Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Emotional Eating

I'm not gonna lie...eating right will always be a struggle for me. These last couple of weeks, I've been in a weird depression funk. The only thing that makes me feel better is chocolate. It's just down right awful. Dang that comfort food! I'm trying to figure out what I can do to remedy this...any suggestions?

In the meantime, I'm getting out all the winter crafts (and I don't consider myself crafty, but it keeps my hands busy), checking out new books from the library, Zumba (fun!), researching other ways to fix my sweet tooth with things like Chocolate Almond Milk with a drop or two of mint extract, bugging my neighbor for some good herbal tea blends, etc.

I'm so ready for summer.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Recovering From Christmas

Everyone knows that denying yourself the sweet flavors of Christmas is pretty hard to resist. For me, we spent two weeks in Portland, Oregon with my in-laws. I knew for those two weeks it would be very hard to stick with eating well...I mean who can resist my MIL's homemade fudge?! I can't! She baked to her hearts content; Clam Chowder, Dips of all kinds, Scones, Ribs...the list goes on. I know she was probably happy to have us out of her hair, as she is not used to cooking for a family of 7! I am grateful to her, because it created some wonderful memories for my children, memories from Christmases past when Dan and I were first married. It's difficult to see them over the holidays when they are a few states away :( All I have to say is I came home 10 lbs heavier in just 14 days! Crazy! I knew it would come off quickly when I got back to eating right...

I'm constantly amazed at my body these days. Eating clean has been difficult, but doable. Since July, I have tried hard to eat less, eat clean and exercise. At first, I had to write everything down, have menu's and be pretty committed to my health and not much else. If you know what it's like to lose 40lbs +, it isn't something that you can just change over night, it required changing the way you think! That's not easy! I am happy to say that after coming home from our Christmas vacation and eating clean again, it took a few days of some pretty bad cravings to get back into my routine. I feel so good! The 10 lbs I gained came right off...within two weeks. Nice! I am aiming for a size 8. I know I'll get there. I'm not too concerned about getting it off right this second, I'm more concerned about keeping good habits and feeling good about myself in every aspect. I have to say that feeling good about yourself certainly isn't about a size or a particular weight. It's all about knowing yourself, and your capabilities.