Whole30

From my previous posts anyone can tell that I've been struggling with my weight loss journey. Not just with weight loss, but the desire to eat healthy and exercise. I'd rather eat a doughnut every morning for breakfast. There, I said it! However, we all know that's no way to live. So I was trying to come up with some type of plan {you are know I'm a planner by now, right?!} and stumbled across the Whole30 challenge.

From what I understand, Whole30 is basically the Paleo diet. It is just a jumpstart in the right direction of eating whole foods, which is what I need. I rely too much on carbs to become full and sugars for energy. In the end, they both make me feel sluggish and unmotivated. Ain't nobody got time fo dat.

A few of the meals I've been eating.

So, I've put together a meal plan. I found the breakfasts' were the hardest to plan as I do not like/eat eggs! But so far, I'm on Day3 and noticed that it is very manageable. Do I miss my Dr. Pepper? uhh..yea!! But I'm hoping this "magical" feeling that people say they feel by following this lifestyle will surface in the next few days.

Here is my 5 days meal plan, after day 5 I will post a new plan for days 6-11:



Day 1- Monday:

Breakfast: apple w/ peanut butter

Snack: banana

Lunch: avocado chicken salad

Snack: carrots w/ hummus

Dinner: Pork chop and veggies

Day 2- Tuesday:

Breakfast: turkey bacon and banana

Snack: peanuts

Lunch: leftover pork chop & veggies

Snack: apple

Dinner: salsa chicken

Day 3- Wednesday:

Breakfast: turkey bacon

Snack: banana and strawberries

Lunch: leftover salsa chicken

Snack: peanuts

Dinner: turkey meatballs w/ spaghetti sauce & veggies

Day 4- Thursday:

Breakfast: strawberries and banana

Snack: peanuts

Lunch: leftover meatballs

Snack: apple with peanut butter

Dinner: ground turkey and pepper blend

Day 5- Friday:

Breakfast: turkey bacon and apple

Snack: carrots and hummus

Lunch: leftover ground turkey and pepper blend

Snack: peanuts

Dinner: steak and veggies

I will keep weighing in on Fridays even though the challenge says not to weigh yourself. I weigh to stay motivated, so whatevs! I'm in no way an expert on this, I'm just following people on instagram and pinterest for ideas in hopes of learning some better eating habits and shedding a few pounds. Follow me on instagram: alliemarshall627 for daily photos of the #Whole30 challenge and of course of my beautiful baby Bradley!

My 1st Mother's Day

Sunday was such a sweet day for me. I got to celebrate being a mom! Every day is a celebration to me because I got to be with my sweet boy, but just taking an extra day to be reminded of how special being a mom is, is nice.
You can read about my infertility journey here.

I absolutely love being Bradley's mom. He is such a joy to me and everyone he's around. Becoming his mom 5 months ago came much more naturally then I originally thought it would.
When we found out we were having a little boy I was overwhelmed with emotion. I was happy, excited and nervous. Mostly because I don't know much about boys. I have two sisters, 4 girl cousins, Jordan has 2 sisters, and all my friends were having baby girls. I just had never really been around baby boys. Before finding out our baby's gender, when I searched the internet I always looked at girl items (let's be honest, the clothing selection is soo much cuter). But the moment I met Bradley I knew I was meant to be his mom. Everything just seemed to 'click' and it's been a wonderful journey into motherhood ever since.

On Sunday I also got to honor my mom. I am very lucky to have her in my life. She has always been super supportive and present in me and my sister's life. She has also been a great grandmother to Bradley and my sister's kids. She wants to be a part of them growing up. I am forever grateful for how much she has helped me with Bradley while I finished up this spring semester.

My mom and I (32 weeks pregnant)

Mother's Day also brought on some bittersweet thoughts. I was thinking about all the women still suffering through infertility and all the emotions that come with. I remember after my 1st miscarriage in May 2009, the very next day was Mother's Day. It was heartbreaking to say the least. My wish for women dealing with infertility is that you hold on to hope, because having a baby (by whatever means) is the ultimate prize and will make your journey to motherhood so much more worth it. <3

Weigh In {good, bad & ugly}

Well, it was an ugly weigh in. Go figure. I've been down on myself all week. This morning I weighed in at 211.8. That is a gain of 1lb. Ugh. Just ugh. Not much else to say, except keep truckin' on.
So. Let's just end that post here and I'll share my motivation..
My little family.

Seriously..Jordan and Bradley make me the happiest I've ever been. They both look at me with unconditional love. They see me instead of the number on the scale. I'm constantly working on that love for myself that they show me.

A long way to go.

So I was emailed picture proofs from the 5K today.
omg.
That's all I can say.

Seriously, these pics were super up close and personal...and cringe worthy to say the least. Sad thing is, I didn't even know they were taking pictures? I much more prefer my instagram filters ;) (follow me: alliemarshall627)

I would post them in all their "realness" but they are proofs and I'm not buying those ugly suckers. Bleh. So just use your imagination.

Anyway, the reason for this post is because I had a REAL eye opening experience today. Just when I was starting to get "comfortable" with myself I am knocked back down to remember that my weight loss journey is not complete.
I have a long way to go.
But will continue to work at it every day...

Obsession.

Let me tell you something about myself..
I am an obsessive person.
I get on these "kicks" every once in awhile..weight loss, selling Scentsy, baking cakes, crafting, coupons, etc etc. They end up consuming me for awhile then I slowly get over it. I know it drives my husband crazy, but that's just me.

When I started my weight loss journey in 2010 at 250lbs, weight loss consumed me. I wanted to lose weight as quickly as possible. I joined Weight Watchers for the 4th time, but was 100% dedicated this time. I wrote down everything I put into my mouth. I counted every single point. Next thing I knew I had lost 52 lbs.

I then became obsessed with the scale. I would weigh myself every morning, as soon as I got home from work and then right before I went to bed. Then when I'd get to work in the morning I'd open my excel spreadsheet and record my weight. EVERY single day. I knew exactly what the scale was going to say at Weight Watchers every Friday so really I was paying them just to stand on their scale.

I think my husband started realizing that this was becoming an unhealthy problem. I would literally let the scale dictate how my day was going to go. I distinctly remember one Friday afternoon my weigh in didn't go quite as I'd expected so I wanted to rush home and get to the YMCA. When I got home I couldn't find my headphones to listen to music at the gym so I flipped out...and guess who got the blow? My poor husband. It is really shameful to look back on those days.

Jordan ended up hiding the scale. Literally. It was to help me trust in the weight loss program and become more confident in myself. I posted about it here. It didn't last long though. We actually argued about my obsessive ways with weighing myself and I compromised to only weigh myself at the Weight Watcher's meetings.

...Then I quit Weight Watchers. and I quit blogging for awhile. and I quit tracking points. and I tried some fad diets like the 17 day diet, etc. and I fell off the wagon. I didn't exactly gain ALL my weight back, but I sure wasn't in the ONEderlands any longer..and I haven't been there since.

It was like I felt that if the scale didn't tell me my weight, my weight loss journey didn't matter anymore and I didn't take it seriously.

Why?

I don't know.

I don't understand my logic a lot of the time.

I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do about that damn scale. Do I need to revert back to my old ways of weighing myself everyday to stay motivated? Do I need to just get rid of the scale all together? I'm confused. Obviously I'm just getting into a rut with weight loss and beginning to feel like I'm never going to make it to my goal.

help.

Prairie Fire 5k {recap}

Let's back up to Friday night.
I got home from work, immediately drained thinking about the 6 page final paper due for my Saturday morning class. ouch. but then I remember that I've scheduled a run with my dad. I didn't want to give up this run, because it was the last run before our race on Sunday morning. I decided I would just sacrifice some extra sleep writing my paper.

So, we go back to our "roots" (the path where we first started training) and it was the best run we've (I've) had to date. I only stopped once in the 3 miles and just felt really confident that I would be able to run the whole 3.1 miles on Suday.

Then...Saturday evening struck and Bradley was inconsolable. Seriously, crying nonstop which is so NOT like him. I was getting worried about him. Luckily, one of Jordan's colleagues is a pediatrician and was able to look him over. Turns out, it was just a tummy ache and gas (new mom probs), but it caused him to be uncomfortable all night; he was waking up every hour or so=no sleep for mama.

I woke up Sunday morning and immediately reached for my phone. Oh F$%*$#^&^* I overslept!!!!! I was scrambling all over the house getting my stuff together to leave for the race (Whyyyy I didn't do this the night before I'll never know!) I got to my parent's and we headed downtown to find parking. I ate a banana and a FiberPlus protein bar on the way. Of course it was super busy, but we were able to find parking.  I'm also glad my mom was able to stay with Bradley while I ran as Jordan was still at work by this time.

My Dad and I before the 5k

As we were walking towards our start line, the half-marathoners ran past us which was a huge motivator. The atmosphere was really uplifting and I was able to let go of any negativity I was holding on to (I was tired, I felt rushed and the weather was terrible). We got in line with about 10 minutes to spare. I stretched and people watched. We lined up near the back as I didn't want to be trampled by the hardcore runners.

The race started and we got into a good pace. I was worried that I would start off too quickly like I did at my last 5k, but that didn't happen. We kind of migrated to the outer edges of the trail. The first mile felt like it went very quickly, but there was a point where I was like, "where the f$%&%$ is the 2nd mile?!?!" The trail was through a residential so it was extremely boring sight seeing. A few points through the race we crossed paths with the half-marathoners which was awesome. From mile 2 to mile 3 went rather quickly as well and before we knew it, we were done!

Our official time was 43:39 so averaging a little over 14 minutes per mile. I feel like that is a good starting point. Definitely not ideal, but I've never claimed to be a runner. I'm just trying the best I can. and..my goal was acheived! I ran (jogged) the whole time.

We've signed up for 2 more races..June 8th and June 23rd. I'm determined to start liking running.

Weigh In (good, bad & ugly)

It's a vicious cycle I tell ya. I weighed in this morning at 210.8. That is a loss of .6. So, as you can see I've been hopping around from 212 to 210 for the past month. I started my weigh in's on Fridays again on 4/12/13 at 212.0. So in April I lost -1.2....cool.

40 weeks pregnant vs. 21 weeks postpartum

This is getting a bit ridiculous, really. But I don't have any excuses. I know I need to clean up my diet more, I know I need to track my food on myfitnesspal.com, I know I need to drink more water..the list goes on and on. I know what it takes for me to lose weight. I lost 52 lbs from 2010-2011..and I want to lose a good 40 more.

May goals:

Track everything on MFP

No Dr. Pepper

60 oz. water a day (weekends included)

My 5k that I've been training for since March is this weekend! I have a range of emotions, but for the most part I'm confident.

Have a great weekend :)