Positively Weightless

Well another Thanksgiving has come and gone. I do hope you all enjoyed yourself on the holiday! I sure did. I have plenty of really healthy meals planned for next week and even have two training sessions scheduled this week with my personal trainer. Although I let myself enjoy the holiday and all the yummy food that comes with it, I am fully ready and looking forward to getting back into a much healthier routine this week. I figured I would continue with the post I did last year for Thanksgiving. I wrote a post listing all of the things I was thankful for that year and I think making that an annual tradition would be a wonderful idea.

First and foremost I am so completely thankful for all of the people in my life. Every year people come in and out of our lives, and some even return. I am at a point in my life right now that I feel perfectly content with all the people that are in my life right now. Friends come and go but the true ones will stay through thick and thin. I am so thankful that I still have such a close friendship with Danielle after we reunited last year. I am so thankful that I am so much closer with Nicole now. I am very thankful that Stephanie and I are still best friends even if we are busier with our lives right now and don't get much time for each other any more. That is to just name a few. Between friends, family, work friends etc. I could not even try to list all of the people in my life that I am so incredibly grateful to have. People come and go in our lives for a reason. It is the ones who stick around that show us just how loved we really are.

I am incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to keep my passion alive with this blog as well. Sure this page is more of a hobby than anything, I never had any intention of this page blowing up, I have always just done it for me. I see the number of viewers every week and it makes me very happy that people are reading the words I put so much into. Sure some posts do a lot better than others. Usually if I am reviewing a book or a product. The Oola Tea review I did a few months ago still gets views weekly, but really that has never mattered to me. I have always said if one person randomly comes across my page and I can help them in some way with my words, that would mean the absolute world to me. I have always loved writing and am incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to keep that alive weekly... even if it is just for me.

I am still very thankful for the growth I continue to instill in my life. I want to continue my tradition of doing an end of the year reflection this year so I won't go too much into detail right now. Over the past year I was able to establish a much more steady blogging schedule. Not just a blogging routine though, I have also been able to get into a much better routine for my health. Sure, the holidays are going to mess that up, but getting right back on track whenever I have been able to is the most important. I have grown overall in so many different ways. I am so thankful I have been able to hang onto that and to keep my chin up even when the results weren't exactly where I wanted them to be.

Just like last year I want to encourage anyone reading this post to think about what they are thankful for. A lot of people have already done this on the holiday, but if you have not, take a few minutes and ponder. Even if you are really down on your luck right now I am sure there is something you can think of that you are thankful to have in your life. If for some reason there is something that you are thankful for but need to focus on a bit more, do just that. Call that friend or family member that you may be neglecting. Eat a few healthier meals during the week. Maybe even do a random act of kindness and give someone else something to be thankful for. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving, and I just wanted to end this blog by saying how incredibly thankful I am for you for reading.

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Well even though I promised myself I would blog every week in 2018, I broke that promise last Sunday. I had 3 out of 4 wisdom teeth removed earlier that week so I was still recovering. I had them removed on the Tuesday prior and honestly had a way better experience recovering during the week than I anticipated. Once the weekend hit, however, I was having a little more difficulty. Sunday evening came around and I honestly just did not feel great. I put off really all of my usual Sunday chores just to rest up. Along with that I made the decision that it would be better if I just skipped writing that week. I am sure you can guess where I am going with this...

I am a pretty big fan of my routines. As I have mentioned before, Sunday is the day I meal prep, do laundry, and write for this page. I go to the gym Monday thru Thursday and have a pretty specific routine with my workouts. I even eat my meals on a pretty tight schedule as well. I am not one to usually stray from this often. Having wisdom teeth surgery and recovering from that completely threw off my routine in all aspects. Like I said I didn't do my typical Sunday activities last week. I haven't been to the gym since the Monday before my surgery because I wanted to be sure I was healed enough and fully comfortable with going back. I obviously had to totally change the foods I ate as well since there were a lot of foods I couldn't eat for a while. Cutting back on sugar basically went out the window seeing as I ate a lot of ice cream and pudding. Needless to say I haven't been on a set routine in almost two weeks now.

Recovery was my biggest focus during these two weeks. I personally see nothing wrong with this at all. I would highly encourage you to do the same if you need to spend some time off of your typical routines. I needed to do this for a more obvious reason, but there are plenty of things that can prevent you from staying on your steady routine. Maybe you are going through something emotional. It isn't the same as a physical need to stray away of course, but sometimes we need to give ourselves a mental rest. Maybe you have been really killing it at the gym and your body just needs a bit more recovery time than you are used to. I have skipped the gym here and there on weeks where I feel a bit run down and that I could use the extra rest day. There is absolutely nothing wrong giving your body a little extra TLC.

Sometimes when we do this though guilt will follow. I know there have been weeks that like I mentioned I have skipped the gym and I immediately felt guilty about it. That I should have just sucked it up and went anyways. That is only natural I would imagine, but as long as it is a rare occurrence and you are doing it because you genuinely feel you need the rest there is no reason to feel bad about it. Am I a bit sad I had to take almost 2 weeks off of the gym? Absolutely but I know I needed to do it to allow my body to recover from surgery. Realize that you are doing what you need to do to recover yourself and make you even more ready to get right back into your routine!

I am hoping to get back to the gym tomorrow. I have a training session scheduled with my personal trainer at the new gym location. I unfortunately pulled a muscle in my lower back earlier today. It was a totally random thing, but if the muscle still feels like this tomorrow there is no way I can do all that weight training. I will play it by ear but if I do need to cancel I will not beat myself up. My body once again will need a bit of recovery time. It is also Thanksgiving week so my meals wont exactly be where I want them to be all week either. I also am not going to beat myself up over this. It is the holidays and I 100% believe that you should not deprive yourself during the holidays. It just means that next week I will be at the gym (2 training sessions scheduled for that week) and my meals will be right on point. Allow yourself to recover and jump right back in, that is fully what I plan to do as soon as I can!

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It is almost amusing where I find the inspiration for the topics for my weekly posts on this page. Sometimes I have a set idea in my mind days ahead of time, and sometimes I decide the day of. I always, however, am inspired by my daily life. This Thursday I learned that the gym I am going to and have been working with a trainer at for months now is closing. Yes, even this can inspire an entire blog post.

Let me go a little more into detail about my reaction to this news before I get to my point. At first I was really upset. The location was just too convenient being right behind my job. I never had the chance to talk myself out of going because it was right there. Now I will have to drive to a location that's a bit out of my way and I have time to think to myself "ahh I think I am too tired to work out tonight." I also was really upset about the fact that I would most likely be losing my trainer. I don't think I mentioned this, but about a month or two ago I transferred to a different personal trainer at that gym. I was really comfortable with my first trainer at this point so the idea of starting over with a new one was a bit intimidating. I am now just as comfortable with my current trainer, so the thought of changing it up again was upsetting. There were honestly so many things going through my mind. It really is funny how one little bump in the road has the potential to throw everything off.

As I got to thinking though I started to settle down and realized it wasn't as big of a deal as I was making it out to be. Danielle, my best friend who has been my support system through and through during my journey this year reassured me that I am in a routine at this point and I won't talk myself out of going if I don't let myself. I am seeing results and want to keep them up enough at this point. She was absolutely right. As far as a trainer went I had a few options. I could either get a new one at my new location and get comfortable with them, or I could just branch out on my own with the knowledge I now have. I decided I would talk to my trainer during our session that day and we could discuss what was next. Luckily I did because he just so happens to be transferring to the same gym I was planning on, so I get to stay with him. What felt like a crisis was calming down in only a few hours.

Okay I get that this was quite the lead up, but let me get to the point here. Life throws us a lot of curveballs. Sometimes they are huge. Sometimes they are small. Sometimes they are small but we overreact in a big way. As you all know I am a firm believer that every thing in our lives happens for a reason. Yes I know I have given this example so many times I am sure you are sick of it, but losing my previous job felt like a huge crisis. That giant curveball thrown at me only lead me to the position I am in now. If I didn't lose that job I would probably have never reconnected with Danielle, I would have never met my bosses or other work friends, and I would likely still be at a job at which I felt underappreciated and was underpaid. That was probably one of the best curveballs I could have been thrown at that point in time, and I managed to hit that ball right out of the park.

Sure me having to change gyms and thinking I may need to change trainers is a minor crisis compared to others. There are certainly way worse things life can throw at you, but I thought the entire experience and my thought process proved an interesting point. When life throws you for a loop take a deep breath and embrace it. Realize that everything is temporary and that you will move past it. Realize that it is only a huge crisis if you let it become one. Keep your chin up and smile your way through the fear of the unknown. I honestly think it is human nature to be afraid of change and hating to stray from your routines. I cannot think of one single person in my life that doesn't have any issue when unexpected changes come their way. The most important part though is how we get through these changes.

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I think it is safe to say it is officially my favorite time of year. Once the end of September hits and the fall is finally here I am pretty happy. Between Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas there is so much going on. Just these past few weekends alone we have gone apple picking, taken my niece and nephew to a trick-or-treating event, picked out and carved pumpkins from the farm and so much more. Once Halloween passes then it is all about planning Thanksgiving and then right into Christmas planning and shopping. Needless to say these last few months in the year are busy.

I think it is safe to say when we are busy it is very easy to get overwhelmed and to let stress take over. I know I personally am already thinking about Christmas shopping and when to buy what, who I want to buy for, etc. Although this is my favorite time of year it can also be one of the most stressful. There is so much to get done between all of these holidays and that only adds to your daily responsibilities. Your best bet, however, is to map things out the best you can and not let the stress get to you. It is so easy to let yourself get overwhelmed but do your best to push through and do the best that you can do.

I used the holidays as an example simply because we are right in the middle of that time of year but there are so many things that pop up that can get to you. Maybe your car suddenly needs an expensive repair. Maybe you committed yourself to too many activities and are having a hard time making everything work. Maybe you are balancing an already busy schedule and are having doubts on if you can keep up with it. I could honestly keep going and going with examples. Life happens. We sometimes get busy and we sometimes need to make our paychecks stretch a bit further than we like. Every single person deals with these types of things. The most important part is keeping your sanity and getting through.

Never allow stress and being overwhelmed to open yourself to making rash and unreasonable decisions. I know when I am stressing over something I need to get done I will always think about just giving up. One recent example would be the pumpkins I paint for Halloween. It started with my niece and nephew and one of my friend's sons but this year I committed to double the amount of pumpkins. Part of me wanted to just give up and not finish them this year but I knew I would regret that. Firstly because I know all the kids love them but also because I love to paint them as well. Yes I was in a bit of a time crunch this year but I still enjoyed doing it which is so important. Never lose sight of the overall goal even when the times get hard. Never lose sight of your true self as well.

I am going to keep this post pretty short and sweet this week. Like I said this is a busy time of year and I have been doing a lot. I had to fit in writing this week with the painting and carving on top of my usual meal prep and laundry and such. Just remember if you are feeling overwhelmed to take a deep breath and power through! You will thank yourself when you do.

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I am officially done with Whole30. My starting date was 09/17/2018 and the final day was this past Tuesday, 10/16/2018. I have so many things to share about my thoughts and experiences during this journey. I also of course want to share my results with you as well.

When I first started Whole30 I am going to be completely honest I did have that moment of "oh no, what did I get myself into?" The first grocery store trip where I was surrounded by temptation was the first official time that question came to me. I love sugar and sweets. I would have to wait thirty long days before I could have any of that again. Would I be able to drink only non-dairy Whole30 compliant creamer in my coffee but nothing else? Can I really go this long without a taco or a slice of pizza? When these thoughts did come up I just had to tell myself that it was only thirty days and in the grand scheme of things that really was not a whole lot of time. Were there temptations? Oh yeah. I found myself really envious when someone around me was having something I could not have, but those feelings got easier the longer I was doing this.

Did the foods I couldn't have still look good? Of course but I was pretty content with the food I was having. The longer I went and the closer I was getting to the end the easier it became. My cravings for these foods and most importantly sugar were and still are present but in a much different way. I might have a random thought that ice cream for example sounds really good, but it isn't something that is consuming my thoughts until I give in. I am only human so comfort foods will always have some appeal to me, but I can honestly say it is much more manageable now. I felt so many little changes in myself during the journey but I would say that is the biggest one, and was essentially why I decided to embark on this to begin with.

During Whole30 I felt so many different changes happen to my body. Without even taking my measurements I could absolutely feel that my clothes were getting far too big. I was taking more time to enjoy my food rather than just scarfing it down and going on with my day. At some points I was actually sleeping better as well. I am typically somebody that sometimes has trouble falling asleep, but this was not nearly as big of a problem for me anymore. I also had a lot more energy during this time. Usually about midway through my work day I feel a crash and that very rarely happened while I was on Whole30. Overall I really was just feeling good.

Now let's get into the results that I can share with you. In the thirty days that I was doing Whole30 I lost a total of 12.3 lbs. I also lost an added total of 19 inches from all over my body. I lost 4 inches from my waist, 5 inches from my abdominal area, 1 inch from each arm, 3 inches from each thigh, 1 inch from my chest, and 1 inch from my neck. To be quite honest these results shocked me. I mean I knew my clothes (especially my pants) were fitting better or were even starting to get too big, but to see those numbers is pretty amazing. Sure the 12.3 lbs is an awesome result as well, but I am so glad I took those measurements to see the results in a different way as well. I am so pleased with the outcome of this first Whole30 not only because of the results like this that I can report, but the ones I also feel.

Now I am sure you are all wondering what are my thoughts on Whole30 moving forward now that the thirty days are up. Well as you can guess my first few days I was off of Whole30 I ate a number of things I was not allowed to have. Now to be flat out honest I thought when I ate these things I would have an extremely upset stomach and be pretty sick because my stomach was no longer used to these foods. This wasn't exactly the case but I didn't feel too great this weekend as a result. I had way less energy and was crabby at some points as well. I was already planning on continuing the Whole30 to a certain degree, but this weekend was just the push I needed to actually do this.

Moving forward I want to make an effort to eat Whole30 for most meals and breaking the rules from time to time when I feel I want or need to. I want to do my best to keep at least two of my three main meals Whole30 compliant while the third meal I may break that slightly. My first night off of Whole30 I made a chicken stir fry which was completely Whole30 compliant. I made a last minute decision to add just a half serving of pasta to that to make it a bit more filling. I can recognize that I felt amazing doing the Whole30, but I also feel that I should also allow myself to have some of those things as well from time to time. Another big change I will continue from Whole30 is way less sugar in my diet. As I mentioned in a previous post, Whole30 made me so aware of just how much added sugar is in our food. There is no reason I need to buy bacon, pasta sauce, salsa, etc. with added sugar when there are options around the same price that taste just as good without it. I found that coconut milk in coffee satisfies me now and I no longer need tablespoons of sweetened creamer. I will forever be conscious of the ingredients in the food I am putting into my body now because of Whole30.

I am so pleased with how my first Whole30 went and am even more pleased that I was able to finish it without an issue. I did not cheat and I made it through the entire thirty days. As I mentioned I plan to continue Whole30 into my every day life now to an extent, but I fully plan on doing a Whole30 again in January. Once all the holidays are over I think a Whole30 would be a great start to the year to help get back on track and to shed those pounds we all gain from all the holiday goodies. Although this plan seems like a drastic change at first, it truly did make me feel amazing. I look forward to moving forward and including what I learned from Whole30 in my daily life.

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I am rounding the corner to the finish line on my Whole30 journey. Some days it feels like it has been a cake walk. Others it feels like the last day couldn't come soon enough! Next week I am going to dedicate an entire post to my thoughts and results on Whole30. Today, however, I wanted to dedicate this post to the one major mental change I have gone through on the program so far, and that is my growth in willpower.

Way back before I lost any weight or really cared about my health that much I always had the same excuse. I simply did not have the willpower to make it through such a dramatic life change. I felt I could never resist the foods I needed to cut out. I felt I would never choose to exercise over laying on the couch watching my favorite shows. I simply did not have the willpower to do what I needed to do to change my life forever. Looking back now that is almost comical to me. Do you want to know what the real reason I had back then for not wanting to change? I was lazy. It sounds harsh but that is the plain truth. I was far too lazy to worry about meal planning and making the right choices. Getting something quick and tasty was far more appealing and took less effort. I was too lazy to get up and join a gym. It was so much easier to put my pajamas on and settle in early for the night instead.

Fast forward to today and I am doing all the things I was too lazy to do before (yes that does also include making this page a priority and sticking with my writing). I dedicate a certain amount of time every week to coming up with a meal plan for the following week. That leads to grocery lists, grocery shopping, and food prep. I go to the gym four days a week after work instead of going right home. By initially forcing myself to do these things, I led myself on the path to making them habits. You may be wondering what this has to do with willpower. The answer to that is simple really... willpower is what to need to have in order to push yourself through and sticking with these tasks.

When I first started planning my Whole30 journey I was really worried I would not be able to do it. I honestly did not think I had the willpower to push through and resist the foods I crave every day for thirty days. Trust me that willpower was tested many times in this journey so far and it sure isn't over yet! I would say this weekend surprisingly was the hardest. I really just wanted pancakes for breakfast and to enjoy some rice with my dinner. During this journey already I had to resist some of my favorite foods. I had to turn down homemade pizza last weekend and some hot cider donuts when we went apple picking yesterday. Trust me they smelled amazing and it sure was a challenge. I had the willpower, however, to turn these things down. Will I allow myself to enjoy them again in the future? Absolutely! Do I have a better understanding on how often I should enjoy these things and that I have the power to say no? You bet!

I want to encourage you to test your willpower as well. Trust me I did not think I had the amount of willpower that I actually do. I never would have thought I would have been able to turn down those donuts at the apple orchard especially sitting right there and smelling them. To go from someone constantly expressing no willpower at all to someone using it more often than not, I will honestly say I am incredibly proud of myself. It sounds so corny but if I can do it, you certainly can! If you want to make a change in your life chances are you are your biggest road block. Try to challenge yourself to grow every single day and you never know what roads will open up.

I cannot wait to see and share my results of Whole30 next week! I want to go over not only my physical weight and measurement changes, but the mental ones as well. Part of me really cannot believe this thirty days is almost up, and I certainly feel some results already. Thank you for sticking around and I will see you next week with my final thoughts!

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I am officially on day 21 of Whole30 today. I know that is actually past the midway point, but I wanted to take some time today to talk about my experience so far. I am obviously not finished and still have a ways to go, but right now I feel I have a pretty good sense of this plan and how I am feeling on it. Here are my thoughts!

I think the top question I have been getting about this plan has been if I have been bored with food. To be quite honest I 100% figured I would be, especially at this point. I can honestly say I haven't been bored with my meals in the slightest bit. I have been really careful to change things up during the week and have plenty of options for myself. When I started this program I thought I was going to have a really hard time with not having dairy or grains. I am a big fan of protein pancakes in the morning or Greek yogurt smoothies. Shockingly this hasn't been a huge deal. I would say that breakfast has been the hardest meal for me to adapt with though. I love fruit, vegetables, lean meats, good whole carbohydrates so honestly I was at an advantage going into this. All things considered I have been doing just fine!

I would say a big thing I have learned about myself during Whole30 is just how much willpower I have. A few months ago my personal trainer suggested I try and cut sugar from my diet. I thought to myself there was no way I could do that since I have such a sweet tooth. Well here I am 21 days later and I am perfectly fine. It isn't even with just sugar either. I have had plenty of temptations cross my path during this time and I was fully able to walk away and say no thank you. I obviously have a heck of a lot more willpower than I thought I did!

Another big change I have noticed are non scale victories. Whole30 is all about non scale victories. I mentioned in my previous post that one of the rules of this program is not to weigh yourself because the non scale victories are what should really shine through in your success. I have been breaking that rule as I said before because I would report my weight to my trainer. That does not mean, however, I have not noticed some non scale victories already for myself. The most noticeable one I actually saw right before I sat down to write this post. A few months ago I bought some new clothes. All of the shirts were in the same size but for some reason one of the shirts was a bit tight. I decided to try it on again today and it fit me perfectly! I clearly have lost inches from my waist. I cannot wait to see what my ending measurements are! With all fairness, Whole30 is not the only cause of this. I have been working my butt off (literally haha) at the gym for months now and my diet was decent before I started this as well. Whole30 has been keeping me in line that much more. Just to mention another non scale victory, I have been crashing a lot less during the day as well and that's on top of drinking lass coffee as well!

Another victory for me is how my taste buds have changed. I am perfectly happy with the snacks or treats I can have on this plan rather than reaching for something that is not so great for me. One of my favorite treats right now is apples cut up with cinnamon, pumpkin seeds, and almond butter. Today I actually added some raisins to the bowl as well and was completely satisfied with this. I always craved something full of fat and sugar as a dessert but this is teaching me that I will be just fine choosing something a lot healthier when I want something sweet. A lesson I know will help me out quite a bit.

Overall things have been going really well on Whole30 for me. I did not start out on this journey expecting it to be easy and I still wouldn't say it is. I am surprised though at just how well I have been able to stick with it. I figured by now I would have either quit or just been incredibly sick of the food I was eating. I have learned so much about myself so far during this journey and continue to learn more every day. I only mentioned a few here but I want to save some things for my final thoughts in a few weeks! I am so close to finishing up and I know I can do it so sit tight and I will share all my results then! Thank you for sticking by me through this!

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