A Lifestyle Change?

I want my blog to be about my family and our day to day lives.  I want it to be a scrapbook for my kids to have forever of their lives.  But I also want it to be an outlet for me to share about my life.  I know that there aren't that many people who read it which makes me know that I can really share things.  I hesitate to even write about this "lifestyle change" on here because once people know about it then they will also know if I fail at it.  And trust me, I have failed at plenty of things... 

We have been wanting  to eat healthier and be more active but have honestly been failing at it.  I love food!  I love ice cream, candy, donuts, cake, pasta, bread, pizza, burgers, eating out, and the list goes on.  Now I am not the worst eater in the world.  I don't eat sweets every day but definetely want it every day.  I love sugar!  I could eat a blizzard every day if we had the money and I had no guilty feeling every time I did eat one.  I also love going out to dinner.  If Jay takes me on a date, going out to dinner is my favorite thing to do on a date.  I just love going to a restaurant, sitting down, being taken care of, food being brought to me, and not having to clean up after.  It's probably a good thing that we don't have a lot of extra money so that keeps me from going out to eat as much as I would like to. 

I honestly don't have a lot of self control when it comes to food.  If there is something sweet in front of me, I will eat it.  I don't very often just leave it sitting there.  This drives my husband crazy.  He has so much self control when it comes to food.  Now he's not perfect either and he wants this lifestyle change for both of us just as much as I do.  After I had Madelynn I promised myself and Jay that I would start working out and watching what I eat.  I really do want that for myself and for my family.  I want us to be an active, healthy family and I know it all starts with me.  I am the one doing the grocery shopping and cooking which means I probably have the most control over our health habits.  Honestly, it is an area that I fail in every single day.  Carter eats mac and cheese more than he really should and I mess up daily.  I really want to change these habits. 

So we were introduced to a reset challenge to do with some friends through church to help get us motivated and reset our bodies.  We are starting tomorrow night and I am very nervous.  For the entire month of September we will be competing against some other couple friends of ours to change our habits, eat healthy, exercise, put good whole foods into our bodies, cut out all refined sugar and bad carbs, and lose weight.  I am looking forward to it and think we really can succeed at this.  However, I also know that I am fully capable of failing at this and letting myself and my family down.  My hopes and dreams for this month is that it will reset our way of thinking and get us motivated to continue with this lifestyle. 

A few days later...
So I started writing this blog but then never finished.  She now we are on day four of this reset challenge that I was describing previously and I can honestly say we have not cheated once and we have had four days of pure perfection!  I will explain what we are eating and how it is working in a minute but I am seriously shocked that I am still so motivated.  I don't think I have ever lasted four days of any type of healthy eating and living!  I know that is sad but it's the cold hard truth.  I suck at losing weight and eating right!  Seriously!  So here we are on day four of this adventure and we are both rocking it!  I haven't had refined sugars or carbs the entire four days (and I'm telling you people, that is a miracle for me!)  I went to my dad's last night for dinner and cake for my brothers birthday and did not touch the cake!  Seriously, a miracle.  I also had a hamburger with no bun...say what??!?!?!?!?  This one might even shock me more than that though...I had corn on the cob with no butter or salt.  And guess what?  It was delicious!  I have never had corn on the cob without butter and salt.  Seriously, who am I?  Okay, I am a bit amped up but I am so excited for what Jay and I are doing and I am just praying daily that we will continue on this path and that it is just the start of a major lifestyle change.  Now I promise you that I will be eating some of those things again!  In fact, a blizzard might just be my reward for doing this month long challenge.  However, I hope that this month will be the motivation that we both need to make these changes for life.  I don't want to just do this for a month.  What a waste of our time and a waste of delicious cake that could have been put into my belly last night!  I will eat carbs and sugars again but I hope I will do it in moderation and that I learn some great tools this month to continue eating right after our month challenge is over.  And seriously, I hope I lose some pounds! ;)

We are using the Usana shakes and supplements and are really enjoying those.  We both drink a shake for breakfast.  They are pretty good and super healthy with all the right amounts of fiber and protein.  This morning I blending strawberries, blueberries, a banana, and spinach in with my shake and it was delicious!  We are also taking their vitamins.  The rest of our food we are doing on our own.  We are eating a ton of fruits and veggies and trying to stick to all lean protein.  Chicken, eggs, cheese, peanut butter, salmon, plain yogurt, almonds, etc.  I am learning to like things I never did before, like almonds.  We also have goals for how much water we drink and how much exercise we do each day.  For each day we have five goals where we earn one point per goal.  So far we have earned all five points for each day!  At the end of the month there will be winners.  We like to win!  :)

This is a bit of a stretch for me to put this much info on here for others to read.  But maybe this will help me feel a little more pressure to keep up the good work.  I don't want to fail at this!  I am tired of feeling fat, having no energy, getting headaches, and feeling like I battle with food everyday.  I am hopeful that September 2012 is the beginning of the end of these battles.  We shall see :)  If you know us and love us, please pray that we will continue to fight for this!