Challenging myself to two weeks of cleaner eating!!

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It has been almost a year that I have been on the journey to better healthy.  I really started getting serious around Sept. 1 of 2012.  It hasn't been an easy journey and I have hit obstacles but what a learning

Yesterday's meals!

experience it has been.

When I originally started out I was at my heaviest weight 162.  I had never been that heavy in my life and my health wasn't that great.  At the age of 36 i really didn't feel I needed to be anti-depressants, heart medication, high-blood pressure medication and honestly the list could go on and on.  I was so drained and tired all the time that I wasn't enjoying my kids the way I wanted and I felt so insecure and uncomfortable in just regular clothes.  I knew it was time for a change.  I wanted to have the energy that I once had and be able to enjoy life and be able to toss all the medication out the window.

I had tried so many things in the past and was determined to not go down that route again.  I joined MyFitnessPals.com first off and started tracking my foods.  It is AMAZING how many or how little calories you can eat and not even be aware of it.  This was one tool that has completely kept me on track and the fact that it's FREE and I can download a free app on my phone as well..you just can't go wrong.  Anyone that wants to add me on there is more than welcome.  My username is AsTheyGrowUp.  I admit that I have gotten very lazy about tracking my foods over the past few months and I am paying for it.  My choices aren't as great and I have no idea if I am getting too many calories or too few.  All I know is that I have continued to workout and my weight or inches aren't budging.  It's time to get serious again and this is the first place I start!

One of my little motivators

When I first started working out, my goal was to find a workout that I knew I could stick too. I didn't want to attempt something that I would dread every day, because let me tell you..I am the queen of finding excuses for not doing something that I don't love.  I knew it had to be a workout I could do at home since going to the gym is impossible with two little once.  I don't always have a babysitter available and that would give me an excuse to not go.  After tons of reading and research I decided to go Chalene Extreme.  If you haven't heard of it before it's an awesome workout!! This program  kept me motivated and it was easy for me to keep up with which surprised me because I was so out of shape.  I mean I hadn't worked out in 5 years, easy.  The workouts were short which was a plus and it was weight lifting which i love.  You can read more about this program HERE.

Being that I am the type of person that has to have a schedule in order to stick to something I then decided on LMP and well the list could go on.  I won't bore you with all the details and programs I have completely

Teaching kids to lead an active lifestyle is so important!

but they keep me on track.   However, my biggest downfall is food.  I admit I love to eat and being from the South we have some awesome dishes that aren't the least bit healthy.  I do indulge in them from time to time still but nothing like I used it.  I have even managed to successfully turn some of the unhealthy stuff, healthy and it still tastes good.  Not like the original version but still good.

Since around May of this year I have completely fallen off the wagon. I still work out daily and just recently changed up my routine a tad and my body sure can tell it. The soreness is there.  But here I am busting my butt with working out to only cancel out all my hard work with bad food choices.  It's frustrating and I'm not seeing any positive changes in my body.  Starting this week I am going to be doing a clean"er" eating challenge for two weeks.  I have no plans on stopping once I get started, but I prefer to say two weeks at a time and do baby steps.  To set longer goals can at times result in failure.

At the end of the week I will update everyone on how things have went and put a few pictures up of my food choices for the week.  I'm hoping that cleaning up my diet will start to keep cravings at bay again!!

Stay tuned!!