Sunday Morning Thoughts

Hello, Friends!

Can you guys already feel the busy that fall brings? Football games, homecoming, pageants, and just life in general. Like I have said many times, these next few months are my favorite time of the year. I love everything about fall. I'm excited to decorate my house, change the scents in my house, pick out Halloween costumes, I  mean you know the drill and I'm sure you're all doing the same thing. How exciting!

In the life of Brooklynn and I things are going pretty good. She is still going through some of the things I spoke about a few weeks ago, dealing with the separation anxiety. It is not as intense as before and she isn't crying when I leave her at school any more but to be out of my presence for an extended amount of time, outside of school, is still unpredictable. I've decided not to stress about it. She and I have talks about it and I assure her that things are okay when she is not with me. I'm just waiting for it to pass.

I have still been doing great with my clean eating and results are still showing. Yesterday I got on the scale and was down another three pounds so that makes twenty total at the end of week five. Week five I was out of sorts and low on cash. I was not able to buy and eat the things that I do on a daily basis but I still managed to stick to it. I just don't feel confident with out all my fruits and veggies to eat on  all day. I got paid Friday and yesterday I went and stocked up on everything I needed.

Robert, Jamie Lee, and my sweet Lyvi Love were here last weekend. As always, it was so good to see them. Olyvia is getting so big and changing so much each time I see her. She has the sweetest spirit and is such an easy baby. We played babies for a good thirty mins and she was just as content and taking everything in. I cant believe how big she is. She will say almost anything you tell her to. She and Brooklynn are just as close as ever. When Lyv' sees Brooklynn her little eyes light up and she smiles as big as the moon! It's precious. While they were here we went to the West/ South game at South Jones and had dinner a couple of times. I will never get used to them living far away but it was so good to spend time with them.

My sweet family

sweet girls

I love this pic

oh and this one too

sweet sweet

 

love my sister

Paw paw & His girls

 

 

We needed some new pics. These are all super sweet but I cant figure out why they are so small and right now I don't have the patience to figure out how to make them bigger. Either way they are precious right?

 

 

Today/tomorrow starts week six on my journey to a healthy life style. I have tried some fun recipes and of course I have been taking progress pictures. Some days I feel super dedicated and some days I feel like I haven't lost a pound. When I get out the progress pictures they really help me put things in prospective. I don't guess I have really ever "known my body". I was so unhealthy that I didn't even know how to listen to my body. When you start eating healthy you can really tell what your body needs as far as nutrition goes. For example, when I first started this and like the first two weeks into it, I was still eating a pretty big supper. It would be healthy but larger than it should be. This past week I really payed attention to my body and I ate a really small supper almost every night. I cut way back on my portions for the evening. I would just have a cup of veggies or only a turkey sandwich and be satisfied.  I'm still eating it by five o'clock every night but it's just a lot smaller. I fuel my body by eating all day that when it's time to eat supper it does not take much to satisfy me. I have had a few glasses of sweet tea and I even had some carbonation but found that it made more thirsty. It was nice with lunch or with dinner but I do not have it every day or with every meal. I try not to get on the scale but once a week. A couple of those weeks I would get on every few days and my weight would fluxate so much that I would feel defeated so I stopped that and started only weighing once a week. 

 

Being over weight my whole life has taken it's tole on my body, my mind, my emotions, and my confidence in ever achieving any goals I have set for myself. I have dieted so many times and never stuck with it. I have tried every pill, every powder, counted points, and done every challenge out there with out lasting results. What I have been doing the past five weeks is working for me. Physically I  am there, mentally I am there, emotionally I am there and I am confident that what I am doing is what I should be doing. There is no turning back for me. I feel like being and staying committed to this will help me be and stay committed to other things I want to do with my life. Self peace is something I am big on. I have hid from who I really am for so long. I would embrace every other thing in my life but always had this dark lurking shadow of bad health that I would just pretend wasn't there. To face that demon, one that I have repressed for so long, has put me in a much better place with myself. I had to just own it that I had never cared about myself or my health, for a number of reasons. YOU HAVE TO CARE ABOUT YOURSELF! I have not cared about myself in a really long time. I was in a destructive relationship for over five years and disrespected myself on so many levels. I became a single mom and totally devoted my life and everything in me to my little girl, which is great but I forgot to care about myself. Being a single mom and having to work extra hard was almost an excuse to not care about myself. Isn't that awful? I had to dig deep and I had to face how bad I was to myself and then I had to not let that be something negative in my life. I made bad choices, I took wrong turns, I ignored my health, I ran from my demons and it is what it is. I am not that person any more. I do care about myself. I do care about my health. I try to make very conscience decisions in every aspect of my life. When you want a change in your life, you will make one. If you don't want a change in your life, you will make excuses. It's not easy but it's worth it and becomes the new normal!

 

These muffins are so good!

All you need is a box of chocolate devils food cake (I got the moist one)

and a can of pumpkin. Mix the two together and trow them in your muffin pan.

Put them in the oven on 400 degrees for twenty mins.

They are not super low in calories or fat but they are great alternative for something sweet!

My crock pot has become my best friend.

Here I did chicken breast, which I brown a little bit before putting them in and

lots of veggies. Celery, peppers, carrots, mushrooms, and cauliflower. I also steamed these on a very

low heat for a few mins just to soften them up a bit before I put them in the crock pot.

I used a recipe starter from Progresso that was cream of mushroom and I added a pack of

onion soup mix. I let it cook all day. The last two hours I put in a cup of brown rice and y'all 

this was great. I ate on it for several meals. I also brought my mom and Mr. Sid some to eat on.

Use your crock pot!! 

This picture is from day one week one, and day seven of week four.

Progress pictures truly are a good motivator. Use them!

 

I did this progress picture last night.

This is week one, week three, and the end of week six.

I can tell in my clothes more than anything that I am loosing weight.

 

 

 

Some of my friends are like "well I do good all week and then I eat pizza". There is nothing wrong with that. Most of my friends are much smaller and do not have near the weight to lose that I do. Whether you're 200 pounds over weight or 10 pounds over weight, making any healthy choices is what it's about. Reality is that no, not every meal we eat for the rest of our lives will be the most healthy or the best choice as far as nutrition goes but that the fact that you  make more health conscience choices than you do bad choices, when it comes to food,  that is a life style change.

 

I am thankful for all the love and support I have gotten since I started this journey. My family is always encouraging me, especially Robert. He constantly checks in on me and tells me he is proud of me. I have never felt judged by my  brother for my weight but I always knew how much he cared about me and just wanted me to live healthier. My co-workers have been great. They have been supportive and give me fresh ideas when it comes to food. Their daily encouragement keeps me going! My friends, well we all know that I have great friends! Having a team of support around me has been so helpful. The support from my friends on FB, IG, and from those of you who read my blog keeps me accountable. Making a change in your life no matter what it is, takes time. I challenge everyone to look at their life and find the things that need to be changed. May it be finances, may it be a relationship, your job, your role as a wife or mother,weight, priorities, anything that you have been running from and just face it! A few weeks from now you will be glad you cared about yourself enough to face the change! I hope you all have a great week!!