard greens, peaches, pears, radishes, rutabagas, soybeans, spinach, and turnips.

3. Eat tyrosine-rich foods.

4. Use cold-pressed olive oil and nuts for vitamin E, and nuts for some B vitamins.

5. Consider including shellfish, dairy, eggs, or meat for zinc and vitamin B12.

6. Eat nuts, whole grains, and whole-wheat bread for naturally occurring B vitamins and zinc.

7. Garnish cooked foods with raw culinary herbs such as parsley for vitamin C.

8. Include vegetables rich in beta-carotene, such as winter squash, in your diet.

9. Consider switching to purified water for both cooking and drinking to reduce fluoride consumption— fluoride has been implicated by some sources in reduced thyroid function. Black and green teas also contain fluoride.

Another thing I thought was interesting it Tip #9.  I always drink tap water.  Bottled water annoys me.  However, perhaps I would benefit from bottled water as this article suggests.