Today I was pleased to see I reached a new milestone- since January I have lost 20 pounds!  I now weigh 146.  I am pretty happy about this.  That means I have about 12 to go to reach my goal and to be well within a healthy BMI status.  I have not been too firm about my exact goal- just that I want to be below 135 pounds and being as I cannot remember beyond being 132 when I was sixteen years old…those are the figures that have been in my mind.  As long as I am in the “normal” BMI range I will feel better about how well I take care of myself.  More importantly I will know I am significantly beating the odds of getting many health conditions which are correlated with poor BMI stats.

Also, I have gotten up and walked both yesterday and today.  My hip hurt a little afterwards and sometimes when I stand up from a sitting position.  Maybe that is my new normal though.  I ran a little during my walk, but nothing to write home about.  So my activity and my willingness to get out of bed in the morning for exercise is an exciting new development! 

Now that I am comparing these two pictures, I can really see the results.  When I first looked at today's picture I was a little let down because I thought 20 pounds gone would make a greater impact than it has on my general appearance.  Even though I am not motivated by vanity, a person still likes to see results!  Well I can say that I am starting to see results when I look at the pictures. Also, yesterday I tried on all my shorts from last summer and I cannot believe they once fit me.  They all went into my "too big" bag.  Last summer I felt great because I was running 80ish miles a month, but my poor body was sure packing too much extra.  However, here are my before and after 20 pounds lost pics…

Before:

After:

April 17, 2016

Weigh-in Sunday is here and I have weighed the same weight to the ounce for the last four days!  I’m at 147.2.  I feel pretty confident that I can have more success this week.  I just have that feeling again.  

Yesterday I went for a 2.5 mile walk to test out my hip.  My hip had been feeling good for a couple days, then after the walk, I could “feel it”.  It is pretty discouraging but I know the body is self-healing and being active is so important to me.  So if walking is all I can do and it challenges my strained hip flexor then that is what I want to do!  It needs to get strengthened and healed for my summer time activities.  Tomorrow morning I plan on getting out there again, and at least three days this week.

This was my diet today which equaled about 1,000 calories…I could have been at 869 without the chips…coulda, woulda, shoulda:

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
1 cup black coffee	4 cauliflower florets 4 baby carrots 3 grape toms 3 Tablespoons hummus 1 unsweetened smoothie 1 ants on a log	3 rice & bean tacos- corn tortillas Tortilla chips (about 14) Guacamole (about ½ cup)

Today is off to a great start!  I always love beginning my day with progress and success.  My weight was down to 147, a new all-time low on this journey.  That makes for 19 since January!  I am thrilled because I have been pretty well plateaued for a while.  However, earlier this week I just felt like my body was ready.  I can’t explain it but when I came back from vacation and that one pound gain came down, I just had a physical feeling like I was about to lose weight because my weight had stabilized itself. 

 Yesterday I went shopping then remembered I had a play date picnic scheduled at the park with another pre-school mom and kids.  It was last minute picnic packing, and my tummy was growling so I just threw in a half sandwich (peanut butter and honey) for myself along with a banana.  So that was what I had.  I had planned on having veggies but what can I say?  After we came home from the picnic I was cleaning up and thinking about what to make for dinner when my tummy was rumbling again.  I knew that I was already challenged not to overeat for dinner time, so I did not want a snack but I also felt as though something had to happen because I don’t like to ignore my hunger for long.  Then I remembered some tea that I had recently purchased.  Yes…tea!  It is perfect for the afternoons.  I made my tea, enjoyed the quietness of naptime, and prepared a delicious tomato soup for dinner.  No snacking!  I am going to remember snack time is really tea time in disguise in the future.

One thing I did that was not great was what I call the Mom diet.  After my salad and one bowl of soup I felt completely satisfied.  Then I cleaned up all the little plates and bowls of the little ones and I had some more bites of soup that was left in their bowls.  The mom diet- I clean my plate and yours too!  I hate it when I do that one!  Perhaps tomorrow I will be better about not wanting to “waste” food and put my needs first…hopefully! 

Today I am feeling recharged in this mission to obtain a healthy BMI.  I am back down to 148 from my vacation gain and am feeling good.  Yesterday evening I made a dinner that was very satisfying and guilt free even though I had seconds.  It was an Italian style veggie soup with cabbage, carrots & kidney beans.  Delish!  I served it with a slice of homemade bread and refrained from a second slice.

Today I enjoyed some peanut butter toast for breakfast, one quarter of a peanut butter honey sandwich and smoothie for lunch, and look forward to having my veggie packed chili for dinner this evening.  My total calories should be at about 994 at the end of the day.  Right at about 1,000 calories per day is where I want to be.

  Honestly, I do not think I will make the deadline I gave myself earlier this year.  I had hoped to be somewhere between 132-135 pounds by late May.  At this point I do not have an interest in trying to obtain that timeline.  I would have to “diet” the old fashioned way which is a ship built to sink.  Eventually, after doing without for a while…I want food!  So that is one this I have tried to avoid doing this time around.  I do not want immediate success that will leave me faster than it came.  I do not want such small success that I lose my ambition along the way.  I am trying to get the best out of my nutrients that I can without putting my health and happiness on the back burner.  So maybe I won’t lose 13-15 more pounds  by the end of May, but I hope to have lost 5 more!  If I lose 1.3 pounds from here through the end of June, I will be at my goal.  That is doable!  Looking forward to July! Whoop whoop!

The key is going to be moderate sensible dinners.  I think we all know what the key is to our dietary success, because we know generally what we do wrong.  Some people would argue this.  I could easily say that I am an active woman who maintains a plant based diet with lower calorie intake, so I have no idea why I am overweight.  However, I would be overlooking the fact that I knowingly eat unhealthy portions for dinner and never go to bed on a flat belly. 

Some of you have given me some positive feedback lately and I have found that very encouraging.  A friend said congrats to me for only gaining one pound on my vacation, an aunt commented that I had lost quite a bit of weight since having my baby a year ago, my parents said I look great, my niece said every time she looks at me she is inspired, and lastly my favorite one…my brother said I look like a runner!  I have been a runner for the last four years pretty regularly, but I have not looked like one so that put a smile on my face!

Speaking of activity…this is where I am falling short.  I have decided to take a lengthy break from running to let my hip flexor heal hopefully for good this time, but I could be walking!  I could be setting my alarm, stretching, walking, and loving every minute of it.  I think this is where I am going to put some emphasis and energy towards either late this week or early next.  I really need to and want to.  Right now I am still riding the vacation excuse- I am tired and am catching up on a week’s worth of laundry for six people.  The truth though, is that I feel better when I get out of bed early and exercise.  I always thank myself, and I have never regretted it.  So why don’t I?  I can’t think of one good reason.  So Krista (note to self)…just listen to Nike…Just Do It!!!

Hello again to my blog and readers!  It has been too long since my last post.  Before I forget to put it out there, today is weigh-in Sunday.  My weight this morning was at 149.  Last time I weighed it was 148…but being as I have spent the last eight days being on the road and vacationing with family,  I consider this a success. 

Some people take on different tactics while vacationing for their diet.  What I have seen with my family and friends, is an unwritten policy that during vacation, dietary health is temporarily put on hold.  I analyzed this behavior all week, I am fairly curios as to why we do this!  Has my health status stopped mattering to me during vacation? Do I need to be free of dietary obligations; or rather is my diet confining me to a point a rebellion has built up?  Or is it just pointless to fight the schedule of convenience food while en route?  Even my ten year old child eluded to this “vacation diet” practice.  Example:  (Child) Can I have more chips?  (Me) Why don’t you  have some more salad instead.  (Child) But we are on vacation! (Me) Does that mean we don’t care about our health today?...how did my child come upon this understanding?  Did a memo go out during spring break to all kids?  If so, perhaps we as parents should begin working on our own memos. 

I think the best way to create a new perspective and understanding is to normalize and practice that behavior yourself and others around you catch on.  Hopefully our children are among those who follow such good behaviors.  So on this trip, I came packed and ready to defeat this understanding of putting dietary health on vacation.  We packed our car with a variety of healthy foods.  We did not purchase food on the go, and we were able to enjoy healthful, affordable, no-regret meals on the road.  Along the drive, during meal time we would find a park to go to.  Children would run out and play in the park area, while we unpacked food, set up picnic and put together the meal.  Right about the time the kids got their sillies out, it was time to sit and eat. This practice is perfect!  I could not imagine the stress or financial burden of a restaurant or drive thru food topping a beautiful picnic with my family.  We had salad, veggies with hummus, sandwiches for the littles, dried fruit & nut mix, fresh fruit, and of course the must- have, moral-improving bag of tortilla chips- we are not perfect. 

My husband was not so sure about my grocery list at first, ( we always pack our own food, but it  has never had as much fresh produce and he did not know how well the food would travel).  I argued  those foods are must haves in order to feel good about my diet versus out of control.

So we packed: carrots, cucumber, celery, grape toms, cauliflower, hummus, salad, saltine crackers, dried fruit & nut medley, tortilla chips, peanut butter, honey, jam, bananas, oranges, apples, homemade granola bars, half-dozen homemade cookies, Dave’s Killer Bread.  After the first picnic lunch we were all very happy with our selections.  What can be better than foods that actually make you feel better while on the road?  I told my husband, that I could not imagine how I would feel if I had some greasy on the go food and had to drive for six more hours with kids.  It sounds like torture!  Fresh air, exercise, and good food made the trip enjoyable!

The next challenge was to eat with family and make variations to our meals for my plant based diet.  That went well also.  My husband’s family were very thoughtful about accommodating a diet that suited everybody.  I even learned something about my smoothies-  the almond milk can be skipped altogether and a small portion of water can be added for a very nice smoothie instead.  Just a banana, berries, ice, water, and honey will do just fine. (I probably could skip the honey as well in fact adding honey to my smoothies is relatively a new practice for me, but that’s another battle and besides it is allergy season, so I need it, right)?

Don’t get me wrong…I was not a dietary saint on this trip!  I snacked too much on the fruit & nut medley that I love…I ate a large dinner every evening, and I never skipped a meal.  So now that I am home, and my verdict is in for the my weight after a week of travel food (which was good food but I never worried about calorie count), I am happy to see that my weight has stabilized in the upper 140’s.  Now I feel I should have some good results with a renewed effort to control my portions. 

Lastly, I received some great motivating results while out of town.  I had to buy a new pair of shorts and capris (last years are too big).  I grabbed size 8’s and 10’s to be safe and headed to the fitting room.  I was pleased to end up grabbing and buying size 6’s on both.  What a great treat.  I am still thinking it must be big brands…but I will take it! 

I hope each of you can continue to have success and good health while traveling and vacationing this spring and summer season.  Let us not put our health and goals on vacation ever again!