Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Trim Healthy Mama: Week One Plus A Recipe!

I have to say that I ordered this book more out of curiosity than I did with any plan to follow the program.   I had a few friends who were doing well following this plan, and I am on a facebook group for moms and quite a few ladies on there have raved about THM for months.

 Once I got the book and dug in, I couldn't believe the wealth of information that was included!  It was all so easy to understand and I was finally understanding concepts and facts about the body and nutrition that I had never really been able to totally comprehend.

After I made it through the chapters that explained WHY this eating plan made sense, I was sold!  
I had already made out a plan to get those pesky holiday pounds off, but I took an extra week and reworked things to fit Trim Healthy Mama!  

Can I just say that I LOVE THM!  

I really wish I had bought this book after I lost weight 2 years ago (was it even out then?).   This way of eating makes sense and is working wonders for me!

Let me back up a bit.  Back in the summer I was down to my lowest weight yet...I was eating great and exercising, yet I started having some health troubles.  My doctor sent me for blood work just to check everything, and my fasting blood sugar came back high!  My blood pressure had been running high all summer and I couldn't figure out why.  I had gone off of my bp meds a month into my initial weight loss in 2012 and thought that I was done with that issue.  
My doctor urged me to increase my exercise since I was already eating good, and asked me to monitor my bp.  

Fast forward to December and I was having a lot of trouble with my BP still.  Didn't surprise me since it was already elevated leading up to Thanskgiving, but that's also when my eating started going downhill.  I won't hide that fact that my attitude was bad--I had spent months wondering why I even bothered with the clean eating if I was still going to have trouble.  So, I started eating stuff I knew that I shouldn't (the scale showed this pretty quickly).  
I had a bit of panic and went back on my blood pressure meds.
Fast forward a bit more to now--I have been following Trim Healthy Mama for 1 week and things are going great!  Reading the book helped me to realize that while I was eating good foods, I wasn't combining them in good ways!  It makes total sense to me now (as well as the fact that my BP was likely high due to the increased insulin in my system).  

I LOVE that I have spent the past week eating some amazing foods that are completely satisfying!  I am filling my diet with "good fats" that I used to eat sparingly (once a day maybe).  My family is eating all of the meals that I make and I haven't had any complaints (in fact, they often go back for seconds). 

 My cravings for sweet, salty, snacky foods are gone thanks to the abundance of fats that I'm eating!
I've lost 3 of the 10 pounds that I gained over the holidays--and I haven't counted a single calorie!  
My jeans are feeling lose and I am pretty sure that I won't be on those blood pressure pills much longer (I'm already sensing that my bp is going low!).  

THM is a bit overwhelming at first, but I gave myself some wiggle room in that first week and had to learn by making mistakes.  It takes time to figure out how to pair the foods, but only a week in I feel like I have a good hang of it.  The facebook page is helping me a lot!   

I can honestly say that this is a fun way to eat and I am pretty sure that it will be permanent for our family!!

Now, if you read all of that then you deserve a little reward! 
 This is the recipe for a snack that I eat almost every day.  I went a bit heavier on it this morning and had it for breakfast.  A friend's husband calls it "Hippie Yogurt" and I think that's perfect!



"Hippie Yogurt" (S)

1/2 cup nonfat Greek Yogurt
Stevia to taste (I use 4-6 drops)
1/2 cup rasberries
1/3 cup walnuts 
2-3 tablespoons unsweetened coconut
1/2 teaspoon hemp oil (optional)

Mix yogurt, stevia, and hemp oil in bowl.  Top with berries, coconut, and walnuts.  
In the picture I used a small handful of blueberries instead of raspberries and no walnuts.  That pushed it into FP territory, so keep that in mind.

Enjoy!!!

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Back On Track



I fell off of the "clean eating" bandwagon around Thanksgiving.  I now have 10 pounds of "Holiday Cheer" that I need to offload, and to be honest I need to go lower than my original goal 3 years ago (was it really that long ago that I started working on this issue??).  

I have done fairly well maintaining my weight for the last 2.5 years.  I tend to play around with 10 pounds here and there, but I always get it back off.  This time I'm going for about 10-15 more, so we'll say that I'm working to lose 25 pounds.  Give or take a little. 

 I don't like that I have to continue working to keep the weight off, but I have come to terms with the fact that this will be a lifelong journey.  If I stick with the lifestyle changes and stay one step ahead of the nasty enemy, it will be much easier!

This is my "plan".  These are things that I know will work for me and they are realistic.  I will likely mess up sometimes, but that's okay.  I'll pick myself up and keep going!  

*I'm going to cut out all grains and refined sugars.  I will allow myself stevia and a limited amount of coconut sugar.  

*I will be trying out the Trim Healthy Mama plan (waiting on my book) but again, no sugars or grains and very little dairy.  I have had a few of the recipes from the book and they are good!  

*I'm going back on my SuperMom vitamins.  These are awesome and I really had a much easier time losing weight while taking them. Maybe a coincidence, but I do know that I feel great while taking them.

*Drink 1/2-1 bottle of Kombucha a day.  I love this stuff so much.  I make my own but also drink this brand when I'm out of my stuff.

*Track my foods using an app.  I won't necessarily be "counting calories" but I do need to journal what I'm eating.  

*PLAN MY MEALS!!!  Going into the day without a plan is a recipe for disaster.
  
*100 ounces of water a day.  Ideally you want to drink 1/2 your body weight in water each day (converted to ounces, of course!).  100 ounces isn't 1/2 my body weight.  It's just an amount that I aim for.

*Get back to taking a probiotic again.  The Kombucha is full of probiotics but I am going to take another one as well.

*30 minutes at the gym, 3 times a week.  This doesn't sound like much to some, but again--setting realistic goals.  I'll build up to more.  If I take a class then it will add extra time.

*Last but certainly not least, PRAY!!!  This will always be an important part of my battle.  It's a spiritual one for me--the enemy knows that food is my weakness and he uses it against me.  I may re-read Made To Crave as well.

Hopefully I can keep my progress updated here weekly...I'll do my best!!