The Lifestyle Diet

There is nothing more important than keeping your spirit man healthy. Spending time with God is something that I try to do on a daily basis. I don't always do it, but I strive to make that the main part of my lifestyle. Another thing that I believe is very important is keeping healthy and physically fit. We are to take care of our temple. God has given us a body, so like any home, we need to care for it, clean it, treat it well and so on...

I have never really been to struggle with weight problems. I have always been small, and I hope to stay that way. My heaviest was when I was pregnant with my kids. Both times, I ended up at 150 lb. I gained 43 lb. with my first and 35 lb. with my second. The first time, it wasn't hard getting the weight off. It was only a couple of weeks, and I was down to at least 115. That was still more than I had ever weighed, but I didn't look bad, and I didn't feel bad. My daughter was only 6 months old when we found out we were having our second baby, so there really wasn't much time in between to start living a healthier lifestyle. Then, it really wasn't THAT important to us anyway. We are out a lot. Cooked freezer meals. I really didn't do a lot of cooking. In that sense, I had to become a better wife to the husband that really was happy to come home to food on the table or about to be on the table. Anyway...

It wasn't until after I had my son did I notice that I wasn't dropping the weight as quickly. I had my best friend with me for about 5 weeks at that time, and we decided that we were going to give Hot Yoga a chance. Oh boy! Did that do it for us! We would take turns on the nights to go. The husband worked nights at the time, so she was a huge help to me then. We would come home drenched in sweat and really feeling good about our progress. I dropped the extra weight and was able to pretty much eat what I wanted to again. I was in my early to mid 20s at the time, so my metabolism was extraordinary!

As soon, though, as I started to creep toward the 30 year mark, my body started changing in ways that I wasn't much appreciative of. I haven't been gaining weight, it's just decided to shift to places that I don't like. No more bikinis for this mama with the tummy roll (I can see your eyes rolling, at least to those of you who know me!) Gotta cover the bum a bit more. I guess modesty is ok though. I was never one to show much skin in public anyway.

I have even notice the shiny strands of grey hair growing atop my head! I'm too young for that! ehem...

A couple of years ago, I did the 21 Day Fix and LOVED it! My cousin got me involved in it, and it was something that I really looked forward to doing everyday. I was part of a Facebook group for support and accountability. About half way through though, I had to change some things. I continued to do the workouts (I was obsessed) but my eating habits, clean as they were, had to be amped up. I lost too much weight. If you know anything about the body, being too much under weight is just as dangerous as being over weight. I dropped to 103 lb. and that wasn't good. I wasn't gaining any muscle. I had to increase my calorie intake which was really hard b/c I wasn't hungry for anymore food than what I had conditioned myself to eat.

Well, all that came to a dead stop when we ended moving, and I got out of sync with everything and now, here I am. Trying to get back on course. Trying to make myself live a healthier lifestyle in front of my kids so they will start to want to live this way also.

My sister-in-law had posted last week, a book that she got called the 4x4 Diet by Erin Oprea. I guess she is a personal trainer to some celebrities, and maybe this is her first book?? I'm not sure, but what I have read so far, I'm really looking forward to this new journey of a clean, lean and mean ;) lifestyle change. Oh, all that to say, that I purchased the book also. It intrigued me, and I have been feeling like a change for quite some time now.

I can't say that I won't indulge every once in a while...I love my morning coffee with my baileys french vanilla creamer. I only have 1 cup, so that's ok, right? But as soon as the cookies and other misc. treats are gone, that's it. Fruits and Veggies it is...even for the kids. Healthy snacks in this home until we can adapt to our new way of living, eating.

I did make a delicious smoothie this evening! I had purchased a book a couple years ago, 101 Best Smoothies and Juices. I have been wanting to try out these drink recipes so no better time than the present. Tonights smoothie was called Raspberry Chocolate Smoothie:

2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

3/4 cup milk (I used vanilla Almond milk)

1 container (6 oz.) vanilla yogurt

3 T. chocolate syrup

1-3 ice cubes

1. Combine raspberries, milk, yogurt, and chocolate syrup in blender until smooth
2. Add ice cubes, if using fresh fruit, use 3 cubes, if using frozen, 1-2 cubes. Blend until smooth

I guess that made 3 servings, but I drank it all! ;)

Ok, so I know that there is whipped cream on top of my smoothie, but confession, I just wanted to make it look pretty for the picture. I used ready whip (which I don't even like) and it was left in the glass after the smoothie part of the drink was gone!

So that's it for today folks! I will be taking before and after pictures on this journey along with a lot of other things that I enjoy doing and reading and etc...Signing off for the night!