"Clean" Eating

What exactly IS "CLEAN" eating?? The fact of the matter is it means different things for different people. The basic idea is to eat whole foods that "come from the earth" rather than processed foods and fast food, etc. There is definitely debate out there about what foods are "clean" and what aren't. But frankly, the basic idea is to pick healthy, nutrient dense foods instead of some 100 calorie snack pack. Makes enough sense to me. I don't know what it needs a label though.

Having said that, I signed up on Facebook to do a 5 day clean eating challenge. I figured why not? I ate "clean" (and actually even more strict than clean eating) when I did the Whole 30 and that was 30 days! What is 5 days really?? Today is Day 1 and it's going well so far. I didn't take pictures of what I've eaten. For breakfast I had 2 hard boiled eggs, 6 baby carrots, 1/4 cup strawberries and 1/4 cup of grapes. For lunch I had 2 slices of Dietz and Watson lite turkey breast (I think that stuff is so good), with 1/4 of an avocado and 2 slices of turkey bacon (meh - I think I'd rather have the calories for the real stuff). I rolled those up (exactly like I did during the Whole30). On the side I had more strawberries, a sliced apple and another 6 baby carrots. I am entering my food into myfitnesspal and I haven't even had 500 calories yet today. Yikes! That's not very many calories, but it felt like pretty good size meals.

So, I remembered that when I was doing the Whole30 I tracked my food for at least one day just to see where I was calorie wise. On that particular day I ended around 1200 calories - give or take because I didn't measure things so I was estimating my serving size, but I'm pretty good at that. It really made me believe one of the things that the creators of the Whole30 explained in their book. Basically they said that if you eat a ton of crap (i.e. fast food) that is not nutrient dense your body is going to continue to tell your mind that it is hungry because even though you just gave it 1000 calories, you didn't give it the nutrients it was looking for. If you choose nutrient dense foods you might be able to get your body to stop sending the hunger message with only 500 (or even less) calories because it got the nutrients it was looking for. This clearly makes sense to me because when I am trying to just track whatever I eat and fit it into less calories in a day, I can eat fast food for lunch and a healthy dinner or what not and end my day close to 2000 calories and still be hungry most of the day. However, when I was doing the whole 30 I was probably eating closer to 1200-1500 calories a day and feeling completely satisfied (especially towards the end).

I am not going to necessarily say that I have changed to only eating clean and am going to eliminate ALL the junk ALL the time. I don't think that's realistic at all for me. But, what I need to do is figure out a nice balance between eating healthy and giving myself some treats now and again. I know what is healthy and I know what isn't healthy. I also know there are SO many opinions on what is healthy and what is not.

On another note. I've not been quite as disciplined as I've wanted to be since my last blog post but I have logged in to myfitnesspal for 21 days in a row and have lost 3.2 pounds since Jan 1st. 3.2lbs in 3 weigh in's is certainly not bad and it's better than going in the other direction; but I need to really get more serious about it if I want to drop more of this weight before the summer comes around (for reasons more than just wearing a bathing suit)!

Step 1- figure out the balance of healthy eating with unhealthy treats that allow me to still lose weight.
Step 2 - get back to being active so I am burning more calories and therefore can more easily find the above balance! :)

100 Day Challenge

2 days in a row....woot!!!

Yesterday I mentioned one of my goals this year is to complete the 100 day challenge with my family. So, at the end of the year I was on Facebook (go figure) and saw that one of my friends was "going to an event". The "event" was this 100 day challenge. It is actually 100 days of miles officially. It is a running website (www.ilovetorun.org) that created the event and the premise behind it is that they are committing to run at least 1 mile for 100 days in 2015. It doesn't have to be 100 consecutive days, just 100 days out of the 365 in the year.

I went to this website and loved their "motto". They basically talk about how they respect ALL runners (fast, slow, fit, overweight, etc, etc). As you already know, I had such issues when I was a runner saying that I was a runner. I am currently not a runner, but plan to get back there. I love to feel like there are runners out there who support the effort.

So the challenge on Facebook indicates there are only 4 rules. 1) Never go 3 days without running 2) Run at least 3 days a week 3) Never miss a Monday and 4) Never give up! I decided to take this challenge and tweak it a little to make it a good match for my family.

Plain and simple. I have completed 3 days of my 100. I already have 2 days done this week and will be playing soccer Saturday so I know I'll at least have the 3 days per week. However, I'm not even following those rules. I would say the only rule I'm following is #4 - NEVER GIVE UP! My kids love to do these family challenges so I think it'll be good. I usually think of some reward for completing a challenge, but I haven't thought of one yet. Getting back on track will be reward enough for me, but I like to think of something to help keep the kids motivated. We'll see what I come up with.

On another note....yesterday and today have been pretty good days. I've been taking pics of some of my food again. I like to do that. Makes me think about what I'm eating and if I would want to share it with people or not. Yesterday my calories were on the high side at 1926, but so far today they are at 1455. Yesterday I ended up eating 2 servings at dinner because it was good and I didn't stop myself. I'm over it though. I'm just happy I'm back to tracking. And I can guarantee you that 1,926 calories is WAY less than I have been eating so I'm all good. 1500 is the goal, but anything less than 2000 is a good day in my book! :)

We shall see what tomorrow brings. I was VERY proud of myself today because the kids had a snow day (being thrown off my schedule is never a good thing...I use it as an excuse). I took them to see a movie, which usually means lunch before (or after) the movie at Wendy's since it's right by the theater....not to mention snacks at the movie. The movie today was at 12:20. I did get the popcorn for the 3 of us to share, but I tracked it and am still under 1500 calories. I made necessary changes to make that happen. This is pretty big! They have another snow day tomorrow....but at least I know this ahead of time so perhaps it won't throw me off at all. I've already put breakfast and dinner into my tracker for tomorrow. All I have to do it stick to it and make it through lunch (which seems to be my hardest meal of the day for whatever reason).

Hope everyone is staying warm out there!

New Year...New Me....

Cheesy, right?!?! Overdone? Probably. Already somewhat true? Yup!

So, I last left you WAY back in August 2014 with this awesome post about how I was a total mess. If we compare where I am now to where I was then, we can already say that it's a new me. I would say I'm only about half the mess I was back in August.

Some things have changed to help this and I have been working hard to change some other things as well.

One change was finding Jamberry and starting my own business (again). This has definitely helped my level of happiness. That's a pic of me holding my daughters hand. Awwww...

I had mentioned in that last post that I was going to a new doctor for my check up in September. Well, I did and she did put me back on some depression meds. I think that this is definitely a change that has the biggest effect on my current outlook. Duh, right?!?! No one likes having to admit they need medication to function, but it is what it is and now I am feeling better.

In the fitness/weight loss department......well....I'm still kind of a mess there. You didn't expect me to totally transform myself since last August did you? BUT, I feel as though the other stuff is falling in to place which will be what ultimately helps me reach my other goals in life.

Let me take a minute here and review the hopes and dreams I had for 2014. I "only" picked 3 goals to focus on and even that deemed to be too difficult. Goal 1 - figure out how to stay accountable without being so hard on myself. Goal 2 - lose 50lbs. Goal 3 - exercise at least 3 days per week.

I don't feel as though I achieved any of these goals. BUT, I am OK with that and am moving on. There's nothing I can do about it now. The good news is that I did lose some weight. It may have only been 3 pounds, but the fact is that I weighed less on 1/1/15 than I did on 1/1/14 - that hasn't happened in a few years. And, I may not have figured out how to stay accountable without being so hard on myself; but that is one area I feel like I am finally figuring out how to fix (perhaps the meds are giving some clarity). I am already getting better at letting things go that are out of my control! WHAAAT?!?!? Many of you have no idea how exactly huge that is. And I can FEEL it happening. I take notice when it does happen and it still surprises me. I hope it continues and increases.

I have finally realized that my main focus really needs to be on my mind. I think I've always known this, but I hadn't ever done anything about it. And this is why I say I think the meds have really been the changing point in all of this. I am making actual changes to work on feeling better about myself in the here and now. I am realizing that the reason I have yet to be successful with my weight loss is because I don't feel worthy (still not sure why though). I realize that I am putting all my worth into my weight. So, I have started making changes to feel better about myself on a daily basis. I made a big change to my hair, have started wearing a little make-up at times and even bought some clothes that fit better (I still need some more, but that's the HARDEST thing because I really don't think I look good in anything. Obviously this is a work in progress. I have not liked myself for several years now so I can't expect to learn how to love myself overnight).

I still hate taking selfies....

The new hair has helped in a ridiculous way. I LOVE my new hair and can look in the mirror and think I look good. That's a huge improvement.

Shall we discuss some goals and aspirations for 2015? Sure, why not!

1) Continue on this path to start loving myself NOW and not waiting until I lose the weight.
2) Participate in the 100 day challenge with my family (get in a minimum of 100 days of activity during the entire year).
3) Track my calories and stay as close to 1500 calories as possible for at least 6 days out of each week.
4) Get back into running and HOPEFULLY complete a race longer than a 5k.

Other Goals:
5) Continue to work and build my Jamberry business (http://kimhatcher.jamberrynails.net) so that I can continue to stay home.
6) Get out of debt - and not just move things around to 0% credit cards so we don't have to worry about paying it off until XX date!
7) Take the family back to Disney (see goal #5!)

I want to go back! It truly has been a magical place for us. This was Nov. 2012 on our last day. 

Those are the biggies and I think I'll leave it at that.

So I'm back. I'm going to blog again. I love being able to look back on my life. I can't tell you how many times I've gone back and read posts from 2011 and 2012 with all my running and triathlon stuff. I realize how happy I was when I was doing that. I want and need to get back there. There's no reason I can't.

So Happy New Year peeps! Let's make this the best one yet!