Never in a million years

Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be a "health" freak.  Seriously.  I LOVE food.  I love the taste and the "comfort" it gives you when your belly is full...or so I thought.  Last Friday was a wake up call.  I splurged and my coworker and I went to lunch at a local buffet.  Southern food buffet that is.  When I was eating, I was like, "you know, this really isn't as good as I remember" and then it kicked in about 30 minutes later.  I was SICK.  My stomach was cramping something serious and it was all in knots.  I wanted to hurl.  It dawned on me.  My body is reacting to this food like it's poison because I haven't splurged like that since I started this journey.  Lesson learned.

I started yesterday on a healthy smoothie breakfast kick.  and guess what I put in it....SPINACH.  Anyone that knows me, knows that leafy stuff like that is something I don't go near.  The texture of it makes me wanna hurl.  But, I decided I'd try it.  Let me tell you...you can't even taste it! I've been mixing up random things in my smoothies.  This morning I put frozen berries, yogurt, 2% milk (I know it needs to be soy/almond but I have milk I need to use up at home) a tablespoon of peanut butter, a 1/2 of banana and a big helping of spinach.  While it isn't something that I think to myself "Mmm....I want another one" it isn't bad at all.  I know that it is healthy and that's what keeps me motivated.  I'm probably going to buy another mixer to keep here at the office for lunches and stash some ingredients in the office fridge.  Right now, I'm eating some little lean cuisine type meals that are only 270 calories for lunch and it's fine although I'd like it be a little healthier (it has rigatoni noodles in it so there's added carbs right there, poo).  I'm kinda looking at it like it is teaching my stomach that I can survive off small portions and then I'll do a shake at lunch and then a healthy dinner.  I also have peanuts, rice cakes and granola bars to snack on during the day.

I am going to get my lap band filled today and I'm totally not SUPER excited about it but I know that I need to do it.  I mean hello.....I paid WAY too much money for that surgery to not take advantage of having a lap band.  I've still been walking 1.6 miles almost every day but I'm going to start using my gym membership and doing the elliptical or something at lunch because walking isn't making me sore and if I'm going to exercise, I want to feel like I can't move the next day.  I'm hoping by the beginning of the year, I can do a 5K or something like that.  I want to set goals.  It isn't about being "skinny" as much as it is about being healthy.  Of course, I'd love to have a smokin' hot body but I love having curves!!

It's just funny to me at how when I look pinterest and see all the food that I used to think was SO delish and yummy, my first thought is "omg, I can't imagine how many calories that has in it!" or about how unhealthy it is.  I've even been getting on my coworker's case about eating healthy!

Who knew?!?! :)

Boo yah :)

I know it is a small step but I've lost 6lbs in 2 weeks!!! I'm excited and proud of myself for keeping at this.  I'm walking 1.6 miles almost every night and have been sticking to a healthy diet.  Of course, I'm splurging like once a week but I keep telling myself that so long as I stick with it then one splurge won't kill me.  I'm hoping that I'll get past wanting to splurge and I'll want to eat nothing but healthy food.  We'll see.  I'm going next week to get my lap band filled so hopefully I'll start seeing even more results! :)

A new day and a new me

Monday started a new lifestyle choice for me.  A healthy me.  I blogged a few years ago that I had the lap band surgery and it worked okay by itself until I started the fertility meds and I was the teeny percentage of women that gained weight on it and I gained the weight I had lost back (so no bueno).  Thankfully, I only gained 20lbs during my pregnancy.  When Annalise was 11 days old, she had to go to her 2 day appointment after discharge from NICU and I had lost 26lbs.  Great! Well, I started gaining it back the more my body went back to normal and I stopped breastfeeding.  I had talked to my doctor about putting me on adipex again but I had to be 3 months postpartum to allow the hormones to get completely out of my system.  I knew I was gaining but I honestly thought that it was due to lack of exercise and my depression issues.  Annalise had a doctor's appointment last week and I talked to my doctor again (just my regular doctor) about the adipex but I had told him about Dr. M and the post partum.  Dr. H suggested checking my thyroid because I've had small issues with it in the past and if that checked out fine, he'd put me on the adipex.  I called the next day to the get results and my levels were double what it should be and he told me to start the Cynthyroid asap.  I swear, that was like the answer to my issues, I swear.  My depression/anxiety, my weight gain, my fatigue, my hair loss......

So, that made me realize I have GOT to get serious about getting healthy.  My good friend Stephanie (a/k/a Miss Fitness Model) is like HARDCORE exercise queen.  She was pregnant with me and you could barely tell she was pregnant and she was teaching spin classes at 30 weeks!!! She is awesome let me tell you.  She had been SUCH a coach and support system for me.  She doesn't make me feel like she's being hardcore but is like, "I WANT THIS FOR YOU" and keeps saying she'll help any way she can.  (How awesome is it to have friends like that?!?!)  So, I went to the grocery store on Sunday and was texting her pictures of what is healthy and if I should get this or that, etc.  I started on Monday eating healthy and walking.  I know it only started on Monday but I already feel so much better! I walked 1.6 miles in 34 minutes on Monday and I honestly was impressed with myself! I know that people can run several miles in that time but keep in mind, I have not exercised in YEARS! Even when I had the lap band surgery, I never exercised.  I relied solely on that to be the "magic surgery".  I walked last night just under a mile in 12 minutes.  I need to drive in my car and get the actual distance just to keep a record.  I've been really enjoying walking at my house because I'll just plug the headphones into my phone and stream Pandora.  It gives me the peace and "me" time I've been needing without having to be far from home!  I have had NO soda or fried foods and I'm watching my caloric intake.  (Thanks to My Fitness Pal!).  I signed up for the gym as well.  I told Keith that come hell or high water, I was going to be a hottie at Christmas time!!! We booked our Disney vacation for January and I refuse to be worried about cramming in a seat on a ride! I'm gonna ROCK THIS!!!

I found this poster and I'm going to print it out and frame it in my house!