Weekly Weigh-In #4

I’m a day late, but this week has been all about forgiveness, so I’m forgiving myself. I pulled myself back up and I kept going and giving my all.

Lets get to the results right away!

So, after all that’s said and done, I gained some weight. But as I said, this week was about forgiving myself. I realized in the beginning that I was already biting off more than I could chew (figuratively and literally speaking). I’ve said before that I have a “go big or go home” mindset and it’s often to my own detriment. So I took it much slower with myself this week and gave myself grace and patience. I’ve been carefully looking over the things I’ve eaten and my activity levels. While I keep myself fairly active around the house, cleaning and keeping up after my daughter, my eating is where I’ve been going wrong a lot. That’s a given, I am a foodie, afterall.

Snacking doesn’t have to be unhealthy.

When I think of snacking, the first things that typically come to mind are chips and cookies. Loaded with sugars and carbs and sodium. So of course, after I’m done devouring these things, I’m feeling bloated, uncomfortable and lethargic. So this week I decided to change some things up.

In the morning, for some extra sweetness to go with my oatmeal, I had 5 apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon and stevia for a decadent snack of only 35 calories. A couple hours later, I snacked on a small bowl of blueberries sprinkled with stevia for a total of 20 calories. They kept me full until lunch time when I had some grapes and a salad. These snacks came total to 210 calories. That’s the equivalent of a bowl of chips and they kept me feeling fuller longer and without the bloat or lethargy that comes with snacking. I actually felt much lighter and cleaner after these little treats.

The Food Challenge

Carrot Fries

I wanted to try getting creative with vegetables and I happen to have a weakness for french fries. I love the Tasty food app and love searching for easy and quick recipes and just happened to find something appealing. So I thought I’d give their carrot fries recipe a try.

Personally, I did change up the recipe a bit and added some cayenne pepper for a little more heat. I can’t say that they were exactly like french fries, but they were pretty good. My only advice is to broil them for extra crispiness. They were a bit soft, so a little disappointing to my palette, but I wouldn’t say these would be out of the picture as a healthier alternative.

Going With The Flow

I’ve been continuing to strive to increase my activity every day. I still treat housework as an exercise and try to catch myself from sitting on the couch and keep myself moving. This last week, I’ve incorporated Tai Chi into my morning routine and I’ve found it to be incredibly relaxing. Even if it’s only 10 minutes a day, I am trying my hardest to find time to work it in. Can I say I’m fully committed to it? Not yet, but that’s because I don’t want to jump in feet first without testing the waters of my limits.

But one thing I am fully committing myself to is my early birthday present from my husband. The elliptical. Low impact cardio is something that I really want to incorporate into my daily routine. I am still set on running a 5k this September and I need to build up my endurance and my lung capacity. While the weather is still very unpredictable right now in the Black Hills, training on an elliptical in the mean time is very helpful. Already this morning, I’ve used my elliptical for 15 minutes and according to MyFitnessPal, I burned 195 calories! That is incredible! I felt good after my workout, my thighs feel tight and I found myself having more energy to do more afterward.

This Was a Week Filled With Self Love and Self Care

Earlier this week while my husband and I sat together before he left for work that morning, he told me something he wanted me to do. He told me to practice self care. He told me to love myself. That brought tears to my eyes and made me realize how much he loves and cares about me. I deserve to feel the same about myself, too.

When I was working, before I gave birth to my daughter, I took immaculate care in the mornings. My hair was styled, I dressed nicely and I wore makeup. I sometimes find myself lately not even bothering to change out of my pajamas, keep my hair in a bun and I only wear makeup if my husband and I go out somewhere nice. But since my husband made that remark, I’ve made a point to start wearing nicer clothes in the morning, put makeup on and I even went and got a hair cut. I am typically an absolute girly-girl. I used to love trying different styles of makeup and creative ways of doing my hair up. It wasn’t for anyone else except for me. Feeling good in my own skin is what it’s about. It’s hard for me to find myself attractive if I’m lounging in pajamas with yesterday’s baby spit up all over them. So I’ve been wearing my more cuter outfits this week, making a point to get my eyeliner on point and just feeling like a rockstar. My energy has changed and I feel more positive in that light.

I’m not giving up on myself because I know my self worth. Life is filled with trial and error and figuring out what works. What works for one person doesn’t work for another, and that’s okay. Everyone is different and every body is different. I’ll find my niche. I’ll find what works.

I also wanted to shout out and say thank you, again, to everyone that reads this. Not only does it mean the world to me, it’s keeping me motivated, it’s keeping me accountable and I am so appreciative. If you struggle like me, as I’ve said before, you aren’t alone, and I encourage you as well. With love.