Learning from the Past

 Food is the centerpiece of our lives sometimes. Think back to your childhood. Where did the family gather? In my family it was always the kitchen. One kitchen in particular holds many memories for me.  My Grandmother's kitchen. Grandmother's kitchen always smelled like warm baked bread to me. I remember waking up in the morning and having a bowl of Post Toasties while grandmother made toast for Papa. Papa would come in whistling a hymn, usually "In the Garden" and we would all sit down and eat breakfast. 


Then come lunch time Grandmother would make Papa and me some Cream of Chicken Soup with pepper and crackers. And again we would all sit down and eat. She would have butterscotch ice cream ready for dessert. And any time anyone showed up she would offer them something to eat.  Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day that I lost the most important and influential man of my life. Papa. It's something I never have to this day gotten a grip on. However, today's blog is a reminder of how we eat now compared to 10-15 years ago.


In today's fast paced world how often can you say that your family sits down at the kitchen table and has a meal? I will be the first to tell you that I rarely do it. It's always grab and go or in front of the tv or in the car on the way to something else. This is something I want to change. I think that if our meals were planned out and we took the time to sit down and just eat, take our time, that we would see a significant change in not only our waist line, but in our life.


  I want my son to have the memories that I had of a family that enjoyed the break in the busy day to take time to spend with each other. And I want him to make good healthy food choices and that is not something he will learn if Mommy pulls in to McDonald's real fast every night instead of taking the time to cook and make sure that he is eating right. 


Today I am sitting here. Healing from my laproscoptic surgery that removed my gallbladder, thinking that now there is nothing holding me back from cooking for my family and making sure we all eat properly. It all comes down to making the time. Just like we make time to exercise and to watch our favorite tv show and so on and so on. 


Starting next week I am going to teach myself how to cook a new recipe twice a week. Something that is healthy and that stays within the guidelines of the final phase of my "lifestyle change" I will be blogging about these concoctions as I learn them on this blog. And you can bet your sweet patootie they will have carbs in them. 


RIP Papa
May 4th, 1999

What? I can't wear the Miley Cyrus line of clothes?!!

Alright ladies. I got inspired while cleaning out my closet to write a blog on weight gain/loss and clothing. Here's the deal. Unless you are ages 13-19 and have never had children you have no business trying to squeeze into a 5-7-9 pant. When you are setting weight loss goals do NOT set a ridiculous size goal. For instance, when I was in high school I was a size 7 sometimes 5. Will I ever be that size again? Nope. Will I be at the weight that I was in high school? Possibly. Then why can't  I wear those sizes? Because I am a woman. I have had a child and my twenties changed the shape of my body. When designers are making clothes in the odd size range they do not have late twenty mommy's in mind. And that is FINE. As long as you accept this you will not bounce out of your house looking like a sausage. For me, I realize that I can be a size 8 depending on who makes the jeans. In American Eagle I could be an 8 then walk my happy butt down to the GAP and be squeezing into a 10.

All jeans are not created equal..For some of you I know shopping sucks (I don't get it, but I know it) But you have to have to have try on several different types of jeans until you find the brand that fits you right. I recommend the new Levi's line because they come in all different shapes or sizes. Or go to your local Plato's closet and try on everything in the size you think you are. Have to go up a size? WHO CARES. Just focus on fit. If the size haunts you that much I suggest you go home and cut the tag out so that you don't see it and think that you're bigger than you are. When it comes to tops you can probably shop in the juniors section if you are not chesty. IF you are chesty do not try on tops until you get a bra fitting done. You will never find the right size if the twins are not in the right place. As a chesty woman, this sucks, because I will find a top that doesn't give me Hooter  girl cleavage but hangs at my waist making me look pregnant. Quite frustrating but you can find clothes that fit if you take the time to try. The cheaper the clothing the more likely it is to shrink and distort shape after being washed. So if it looked great in the store, it may not look the same after being washed one time.

Remember, it's all about FIT not size. No matter what you're weight is you can look amazing if you are wearing clothes that fit you right.  And if you are like me and in between sizes at the moment or close to your weight goal, hold off on buying clothes. So you have to walk around in some baggy clothes for a while, eh it will just inspire you to reach your goal faster so that you can buy the clothes you WANT.

So what's the lesson here? Clean out your closet. Do NOT hold onto the 10 pairs of size 5 jeans from high school. Trash them now or pass them down to a teenage niece. Do not hold onto the bigger clothes either. Donate them if you are not wearing them any longer..

And last but not least. Know that you can be beautiful. No matter what weight or size. Just take care of yourself. If you leave the house looking like something off of peopleofwalmart.com...then you are gonna feel that way.

SO...how's it going ?

I am so excited to announce that I am STILL losing weight. I have lost 5 more pounds in the last 2 weeks, and one of those weeks I could not work out due to a really bad chest cold. Slim in 6 is still my go to workout. I will be doing it for probably 5 more weeks and then moving to P90X. The weather...UGH. Cold weather does not really inspire working out. It's hard to think of the bikini season when you are in 15 degree weather. LUCKILY I live in Texas and it should be 60 by Valentines day. I took some more "before" pics for the new year. I didn't want to post them, but I logged on here and saw comments from people inspired by my blog! It inspired me to post my pic in a few weeks so I can post a 3 week after pic with it so that I can remind others and myself that it does NOT happen over night and I still have 29 pounds to go until I reach my new goal weight of 130..I am 10 pound ish from my first goal of 150 lbs. Don't give up! Working out is about 25% of the equation. EATING right is the other 75%. You have to make good food choices if you want to keep losing weight. <3

New Year, New Me

Welcome 2011! My fitness goals for this year are:

1. To lose my last 30 pounds of excess fat  
2. To do 90 days of P90x
3. To get as many people as possible to TRY Slim in 6 so that they too can realize that you CAN control your weight
4. To stop drinking Diet Coke ><
5. To run 5 miles.

Last year was a year of extreme change for me. I can't even begin to explain it. I wish I could start the year off right with exercise but due to the awesomeness of strep throat I have to wait 9 extra days before I can do my final round of Slim in 6. Once that is completed I plan on starting 90 days of P90x. Once those 90 days are up I want to train to run 5 miles.

I hope everyone makes a list of fitness goals for the new year. Just Push Play!

Plateaus... Isn't that a geography thing?

If you have ever lost weight for a significant time and then you just STOP then you know where I am going with this one. I would lose 5 lbs some months and 0 another. No matter how I ate or worked out. My body is just fun that way apparently. This month, thanks to the awesome case of strep throat I received for Thanksgiving, I was able to get past a plateau. But what fun is that? I didn't eat for 5 days. Ok well it was a little fun when I looked at the scale, but soooo not worth not eating Thanksgiving dinner. Anorexic people are insane, sorry, but they are..I love food way too much to ever just stop eating.. I don't know any secrets to get past a dieting plateau, and I have searched the web and tried all kinds of plateau advice (none worked). So I just keep pressing forwards, because even if I am not getting the results I want RIGHT NOW, I know that I am still doing what is healthy for my body. So don't give up if you have a week of zero loss, just keep trying, your body will catch up with your hard work. If it never does all I can suggest is changing it up. =)

Bend Before it Breaks

Sometimes you have to feed your cravings..For me this month, that craving is candy corn..I know I know, some of you think that is just sick, but I loooove that sugary sweetness. The advice that I was given was FEED that sugar craving..Just not with candy corn. With things like fruit, sweet yogurt, etc. So I attempted this and sure enough it's working so far...So far. I had some struggles last month with dieting and working out. Life gets hectic and things get put on the back burner..And I literally could not breathe unless it was scheduled lol. But I managed to eek in some work outs and stay on my diet the last few weeks and it is paying off. I am starting to see some tone in my arms.

Some...not a lot, lol. BUT it is a curve and I can appreciate that =)

I am a freak about my scale..I literally weigh myself about 5 times a day..There is a lot of different opinions about this. Mine is that if I watch my weight constantly I stay on track..If I only weighed myself once a week I would not hold myself accountable enough. /shrug. Everyone is different. 

 Some may say that I am body or image obsessed. Not true, I am obsessed with making myself healthy. I am obsessed with living. I have always been someone that has been soooo concerned with what others think. Always. It was just sad. I look at it now like, if it doesn't effect that person, then why should they really care? So if I am eating 1200 calories a day, and it doesn't effect you, then don't worry about it =) lol. Same goes for me. I have to stop looking at people and thinking things like "wow, they need to do this or do that"..Everyone has to decide for themselves to make this change in their life. Whether it is to quit smoking, to eat better, to work out, to play with your kids more..It's nobody choice but your own.

My change has led to this..

What can your change lead to? What do you want your life to be like? And sometimes you have to bend before you break..=)

Time to cowgirl up..

Last week was a rough one. Between dealing with the death of someone I loved, work, and planning a baby shower, you could say that my anxiety levels were at an all time high..And I used the excuse that everyone uses and simply said "I do not have time to work out"...Which was true...ish. Not working out, high stress and anxiety led to comfort eating..I never realized I was a stress eater, but after putting on 3 lbs this past week and dang near eating fast food and junk every day..I can now say that yes, I am a stress eater...

Exhibit A

These would be the cupcakes I made for my sister's shower. I ate two...Not to mention the 7 layer dip, taquitos, and carrots with ranch..

Moral of the story...Time to cowgirl up. I grew up in the country and a lesson you learn early on is if you fall off the horse, you brush your butt off and get back on.. So I started working out again yesterday and grocery shopped for a healthier diet. I am sore...beyond sore. But I can't let something set me back and hold me back. And while the comfort food helped deal with the pain of my loss, it also caused the pain in my abs today as I struggled  through my Slim in 6 dvd this morning...And I will remember this soreness when it comes to watching my Sooners play this fall and not overeat during a stressful game lol..

And next month when my sweet new niece Sophia arrives I will help my sister get back into shape and keep her motivated =)

RIP Eddie Walker, I will never forget your smile and cheerfulness.