It's Working! Finally!

I'm down 11 pounds!!! I'm down 11 pounds!!! I'm down 11 pounds!! WAHOO!!!!

I've made it through 2 weeks now and I am still feeling motivated! I really think motivation is the biggest thing here. Usually once I get to a certain point, I pretty much give up and go back to my old habits. Not this time. This time, I'm making my menu for the week and only buying groceries according to those things. I avoid the middle of the grocery store like the plague. If I do have to go down the dreaded snack aisle, I make a mad dash for the whole wheat crackers and run back out. Whew!

There are some amazing side effects of my new healthy eating lifestyle:

For starters, my children have gone through 4 bags of those cuties (you know, the little clementines?) in two weeks. Yesterday at the grocery store, I bought a 5 lb box of them. Maybe they will last the whole week!

Secondly, since I quit drinking coke, I only craved one in the first few days. In fact, yesterday, my husband asked for a coke and I thought I might have one too. So, I got one for him and myself. I took one sip and was completely disgusted. It tasted like chemicals! Gross! I gave it to him. Here's the best part! Since he also quit drinking sodas when I did, he only drank half of his and put the rest in the fridge. It was still there last time I looked. This is so great!!

Third, we went out to dinner on this past Friday evening. Neither of us ate our whole plate. This is huge for us!

There are many others, but the only other one I'm going to talk about here is my energy level. I cut out a lot of things. Sugar, fast food, coke(as in the soda, ok?), rice, pasta, white bread, etc, etc. In fact, if I use bread at all, then I use whole wheat. I added in lots of fruit and lots of veggies. Anyhow, my energy level has perked up considerably in the last week. This weekend, I had a sick baby who kept me up all night, but I still didn't need to take a nap during the day! I am one of those people that can usually sleep at any point in the day. I could probably sleep for days. But, now I'm feeling so much better!

This is truly amazing! It's turning into an eye opener for me. I think I mentioned the purple journal with butterflies on it that my husband bought for me to write in. I haven't written anything yet, but last week, after a particularly bad day at work, I found myself craving a cheeseburger and some chocolate. And the light bulb went off in my head. I figured out one of my triggers! Why didn't I think of this before? Why have I spent the last two years, feeling miserable about my body, and not knowing why I was eating the things I was eating?

Here's the best part about that stressful day. I didn't stray from what I should eat. I told myself I would be ok, and I was! Wow.

I'm excited to see what the next few weeks bring. And my next goal? P90X. Yep. I'm going to try it.