I'm back! An update on my goals...

Hi Friends!


It has been a while since I last posted. You can directly correlate my lack of writing to the business of my life... that is for sure. Between working full time, lesson plans, grading, weekly student notes, a very busy 11-month-old, serving in young women, and spending time with family and friends, it leaves little time for extra things. Like blogging.


However, I really stink at keeping a journal, so this is pretty much the only place that things get recorded. I need to get back to writing things down, before I forget them!  I will try to update you a little bit at a time.


For today, I want to call your minds back to this post: Making Goals




Back in October, I set three goals:


1. Read scriptures daily for at least 10 minutes, and use my scripture journal.

2. Do one household chore each day. (at least).

3. Lose 3 inches from my waist by our wedding anniversary. (March 13th).

I just want to report back on their progress, now that I am 9 months into my commitments.

1. The scripture goal, well... I haven't been as consistent as I would like. I am still working on this.. and it has evolved a little more into a new goal of thinking about and preparing for my YW lesson all throughout the week, starting the Sunday before. I have been trying to ponder more about what I teach throughout the week, rather than throwing something together on Saturday night.  Same with preparing for the Sunday school lesson. I have been trying to familiarize myself with the chapters to be discussed in class on the coming Sunday. I haven't been perfect, but I am working on it.

2.  Doing 1 household chore each day definitely has been happening. Yay!  Unfortunately, now that Evie is mobile and human tornado, it doesn't seem like 1 chore is making as much of a difference as it used to. *sigh*  I guess I need to do a little more.. and maybe not count making dinner as my 1 chore.

3. The lose 3 inches goal... while I was skeptical at first, also has happened! In fact, not only have I lost 3 inches, but I have lost 5 inches! Wahoo!  I have lost 30 lbs, and am down 3 dress sizes.  This is the skinniest I have ever been in my adult life.  

Want to know how I did it? 

The first thing was I was inspired by two very powerful documentaries. One is about juice fasts, and is called "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead." In the documentary, this man who has lots of chronic health conditions goes on a 60 day juice fast, drinking only freshly juiced veggies and fruits, and he completely got rid of all of his adverse health conditions.  I was having issues with weird rashes, joint pain, and acid reflux after having Evie, and I was tired of taking meds for it.  I decided to try it - at least a modified version of it. For 5-6 days of the week, I had fresh juice for breakfast, a normal lunch, and then juice and a small vegetarian meal for dinner. Usually salad or stir-fry.  This documentary is on Netflix, and they also have a website where you can learn more about the whole thing: 

http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

The other documentary is called "Forks over Knives" and it is all about the benefits of a whole foods/plant based diet. This inspired me to go about 90% vegetarian to improve my health, and it totally worked. I haven't cooked meat for our family for almost 7 months. I have prepared meat on a couple of occasions for friends who are over for dinner, and I will eat meat when I go other places, like when meat is served for lunch at work. However, I would say that I avoid eating meat at least 3-4 days per week. I have also tried to cut pre-processed foods out of my diet completely.

Lastly (at possibly most significantly), I have been using an app on my phone called MyFitnessPal to track my calorie intake and my exercise. It has helped me learn more about the calorie content of foods, what is the right amount of calories I should be eating to meet my goals, and the balance between food and exercise. I love it, and I know without it I would not have been successful. 

The best part of all of this is that I feel like it has been a lifestyle shift, rather than a temporary diet. I think that my mentality has shifted and my understanding and relationship with food and exercise has changed significantly. 

Now, I only have about 13 more pounds to go until I reach my goal, but I am not rushing it.  I usually only lose a pound or so (sometimes less!) each week, which I think is a realistic and maintainable amount. The part I love the most is that I have been able to do it in a healthy way that is nice to my body. No supplements, no crash dieting, no messing with my metabolism. 

Before

After!  (sorry I don't have a better picture.. I'll have to take one.)