Trim & Healthy-one step at a time-Week 1

So, here on my blog, there are a few different Trim Healthy Mama (THM) recipes and related posts. In July of last year I gave several good reports of what THM was doing in my life with pictures. I reached my lowest adult weight by the end of the summer last year......

Then something happened. I let stress take over my life. It started off with holiday stress, but that rolled into just life stress, and I felt like I couldn't get a leg up. I couldn't find my groove again. I would set a start back date, just to allow the daily stresses in my life derail me halfway through the first week or first day. I kept hearing things like, just start over in 3 hours, but I couldn't get rolling with it. I cooked a lot of THM meals, but these little off plan snacks and drinks would find their way home with me, and I would devour them. 

I found myself dealing with a "last meal" mentality regularly: "I'm going to pig out today, and then I'm back on plan starting tomorrow." THM offers wonderful satisfying meals and desserts. When I was faithful to it, I never felt deprived, but for some reason, I couldn't get the sugar/bad carb taste out of my mouth, and the mountain I have been trying to climb to get back to following the THM plan has been like trying to get to the top of MT. Everest. 

Meanwhile...my weight has steadily climbed, and now I have to lose the weight I lost before, all over again. I'm sad about that, but not about ready to give up! I've spent the last several months, finding myself, so to speak. We drastically reduced our belongings, relieving, I would say, about half of my stress. I've simplified my life and confirmed what my priorities are in life. I've come to the realization that I am not meant to conform in ways I thought I once had to. I'm finding my joy, and my style again. While I wear modest clothes and mostly dresses for a reason, that does not define my style. I'm not a penny loafer, dress suit wearing, church lady, not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just not me. I'm a boots and converse wearing, denim skirt and t-shirt wearing gal. That's how God made me, and I'm giving Him my best, when I'm being the person He created me to be. Unique....I'm letting go of all these ideals I thought I had to conform to, and getting a hold of a few main principles....Love Jesus and others with my whole heart....Be who God made me to be, and do my best at it, and live a simple and Jesus focused life! 

With all that dealt with, my stress is almost gone....I'm a mom, so a stress free life is not always a possibility, but with these things dealt with I can now handle the little stresses SO.MUCH.BETTER!

So that brings me to now. I need to take a slow-one step at a time-approach to getting back to this sugar free, low carb, lifestyle way of eating. Going whole hog, does not work for me. It overwhelms me. So I decided to break things down a bit, and take some baby steps. Removing one bad habit at a time, and replacing it with a good habit. Facing one small part of this plan, one meal, one snack, one drink, at a time. Even dealing with exercising eventually. I'm praying that this will help me to detox a lot slower, to not be overwhelmed by all the different meals/snacks I need to plan for, and make the cravings a lot easier to deal with. 

Here's my plan for this week-

For for my first week, I'm going to focus on drinks. Drinks, can be a big source of empty calories, if you are drinking the wrong things. I am a serious Dr. Pepper addict. Major empty calories. I have and can live without it, but getting over the initial cravings is tough for me. So, this week, I am eliminating all sugar laden drinks from my life, and drinking only yummy and healthy THM drinks and other healthy drink choices. While I don't plan on focusing on other aspects of THM right now, we often eat meals that are on plan. But I won't be stressing if that off plan peanut butter cup sneaks into my shopping cart at the store, for now :)

Here's how I'm preparing for my first week-

-Making sure there are no off plan drinks in the house. My husband still likes his tea sweetened with regular sugar, but that is not a temptation for me. 
-Making recipe cards for all my favorite drinks to have on hand. 
-Going shopping and making sure I have all the ingredients for my favorite drinks. 
-Buying some carbonated water for fizzy drinks, for when those soda pop cravings hit. 
-Putting some stevia in my purse for when I'm out and about and want something to drink, like unsweetened tea or coffee.
-Knitting or crocheting a quart jar cozy for my drinking jars.
-Buying a new coffee mug 

All of these things aren't absolutely necessary, but they will certainly make the transition easier for me. 

Here is a list of some of my favorite drinks-

-Good girl moonshine-The original, as well as most of the variations. My favorites are caramel apple, fruit punch, and cider pop. 

-The Shrinker- Original and the shrinker latte that I created. 

-Singing Canary-This one always gives me a ton of energy!

-Trimmaccino-I love all these variations! Including using the recipe with tea or making hot chocolate. I'm also really looking forward to making the healthy version of the pumpkin spice latte . Coffee in general is my favorite thing to drink, after Dr. Pepper. 

-Sips-The pumpkin and apple pie sips are delicious! 

-As well as the too many to mention drinks and shakes you can find on pinterest....and not forgetting just plain water and tea. 

I LOVE that most of these drinks are made with just basic ingredients. Stuff that I already have mostly on hand or can get easily here in town. Just some ACV, a few different tea variations, some spices and extracts, butter/oil, almond milk, cottage cheese, cream, some stevia, and a couple of less common items (that always last forever, and well worth the money-gelatin, mct oil, etc). 

So, what works for you? Baby steps or all or nothing? Are you having trouble getting back to healthy eating? I'd love to hear how others deal with getting back at it! 

Have a blessed week!
sara