So far, So good...

Wow! I'm on to week 3 of The Biggest Loser Competition at the gym. My first week I lost 3lbs... My thought, ok well it could have just been a really good day for me, every one has those up and down days. Plus the day before I had participated in a pretty intense spin/pump class. (A class which combines spinning on a bike, hand weights, barbell, and other strength exercises) That first week I started out my "healthy lifestyle" by using simple portion control. But after that I thought, heck I keep finding all these delicious recipes on Pintrest why don't I just start trying them. So, last week along with portion control, I started cooking healthier meals, and getting my but moving more, I put in one more day at the gym, and did some Wii Fit. I went in yesterday to do my weigh in (same time every Monday to help with consistency) and I lost another 4lbs! I couldn't believe it!

My biggest push has been my son. It's amazing what a little guy can do to your life. It was easy for me when he was an infant to just sit around with him, to eat easy junk food, and to just feed him his baby food or give him his bottle (or breastfeed him while sitting on my butt lol), but now that he's been eating real food I've realized I have to choose the right things to feed him so he will grow right, and so that he will always eat right. The only way anyone learns how to eat and move right is by example and I want to set a good example for Lil'Man.

My biggest help has been Pintrest. I keep finding some great sites like....



Lets you know how many ingredients
and how long it takes to prep and cook



Tells many of the recipes nutritional information (though not all) and has easy categories to search



Has a lot of really good Weight Watchers and
other healthy recipes along with a nice blog

Along with some great random recipes. Last week and this week I've only made the healthy recipes I've found, and have yet to find anything we don't like.I've actually found ways to make some of the recipes even healthier by using low sodium, low fat, or low calorie items vs the traditional items. I've been buying a lot more fresh produce or frozen depending on the need, I try to get items that are low in sodium, fat, or calories, and of course I try to stay out of the aisles.

My biggest motivation in figuring out how to eat and how to exercise self control has been a girl Taralynn McNitt and her blog Undressed Skeleton. Taralynn's blog has so much! It has her own personal story, food ideas, motivation, tips... Everything I have needed to help me started with this new change she has easy to find. She has so many great suggestions, ideas, and tips!!! I really do recommend checking out her blog if you are looking into starting a healthier lifestyle, even if you don't follow everything she does (which I'm not specifically) she can still help you feel like you can do it!

Over the years I've come up with so many excuses to put off changing my lifestyle, buy no more. I've had a great start to a healthier me, and I'm excited to see where this new lifestyle takes me. It's going to be a long, hard, and at time slow going road, but I'm going to push through it and keep going. If not for me for Lil' Man... And so far, so good. :)

Oh and while I really not sure how much I want to I think I'm going to try and track my weight loss visually by posting a picture of myself each week.... I'm a very visual person and I think this will help me to see my progress.