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Since I started being more mindful of my eating as opposed to writing every little thing down, I have lost 3 pounds.  I read a journal or an article recently that said, the problem you run into with a lot of the new programs is that they are so strict and take up so much of your mind-space that your mind and your body can sometimes stop talking to each other.  I know that maybe ditching journaling (a big part of my behavior plan) may not seem like a good idea, but I've proved to myself yet again, that being so strict and fixating on every little thing hasn't been doing my body or my mind any favors.  And to that end, kudos and good luck to those who are still journaling and benefiting from it!  That is my biggest take away from this project.  You need to be able to be fluid, be open to change, and be willing to discover and stick with what works for you.  Even if the end result is nowhere close to where you started or where you thought you would be.
Regarding Easter weekend, the food was so good y'all!  We went family pot luck style and we have A LOT of great cooks in our family.  I listen to by satiety cues and didn't over do my portions.  HOWEVER, my sister in law put together the most gorgeous tray of homemade macarons, meringues, and a lemon swiss buttercream tart cake. Oh my goodness.  It was heavenly, but probably more sugar than I had eaten in nearly a week.  My holiday hangover was not alcohol induced at all, but sugar.  I woke up feeling totally crash out with a killer headache.  So, no more sweets for me for a while.

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On my last post, I said that I was ditching counting calories and points due to frustration with feeling guilty all the time. And I'm so glad that I did! Every morning I told myself that I would make healthy choices. If I went a little overboard on a meal or snack, I didn't throw the towel in for the whole day. I just hit my reset button. And I'm telling you, it's been almost life changing. I have been focusing on my body's internal cues. If I'm hungry (truly hungry, not bored hungry) I eat. If I'm full, I stop! I have been in the "clear your plate club" since I was a kid. But no more! Instead, I start by using a small salad plate instead of a big dinner plate. If I finish my plate and I'm still hungry I wait 10 minutes, have some water and eat more if I still feel hungry. But, let me tell you, that doesn't happen very often! I've been eating mostly whole foods, lots of protein in the form of chicken and eggs, healthy fats like avocado, and LOTS of vegetables. I still make menus because I use them for my creating my grocery lists. So, I counted my calories for a few days off of my menus, and I've been consistently hitting around 1,400 calories a day which is what I would be eating anyway. The difference is that I'm no longer agonizing over every little calorie and I make my menu for the week in 10 minutes instead of an hour. I feel better about myself mentally, and guess what y'all I LOST weight. And to top it all off, I even went to the bakery this week and had a giant and delicious pastry. It's all about balance. And not just balancing calories and macros. It's about balancing life.

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With a few weeks to go, I am going to be switching gears again. I have had a steady weight gain over the past few weeks. I haven't been focusing on my goals and I don't think I've honestly tracked a meal in the last 11 days. However I did track today. I have decided for the rest of our time with this Padlet assignment that I am going to be focusing on making healthier choices as opposed to WW points or calorie counting. I've been doing WW since last summer, and honestly I am sick to death of counting points, counting calories, feeling disappointed if I go over daily allowances...it gets FRUSTRATING after a while. I watched this great webinar this past week about getting away from the mindset of dieting. The dieting industry rakes in $60 Billion every year and only 5% of people who diet are able to maintain weight loss for more than 5 years. That's a 95% failure rate! We are no less than being harassed by new dieting fads each and every day.  The mindset of diet messes with your mind and sets you up for failure.  The power lies with focusing on making healthier choices and accepting that sometimes your're going to fail.  And that's OK!!  Fueling your body with the right nutrients is  a game you play every day.  You win some and you lose some. "Focus on progress not perfection" has been a long standing motto of mine.  I just need to remind myself of it every once in a while.
Cheers to everyone!
Let's have a great week!

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I just watch That Sugar Film on Amazon Prime and...wow. It's really eye opening! Just wanted to encourage anyone who's watching their nutrition to give this a go. It's a little lengthy, but well worth it. I can't believe the amounts of sugar that I've been consuming on a regular basis. I'm expecting to see some big changes with watching sugar intake this week (and beyond!) I have no doubt that I'll go through some sort of detox slump. But sugar is something I've wanted to hone in on for a long time and I feel like this documentary finally gave me the motivation to do so. Enjoy!

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My grandma went to be with Jesus on Monday.  I got to see her about 2 days before she passed.  She was sleeping most of the time that we were there.  But she opened her eyes for just a moment as we were saying our goodbyes.  We are going to be celebrating her life this coming Tuesday.  While I miss her terribly, I'm at peace knowing that she is no longer suffering.  Thank you again to everyone for your kind words.

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Full Disclosure...It's been a rough week

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Full Disclosure...It's been a rough week

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My nutrition logging has taken a back seat for about a week and a half.  Sometimes despite our best intentions, things do not go as planned.  I’ve had some tough family news this week.
My mom had surgery today for a melanoma that was found on her arm.  This is the second melanoma in 6 months.  3rd cancer diagnosis overall (kidney cancer in 2016.)  The surgery went very well, but she’s in a lot of pain.  Knowing that this is probably not the last time she’ll face cancer has been difficult for all of us.

I also found out today that my grandmother (dad’s mom) has leukemia.  She is 94 years old and her health has slowly been declining.  At 94, you expect that!  She’s lived a long and wonderful life. 12 children, over 60 grandchildren and over 40 great grandchildren!  But she is nearing the end of her days.  Any positive thoughts and prayers for my family would be greatly appreciated.

But, despite everything going on, I know that I need to keep my focus on my health (both physically and emotionally) so that I can be strong for my family.  So, today is the second consecutive day that I’ve logged food into my Fitbit app.  After going through the nutrition analysis exercise, I’ve turned my attention to micronutrition.  I’ve hit a bit of a plateau with my weight loss, so I’m hoping that balancing my macros a bit more will help to tip the scales.  Reading everyone’s posts and seeing how committed you all have been is encouraging to me.  So thanks all, and keep up the great work!

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So, this week I thought a different kid of visual representation would be fun to play around with.
As I've mentioned before, one of the tools I use is my WW tracker.  I have 23 points per day in my budget, but I also have weekly points that I can use.  So, this is what 26 points looks like on WW.  I also plugged everything in to the Cronometer website to see what the calories came out to, which is about 1400.
Breakfast was a frittata with center-cut bacon, kale, mushroom and onion; blueberries, whole grain toast with a tsp of butter, and coffee with cream.
Lunch was a homemade chicken and white bean chili with avocado and Fage.
Supper was Barilla Veggie spaghetti, roasted red pepper pasta sauce, and turkey meatballs; and a garden salad with a tbsp each of ranch and fat free french dressing.
Snack was two squares of 72% dark chocolate.
I had planned a banana for a mid day snack, but I wasn't hungry which is why my fruit intake for the day was no bueno.  But, you can't be perfect everyday!😃

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My Unicorn of Chocolate treats...Dairy and Gluten Free!

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My Unicorn of Chocolate treats...Dairy and Gluten Free!

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So good...🦄

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So, I tried a something a little different this week.  I wrote out 3 days of menus ahead of time and then did everything in my power to stick to them.  My first day was just 0 point foods (no grains, dairy, or starchy vegetables.) I felt pretty good most of the day, but definitely got some cravings late at night. So, I had a black tea and an apple and that seemed to help. Second day was another zero point food day with the exception of the peanut butter I added to my evening snack. I had less than a thousand calories for the day, so I decided to dip my apple in some PB to get a little healthy fat and protein at the end of the day. My final day, I added some jasmine rice to my already planned taco bowl at lunch. Our evening plans got a little screwy so I opted for an "Unwich" from Jimmy Johns. First time, and I would say it was pretty good! I stumbled upon a gluten and dairy free chocolatey treat (which is harder to find that you would think!) And boy was it delicious!
So, my take away from the last few days is that I realize I can survive a day without bread!  And I LOVE bread.  Moving forward, I am going to try to cut back and maybe have a few days a week with no bread.  It was always a staple in the house growing up, so that's more of a creature of habit sort of food for me.  Also, I ate a lot more fruit this week that I usually do and I realize I need to improve on that overall.
My total weight loss over this 3 day experiment was 3 pounds!
Here's a sneak peak at my menu for the last few days.

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At the end of my first week, I definitely feel like I identified some patterns.

I have a cup of Joe with cream  EVERY MORNING.  I come from a long line of professional coffee drinkers.  It's something that I try to scale back.  And for the most part, I've done a good job of it.  Years ago I worked at Starbucks and, Lord have mercy, I was addicted to coffee then.  I have been trying to stick to decaf coffee in the afternoons and evenings.  But I had 2 caffeinated cups of coffee 3 days this week.  My 4 year old has been pushing me to my limits this week and coffee has turned into a bit of an emotional comfort food.  The craziest thing I've noticed is at 3pm (like clockwork!) I have a craving for coffee. What?!  So, this week, I'm going to try to substitute some herbal teas into the mix and see if I can detect any changes.
On another note, I have always been a night owl.  I am fortunate enough that my mini-mes don't usually wake up until after 8 am.  I'm often up until well after midnight and I get a major snack attack around 9 pm.  I've been trying to curb that with fresh fruit, and PB2, and a cup of herbal tea or a light greek yogurt and a hand full of my son's teddy grahams.  No shame there!  It seems to be working this week, but I know I'll get bored of that sooner rather than later.
Regarding food tracking, I would say that I did OK. I did not track as often as I would have liked in the WW app, but I was able to write in the journal. Even though, I didn't track everything, I feel like I was more conscientious of my nutrition over all.  And to that end, I am happy to report a 1.8 pound weight loss this week!
It's not much, but my motto has always been slow and steady wins the race!  Plus, I've been stuck in this plateau for WEEKS, so in my mind progress is progress!
FINALLY, my goal for this week is to track in the WW app every day.

Best of luck to everyone one this week

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Hey all! My focus for this assignment is going to be my nutrition. I have been a WW member on and off for a number of years. I rejoined fall of last year and am down 20 pounds so far. Still have a long way to go. I gained a considerable amount of weight during my pregnancies and it's been hard to get the weight back off due to having PCOS. I'm a stay at home mama to these two cuties so my days are pretty busy!
As many do during the holiday, I have been lax with my nutrition and I am excited to use this assignment as  a catalyst for getting back on track!
So, I am going to be focusing on tracking my nutrition on a daily basis.  I am going to be using a number of tools to do this.  Mainly I will be using the WW food tracking app, daily journaling in a super snazzy notebook that I purchased for this assignment, as well as using my Commit30 planner. I also have some other printable habit trackers on backup if I feel that I need some more support.  I will be tracking in the WW app after every snack and meal on my phone and I will have the notebook centrally located on the main floor of my house where I spend the majority of the day.  I plan on reviewing the notebook every night in hopes of identifying any trends in my eating habits.

I am really excited to start on this journey of developing this life-long habit of wellness!