Day 8: Sick Day :(

I think I have a summer cold.  

Ugh, these are the worst.  I woke up this morning and feel like a truck came barreling through my room, jumped the foot-board and landed directly on my head. 

I thought no coffee yesterday was hard?

Pssssh, no coffee today is harder.

I have to get better soon.

Next week is vacation!!

I guess I can starting planning on how I'm going to stay on track for it.

That sounds way un-fun.

I need someone to sing to me...

Artist

I better go feed the kids and whatnot, being a mama doesn't allow sick days.

This happens still.  I wonder if they will ever stop knocking on the door.

I mean seriously, they can't wait 5 minutes? 

I need to go back to bed, whilst wearing my Grumpy Cat shirt because that's how I feel.

That sounds so nice :)

There is fighting sounds in the kitchen....

Awesome, onion dip and garlic hummus.

Great smells and mess.

Thanks Olivia :)

Day 7: No coffee bites!

Waaaahhhh.  No coffee makes me not want to move.

My artificial energy is missed oh so very much.

It's why I would like to cancel this morning and just go back to bed.

           

Me today.

Gigglingcaravan

It's been over a week (except that 1/4 cup I sneaked but didn't feel I needed so didn't finish.) 

I will say I haven't had near the amount of headaches I used to have which is awesome.

I guess I traded energy for way less headaches.

Pretty good trade :)

I also notice that with my morning workouts, I'm not nearly as tired in the afternoon.

I used to (going on over a week lol) take a nap while the kids would 

watch a movie or they would even nap because of a morning 

of swimming or being out and about.

I'm pretty sure I am on the verge of screwing my insulin balance forever.  I would get what I 

joked as "Carb comas".  Not cool.  Anytime I would eat my over-share of carbs I just wanted 

to crawl in a cave and sleep forever.  I would OD on coffee to get myself out.  It is bad cycle

of self food abuse.

One of my sisters posted this on one of our Pinterest boards we share.

Just Be Fit board

It is so true.  I admit I definitely abuse food.  

I do it based on my feelings of depression, anxiety, stress, etc.

I can even use it to soothe my day even if it was just extra busy.

I have many reasons why I'm stressed, oh goodness do I.

But don't we all?  

I won't list them all obviously but I do know it started when I had problems with fertility.  

I had three miscarriages (per the Dr), one more later on that I didn't go to the Dr. for.  

It just made me so sad because, while I did have Olivia, I didn't think I could have anymore, and maybe I was disappointing my husband.

Selfish and naive, I know thinking back on it but when you have a child with severe special needs,

 you do dream of a child without them.  Also my husband is a rock star and very understanding but it was very early in our marriage so I internalized it.

Thankfully I had two more babies, completely healthy and all is complete with our family.

By that time I was so used to over eating and not caring about it I let it go.

WAY TOO FAR.

I suppressed it all, opting for my therapy through food and the calming effect it had on me.

Now I realize it was all a lie.  The effect was short-term calming and long-term damaging.

I have to just realize I need to 

From now on I'm going to give exercise a chance to replace the over eating.

It's way harder than it sounds.

Oh lord, the sounds of the kids screaming from upstairs is my first test of the day.

"Mom!!! She's slapping me with her towel"

"Mom!!! He deserves it, I want to play with his skeleton"

(Don't worry it's a puzzle)

Day 6: Going the wrong way.

I can only assume because of the weekend awesomeness that it is the reason I have gone up on the scale.  

Any loss I had--found me--because I am exactly where I started.

So my problem is the weekend.

Easy to solve?

Plan it out!

Although.....

Maybe I'm doing OK then ;)

A year or so ago my sister and I thought about 

Monthly Meal Planning so starting this weekend I am going to start this.

I am currently making out a monthly meal plan for all 5 meals a day.

I really only need to make breakfasts and dinners at monthly intervals.

Snacks & lunches are going to be fresh fruit, veggies, etc so I don't want to freeze those.

I'm am going to make my meals as clean as possible for as cheap as possible.

My plan is to do this for a complete year as I lose weight. 

My goal is to -->

And I leave this with my Motivational Tuesday Quote to myself.

(because I didn't think of it yesterday and I do what I want)

FitSugar

Day 5: First Annual Ronaboo

Small hiccup this weekend.  As in I used 2 free days instead of 1 kind of hiccup.  

In order to be successful with my Craft Me Project I have to take time for fun.

That I did this weekend.....that I did.

It was our first annual Ronaboo.

The generic Bonaroo.

We had Pandora's 80's station and glow sticks.

Because that's how we roll.  Be jealous, very jealous.

Uncle Tyler throwing the kids in the pool

Jumping them or gently putting some in :)

Austin photo-bombing or Owen ninja chopping the sprinklers.

Uncle Tyler terrifying Andrew (he didn't throw him in)

Uncle Brandon going spear fishing

Mauryn posing, Owen wondering why this family is so weird, 

and Andrew catching some air.

Now the party begins with our glow in the dark swim party.

 

A few beers later and glow paint is everywhere :)

It was a blast and we plan to do this every year.  Oh the plans I have for next year.

Today I am exhausted.  Friday night I only got 3 hours of sleep and it snowballed from there.  

I am back on track and going to make darn sure our family vacation starting

next Wednesday is super planned out.

Fun and healthy.....I can make those best friends right?   :)

Instead of a nap today I'm going to start my running program.  Got to start some time and even though I've only been working out 1 week I still have the memory of how great it feels to feel exhausted after a workout :)

I'm going to follow this running program (click on link).  

I'm bound to lose weight through this I hope :)

8-Week-Plan-Go-From-Walking-Running

Off to make this weeks meal plan and grocery list.

Tonight (since 24 is now over for the season--darn it!) I will do some meal prep.

I'll post pictures tomorrow :)

Day 4: Mentally prepare

I did a little extra working out in the pool yesterday so since I went from nothing to 2 workouts in one day I was exhausted.  This in turn created what I thought was a good nights rest.

My Fitbit said I had 93% sleep efficiency (It's an A) but woke up 18 times (probably just turning over).  I slept for a good 7 hours though.  Yay!

Sounds like a lot of times to wake up but for me I feel well rested.  Got up at 6, got my glass of water, and walked on the treadmill for 30 min.  I'm half way to my 10,000 step goal already and it's only 7:30.  Maybe next week I'll up my step goal :)

During my treadmill workout I started reading 2 books. (Both on amazon--I downloaded to my Kindle app)

 

I've only done day one in each but they are short, to the point and easy to read.  I appreciate that since I have a short attention span.  

Like DUG short....

They help me mentally prepare for the day.  I'm believe that one's mind is so powerful we are incapable of finding it's limit.  The right mind-set for the day can make or break it.

I also absolutely LOVE this Anthem Lights mash-up song....

I'm off to go clean for company this weekend :)  I'm so excited to see them.  With all get together's I usually not only fall off the clean eating wagon, I freakin' jump off, break my ankles, and wait a month for them to heal before getting back on.  So this afternoon I will create a plan of action to get myself through.  Fun cleanER eating?  Let's see if it's possible :)  

*****Oh yeah, I have someone coming to help me in my quest to feel and look awesome on Monday ;) 

Day 3: Before and NO More

One good indicator that I'm making any progress is by photos.

I'm going to go out on a limb and rely on that, feedback, and how I feel versus what the scale says.

Of all the people I've noticed with long-lasting results, this is what they rely on more than a scale.

In previous attempts to lose weight I would use it daily and a gain or plateau drop kicked me off my path onto a pity path that I'd venture for a bit.

I'm going to use the scale once every 2 weeks so I know if I need to change my diet.

My  3 phf's

The tools and purpose:

Photos: Shot with my camera in front a full length mirror.  

*Once a week--I think it'd be fun to do one of those time-lapse video's when I'm done*

Feelings: I'm going to rely on if I'm feeling that I should cut out more than my plan or add.

I don't want to starve myself or super binge on my free day.

For exercise too--if I feel I can push myself more one day than another I will.

Feedback:  We'll see when it comes my way.  This is not limited to compliments by any means.

Advice, tools I can use, inspirational stories, etc.  anything to help (and I don't cry from negative feedback--its apart of it and sometimes pushes you more--at times)

Week 1--The Before and No More

(That's my "excited trying to hide the sadness of this picture" face haha)

Miss Bean wanted in on the picture taking....

Here is a Throwback Thursday.

Waaayyyy back almost 13 years to my wedding dress search.

Got to get back to this (minus the death stare).

Day 2: The Essentials

Sleep and Water

Two things I never get enough of.

My only 2 goals for the next month (besides staying on my schedule) are to:

1.  Get enough sleep

2.  Drink enough water.

I need about 9 hours of quality sleep to rock a full day to capacity.

It's super tiring hauling around what is essentially the weight of a second person.  That's stings just to say it out loud but it's not like I can hide it.  I just need to accept it and change it.

I also need Melatonin to get a deeper sleep so I don't toss and turn. 

I have a FitBit Flex

FitBit

I highly recommend it.  I've used mine off and on since February.  It records your movement while sleeping and when I take Melatonin I have sleep qualities in the high 90's (%).  I also feel way better.

Goal #1: Sleep enough for me.

*Go to bed @ 9pm and wake up at 6am

*Take 2 Melatonin 15-20 min. before bed

*Do not take phone or Ipad to bedroom

Sorry I'm not responding to texts or calls after 9 :)

Now on to water.  I filled this bad boy with water (2 gallons) add: 1 big cucumber sliced and 1 lemon sliced.

Goal #2: Drink a little under 1/2 of this each day.

1/2 = 1 gallon = 16 cups=128 ounces

1/2 my body weight is 125 (see another person blah!)

So that is drinking 1/2 my body weight in ounces.

(while taking into account what I get from food/sweating out while working out)

To accomplish this I must......

Oh I can't say it..........

I must stop drinking coffee.

Grumpy Cat Mug

But I can still drink tea from it.  Maybe convert my coffee maker into a green tea maker?

 

I'll just stick with my homemade Goonies water jar.....

Excuse me while I use the.....

Mikey: "Bethany, where're you going?"

Bethany Walsh :)  "This is the *(wo)men's* room."

Day 1-The Most Exciting

The most exciting day that I will ever have.  Mostly because it's filled possibilities, hope, and a good burst of adrenaline.  Oh and no actual work invested yet (that appeals to my lazy side)  :)

So my first plan of action was to meal plan

Here is week 1

I'm starting this on a Tuesday.  So far so good.

My second plan of action was to design a 2 week schedule

Easy enough to start a habit of it.

I am a dreamer and I dream big.  I just never get to the finish line because I don't take time to plan the in-between times.

So this time I am going to start small and finish BIG.

For about 6 months or so I have had this BIG dream.  One that I couldn't possibly do without careful preparation and planning.  One that is worth it.  I want to run in a Spartan Race.  I want my BIG goal to be a super tough race.  

Now can a 37 year old mama of 3 complete that in a decent time?  We shall see.  I'm going to give myself 1 year to lose this weight and 1 year to train.  I'll be 37 and in the best shape of my life.  Awesome goal.

Now in the meantime I want to start small with walking 5k.  Once I lose 50lbs I want to start those.

Here is a link to some fun themed races.  I'd really like to get involved with the Special Olympics with Olivia.  That could be something we both would have fun doing.  

It's time for me to have fun and show my children how fun life can be if you put in a little effort :)  Maybe get them to run with me?  Fun!

21 of the most incredible themed races

http://greatist.com/fitness/21-most-incredible-themed-races

(FYI there is a wine race in FRANCE!)  

Of course I'll need a few friends to go with me......Who wants to come?  

My Ultimate Craft Project

Tomorrow starts my:

This ultimate life craft project includes up-cycling this 35 year old mama.  I need it, I want it.  My goal is to be a better person, wife, mother, sister, and friend.

My plan of action is to think of getting into better shape physically and mentally by using the comfortable environment of crafting.  I've thought about this for quite awhile on how to go about this.  If I view myself as the ultimate craft project, it's bound to work right?

Yah, I'm probably going to have a screw-up.  Piece together different things and get crazy with my design.  I'll burn myself, start over, and come out looking better than the original plan but in the long run it'll be worth it.

I recently had a wonderful craft weekend (as they always are).  Most of the ladies quilt.  They have pieces they put together, pieces they take apart, pieces that are frustrating, sometimes completely upside down and pieces that just click and are perfectly complementary.  Once they are done they are the most beautiful projects and they have fantastic stories to go along with them.  Meaningful stories that give that finished product so much character and value.

I was talking to myself....as I do all the time.  After-all, I give myself the best advice ;)  So I told myself I was a craft project.  It makes perfect sense to me.  

My mind is like my craft room.....unfinished, messy, unorganized, full to capacity, and I'm always trying to stuff more in.  Swirly and confusing.  An --Alice in the Rabbit Hole-- except it doesn't end.

See ya later, maybe, if I find the bottom.....

My body is exactly like one of my unfinished crafts.  It get's pushed aside because of my narrow focus of wanting to see the end product now.  I am so impatient.  SO IMPATIENT.  Each plan I get to work on....no carb. diets, fad diets, supplement diets, exercise programs, they end up in a burning pile of ashes after week 1.

I've allowed myself to take baby steps.  Little goals and see little improvement rather than big goals and see no improvement which I'm a proven burn out doing.

I love this....it sounds do-able.  And I need to lose over 100 lbs but baby steps. 

Day one starts tomorrow!  Bright and early with a schedule to follow.  Wish me luck :)