20 pounds down!!!
Freaking hell yes!!. I stepped on the scale this week and was so excited I almost screamed super loud. At 6 am I highly doubt this would have been appreciated by my family. Waking up that morning, I had planned to let myself have a cheat day. We are in the middle of a pandemic and everyone else in this house has been eating whatever they wanted. Twice since we sequestered ourselves at home I have made my absolute favorite pasta dish for everyone else. Both times I have made zucchini noodles for myself instead of allowing myself to partake in the awesomeness that is my favorite pasta. Honestly, the zucchini noodles are good, they are quick to make, and they are good for you. “Just wait”, I thought to myself, “Cheat day coming up next week.” Why this particular day? It is the two month mark from when I started eating better. So I had waited and planned. I knew exactly what I was going to have for my cheat day. It was going to be cereal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch (with bread), pasta for dinner and cheesecake for dessert. I thought about it, I drooled over it, I was so very ready. After stepping on that scale and seeing that amazing number, all thoughts of my cheat day flew right out of the window. I ran (oh so quietly) back into my room and grabbed a pair of jeans that had stopped fitting somewhere around November of last year. You know that one article of clothing that you keep trying to wear because you just don’t want to give in and go put on something that fits better? Yeah, these were those jeans. I closed my eyes and began to slide one pants leg over my foot, fell into the closet, realized that no, you should probably not close your eyes to put pants on when your adrenaline is pumping, started over and slid my pants into place. I closed my eyes again and tried to button them. They buttoned so easily, it was like they had fit me the entire time. We are not talking about jeans that have been worn a few times and are comfortably loose. We are talking freshly laundered and hung directly on the hanger jeans. In other words DRYER TIGHT JEANS. Ugh, my whole day was made. I needed no cheat day. These jeans were my cheat day. What do I mean by that? I mean slipping on those jeans felt better than any cookie, brownie, pizza, or cheesecake ever could. Those jeans are my cheesecake. Every moment of self-doubt, every moment of wishing I could eat whatever I wanted and not letting myself, every single moment of pushing myself lead to this place. After squealing with delight (internally of course) I ran to the kitchen to start my normal day and my typical breakfast meal.
Speaking of breakfast, here is what my typical day looks like meal wise:
Breakfast: 2 Scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, a sausage patty and coffee
Lunch: Salad with shredded turkey, shredded carrots (not too many) tomatoes, and ranch dressing
Snack: Cauliflower
Dinner: Shrimp Stir Fry with bell peppers, onions, broccoli, and mushrooms over riced cauliflower.
Breakfast and lunch rarely change for me. The only exceptions are the days I complete intermittent fasting. Basically every 3rd day or so, I make it a point to have 16 hours in between my dinner the night before and the first time I eat the next day. It helps me balance myself out. This is especially helpful if I have overdone the carbs slightly the day before. For dinner I switch it up obviously. I base my meals around what I cook for my family as they are not following the same diet I am. For those interested in keto I highly recommend this book by Leanne Vogel. It is simply called ‘The Keto Diet’. I got so much useful information. It is filled with information about keto, diet plans, and recipes.
Exercise: Every morning since we are all home all of the time now, my family stretches together. We stretch and warm up for our day. For instance this morning, we all did arm, neck shoulder, back and leg stretches. We ended with 20 jumping jacks to get our blood pumping for the day and to naturally energize ourselves. (The jumping jacks are of course my 6 year olds favorite part) This keeps us all honest and starts our day off right. Instead of dragging ourselves out of bed and plopping ourselves down immediately in front of the television or computer screen, we our doing what our bodies are meant to do. Moving. I’ve discovered from starting boxing just how out of shape I am and how off I am when it comes to balance. I am taking it slow, making sure that I am moving correctly as I know how it easy it is to hurt yourself when your body is not used to moving in a certain way. With no one here to watch me or teach me I want to make sure that I get this right. So for now most of the boxing is about timing and making my body move. I am practicing my moves ever day to make sure my form is correct.
So far this is my happy jeans week. Any success stories you want to share? Any frustrations? As always, message me, tell me about your successes and failures and let’s get through this together from a safe and recommended distance apart. What better way than through email or social media? Keep strong every one. We can do this.