Trim & Healthy-Week 3

Well, I made it through week 2! Baby stepping my way back to being a trim healthy mama! This week I tackled my morning meals/snacks!

So, now, I am fully on plan in:

-What I drink! No Dr. Pepper! No more sugary drinks! 

-From 12 am to 12 pm each day, eating only on plan foods. I ate mostly all S meals, with one crossover. I rarely ate anything but breakfast during that time, but there was a couple nights where I got the hankering for a midnight snack, and I ended up eating a handful of nuts or some yogurt. This was pretty easy for me, because I'm not really a big breakfast eater anyways.

Struggles I faced this week:

 I had really low energy all week. I mean, really low! It didn't necessarily make staying on plan during the morning hard, it was just discouraging, and difficult while I'm trying so hard to do better. I also did not lose any weight this week, and felt pretty bloated, and yucky most of the time. Detox maybe? I'm not sure, however, I do feel like I'm ready to tackle the next step!

My plan for this week:

This week, I'm going to focus on continuing to drink healthy, slimming drinks, and eating a good, filling breakfast, and adding to that, enjoying a trim and healthy lunch. Lunch time is hard for me, for a couple reasons. I have a hard time slowing down to eat, and when I do, I scarf my food down quickly! We're in the midst of finishing up chores for the day, getting school work done, and getting littles down ready to go down for a nap. My usual go to lunch is a quick sandwich on less than healthy bread or leftovers. My rule for this week, is that I'm going to stay on plan from 12 am to 3 pm the next day. We usually eat lunch right at noon, when my husband comes home for lunch. 

My favorite lunches:

Ok, so like I said, we are usually a sandwich or leftovers for lunch kind of family. This can still work, while staying on plan, using on plan breads and wraps. With the weather cooling down....well, here in Oklahoma, it's still in the upper 80's this week, but we're getting there....but we do a lot of soups at lunch, and I also enjoy a salad a couple times a week. I'd like to eat more salads, but I just don't love them enough yet ;) Here's a quick list of some of my favorite lunches:

-Lunch meat or leftover chicken, beef, or fish (also natural peanut butter, and sugar free Polaner jelly) sandwich fillings, with all the fixin's, and bread or wrap, based on whether I'm eating an S or E meal.

-Soup, sometimes served with a sandwich/wrap. I LOVE the Just like Campbell's Soup in the book with a grilled cheese on a half a Joseph's lavash bread!

-Salad. I'm a big fan of the salad's in a jar idea! Going to try to prep at least a few salads for the week to make easy, quick lunches. 

-Quick pizzas-One of my kids favorite things here lately is taking a piece of bread, toasting it, then topping it with pizza sauce, cottage cheese, and some mozzarella. i can do that with on plan bread or wraps. 

-Poached salmon, and a baked sweet potato

-Leftovers! Lately we haven't eaten many on plan meals in the evening, so that will depend on what we have the night before, if I'll have leftovers to eat. 

Some other things I'm doing this week:

-Continuing making recipe cards to add to my recipe box for quick meal references. 

-Staying off the scale. At this point, it's not helping me to feel better. I need to pack it away, and just measure success by how my clothes are fitting me for now. 

-Making it a point to slow down and sit down and enjoy lunch with the kids and stop rushing!

-I'd like to streamline my menu planning a bit more. I'm thinking about making a list of 10 things each for breakfast and lunch to choose from. Specific recipes. I can switch them out occasionally, but having just some set things to choose from would make my life a little easier for now. 

That's all for this week! I keep hoping to be blogging more, but right now, once or twice a week is working for me. Better than nothing, right? :) I hope everyone has an amazing week! Good luck on getting healthy! 

Sara

Trim & Healthy-Week 2

I don't have a lot of time to elaborate on this week's focus, but wanted to check in anyways...so this will be quick. 

This little sweetie pie is keeping me busy this week :)

First, though, I wanted to say, this week, just having to focus on one thing, one aspect of getting healthy has been amazing for me. It was SO easy! And already making sure I'm drinking healthy, life giving drinks instead of junk is becoming second nature for me. I know what to do when a craving hits. I know what I can get when I'm out and about, and want to stay on plan. I could have worked harder at staying on plan in other areas, but just didn't worry about it, and did what I could, and just kept focusing on doing the one thing, of drinking good healthy drinks, as my main focus. And now I can say with full confidence, that I'm ready to add another small area of eating healthy to my life. 

My plan for this week-

So, this week, my focus will be on breakfast. To make things a little easier for me, I'm setting a time limit for breakfast meals, and when I can go back to just eating whatever. My plan is to eat an on plan breakfast, either S, E, or FP, by around 9 am, our usual breakfast time, and then to not eat again until lunch time. This should give me about 2.5-3.5 hours between my morning meal and lunch. That way if I have a craving, all I have to do is tell myself that I can have it but not until after noon. Setting rules for myself is the easiest way to help me to guard against eating or drinking the wrong things or eating too often. 

This book is amazing! It's helping me so much with changing my mindset about food, and helping me to put my total focus on God! 

I'm pretty basic when it comes to breakfast. Here's a few of my favorite things (no time for links today):

-Eggs-fixed any way. I especially like frittatas and boiled or poached eggs. 
-Oatmeal-I like plain oatmeal with some stevia and cinnamon, but I also like the cold refrigerator oatmeal made with yogurt. I sometimes add berries or peaches as well. 
-Shakes or smoothies-any and all kinds
-Yogurt with slim belly jelly and sometimes some granola. 
-Muffin/cake/brownie in a mug

And I especially enjoy eating leftover (on-plan) desserts for breakfast if I have any leftover. :)

And of course, breakfast is always served with a big ole cup of coffee...iced or hot depending on the weather! 

I'm so thankful to be, ever so slowly, getting back to taking care of this God given body, and getting healthier! How are you doing with staying on plan? Any goals that you are working towards this week? 

Blessings, 
sara

Mid-Week Check In

I only have a few minutes, but I wanted to stop in and say that, so far, THIS has been, by and far, the easiest way to start a new lifestyle way of eating! 

Taking it literally one small part at a time is just so much easier than going all in at once for me. I've been able to focus on making sure I'm drinking what I should be, and not worrying about anything else, and knowing that for now, it doesn't matter what I eat, so long as I what I drink is on plan, and good for me! 

Some benefits I've already noticed is:

-I've already dropped a couple of pounds! And I really haven't eaten very well all week. 

-My tummy is much less bloated than it has been!

I'm figuring out what I can get to drink, that is on plan, when I am out running errands. Unsweetened tea from just about anywhere or coffee with a little stevia added to it. Vitamin Water Zero, or just plain old water. 

One thing that I've really been able to notice so far this week, is that often, when I'm really having a craving for what I *think* is a Dr. Pepper, I am really just thirsty for something cold, and a drink of some good girl moonshine gives that little bit of burn that soda gives and is nice and cold, and just what I need to get past that craving!

I'm looking forward to my next baby step, which will be breakfast!

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