My excuses are disappearing.....

For so many years I have used excuses for my weight: 
--I'm just supposed to be fat
--I'm not hurting anyone but myself
--I'm just big boned
--My grandma (more on this later)
--I just don't have the time to exercise
and so many more.   I have a harder time finding excuses not to exercise now, and a harder time finding excuses to eat junk.  Now, I think everything is 'allowed' when you are on a health journey....I just don't think 1) it needs to be eaten in excess or 2) it needs to be a staple in your weekly diet.   I keep telling my daughter that cookies/candy/ice cream is a sometimes food (just like Cookie Monster said -- he's my favorite btw).   She actually has been making better choices for being 7.  Not that she doesn't love ice cream and candy, but she's not against eating broccoli, green beans, oranges, or other healthy items.   I'm trying to instill good choices in her eating habits now, so that she won't feel the same I have my entire existence.
Let me expand more on my grandma -- Ma.  Ma lived during the depression.  She often told stories of going to bed hungry.  She loved the best way she knew how and most of the time  food was involved.  I can remember being a little kid - about the same age as Bug is now - and going to the grocery store.  I loved cheese balls.  Planter's Cheese Balls to be exact.  Cheese curls didn't really hit the spot, but give me a canister of cheese balls and I was in HEAVEN.  

Can I get a witness?

I can remember getting a canister (and this was the 80s so these suckers were not cheap) and getting home from the store, and opening them up and watching tv.  Before the tv show was over, the cheese balls would be gone.  Was I hungry? Nope.  Was I bored? Yep.  Was I stopped? No.   I can't blame every choice of eating on my grandmother, and I don't doubt that she loved me, but she didn't tell me no when it came to food.  She always said, "Don't eat all of them" but she never stopped me either.  Love? Without a doubt.  Healthy habits with food? Not really

I could sit here and try to make up 1,000,000 more excuses or reasons why not to lose weight.  The excuses aren't they for me anymore.  Do I have days where I don't want to exercise - you know it.  Do I have days where the last thing I want to do is put another drop of water into my body? Yes.   Do I realize how much better I feel after dropping 50 lbs? Daily.   I can't make anyone change themselves.  I can't twist their arms to try a workout with me or a shake....but I can be there when they decide they want to make a lifestyle change.   This is not the stopping point for me.   Not in the slightest.

A snowy Saturday in the South

Ahhh here we are---January 23, 2016 and about 5 inches of snow on the ground.  Bug was diagnosed with strep throat on Thursday, so yesterday we just ended up hanging out at the house.  My boss' are amazing, and called me and said with her being sick and the impending weather (the snow didn't start until about 11 a.m.) for me just to stay home.  Bug slept most of the morning, and since I didn't get much sleep Thursday night checking on her, I napped, too.  Tucker (our 11 month old cockapoo) decided it was as good a time as any to take a nap with Mommy and Sissy so he did.   I did let her bundle up and go out to the snow with Tucker, and they stayed about 5 minutes.  She is now laying on her bed watching videos on Youtube.  The Hubs had to go to work this morning....sometimes you gotta do what you don't want to.  At least his direction of travel is a direct shot unlike the hills he used to have to travel.  I've cooked breakfast, scrolled through Facebook, and watched Food Network. Such an exciting Saturday!  I'm not a fan of being out in the snow...I prefer to look at it through the window which is exactly what I'm doing.

I did see a cardinal this morning...it came and perched on the porch railing.  It wasn't the normal solid red like you normally see....this one had some gray and black on it.  It was beautiful.  I have heard that a cardinal is a loved one that has passed coming by to say hello.  So when I saw it I smiled, said hello, Tucker barked, and it flew away.

Update on weight loss:  I lost 3.4 lbs this last week which makes a total of 41.1 lbs since August.  I still have a way to go, but I'm happy where I am at the moment.

 

It's been a while....

It's been almost 2 years since I've written on this blog.  It seems that I had gotten sidetracked (haha) and let the blog slip away. In fact, it's been almost that long since I've even read past blog posts.   But I did go back recently and re-read some.  It's surprising how many times I have been on a weight loss journey only to give up and go back to old habits.  Well....not this time.  I'm about 40 lbs down from the highest weight I can ever remember seeing.  I'm not at a point where I want to share that number, but just know I don't ever plan on going back there.   I joined a great group of folks in this weight loss competition called Lose to Win.  The session I was in was the 14th session....13 had passed and I didn't join them.  13 past sessions where I could have been well on my way (I almost typed weigh lol) to a healthier me.   But I let them slip by.  I told the director that I wish I had done this sooner, and I honestly do, but I don't think I would have had the success.  Something clicked before I ever signed up for it, and I knew THIS WAS MY TIME.  I can't explain what happened, because I really don't know.  But it did and now I am on my way to a healthier me.  It's about time.  I mean I have a gorgeous daughter and awesome (although sometimes frustrating) husband that I love with all that I have and they both deserve to have the best version of me.   So, I'm on a journey.  A journey that will be full of ups and downs and tears and laughter and highs and lows.  But I'm ready for the 2nd leg of my journey.   In the first, I saw a weight (and am seeing now) that I have not seen in 7 years.  I have completed 2 5ks.  The first one I thought I wasn't ever going to finish, but I did.  The second I shaved about 20 minutes off my time.  I also completed a 2 mile walk for Alzheimer's.   In this 2nd leg, I have plans to do 3 more 5ks in the Spring.  The Alzheimer's walk is in September, and that is on my calendar, too.

Let me tell you why I want to walk for Alzheimer's.  It's such an ugly disease, and it slowly stole a person that I had loved and trusted my entire life from me and her entire family.  My grandma was a spitfire.  She was the hardest working woman I have ever known.  She loved as best as she knew how, and was always wanting to feed you.  In February of 2011, her battle with Alzheimer's ended and she became fully healed from that awful disease.  Finding a cure for this will not help her (her cure came from God when He welcomed her home), but could help many others.  It's awful.  That disease ultimately stole her from us.  It stole her from my daughter and my nephews, and from my soon to be born baby niece.  It stole her from my mom, me, my brother and sister.  There has to be a cure, and I believe one day there will be one.

I'm all over the place with thoughts....I think I'll wrap this up tonight.  Maybe tomorrow there will be more.

And the March wind blows....

I love almost everything about Spring.  Flowers blooming, grass is green, and gardens get planted....so, you are asking "what don't you like about Spring?"  That's easy:  the storms.  I know you can have storms year round (and we have had several this winter), but somehow Spring storms frighten me more.   I have never been a fan of storms.  I think it's supposed to snow tonight up to an inch.  Ahh....Spring can't come soon enough!

My precious girl has been asking to listen to 'Jesus music' more.  Since we don't have a local Christian station (we need the Fish!!! (94fmthefish.net)), I have to rely on cds.  I have one that has kids songs on it and we listen to it pretty much every day.  She loves church and I'm so glad that she does.  I think she would go every day.

Her preschool sent home a registration packet for next year. --sniff, sniff-- In 5 short months, my baby will start her last year of preschool.  In 7 1/2 short months, my sweet miracle will be 5 years old.   It really does seem like yesterday we were bringing home a 7 lb 14 oz bundle.  A friend posted this comment on another friend's status, and it's so true: " Enjoy each stage of life. Reminisce and remember but don't be so focused on how she was that you don't enjoy the beautiful life God has created her for."  I love that!  

Another new name....

So, I've gone through another name change on here.  I keep changing because I can't seem to nail down one that 'fits'.  I've been 'Twisted Tennessee Girl' and 'Tennessee Girl Gets Real'.  Somehow, I think Sidetracked Southern Belle fits.  I'm constantly getting sidetracked.  I do have a 4-year-old spoiled diva precious daughter that sometimes needs my attention.  Then, of course, there is the cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc. that requires my attention.  I'm from Tennessee, which is not the most southern state, but I like to think that I'd still be a Belle living here.  :)

Right now, my precious is standing beside me whining and begging looking at me with her big blue eyes (which came from my btw) and asking so graciously, "May I please have the computer?"  Yeah, you laughed at that, too, huh?  Oh, the drama...LOL  Please pray for me and my dear Hubs as the years pass, more hormones kick in, and the girl dramatics become extreme.

I suppose that is all for now...Oh! We're getting snow! Not much, but it's March 1st, and we are getting snow.  Gotta love Tennessee

Night folks!

Getting real....

2012 was a rough year.  Everything was off...I am really not sure what happened to me last year.  I was different as a person, as a wife, a mom, a friend....everything.  I went through a low point faith wise; God didn't move, but I did.  All that happened is behind me now, though, and this is a brand new year. A new year = a new me.  Maybe not completely new, but a revised edition LOL

In 2013, I want to be more involved with church: .  I want to get the relationship with God back the way it's been before and even better.  I want my daughter to see that I live what I believe.  If I tell her that believing in Jesus and going to church is important, but I don't actively show it then what good am I doing?  So, even if Hubs is sleeping for work, Leah and I are going to go on Wednesday night.  We go together as a family on Sunday morning, but haven't gone on Wednesday night in a long time.  Well, that's going to change.

I've started a healthier eating bit, too.  Not a diet per se, just watching what I eat more.  Portion sizes and what's going in my body have been more at the forefront.  I'm also using My Fitness Pal to track my food.  It's a great program.  I lost about 20 lbs last year with it, but got frustrated and stopped.  Not this year, I haven't even weighed, but I feel better because there is better food going in my body. 

I guess that's it...I know I didn't finish my 30 days of Thankful here.  Maybe one day I'll try to summarize them all up.

<3>

Days 3, 4, & 5 of being Thankful

Sooooo, I'm having to play catch up now.

Day 3: Neighbors!

We have great neighbors! I grew up in the neighborhood where we live and aside from a few houses, most everyone is the same.  There are a few changes, but they are positive ones!  There is one man in the neighborhood that is like the 'pillar' of the neighborhood.  He is the greatest.  You won't find another like him at all....

Day 4: Internet/Facebook

This is a mixed thankful ;)  I have 'met' some awesome people over the years - thanks to the internet.  I have dated a few guys that I met - thanks to the internet.  I have met some people I wish I hadn't - thanks to the internet.  I still talk to people I haven't seen in 20+ years - thanks to the internet.  Facebook has been a great tool to get back in touch with people that I thought I would never talk to again.  It's been 15 years since I first used the internet or went into a chat room.  KDF in Nashville used to be a rock station and had a chat room.  I met some *AMAZING* people from that room!  Jenny (my bff I mentioned previously) for one!  Chris A, Vivy (Which I have yet to meet face to face!), Leah W....good times, good times.

Day 5: Bug's preschool

Bug goes to Grow in Grace Preschool...It's at our church and this is her 3rd year.  She LOVES school! She is so sad when she doesn't get to go.  We both have made friends through the school.  Hopefully, friendships that will last forever.

I have a few more days to catch up on...maybe tomorrow!

XOXO,
Me