Week One Done, and Weekend Two Almost Done...onto Day 9

So there were a few major hurdles....for example, Day 5....but now I'm already into my second week and starting to notice all the major benefits of this program. I haven't had alcohol for 8 nights, for instance...which for me is a big deal. I'm definitely the type who enjoys a glass of wine or a beer with dinner, but I'm also the type that indulges in those more often than I'm proud of.  I wake up feeling guilty the next day because I usually also make other bad decisions after the beer, like eating too many chips, or having a lot of chocolate with that wine. 

My waistline is slimmer, noticeably, after just over one week.  My belt loop is down one notch. My energy level is getting higher (it's not incredible yet, like people on this program sometimes claim, but they're usually a little further in than I am now). To be honest, my energy level was never really the problem in the first place...I still exercised about 6 days a week, which I think contributed to my regular energy level. 

My main issue has been my relationship with food. When I did Whole30 back in 2014, I was better about my food choices for a long time afterward. I made it a point to strive for healthier foods and be more mindful about my eating. But these past several months have been the opposite. I know I should be eating healthier but I'm choosing the worst possible food choices almost in spite of the healthy choices. So that's what I'm really working to fix this time around. It's working, I think, because I see the unhealthy foods and still want them and then redirect my brain to what I can eat and not those unhealthy choices I want to eat. I'm hoping that doing this for another 21 days will help condition my thinking to stop automatically choosing those unhealthy foods and will be a bit better at automatically choosing something healthier. Or at the very least, not eating either and not constantly craving something to consume. 

My skin is feeling clearer, my sleep is like the dead, my mood is improved, and I'm pretty sure I've lost at least a few pounds (but I can't check that until day 31).  Hopefully I'm feeling this positive for the next 21 days! 3 weeks left!

 

Scallops, mushrooms, green onions, minced garlic and salt/pepper in Olive Oil...yum

While family had pizza and husband drank beer.  

I had a Perrier lemon sparkling water, which was also yummy.

 

This is a Pamer's Chef ceramic egg cooker...you microwave your scrambled eggs...it's awesome.

What a Great Day.

Today was one of those days that makes me feel totally at ease with the world by the time I'm ready for bed.  I feel no guilt for how I spent my time.  The girls both woke up with cool foreheads, I was finally able to take them both to daycare, and I was finally able to go the office for work.  Spent a full day getting a lot accomplished and catching up on things I'd been putting off (I'm really thriving under the new management style).  Got to daycare a few minutes early, which gave me a chance to go to the base exchange for some cough medicine for all three of us (this illness has had several phases, and mine is now at the coughing stage, so I'm now fully prepared for the same in my girls).  Got stopped at 5 pm in the parking lot, too far from my car and the store to make a run for it either way.  In case you don't know what I'm talking about, if you're ever on a military base and you hear the National Anthem start playing, you have to stop, find the nearest American flag, face it and have your hand on your heart for the entirety of the song.  And now you know...so you won't just think you're witnessing some really boring flash mob if you ever experience this.  Oh, and if you're driving when the song starts, you have to stop your car.  It's very patriotic.

So after getting home with the girls, I decided to run on the treadmill.  I got ready thinking I'd just do a set amount of time (30 minutes? 3 miles?).  While I was going, I felt so good I decided to break some kind of record.  So I tonight on my treadmill I ran my personal record for furthest distance consecutively (and non-consecutively for that matter) ever...5 miles.  Makes me want to try going 10, haha.  And I felt completely fine afterward.  I still do.  Still have the same old cough, same old lower back pain, no extra soreness or exhaustion.

Then I made (or heated up) dinner for everyone, got both girls to bed, showered and read for about an hour.  Oh, and I finished making two bracelets for myself.  I'll list them on my jewelry shop one of these days.

I now plan to go to bed.